Seven founders came together and founded Infosys in July 1981. The month and year were important to Narayana Murthy – the first among equals - of the seven founders. He believed that those who succeed in business begin their entrepreneurial journey before age 35. He was turning 35 on August 20, 1981. Narayana Murthy was much older and more senior than his six fellow founders who left their steady, well-paying jobs to start Infosys. The magnificent six were: Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan and Ashok Arora. Infosys was incorporated in 1981 with $250. Today, the company describes itself as a global technology and consulting company with more than 330,000 employees.
They didn't have capital. They didn't have a proven business
model. India wasn't yet a global software-services powerhouse. Murthy had
already failed once. And they were leaving stable jobs.
What they did have was:
a strong belief that software was going to become enormously
important + technical competence + trusted colleagues + willingness to live
with uncertainty for several years.
Jesus, too, had no capital, born in a humble family.
Jesus did not have a proven business model. For millennia, the Israelites went
their own way, did their own thing, putting every prophet of God to death. Why
would Jesus succeed? He was doing His Father’s will. So should we.
In the Gospel of Matthew 19:23-30, Jesus exclaims that it will
be hard for someone rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. It will be easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the
kingdom of God, said Jesus.
25 When the disciples heard this,
they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus
looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all
things are possible.” 27 Peter answered him, “We
have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” 28 Jesus
said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the
Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also
sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And
everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or
children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and
will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are
first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
Today, by some estimates, there
are around 300,000 Catholic priests and as many religious around the world ‘who
have left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or
children or fields’ not because it was a way of earning a living but because
they got the call. The ‘call’ represents the leaving behind of everything to be
sustained only on the providence of God.
16 And as He walked by the Sea of
Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for
they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to
them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 They
immediately left their nets and followed Him. 19 When He
had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of
Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat
mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called
them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants,
and went after Him. (Mark 1:16-20)
Then there was Matthew (like his
fellow tax collector Zacchaeus), bent on getting indecently rich. Matthew lived
palatially but had to bear the burden of social ostracization. It did trouble
him but not enough to give it up. Then Jesus happened to Matthew. Matthew got
the call. He dropped everything – walked out of his tax collection booth - and
followed Jesus.
Zacchaeus' life too was anchored
on making money. He was short of stature (climbed up a sycamore tree to see
Jesus) and apparently portly – none of the sprightliness – of someone who can
do well in life. When Jesus called Zacchaeus, he felt ‘noticed’. Until then he
was living behind a cloud of scorn. Now he got an identity. The void that
existed in his life was filled. It was not about him anymore. His life was
beyond him. There were those whom he had cheated and stolen from. It was time
to make it right. What he hoped to achieve by being wealthy – noticed (but
scorned) – was no more important. Zacchaeus recast his anchor to gain meaning
and stability, not just in this life, but also secured his place in the next.
Like the six founders of Infosys,
who got the call from Narayana Murthy, they left their safe jobs and recast
their anchor in a new vision of their life. They not only succeeded but made
history. So did the apostles – who would have lived and died unremarkably and so
would have Zacchaeus despite all his wealth.
Saint Peter Damian (1007-1072),
hermit then Bishop, Doctor of the Church, in one his sermons, comments on
Peter’s cry to Jesus,
“We have given up everything”.
Speaking to the community, Damian says: Following Christ is our task, our work,
in that consists the main part of man’s salvation, but we cannot follow Christ
if we do not leave behind everything which hinders us. Because “like an athlete
he joyfully runs his course” (Ps 19:6) and no one can follow him laden down
with a burden. Moreover, it’s no good leaving everything behind except one’s
self, for there is no burden heavier than our ego. What tyrant is crueller,
what master more pitiless for man than his own will? ... Consequently, we
must give up our possessions and our own will, if we want to follow him who had
“nowhere to rest his head” (Lk 9:58) and who came “not to do his own will but
the will of the one who sent him” (Jn 6:38).
What happens to one who believes
that it is by his wisdom and understanding he has gained wealth for himself and
amassed gold and silver in his treasuries? By his great skill in trading, he
has increased his wealth and unknown to him a heart swelling with pride.
“‘Therefore, this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: “‘Because you think you are wise, as
wise as a god, 7 I am going to bring foreigners against
you, the most ruthless of nations; they will draw their swords against your
beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendour. 8 They
will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart
of the seas. 9 Will you then say, “I am a god,” in the
presence of those who kill you? You will be but a mortal, not a god, in the
hands of those who slay you. 10 You will die the death
of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners. I have spoken, declares the
Sovereign Lord.’” (Ez 28: 6-10).
That is a strong statement for a
strong man with a strong ego, the King of Tyre. Would we, with no such exalted
position, be spared by God if we too believe the wealth we have built is
entirely our doing and God had nothing to do with it and hence owed nothing?
-
Mathew Anthony
