From AI to dealing with stress, Narayan Murthy’s insightful conversation with co-passenger goes viral

On a regular flight from Delhi to Bengaluru, a LinkedIn user narrated an incredible experience of sharing an economy seat with Infosys’ co-founder Narayan Murthy.

The LinkedIn user identified as Naren Krishna, who happens to be an entrepreneur, while recounting the encounter and insightful conversation, described the meeting as an unexpected and cool turn of events. The post started with the user expressing disbelief at being seated next to the visionary entrepreneur. Throughout the journey, the user remained astonished by the presence of this stalwart in the business world.

“What blew me away was how down-to-earth and approachable he was. In the few hours we shared, I delved into a myriad of topics with him, from the future landscape with AI, pivotal role the youth plays in the Indian economy on a global scale, surpassing even China in the future & managing expectations, dealing with stress, and navigating through failures while building a company,” he wrote.

Among the gems shared by Murthy was the importance of detachment from results, drawing on instances from Infosys’s journey where relentless efforts did not yield expected results while unexpected deals surprisingly fell into place. The key takeaway for Krishna was a quote from Louis Pasteur that Murthy referenced: “Chance favours the prepared mind.”

On the topic of AI, Murthy emphasised its transformative impact on industries like autonomous vehicles and precision surgery. However, what struck Krishna was his belief that AI will exponentially boost human productivity by 10–100x in various sectors. According to Murthy, the pace of innovation in the coming years will outstrip the last decade.

Krishna ended his post by saying he would carry the memory of this unexpected meeting with him for a long time.