Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Infosys CEO learns not to invent answers to questions he doesn't know

From Adam Bryant's Corner Office series. Bryant's new book is called Quick and Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation. This story is from S.D. Shibulal, CEO of Infosys.

I...quickly learned that you have to be honest, transparent and fair. We have 10 development centers in India, and I travel to visit them. Somebody once asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to, but I invented some answer. About three weeks later, I went to another center, and somebody asked the same question, and I invented some answer again. They immediately said, “Well, you were at another center and you said something else.” I promised myself then that if I don’t know, I will say: “I don’t know the answer. I’ll find out and let you know.”

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