Always remember…

This Sunday is my last day as the CEO of Cognizant. On Monday, Brian Humphries will take over from me to lead Cognizant’s next chapter of growth and success. I know that the best days for Cognizant lie ahead and I have great optimism for our future. As we march boldly forward, I hope that we never forget the lessons of the past – which, after all, made us who we are today. So, in my last email to you as CEO, I thought I’d share a few lessons from the last 25 years.

Front lines; not conference rooms – We never developed strategy, made decisions or took action too far from the front lines. In competitive markets like ours, battles are fought and won close to the action. Never fall into the trap of making decisions in the “ivory tower” or conference room. Reality is much closer to the ground.

United we stand strong – Ours is a team sport where execution matters. We rely on each other and stand by one another. When any one of us falls, the rest of us pick that person up. Doing the right thing by each other always is how we stay strong and bring our A-game to the field every day.

Morals and kindness matter more than ever – The world is becoming more complicated and societies seem more divided than ever. In the face of this complexity, we have always based our decisions first and foremost on the moral compass described in our core values. Doing so allows us to act with unified purpose. Kindness to one another and living our core values matters more than ever.

Pick the best people – I learned this lesson from my long-time friend and colleague Raj Mehta. Raj is an outstanding people developer. He lives the philosophy that if each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, then we rapidly become irrelevant. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, then no obstacle is too large to overcome.

Future first – The future always comes faster than we expect. We navigated each wave of technology, scale, and complexity by always embracing the future faster than the competition. Never fear the future. It will be here faster than we think, and we can shape it to be better than the past!

Good luck to all of you! Over the coming months, I’ll be working with Brian to ensure a smooth transition. And I’ll be cheering team Cognizant from the sidelines! We’ve built a powerhouse that matters to the world. That’s a purpose and mission that transcends all of us. Onward!