[C300]

Originally Posted by hserus

etc etc. What say does Pai even have in the company? Or significant stockholding? Or any status beyond "former CFO"? Why would his assistance even be sought by the board for any of this?

That question should be answered by the Board and not Mr Pai. Another sign of a weak and divided boardroom.

Originally Posted by hserus

1. Right now - all his statements are unfounded as of now.

That doesnt make it wrong either.

Mr Pai's narration has been consistent throughout. IMO your allegation that he is doing it for a role has no leg to stand.
NN will bring him in for his expertise as ex-CFO and not because of a story in the media.

Lets agree to disagree on this one

[hserus]

Originally Posted by C300

Lets agree to disagree on this one

Agreed. The lack of clarity on this issue is something that will emerge to bite every single party on either side of this debate. Suits, countersuits are quite possible, going forward.

This was a stimulating discussion I must say. Thanks for engaging.

[V.Narayan]

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bus...i-2370707.html

Getting an insider or ex-insider may be best for keeping the peace. I hope NN can then bring to bear his vision to change the direction of the company.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bus...i-2370707.html

Getting an insider or ex-insider may be best for keeping the peace. I hope NN can then bring to bear his vision to change the direction of the company.

So which of the candidates in this article are CEO material?

My mind is boggling trying to work out the suitability of these individuals as an active CEO in his own right, or possibly as a Panneerselvam style proxy for the founders.

[dailydriver]

CNBC-TV18 interview of Sikka; supposedly his first after quitting Infosys. Pretty interesting watch.

https://youtu.be/im2kYMY3JCo

https://youtu.be/JvM7cnFLDoI

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

[url]
Getting an insider or ex-insider may be best for keeping the peace. I hope NN can then bring to bear his vision to change the direction of the company.

Originally Posted by hserus

So which of the candidates in this article are CEO material?

My mind is boggling trying to work out the suitability of these individuals as an active CEO in his own right, or possibly as a Panneerselvam style proxy for the founders.

Hserus (or is it Suresh!) sorry if my dry sarcasm did not get through. None of these ex-worthies are fit for the job in my opinion (others on TBHP may disagree). I cannot comment on the insider candidates as I do not know them. Like you I was intrigued why Pai and Balakrishnan suddenly started an interview a minute. Now we know why. They were competent for the role they performed in the era they held those posts with another Captain at the helm. The CEO needed to turn the tide in the face of a changed market and a belligerent minority shareholder would need to be of a different mettle. An insider or ex-insider would placate NRN and his trial by media style which is the wrongest reason to pick a CEO for but that's what will happen - and then the only hope will be the NN can pull off the vision piece - that's what I meant. If NRN is unable to resist management by proxy this ex-insider CEO will really be a COO at best. NN will need every ounce of his redoubtable EQ. I have the deepest respect for him and genuinely wish him luck.

If NRN had such doubts on the Board's competency and integrity why have Shaw, Kudva and Sinha been left in place? Why the ire mainly against RS who in any case had been vocal about his desire to get off. While NRN has many admirers his current conduct seems more like a Spanish inquisition to me.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Hserus (or is it Suresh!) sorry if my dry sarcasm did not get through. None of these ex-worthies are fit for the job in my opinion (others on TBHP may disagree).
[...]
NN will need every ounce of his redoubtable EQ. I have the deepest respect for him and genuinely wish him luck.

Suresh spelled backwards

I agree that Nilekani will need a lot of his people skills such as they are.

As for the worthies - let us see which of them gets picked and what they do.

I wish them luck too, if only for the lakhs of employees Infosys has, who will be caught by these currents such as they are.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by C300

IMO your allegation that he is doing it for a role has no leg to stand.

True. It's like repeatedly stressing that Sikka is CEO material because he doesn't fly coach or drive a Corolla.

[honeybee]

I don't think NN would be interested in getting Bala or Pai back. If I remember correctly they left Infy when NN was crowned as the successor of NRN and they realised they would never get the top job.

Infosys has managed without them so long and should be able to manage without them even now.

Apart from commenting on what happens within Infosys, I wonder if these two stalwarts have ever been under the limelight of their own.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by honeybee

I don't think NN would be interested in getting Bala or Pai back. If I remember correctly they left Infy when NN was crowned as the successor of NRN and they realised they would never get the top job.

Infosys has managed without them so long and should be able to manage without them even now.

Apart from commenting on what happens within Infosys, I wonder if these two stalwarts have ever been under the limelight of their own.

Pai left at that time. Bala left when NRN+RN came in

[maverickxx2006]

I used to admire Narayan Murthy earlier, the way he built Infosys and ran it for years.

I no longer respect Narayan Murthy.

What is all this noise about -

1. Low standards of corporate governance?
2. Panaya case?
3. Severance package to CFO?
4. Cutting down salaries/job cuts for freshers?

Question to Naryan Murthy -
1. Where were you when one of your own employee was murdered in one of the secured ODC in Pune?
2. You did not comment anything about corporate security? Why?

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Pai left at that time. Bala left when NRN+RN came in

Pai is famous as ex-CFO but not many people know that he left at the end of a disastrous term as head of HR for Infosys. I had just left the company when Pai became the HR head. He bough in tons of terrible processes and organization levels. Most of them had to be rolled back but the effect was that the company culture was no longer the same. And when it became clear post his HR head term, that he would not become the CEO, he left the company.

On the main topic, the the issue with promoter driven companies is not restricted to India. I am reading an interesting book on Anheuser-Busch corporation (Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer). Nepotism lead to downfall of a company which had survived for more than 100 years.

[hserus]

Mohandas Pai. And Nandita Gurjar as well. :(

Ah - now Seshasayee breaks his silence

http://m.ndtv.com/business/narayana-...akamai-rum=off

[V.Narayan]

@Hserus - thank you for sharing Seshasayee's statement exposing the hollowness of 'anonymous letters' being used to change managements, disrupt boards and regain control.

My experience in public company board's has taught me one thing - if you see something unusual happening just follow the money or the power (ie control). And if you hear someone shrieking his/her way to the high moral ground be sure it is smoke screen for some other motive. While many on our forum may not agree but to me it is clear this has been an orchestrated attempt to regain control and nothing else. To an extent Sikka inadvertently supplied some of the ammunition. Seshasayee is a man of few words and a through professional and gentleman. Capture control of a company through 'anonymous letters' and high moral talk of corporate governance; don't prove anything: launch an allegation war through the media....some corporate governance this.

In the U.S. Mr. NRN would have been staring at a defamation suit by now.

[hserus]

The shrill interviews didn’t work for Pai, looks like.

Pravin Rao, the current COO, promoted to interim MD/CEO for upto five years or till a successor is located.

Egon Zehnder roped in to hire a replacement for Sikka in an international search.

After this recent circus let us see who agrees to take the job, I guess Rao is secure in it for the next five years.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/60337050.cms