LEADERSHIP QUALITIES OF AZIM PREMJI

Submitted By:

Navjot Singh Bindra (91010)

Sandeep Agarwal (91048)

Shefali Srivastava (91050)

Shweta Gangwani (91052)

Swagat Kumar Panda(91058)

AZIM PREMJI

CHAIRMAN OF WIPRO, one of the largest software companies in India.

• Born on July 24,1945 in Bombay (now Mumbai), to a Gujarati

Muslim family

• Completed his initial education at St. Mary's School, Mumbai

• Was Studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford

University, USA, but due to the sudden demise of his father,

he was called upon to handle the family business.

START OF HIS CAREER

• 1966-Inherited father’s $2 million hydrogenated cooking fat

company.

• Repositioned it and created Wipro Ltd., a Bangalore, India-based IT

services organization.

• Holder of more than 80% of the company’s stock, Wipro’s

Chairman and CEO has become one of the world’s wealthiest men.

• Holds a slots at number 60 on Forbes magazine’s 2008 list of the

World’s Billionaires.

BUSINESS DIVERSIFICATION

• Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest independent R&D service provider in the world.

Hydrogenated cooking fats

Bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders

software

ACHIEVEMENTS TO HIS CREDIT

• In 2000, Asia week magazine, voted Premji among the

20 most powerful men in the world.

• Azim Premji was among the 50 richest people in the

world from 2001 to 2003 listed by Forbes.

• In April 2004, Times Magazine, rated him among the

100 most influential people in the world.

• In 2005 honoured with Padma Bhushan

• Awarded a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), an honorary

degree , from the Aligarh Muslim University on the

18th of June, 2008.

LEADERSHIP TRAITS

PATH-GOAL LEADER

Leader Behavior

• Directive

• Supportive

• Participative

• Achievement - Oriented

BUILD ON YOUR STRENGTHS

• Build on your strengths: Azim Premji is the icon for integrity and integrity is his "strength". He certainly leveraged this strength well.

DIVERSIFYING

“What you build is far more valuable than what you inherit”

Azim Premji was passionate about diversifying into the risky business, when the business he had inherited was doing well.

LEARN FROM FAILURES

• “Enjoyed success but let it not go to the head, learned from failures”:

Learnt when the attempts at change were failing miserably. Premji had to change the leadership twice in two years before he zeroed in on a general manager who delivered.

HUMILITY

“Simple living, high thinking”

Premji did not have any "airs" about him. He was perhaps the richest Indian even in those days, but he lived very simply.

EXCELLENCE

• “Striving hard for excellence”

When he set targets for the annual plan everyone would think he was just being pushy, but he was able to deliver each of these ambitious targets and more.

ADVERSITY

• “Don't give up in the face of adversity”: Wipro Finance lost Rs 120 crore in the early nineties when most other finance companies folded up. Premji insisted on repaying every depositor and used his personal wealth to do it.

IMPLEMENTOR

“Have faith in own ideas”:

Premji had vision and always believed in his ideas and was able to translate them into a resounding success.

DOWN TO EARTH:

He is low-key and it’s

his ability to relate to

anyone –from prime

minister to gardener

—that has contributed

to his success.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER

Idealize InfluenceInspirational MotivationIntellectual stimulationIndividual consideration

SETTING STANDARDS:

• Setting the standard for an organization is a necessary aspect of good leadership as well, and Premji believes this is possible if the leader do so with honesty and integrity.

TALENT RECOGNITION

“His ability to recognize talent”:

He’s just like a good coach. Good coaches can get more potential out of an athlete than the athlete realizes.

CHARISMATIC LEADER

• Sets the vision and articulate

it clearly.

• Willing to take personal risk

• Sensitive to followers’ need

and show unconventional

behaviour

LONG TERM VISION

• Premji takes a long-term view in terms of Wipro, not a view that’s driven quarter by quarter.

• He does what he thinks is right and is willing to take the consequences.

SELF CONFIDENCE

• Self-confidence is a necessary part of good leadership.

• That confidence allows leaders to take risks and learn from them, including lessons gleaned from the occasional failure that accompanies risk taking.

• Azim Premji is full of self confidence.

VISIONARY LEADER

• His ability to create and articulate a realistic, credible attractive vision of the future for the organization and improve upon the present.

CONCLUSIONManagerial competence

Ability to stimulate others to high performance

A blend of personal humility & professional will

Emphasis on merit.

Create an environment of enthusiasm ( convert

average performers to high performers)

Strong leader- set a vision and enthuse people to

achieve those vision.