Chanakya Set the Standard Premji Actually Kept
Chanakya wrote in the Arthashastra that a leader's character is not what he declares but what he does when the cost of doing right is real. Azim Premji did not quote Chanakya. He didn't need to. When Wipro was building its early IT business in the 1990s, Premji reportedly walked out of a government contract negotiation rather than pay a bribe. The contract was significant. He walked anyway. That one decision, made before Wipro was the company it would become, set the terms for every hiring decision, vendor relationship, and internal audit that followed.
