By Phaneesh Murthy

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it,” said Michael Jordan, the legendary basketball player.


At that time, GE was Infosys’ largest customer, contributing approximately 38 percent to the company’s revenues. It was the key growth period for the company. A phase when the kind of projects being executed was leading to the maturity of the organization, and skills and capabilities were being enhanced.

The GE contract was coming up for renewal. However, as the terms of renewal were not mutually agreeable, Infosys was certain to loose the GE account in the next 6 to 9 months.

The consequence of this eventuality looked disastrous. Not only would the top line take a big hit, it would also mean a large bench and half vacant buildings in the new 5 acre campus the company was moving into. For me it was a whammy, as I had just taken over as the Head of Sales.

What I did that year would determine how Infosys would fare immediately and in the future years to come.

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