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