Bibhu Ranjan Mishra & Pradeesh Chandran
This was perhaps the last conversation of Wipro's Joint CEOs, Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani, with a journalist in their current capacity. Despite being in office and in the city, and being instrumental in driving the company for the past three years, the two decided not to attend the third-quarter results' press conference, the last in their career at Wipro. Both tried to avoid answering as many questions as possible when Bibhu Ranjan Mishra and Pradeesh Chandran spoke to them (separately) on Friday. Edited excerpts:
Wipro CEOs on why they quit
Image: Suresh Vaswani.Paranjpe: I am not at all unhappy I am very happy. Three-five years is the ideal time frame for a CEO to continue in the same position in a company.
Then why did you decide not to attend the press conference despite being in the office?
Paranjpe: It doesn't matter others were there.
Vaswani: What if we were not there? You are going with a lot of news which is good.
Wipro CEOs on why they quit
Image: T K Kurien, CEO, Wipro.Vaswani: That's because we didn't want that (position). We were quite clear on that the day we became Joint CEOs together. We are still part of the Board, and when the Board met and decided the revised environment needed a single CEO, we decided the CEO should not be either of us.
Because, we didn't want one versus the other. So, we decided to resign and move on. It will, of course, be a smooth transition to Kurien, who has got a good track record.Is it not a big sacrifice for you two?
Vaswani: It is not a sacrifice. We played our role, we played our strength and now we decided to resign and move on. We have not lost anything. The world is a very large place.
Wipro CEOs on why they quit
Image: Wipro office.Paranjpe: I am not saying I will stop working. I have to find what I want to do I may think about a different type of role or career. I have time till March to think about that.
Vaswani: We are here till March anyway, and we have to do all the transition. Right now, I have not decided anything. It may be planned in the next few days.
Wipro CEOs on why they quit
Image: Wipro office.Are you planning to start your own venture?
Vaswani: I have not decided on that. I do know that in the next couple of months, I have to think and take the right call in terms of my career. It is something that I decided. I am sure Girish (Paranjpe) will also be planning something.
Wipro CEOs on why they quit
Image: Wipro employees.When people like you leave after serving over 20 years in an organisation, does it not give a bad message to employees?
Vaswani: I will be lying if I say people are not disturbed. But at the end of the day, it's good for everybody it's good for us, as we have been here for long time and we want to go to the second phase of our career. It is good for the company, as it (our leaving) gives opportunities to another set of leadership in the company.
Wipro CEOs on why they quit
Image: Wipro office.Vaswani: T K Kurien (the new CEO) is a solid leader and there are many more leaders. The good thing is that we at Wipro have created a huge leadership engine, which keeps on creating new set of leaders.
Any more changes expected to happen?
Vaswani: It's too early to comment on that. I don't think anything has been decided.
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