Vishal Sikka’s resignation letter to the Infosys board

Sikka mentioned in his resignation letter that continuous distractions and ‘the constant drumbeat of the same issues over and over again’ is what has diminished the ‘excitement and passion’ despite so many achievements and transformations in his journey.

Vishal Sikka, who was appointed as the MD and CEO of Infosys with huge excitement three years back has just called it a day. Sikka mentioned in his resignation letter that continuous distractions and ‘the constant drumbeat of the same issues over and over again’ is what has diminished the ‘excitement and passion’ despite so many achievements and transformations in his journey.

“Over the last many months and quarters, we have all been besieged by false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks. Allegations that have been repeatedly proven false and baseless by multiple, independent investigations. But despite this, the attacks continue, and worse still, amplified by the very people from whom we all expected the most steadfast support in this great transformation,” he writes.

He further added that these distractions and negativity takes away the ability to ‘make positive change and stay focused on value creation’. Though under the covers, differences were simmering between Sikka and NR Narayana Murthy as the latter seemed to disagree with the new policies and cultural transformation being brought about in the company.

On the other hand, the company mentioned in the official release that, “In particular, the Board is profoundly distressed by the unfounded personal attacks on the members of our management team that were made in the anonymous letters and have surfaced in recent months.”

Sikka took over when the company was in dire need of able leadership as it was lagging behind industry growth. During his tenure, Infosys revenues have grown from $2.13B in Q1FY15 to $2.65B this past Q1, with strong margin performance and cash generation. Under his guidance, Infosys also launched breakthrough new programs to drive innovation, education and entrepreneurship on a large scale.

However, at a board meeting held today, August 18, the the Board of Directors of Infosys accepted the resignation Sikka as the Managing Director and CEO. Following this movement, U. B. Pravin Rao has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director reporting to Sikka under the overall supervision and control of the Company’s Board while Sikka has been appointed Executive Vice Chairman effective today.

The company mentioned in a filing to the BSE that Sikka will hold office until the new permanent Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director takes charge, which should be no later than March 31, next year.

In the official notice to BSE, the company mentioned that, “Sikka reiterated his belief in the great potential of Infosys, but cited among his reasons for leaving, a continuous stream of distractions and disruptions over the recent months and quarters, increasingly personal and negative as of late, as preventing management’s ability to accelerate the Company’s transformation.”

 “Vishal has made a seminal contribution to the transformation of Infosys, and he will be remembered for infusing a refreshed sense of direction, purpose and energy in the organization,” says R. Seshasayee, Chairman of the Board.

While Sikka commented, “”I started my journey as the CEO of this iconic Company with a mission to transform it on the basis of software, especially [artificial intelligence], and innovation, enabled by education. Three years later, I feel proud of our progress and achievements, from profitable revenue growth to rapid purposeful adoption of software, new services and grassroots innovation, to the extraordinary recognition from our clients worldwide.”

While Infosys again scouts for a permanent MD and CEO, it is evident that the much looked-up-to Indian IT giant is going to see some difficult times ahead.

Here is the full text of Sikka’s resignation letter.

Dear Board Colleagues,

Over the last few days, since our earlier call, I’ve met Sesh several times, talked to you individually at length, and spent time thinking things thru with Vandana. During this time, one of our employees, Sandeep Karamongikar, died in his sleep, likely of a massive heart attack. He was working on the chatbot frontend in Nia. Also over the weekend, in possibly the greatest demonstration of AI capability ever, a bot built by the researchers at OpenAI (yes, that OpenAI), defeated the world’s best players of DOTA2, a multiplayer online video game, a game where the bot learned to play entirely from scratch. Further demonstrating that the force to automate routine, even advanced, activities is an unstoppable and exponential one. And the Charlottesville incident here in the US demonstrated once again the power of words and silences to cause real damage, or to heal.

After much reflection, I have concluded that it is indeed time for me to leave my current positions as MD and CEO, and I have communicated my resignation to Sesh.

I will be working closely with Sesh, Ravi, Pravin, with all of you, and the senior management team to plan out the details and the timelines to ensure a smooth transition and in the meantime, continue our work without disruption, and ensuring that we protect our company, the employees, the clients, and the interests of every shareholder. You can count on my commitment to this.

I came here to help navigate the company through what I saw as a massive transformation opportunity, to transform our company and restore strong profitable growth, as well as help transform the business of our customers. I came to do this with the power of technology, given my experiences with similar transformations, my background in AI, and the structural changes that I saw happening in the IT services industry. This needed new skills, new thinking, new initiatives, and a transformation in the culture, from a cost-oriented value delivery, to entrepreneurship oriented value delivery. You have heard me articulate this many times before.  This type of a transformation has always been a passion for me, indeed I took this job for this reason. We have achieved much in the last 3+ years, and for sure we can all be proud of the powerful seeds of transformation that have already been sowed. No one anticipated the additional headwinds like the geo-political disruptions (Brexit, Trump, visa etc.) that made this transformation even more challenging, but also rewarding. But, the distractions that we have seen, the constant drumbeat of the same issues over and over again, while ignoring and undermining the good work that has been done, take the excitement and passion out of this amazing journey. Over the last many months and quarters, we have all been besieged by false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks. Allegations that have been repeatedly proven false and baseless by multiple, independent investigations. But despite this, the attacks continue, and worse still, amplified by the very people from whom we all expected the most steadfast support in this great transformation. This continuous drumbeat of distractions and negativity over the last several months/quarters, inhibits our ability to make positive change and stay focused on value creation. Addressing the noise by itself is damaging; hundreds of hours of my own time has gone into this recently. But the structural challenges this engenders within the organization, has a very damaging effect on our ability to carry out any kind of a transformation, especially one that is as fundamental as transforming from a cost-oriented to an innovation-oriented value delivery to clients.

Therefore, I have come to this moment and the end of this journey. I hope that it gives everyone a chance to reflect, and give the transformation effort another big push and move the company forward rapidly to build its future, to build upon the foundation that we have laid over these past 3 years. If these types of attacks continue, I hope each of you will continue to be the voice of fairness and reason – providing the active, emphatic and unequivocal support that the company, the management, the employees, and all of the stakeholders and friends of the company need in order to succeed. Since the board deeply believes in the cause we have started, I will be happy to support all of you to achieve a smooth transition, and serve as your Executive Vice Chair as discussed.

I would like to thank each one of you, my dear colleagues, my friends and mentors, and look forward to working with you to close this chapter and open a great new one for all of us.

Best,

V