this story originally appeared in on feb 16 2017will you walk from bengaluru to chennairdquo the patriarch of a familypromoted business who canrsquot be identified asks this writer while illustrating the difference between risk and uncertainty the context mdash the roles of a chief financial officer cfo and chief executive obviously nobody walks to chennai unless they must ldquoyet people regularly take on mount everest which is just 8 kmrdquo adds the founder a selfprofessed social hermit with a smile ldquobut yoursquoll say everest is a more expensive and arduous climb which is also truerdquo his point ceos are paid to take risks the risk tenure can be as steep as an arduous 8 km that we cannot see the summit of or the 345km walk to chennai that is less expensive thatrsquos the grey zone between uncertainty and riskalso read murthy versus infosys ldquothe ceo chooses the risk and so it is the cforsquos rolemdashabsolutely criticalmdashto hold the ceo back ringfence risk or call out if it is uncertainty or riskrdquo this is the sagely wisdom of a private familypromoted businessman in a general context letrsquos take the liberty of applying it to the rs 65569crore software services company called infosys when vishal sikka was appointed chief executive in mid2014 the office of the ceo moved from bengaluru to palo alto with sikka working out of both centres this unique arrangement is vital to how infosys is controlled it is good for clients but for most of the senior management in india for the first time in infosysrsquo history decisions taken in the us are having an impact here more on that later first the known knowns one prima facie events the cfo of a 87billion company leaves his exit is tied to an unheardof severance package rs 1738 crore which becomes known five months after after the annual general body meeting where investors express displeasure that payment is stopped at a little over rs 5 crore this is the most sensational instance of poor disclosure practices by infosys under sikka two in the context of indian it companies that have an eye on operating profits this ceo is unconventional to say the least he has promised infosys will grow to 20 billion by 2020 it was sub10 billion in 201516 it must grow at 20 in a market when it clocked 91 in 201516 so this is about climbing mount everest now the good news young employees love him even technology advisors and consultants feel that if there is friction between old founders and infosys it is a sign that the company is being reinvented for modern needs ldquothe friction shows there is serious intent and not lip servicerdquo says sid pai an independent technology consultant who has never met sikka ldquoyou can expect that the younger company will align with the new culture at infosys what we are seeing murthy versus infosys is a natural expression of a strategic shift in the companyrdquo for most of the