Building An Indian Outsourcing Leader: MindTree CEO KK Natarajan (Part 1)

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Krishnakumar Natarajan (KK) is the CEO of MindTree. Prior to co-founding MindTree, KK was chief executive of the Electronic Commerce & Financial Solutions Division at Wipro. KK has been elected to the Executive Council of NASSCOM for three consecutive terms and works towards strengthening India’s position in IT through strategic global initiatives. KK earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Madras and an MBA from the Xavier Institute, Jamshedpur.

SM: KK, take us back to where your story begins. Where were you born, where did you grow up, and what kind of schooling did you have?

KK: My father worked for the railways. There was a lot of opportunity for me to do things beyond just my studies. I really took to playing table tennis and ended up playing at the state level when I was at university. My sister played at the national level. That shaped a lot of my personality. I learned how to compete fairly, and I think that is very important.

I went to the College of Engineering in Madras, where the focus was clearly on sports, and I also started taking a fairly active interest in student activities. Engineering offered a lot of academic competitions as well. I was probably a unique individual in the College of Engineering: I was an honor student as well as the student president. Typically people who do not have anything else to do are involved in student politics. From that experience I learned that transparency is very important. Individuals who had held that office prior to me really did not do a lot, and I made it a point to provide monthly reports on activities and expenditures. When I left I had definitely made a lasting mark on that office.

The College of Engineering at Madras University was a well-known name and one of India’s oldest engineering colleges. For whatever reason the minister of education decided he was going to rename it as Chennai University. I led the effort to ensure that students who had enrolled at Madras University would receive their degrees from Madras University. The brand of the university was important to us. The result, however, was that I was penalized and was not able to graduate with honors, which does not really matter.

SM: It does matter. It probably gave you a chip on your shoulder because you felt you were treated unjustly. All of us have some of those stories. People who do a lot with their lives have that chip on their shoulder, and it drives them to success.

KK: It also helped me know that I could take a chance and not get stared down or bullied into any position. It was a good experience for me to have.

SM: What did you do when you left the university?

KK: I had two options. I had a lot of interest in solar energy, and I had a graduate scholarship to continue studying it. At the same time getting an MBA was sort of an ‘in’ thing. I spent two years getting my MBA and it turned out to be a very good decision. I studied with a very diverse group. I graduated from there in 1981. At that time IT was not even an industry in India. Most people went into consumer products or consulting. I chose to go to ORG, which was just being started by a group of IBM people. That did not last very long. They had a very good product but lacked the ability to bring it to market.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Building An Indian Outsourcing Leader: MindTree CEO KK Natarajan
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