I admired Cognizant's sales aggression, TCS' delivery maturity and Wipro's R&D focus: V Balakrishnan

V Balakrishnan, cofounder, Exfinity Ventures Ltd

Claim to fame

Part of the core team of Infosys, which made it a global IT firm and listed it on the NASDAQ

The lesson

During my stint at Infosys, I met several leaders of competing IT companies. One common thread across the leadership in IT companies is their humility and simplicity. I admired the sales aggressiveness of Cognizant, delivery maturity of TCS and R&D focus of Wipro. We tried to imbibe those into Infosys. We formed a CFO club that was cohesive and we used to go on holidays along with our families together. We learned to respect each other and learn from each other even though we competed in the market on a day to day basis.

(As told to KR Balasubramanyam)