All Time Famous Quotes By Azim Premji

Azim Premji, born on July 24, 1945, is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist. He transformed his family’s company, Wipro, from a small hydrogenated cooking fat business into a global IT services giant. Under his leadership, Wipro became one of India’s largest and most successful IT firms. Premji is also a notable philanthropist, having established the Azim Premji Foundation in 2001, focusing on improving education in India. He is a signatory of the Giving Pledge, committing to donate a majority of his wealth. Premji has received several honors, including the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2011. He retired as Wipro’s executive chairman in 2019, passing the leadership to his son, Rishad Premji.

Azim Premji Quotes

01. “Success is achieved twice. Once in the mind and the second time in the real world.”
— Azim Premji

02. “If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.”
— Azim Premji

03. “Leadership is the self-confidence of working with people smarter than you.”
— Azim Premji

04. “I strongly believe that those of us, who are privileged to have wealth, should contribute significantly to try and create a better world for the millions who are far less privileged.”
— Azim Premji

05. “People are the key to success or extraordinary success.”
— Azim Premji

06. “When the rate of change outside is more than what is inside, be sure that the end is near.”
— Azim Premji

07. “I was 21 and had spent the last few years in Stanford University Engineering School at California. Many people advised me to take up a nice, cushy job rather than face the challenges of running a hydrogenated oil business. Looking back, I am glad I decided to take charge instead. Essentially leadership begins from within. It is a small voice that tells you where to go when you feel lost. If you believe in that voice, you believe in yourself.”
— Azim Premji

08. “As you get bigger, you have to learn to delegate.”
— Azim Premji

09. “There are millions of children today who don’t attend school. However, education is the only way to get ahead in this country.”
— Azim Premji

10. “Character is one factor that will guide all our actions and decisions. We invested in uncompromising integrity that helped us take difficult stands in some of the most difficult business situations.”
— Azim Premji

11. “You cannot get into business for the fashion of it.”
— Azim Premji

12. “In our way of working, we attach a great deal of importance to humility and honesty; With respect for human values, we promise to serve our customers with integrity.”
— Azim Premji

13. “As you get bigger, you have to learn to delegate. It’s also an excellent way to get staff involved in the company’s operations.”
— Azim Premji

14. “I think the advantage of democracy is that it makes us less dependent on a group of leaders.”
— Azim Premji

15. “We believe this combination of excellence in operations and strong execution of our strategy is critical to achieve our vision. We will continue to focus on both in future as well.”
— Azim Premji

16. “One of the pre-requisites for children becoming proactive and responsible citizens is the availability of enough role models inside and outside the school.”
— Azim Premji

17. “We give people major responsibilities even if they are only 60 per cent ready. Our experience is that people are pretty elastic when you give them responsibility, and they just grow rapidly with the job.”
— Azim Premji

18. “A girl child who is even a little bit educated is more conscious of family planning, health care and, in turn, her children’s own education.”
— Azim Premji

19. “My company believes in hiring people based on merit.”
— Azim Premji

20. “Always bear in mind that our own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.”
— Azim Premji

21. “Inflation is taking up the poverty line, and poverty is not just economic but defined by way of health and education.”
— Azim Premji

22. “As an advisor, I can say what I want. If I were a politician, I would constantly have to compromise, and I’m incapable of doing that.”
— Azim Premji

23. “I want Wipro to be among the top ten IT companies in the world.”
— Azim Premji

24. “If the United States wants access to Chinese, Indian or Vietnamese markets, we must get access to theirs. U.S. protectionism is very subtle but it is very much there.”
— Azim Premji

25. “The strategic initiatives we propose to undertake as part of our plan over the next few years position us well to lead this evolution.”
— Azim Premji

26. “The important thing about outsourcing or global sourcing is that it becomes a very powerful tool to leverage talent, improve productivity and reduce work cycles.”
— Azim Premji

27. “I think that any wealth creates a sense of trusteeship… it is characteristic of the new generation which has created wealth to have some amount of responsibility for it.”
— Azim Premji

28. “The early years were more about learning than about acting. I had to carry on my father’s work, which was a big challenge.”
— Azim Premji

29. “The Western world loves liberalisation, provided it doesn’t affect them.”
— Azim Premji

30. “With the attention I got on my wealth, I thought I would have become a source of resentment, but it is just the other way around – it just generates that much more ambition in many people.”
— Azim Premji

31. “The Indian community in Canada has integrated much better than the Indian community in the United States. They’ve become really Canadian at the same time as keeping all their Indian characters and customs and social groups.”
— Azim Premji