Lison Joseph, ET Bureau | 9 Sep, 2013, 05.57AM IST23
BANGALORE: Within the last few days,Wipro has been announcing a
flurry of large deals worth over $100 million (Rs 650 crore), a
sign of its improving prospects and rising confidence. While these
contracts are by no means conclusive evidence that the company
is returning to the pink of health, they nevertheless demonstrate
that Chief Executive TK Kurien has been implementing a
turnaround plan that has earned him a reputation within the
company and without as a CEO who is made of stern stuff.
Two-and-a-half years after taking over as CEO, the 54-year old
is aware that the initial expectations of a swift turnaround were
too optimistic. But Kurien also believes the time has been well
spent in laying the foundation for strong, sustainable growth in
a rapidly-changing industry. "The hardest one (job) I have ever
done," Kurien told ET.
Wipro is still underperforming the industry, but on the brighter side,
the company has signalled a silver lining ahead — robust growth
forecast for the July-September quarter, which is the highest in
nearly two years. While Kurien has not engineered a spectacular
turnaround, he did not inherit a garden variety problem either.
He took charge from two company veterans, Suresh Vaswani
and Girish Paranjpe, under whose watch Wipro's performance
turned dismal, forcing the hand of founder Azim Premji.
The job description did not capture the scope of the challenge
at the company that employs 135,000. In February 2011,
the former GE executive was handed a disillusioned organisation
that was bleeding talent and was staring at potential customer
desertions. And the outsourcing market's dynamics were changing fast.
Scarred by the 2008-09 financial crisis, clients in the US and
Europe demanded tangible value and not just pieces of software
or hardware. They also pushed more risk on to service providers.
"I didn't plan for the ground shifting beneath my feet," remarked Kurien.
He had to change the organisation internally, banish cynicism and find
the right talent to help Wipro get in sync with external realities.
His reputation as a ruthless taskmaster did not help matters, but Kurien
was not prepared to put up with people who did not believe in Wipro's
ability to fight back. His biggest challenge was to be able to work with
long-time colleagues and friends without letting familiarity get in the way
of taking tough and necessary decisions. "You get comfortable with each
other and tend to avoid conflicts. In the process, you forget the customer,"
he said.
As Kurien started shaking things up, employee churn peaked to as
much as 30 per cent in some divisions. "The biggest thing was putting
your arm around people and making sure that the good ones didn't go
away." It appears to be working, if the June quarter attrition rate of
around 13 per cent is anything to go by. In fact, Kurien considers the
"touchy feely" side of people management as one of his biggest lessons.
Even as he was getting the employee side of things right, Kurien
did not take his eyes off customers and pushed sales staff to get
bigger share of clients' technology spending.
"Kurien knows when to go out of the way to entertain clients' demands
and where to draw the line without putting them off," said Sid Pai,
president for Asia-Pacific at TPI, one of the largest technology
sourcing advisories.
"TK has made Wipro a more customer-centric organisation," said
Rishad Premji, Wipro's chief strategy officer and the elder son of
chairman Premji. "His boundless energy, no-nonsense style, openness
to take risks and strong execution rigour have been instrumental in
setting us on our transformation journey and also carrying people along."
A senior headhunter who has worked with Wipro closely for many years,
said Premji, has told Kurien not to get bogged down by what the press
writes about Wipro or its pilgrim's progress. For his part, Kurien says
Wipro being a promoter-driven organisation is a blessing. "It is surprising,
the level of risk I have been able to take. I would have been fired 100 times
over in a market-driven company," said Kurien.
On why he thinks Premji chose him for the top job, Kurien said "I have no clue
. Probably (because I) happened to be around!" Kurien has no qualms in
admitting that Wipro is still work in progress, with plenty to be done still.
But beyond the metrics and data points, he said he is working towards
more long-term goals.
"My success is in being able to hand over something to my successor that
is better than what I inherited," said Kurien, who is also candid about the
job being a mixed bag of things he loves and aspects he can do without.
"A leader has to live with both the hopes and the nightmares of an
organisation, every day. You can't choose just one."
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