What is value based Leadership?

Recently I read an article about new book of Mr NRN Murthy, titled "A Better India, A Better World". The book is a collection of Murthy's speeches over the years. The book was released by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. At the time of release of the book, Mr Murthy said: "For the first time in 300 years, India has seen a resurgence of its caliber; it was now time to take the fruits of growth and wealth creation to the masses." In his book, Mr Murthy seeks to show that a society that works for the welfare of the most number of people, based on the principle of let everyone experience joy, must focus on two simple things: Values and good leadership. Below is the video showing message from NRN Murthy about the book.



Talking about the book, he says that while India has made considerable progress in the last 18 years after the first wave of economic reforms, we are still lagging. So the real challenge we have is to bring inclusive growth. In order to bring inclusive growth in a country like India we need to solve three pieces of development -- first is creating a public opinion that values good work ethic, honesty, discipline, secularism. Second, we need to develop a cadre of leadership who espouse these values and serve as role models and demonstrate leadership by example. Third, we need the determination of the elite and the powerful in the society to eschew creation of asymmetry of benefits in their favor vis-à-vis the common man. Only when these three conditions are fulfilled will we be able to create a fair, just, equitable and inclusive growth in our society. In essence this is the fundamental thesis on which the book is based.

I have always been admirer of Mr Murthy. He has always displayed leadership with values, along with philanthropy. I have been with Infosys for past five years and always felt that Mr Murthy's value system reached employees of Infosys. In my view, leadership with values keeps one on right track and in some way, it also helps to identify one's responsibilities towards the underprivileged section of the society. Mr Murthy has been living simple life for many years and is always supported by his wife Mrs Sudha Murthy, who is also chairperson of Infosys Foundation. Recently I read about pledge by Murthys for giving Crores of their personal wealth for benefiting underprivileged people for basic education and basic health care.

I am sure, if each one of the aspiring leaders in India decides to focus on values in leadership, it can contribute tremendously for growth of India at grass root level. We all need to make values, discipline and leadership an integral part of life, for true development of India. Our collective actions can bring change in the society and it has already begun. Let's aim for bringing this change in our lives and lead by example.

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