‘Don’t become like me’ - Narayana Murthy's advice to a 12-year-old kid

As per a recent Times of India report, billionaire businessman and CEO of Infosys, Narayana Murthy, told a school student to not become like him. 

On being asked by the 12-year-old at the Teach for India Leaders Week how he could become like the Infosys co-founder, his immediate response was: “I don’t want you to become like me. I want you to become better than me for the greater good of the nation."

Lessons from childhood

The brilliant Murthy is an idol for many Indian youngsters but he urged young students to create a unique individual path as life is “not about following in someone’s footsteps.”

In this event, several students got a chance to talk with Mr Murthy. The Infosys CEO even shared the valuable lessons he learned in his early days with the students. 

The business icon acknowledged the roles his parents and teachers played in shaping his life. “My father taught me to manage time through a timetable, which played a crucial role in my securing fourth rank in the state SSLC exam." 

Mr Murthy then shared a precious lesson he learned from his headmaster during his SSLC days. His headmaster taught him the value of communal resources during a chemistry experiment. During a chemistry experiment, his headmaster told the class, “This common salt belongs to everyone in this school, not just me. We must treat it with care."

Lessons at College 

Mr Murthy then shared with the students a lesson he learned while working as a research associate at IIM-Ahmedabad. A professor had told him, “The lesson learned is more important than how it's communicated.” This advice taught him to maintain strong team relationships.

Lesson learned as a young professional 

Also, he recalled an incident from his time as a freshly passed-out engineer. He was working in Paris when he accidentally erased an entire computer system's memory while testing a program. He was worried about the collapse of the project, but his then-boss Colin immediately joined him. Together, they worked for 22 hours straight and restored the system.

“Colin praised my dedication but never mentioned his own sacrifice. He taught me a critical leadership lesson: take full responsibility for failures and share the glory with your team,” Mr Murthy remarked.