Narayanmurthy: Just the right person at the right time?
In discussing about my post on boilerplate arguments by role models, someone mentioned to me that he agreed with me when I said Mr. Narayanamurthy was just there at the right time to take advantage of the overall IT boom.
There is no question that Narayanmurthy was there at the right time; if not, he would not have co-founded one of the most successful Indian IT companies, Infosys. That part is clear. But I have serious reservations with the word (and emphasis) on “just”. Yes, Narayanmurthy was there at the right time; so were half a million others. He was the one who founded Infy, not the 499,999 others. At no point does my previous post state or imply that Narayanamurthy’s accomplishment were any lesser than they are. (If my post reads so, it is a problem with my writing.)
Who knows if Mr. Murthy was born a decade earlier or later, where would he be. You cannot just take a person out of the context in which he/she is/was successful and predict how he/she would have done. For all you know, he would have been even more successful.
He is a great role model and there are a lot of traits that need to be emulated. If even a fraction of a percent of India’s population could learn and inculcate some of his qualities, we will be a better place. I do not look up to him as my role model for various reasons stated on this blog earlier. That does not make either him or me lesser of a person. Nor does it mean I don’t respect him or that there aren’t things that I can learn from him. But given a choice, I would not want to be in his shoes. But given a choice to be in his shoes, I would not take it.
[Perhaps I am using a stronger definition of a role model: someone whom you aspire to be like, not just emulate some of his/her qualities.]