Since morning, there is one news being given on all business news channels is Resignation of Vishal Sikka, MD and CEO of IT Giant Infosys.
Just not for Infosys, but for all corporate world it is shocking news and time to correct and reinvent/redesign their values and systems as the reasons Vishal has given in his resignation letter. (Text given at the End).
In just few hours Stock of Infosys was 6% down with overall fall of Rs. 165 Bn (Rs. 16,500 Cr) in market cap of the company.
In his resignation letter Vishal mentioned the death of their employee Sandeep Karamongikar due to massive heart attack, Virtual world of AI, It's strength and impact.
The similarity I find in Vishal and Cyrus Mistry case, both wanted transformation in their groups, using their professional skills & knowledge. But strategy they adopted in execution was not in terms of principles set by their founders. This is conflict in most of companies which are promoted and run as family business irrespective of their size and industry. Unfortunately they (Promoters/Founders) want professional CEO/CFOs to give best of their performance, but without accessing any authority, without being influential on other stake-holders.
There is nothing new, for ages humans do not want to share rewards and glory. In such companies owners treat their companies as their child and want professional leaders to work as Aaya (Maid), they day these CEOs/CFOs try to behave like mother of this Kid (Company), Exit door is opened for them. Thanks.
Resignation Letter of Vishal Sikka
Dear Board Colleagues,
Over the last few days, since our
earlier call, I've met Sesh several times, talked to you
individually at length, and spent time thinking things thru with Vandana. During this time, one of our
employees, Sandeep Karamongikar, died in his sleep, likely of a
massive heart attack. He was working on the chatbot frontend in Nia. Also over the
weekend, in possibly the greatest demonstration of AI capability ever, a bot
built by the researchers at OpenAI (yes, that OpenAI), defeated the world's best
players of DOTA2, a multiplayer online video game, a game where the bot learned
to play entirely from scratch. Further demonstrating that the force to automate
routine, even advanced, activities is an unstoppable and exponential one. And
the Charlottesville incident here in the US demonstrated once again the power
of words and silences to cause real damage, or to heal.
After much reflection, I have
concluded that it is indeed time for me to leave my current positions as MD and
CEO, and I have communicated my resignation to Sesh.
I will be working closely
with Sesh, Ravi, Pravin, with all of you,
and the senior management team to plan out the details and the timelines to
ensure a smooth transition and in the meantime, continue our work without
disruption, and ensuring that we protect our company, the employees, the
clients, and the interests of every shareholder. You can count on my commitment
to this.
I came here to help navigate the
company through what I saw as a massive transformation opportunity, to
transform our company and restore strong profitable growth, as well as help
transform the business of our customers. I came to do this with the power of
technology, given my experiences with similar transformations, my background in
AI, and the structural changes that I saw happening in the IT services
industry. This needed new skills, new thinking, new initiatives, and a
transformation in the culture, from a cost-oriented value delivery, to
entrepreneurship oriented value delivery. You have heard me articulate this
many times before. This type of a transformation has always been a passion for
me, indeed I took this job for this reason.
We have achieved much in the last
3+ years, and for sure we can all be proud of the powerful seeds of
transformation that have already been sowed. No one anticipated the additional
headwinds like the geo-political disruptions (Brexit, Trump, visa etc.) that
made this transformation even more challenging, but also rewarding. But, the
distractions that we have seen, the constant drumbeat of the same issues over
and over again, while ignoring and undermining the good work that has been
done, take the excitement and passion out of this amazing journey. Over the
last many months and quarters, we have all been besieged by false, baseless,
malicious and increasingly personal attacks. Allegations that have been
repeatedly proven false and baseless by multiple, independent investigations.
But despite this, the attacks continue, and worse still, amplified by the very
people from whom we all expected the most steadfast support in this great
transformation. This continuous drumbeat of distractions and negativity over
the last several months/quarters, inhibits our ability to make positive change
and stay focused on value creation. Addressing the noise by itself is damaging;
hundreds of hours of my own time has gone into this recently. But the
structural challenges this engenders within the organization, has a very
damaging effect on our ability to carry out any kind of a transformation,
especially one that is as fundamental as transforming from a cost-oriented to
an innovation-oriented value delivery to clients.
Therefore, I have come to this
moment and the end of this journey. I hope that it gives everyone a chance to
reflect, and give the transformation effort another big push and move the
company forward rapidly to build its future, to build upon the foundation that
we have laid over these past 3 years. If these types of attacks continue, I
hope each of you will continue to be the voice of fairness and reason -
providing the active, emphatic and unequivocal support that the company, the
management, the employees, and all of the stakeholders and friends of the
company need in order to succeed. Since the board deeply believes in the cause
we have started, I will be happy to support all of you to achieve a smooth
transition, and serve as your Executive Vice Chair as discussed.
I would like to thank each one of
you, my dear colleagues, my friends and mentors, and look forward to working
with you to close this chapter and open a great new one for all of us.
Best,
V
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