The Hindu Business Line : Solve small problems

Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of the founders of Infosys Technologies Ltd, was the Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the company. Today, he takes over as the company's President, COO and Joint MD. He plays a key role in defining the company's strategy and in using technology and innovation continuously to maintain its leadership of the industry. He holds M.Sc. (Physics) and M.Tech. (Computer Science) degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Here's his take on four questions from Business Line:

Two things that my education/training taught me:

IIT education taught me to compete with the best with confidence.

A positive mindset is required to do well in life.

Two things I learnt from my work/real life:

You need to surround yourself with the best people.

Take up and solve small problems daily and the larger problem will get fixed eventually.

One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:

Optimistic and problem-solving outlook to life.

A book that I read recently:

Guns, Germs and Steel — The fate of human societies, by Jared M. Diamond.

As told to Kannan Srinivasan, a US-based chartered accountant.