Two leaders running one business is an idea that has very few backers. Azim Hashim Premji is one of them
Inside Wipro’s headquarters at Sarjapur in Bangalore, they have a nickname for Suresh Vaswani: Josh. The moniker refers to his hard charging, aggressive personality and an exceptional selling prowess. At the company’s campus at Electronic City not far away, sits Girish Paranjpe. Insiders call him Hosh, largely for his even temper and an ability to think long-term. On a sunny day in March two years ago, Azim Premji, Wipro’s founder-chairman, decided to bring the two very different personalities to lead the same business — the $4.2 billion information technology business that accounted for 90 per cent of Wipro’s profits. When colleagues heard about Premji’s move to install Vaswani and Paranjpe as co-CEOs, they were aghast. It seemed to have all the makings of a rare misadventure by a man known to think unconventionally.
As Premji looked for solutions, the idea of joint leadership began to take shape. One of the first to broach the subject was board member Ashok S. Ganguly, who had rich experience working in such an environment at Unilever. (Ganguly didn’t confirm that it was his idea, only saying that it was the board’s unanimous decision to appoint co-CEOs). His point was that the IT business had become a lot bigger and more complex since Paul left, making it difficult for one person to lead it.
Culture Matters
Premji says the co-leadership model worked in his company thanks to the professionalism shown by the two he picked as CEOs
(This story appears in the 02 April, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)