Convert ideas into wealth: Narayan Murthy

Every day Narayana Murthy opens his mailbox to find hundreds of e-mails —a student trying to find his feet in the IT industry, a software engineer who has just got his pink, a college grad trying to find out what he can do with his dad’s money — and he answers every mail. Each one of them.

“I interact with a lot of youngsters every day...” says the former Infosys chairman who was the choice of the ‘youth’ for the post of the Indian president in a poll a couple of years back. “Anybody can write to me with their problems and they will always receive an answer.”

Narayana knows that every time he gives a public speech, the contents of it become one of the most circulated forwards among Indian professionals. “When things go well, many of us become very arrogant…we become very complacent and tend to take things for granted. And when things become tough, we go into a panic. We should always save money when the going is good. I am not saying that don’t enjoy and party. Please do that. But do save a little bit of money, so that you are not that worried during your rainy days.”

It’s always a good idea to arm yourself with a smart idea and start something of your own during these tough times, he says. “When the economy goes bad, people look for better value for money. They look for innovative cushions. I don’t think that it is such a bad time for all of us as long as people come up with solutions, better than anybody else has come up with.”

But where will the money come from? “Entrepreneurs don’t start with a lot of money. They must aim to convert their ideas into wealth. What the entrepreneurs need to do is to convince venture capitalists to invest in their ideas.”

Women make better managers: Sudha Murthy

She feels that there cannot be a better manager than a woman because they are on the job for 24 hours. “Women make better managers, I say. They have so many roles to fulfill. Even after office hours, you will find them working as a mother, wife or sister. They have much more endurance than men. They are always on duty. Look at me, I have never taken leave for the last 25 years,” Sudha says.

Talking about her son, she says that he is about to finish his studies from Harvard. “I will not tell him what to do. I know in India, every child goes through a lot of pressure trying to fulfill parental aspirations. He can become a professor or an entrepreneur…he should do what his heart pleases.”

So does she have a mantra for success? “There’s no mantra. If you are passionate about what you are doing, then you are bound to succeed. Just don’t follow a set formula; take it as it comes.”

Social worker and one of the most widely read writers in the country, the author of Dollar Bahu says that her next book is due in October. And, yes, it will be a “good thing” if any of her books get translated on celluloid in Bollywood!