By Aritra Bhattacharya

Stories are abound about Azim Hasham Premji in the Indian business circles. He is credited with transforming the fledgling $2 million hydrogenated cooking fat company he inherited from his father at the age of 21 into a $2.1 billion IT Services organization serving customers from across the globe. A recipient of many awards and accolades—primary among them being Time magazine’s listing him as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2005—Premji, unlike many others believes each one of them is recognition for all those who over the years have shared his thoughts and experiences on a host of issues ranging from India’s meteoric rise in the world order to the importance of universal quality education. Here, we capture his advice to techies in ten simple commandments—Premji’s commandments.

1 Take charge, dream on
The first thought that crossed young Azim Premji’s mind when he stepped into the Wipro factory at Almaner was ‘take charge’. The times decidedly were tough. His father had passed away and he was faced with the dilemma of coming down from Stanford University leaving his electrical engineering degree mid-way, to look after the family’s vegetable oils business or as many people advised, taking up a nice, cushy job. “At such times when you feel lost,” he says looking back, “there is a small voice inside you that tells you where to go. You can either amplify the voice to make it the purpose of your life or ignore it and turn if off.”

An essential component of taking charge is having a dream as to where we want to go. No doubt there will be setbacks in the pursuance of that dream, but still we must keep dreaming. Says Premji, “What saddens me most is to see young, bright people getting completely disillusioned by a few initial setbacks and slowly turning cynical. What’s worse is that some of them want to migrate to America hoping that it is the solution.” Dreams are most needed when just about everything is going wrong. They provide the inspiration and ensure that one remains in charge of the situation.

2 Earn your happiness
“It is a common saying that a Rupee earned is of far more value than five found,” says Premji. He recalls innumerable interviews when he’s asked the interviewees to narrate their most memorable achievements and they’ve recounted those which needed maximum effort on their part. “It is almost as if the pain they faced is now an integral part of their pleasure,” he says, adding, “I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.”

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