Azim Premji's secrets for success
# The biggest enemy of future success is past success. When you succeed, you feel that you must be doing something right for it to happen. But when the parameters for success changes,doing the same things may or may not continue to lead to success.
# We invested in uncompromising integrity that helped us take difficult stands in some of themost difficult business situations.
# Routines represent our own zones of comfort. There is a sense of predictability about them.They have structured our time and even our thought in a certain way. While routines are useful, do not let them enslave you. Deliberately break out of them from time to time.
# Life's battle does not always go to the person who is stronger and faster. The person who wins is the person who thinks he can.
# Always keep in mind that it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel.
# As you get bigger, you have to learn to delegate. It is also an excellent way to get staff involved in the company's operations.
# It requires courage to keep dreaming. And that is when dreams are most needed -- not when everything is going right, but when just about everything is going wrong.
# You cannot fire a missile from a canoe. Unless you build a strong network of people with complimentary skills, you will be restricted by your own limitations.
# Everyone feels the fear of unknown. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to manage fear without getting paralyzed. Feel the fear, but move on regardless.
# Guard against complacency all the time. Complacency makes you blind to the early signals from the environment that something is going wrong.
# If you are always in the company of cynics, you will soon find yourself becoming like them.A cynic knows all the reasons why something cannot be done.
# Take your time to decide what your core values are. Once you do, do not compromise on them for any reason. Integrity is one such value.
# Nobody can make us feel inferior without our consent.
# Change descends on every one equally; it is just that some realise it faster. Some changes are sudden but many others are gradual. While sudden changes get attention because they are dramatic, it is the gradual changes that are ignored till it is too late. You must have all heard of story of the frog in boiling water. If the temperature of the water is suddenly increased, the frog realises it and jumps out of the water. But if the temperature is very slowly increased, one degree at a time, the frog does not realise it till it boils to death. You must develop your own early warning system, which warns you of changes and calls your attention to it. In the case of change, being forewarned is being forearmed.
# Spend time with people who have a 'can-do' approach. Choose your advisors and mentors correctly.
# We need an open mind to look at things in a different way and allow new inputs to come in.Otherwise, there is a real danger of becoming complacent or even downright arrogant.
# We must remember that succeeding in a changing world is beyond just surviving. It is our responsibility to create and contribute something to the world that has given us so much.
# If you do not take enough risks, you may also be losing out on many opportunities. Thinkthrough but take the plunge. If some things do go wrong, learn from them.
# Some people follow the beaten path. Few take the road less travelled. Yet others choose to create their own path.
# If you succeed 90 percent of the time, you are doing fine. If you are succeeding all the time,you should ask yourself if you are taking enough risks.
Delegating authority and responsibility speeds things up and gets decisions made faster. Itempowers people more, and it allows them to further empower those who report to them,because their jobs have suddenly become much more responsible.
# I don't think customer relationships are really owned. The customer is a remarkably selfish person: He takes the relationship to where the execution is in his favour.
# Any position of power or wealth means an enormous responsibility of trusteeship. The higher the share price goes, the higher becomes the expectation from investors, on the company, to perform. If the price rises to unrealistic levels, it will lead to unrealistic expectations.
# Exercise, be active and not lead a sedentary life. A certain physical activity should bemaintained -- walk, skip or jog -- along with a good food diet. That is the only way to de-stress.
# Success requires no explanation and failure permits none. But you need to respect yourself enough so that your self-confidence remains intact whether you succeed or fail.
# Most people wait for something to go wrong before they think of change. It is like going tothe doctor for a check up only when you are seriously sick or thinking of maintaining your vehicle only when it breaks down.
# We should question the customer. Too often we just follow instructions. If we have a pointof view that is different, we should question the customer's instructions and say, "We think what you are asking us to do is wrong; it would be better to do it another way." If we have to fight to make ourselves heard, we should do that because customers won't want product problems to come back three weeks or months or years later.
# We cannot be the best in everything we do. We must define what we are or would like to be best at and what someone else can do better.