Infosys & Salil Parekh – change catalyst CEO

    Salil Parekh didn't invent a new product at Infosys — he rebuilt trust, direction and momentum. Here's the Change Catalyst trait of the Winning Kite, told through Infosys, Gary Kirsten's Team India, Ratan Tata, and the ADKAR model.

    Infosys & Salil Parekh – change catalyst CEO

    Infosys & Salil Parekh – change catalyst CEO

    When Salil Parekh walked into Infosys in January 2018, the company he inherited was not short of talent, cash, or clients — it was short of belief. Boardroom battles, a founder-versus-management public spat, and a leadership vacuum had left India's second-largest IT services company anxious and directionless. Parekh didn't need a brilliant new invention to fix that. He needed the one competence that ties together every other emotional intelligence skill: the ability to be a Change Catalyst.

    In short

    Where this sits on your Winning Kite

    Change Catalyst is Trait #24 on the EQ — left — side of your Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework). It is placed deliberately near the top of the 25-trait EQ list because it is cumulative: the more self-aware, empathetic, motivated, adaptable and attentive a leader already is, the more naturally they can catalyse change in others. On the kite, EQ pulls from the left, RQ (Relationship Intelligence) pulls from the right, and PQ (Productivity) anchors the bottom — together they lift Success at the top. A change catalyst with no relationships to draw on, or no execution discipline to convert intent into results, will announce a change and watch it die on a WhatsApp group. The kite only flies when all four sides pull together.

    Infosys before Parekh: a company that needed a catalyst, not a new idea

    Infosys did not lack technology, clients or cash reserves when Salil Parekh took over as CEO and Managing Director in January 2018. What it lacked was direction and trust. The company had just been through a bruising, very public conflict between its founders — led by N.R. Narayana Murthy — and the previous management team over corporate governance concerns. The fallout led to the resignation of the sitting CEO, and Infosys entered a period where employees, clients and investors were all asking the same question: who is actually steering this ship, and where is it going?

    This is precisely the situation the book describes as the starting point for a change catalyst: recognising that "the status quo is no longer good enough" and that something has to change to reach the goal. Infosys, one of India's largest IT service providers, was facing a rapidly changing market and increased competition from global players at the very moment its internal leadership was in disarray. The company's response was to appoint Parekh — a leader whose primary value wasn't a radical new product roadmap, but the ability to act as a catalyst for change.

    What Parekh actually did — removing obstacles, not reinventing the wheel

    Under Parekh's leadership, Infosys was able to change its business model, grow revenue, and move up in the market. He didn't need to out-innovate competitors overnight. He needed to do what every change catalyst does: recognise where the barriers were, question the parts of the status quo that were no longer working, and get the organisation to agree that change was necessary — then remove whatever was standing in the way of it.

    This is the core insight the book repeats through the Change Catalyst chapter: being a change catalyst takes more than technical expertise. It takes a set of emotional skills — the ability to persuade, to stay committed, to stay motivated, to take initiative, and to remain optimistic even when the organisation around you is nervous. Parekh's turnaround of Infosys worked not because he was the smartest technologist in the room, but because he rebuilt confidence — among the board, among clients, and among employees — that the company had a steady hand and a clear direction again.

    Mary Shapiro, a professor at the Simmons School of Management, is quoted in the book making exactly this point: technical expertise is essential for a change leader, but emotional intelligence is equally important. Good change leaders need self-knowledge, empathy, strong communication skills, resilience, and a strategic understanding of the organisation's goals. Parekh's Infosys mandate needed every one of those — not a single new invention.

    Change catalysts are not necessarily innovators

    This is one of the most liberating ideas in the whole Change Catalyst trait, and it's worth sitting with. Transformational leadership — the kind Parekh, and every effective change catalyst, practises — goes beyond traditional management. In times of change, organisations need charismatic, inspiring leaders who can get their people excited about a new direction by appealing to emotions, meaning, and shared purpose. Transformational leaders don't just issue orders. They describe a compelling vision of where the organisation is headed, one that makes people feel emotionally invested in getting there.

    Picture a hypothetical, but very familiar, Indian workplace scenario: a company's manufacturing plant has operated in Bengaluru for years, and management decides to shift it to Pune for cost savings, better logistics, or access to new markets. That decision alone can trigger enormous resistance — employees who have built their lives around Bengaluru don't want to relocate, and no amount of a "great new plant design" will fix that resentment on its own.

    What the situation actually needs is a change catalyst: someone with the self-awareness, empathy, communication skill, adaptability and resilience to help employees process the move, and the strategic clarity to connect that move to the company's larger goals and to each employee's own career growth. Crucially, this leader doesn't have to invent anything new about the plant itself. Their job is to inspire people to embrace a change that has already been decided — creating a culture of trust and transparency, giving employees a voice in how the transition happens, and building an environment where experimentation and learning feel safe. That is the essence of Change Catalyst: you don't have to be the source of the idea to be the reason it succeeds.

    Gary Kirsten and the 2011 World Cup: catalysing change without changing the players

    Nowhere is the "catalyst, not innovator" distinction clearer than in Indian cricket. In 2007, the Indian team suffered a humiliating first-round exit from the Cricket World Cup. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) knew the team needed change, and brought in a new coach: Gary Kirsten, a former South African opening batsman.

    Kirsten didn't rebuild the team from scratch. He worked with the same core of extraordinary talent — Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan, and Harbhajan Singh — and became a change catalyst for that group. He understood the need for change and got to work quickly, building trust and credibility with players who had every reason to be skeptical of an outsider. He studied each player's individual strengths and weaknesses and tailored his coaching approach accordingly, rather than imposing one system on everyone.

    The payoff came in 2011: India won the Cricket World Cup for the first time in 28 years. MS Dhoni hit the match-winning six in the final. Yuvraj Singh was named Player of the Tournament for his all-round performances through the campaign. None of that required Kirsten to invent a new form of cricket. It required him to lead change and build a winning team culture with the players already on the roster — precisely the change-catalyst skillset the book describes.

    Ratan Tata: change catalyst at conglomerate scale

    Being a change catalyst is more than technical expertise — it takes persuasion, commitment, motivation, initiative and optimism. Ratan Tata, former chairman of Tata Group, is offered in the book as the large-conglomerate version of this same trait. Under his leadership, the Tata Group diversified its business and expanded globally, becoming one of India's largest and most respected conglomerates. Like Parekh at Infosys and Kirsten with Team India, Tata's transformation of the group wasn't about a single new invention — it was about recognising that the status quo needed to change, and having the emotional and strategic capability to lead a sprawling organisation through that change without losing its core identity.

    Change catalysts closer to home: Kiran Gems and Islampur

    The book is careful to show that this trait isn't reserved for CEOs of listed companies. At a Women's Day keynote at the Sahara Hotel, Mumbai, in March 2023, I met the leaders of Kiran Gems — one of the world's biggest natural diamond manufacturers, founded in 1985 by Vallabhbhai Patel, Babubhai Patel and Mavjibhai Patel. The company's success rests on its willingness to change and adapt, rooted in a culture of trust, integrity and ethics. Leaders like Dinesh Lakhani, who entered the diamond business at 17 and is now a Director responsible for global sales and marketing strategy, and Rajesh Lakhani, another Director, have each demonstrated the change-catalyst competence — leveraging their expertise to drive innovation and growth and take Kiran Gems from a small manufacturing operation in Mumbai to a global industry leader.

    I saw the same trait at a very different scale in Mr. Pratik Jayant Patil, whom I met at the Islampur Business Forum. Pratik comes from a prominent political family — his father, Jayant Patil, is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra — but chose entrepreneurship and philanthropy over the expected path of political prestige. He founded the Islampur Business Forum to give local entrepreneurs a platform to collaborate and grow together. What struck me about Pratik was that he is a constant learner, always open to new ideas that could bring about change — leading by example, recognising the need for change, and driving it forward with conviction while supporting others through the process. Leaders like him aren't just stars in their own domain; they're catalysts of transformation who create a ripple effect of positive change around them.

    Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies and author of Employees First, Customers Second, captures the underlying principle well: an effective change catalyst inspires and empowers people to drive change by building a culture of trust and openness, giving employees a voice, and creating room for people to try new things and learn. That is exactly what Parekh did at Infosys, what Kirsten did with Team India, and what the Patels and Lakhanis have done at Kiran Gems.

    Becoming a change catalyst: the ADKAR Model

    Recognising great change catalysts is one thing. Becoming one at your own desk, with your own team, is another. The ADKAR Model, developed by Jeff Hiatt, is a practical framework for managing change at the individual level, built on five components: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.

    Take a familiar workplace scenario: a team leader wants to introduce new project management software.

    1. Awareness (of the need for change)

    The team leader communicates why the change is happening — improved efficiency, better collaboration, streamlined processes — backed by data and concrete examples of the benefits.

    2. Desire (to support and participate in the change)

    The leader addresses individual concerns directly and emphasises the positive impact on each person's own work — how the new software saves time, eases their tasks, and contributes to their professional growth.

    3. Knowledge (of how to change)

    Training sessions and resources are arranged so the team actually knows how to use the new tool, and "change champions" are identified within the team to support their colleagues.

    4. Ability (to implement the change)

    During the transition, the leader monitors progress, identifies obstacles early, and offers one-on-one coaching, troubleshooting, or extra training so nobody is left behind.

    5. Reinforcement (to sustain the change)

    The leader recognises and celebrates the team's success with the new system, resolves lingering issues, and folds the change into the team's daily routine — while gathering feedback to keep improving it.

    Applied consistently, ADKAR turns "leading change" from a vague aspiration into a five-step checklist any manager can run — whether the change is new software, a relocated plant, or a company as large as Infosys finding its footing again.

    Bringing it back to your team

    Daniel Goleman's original research on emotional intelligence long ago identified Change Catalyst as one of the leadership competencies that separates good managers from truly effective leaders — the ability to sense the need for change and champion it, rather than simply administer the status quo. Salil Parekh's Infosys turnaround is a modern, unmistakably Indian corporate proof of that idea: he didn't need to be the most inventive person in the building. He needed to recognise that the old way had stopped working, remove the obstacles slowing everyone down, and rally an anxious, capable organisation around a believable new direction.

    That is the real lesson of Trait #24. You don't need permission to be innovative to lead change. You need the self-awareness to see clearly, the empathy to bring people with you, the communication skill to make the "why" land, and the persistence to see it through the messy middle. Whether you're running a Bengaluru-to-Pune plant relocation, rolling out new software with ADKAR, or stepping into a CEO's chair at a company that has lost its confidence, the change catalyst's job is the same: make the status quo visibly unacceptable, and make the new direction visibly worth the discomfort of getting there.

    If you want to build this competence deliberately across your own leadership team, explore Avinash Chate's Signature Corporate Training Programs or the full set of corporate training topics, and see how Change Catalyst fits with the other 24 EQ traits on the Winning Kite.

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    Who is Salil Parekh and why is he called a change catalyst?

    Salil Parekh became CEO of Infosys in 2018 after the company had gone through boardroom turmoil, founder-management friction, and a leadership vacuum following N.R. Narayana Murthy's public clash with the previous CEO. Parekh didn't bring a radically new invention to the table. What he brought was the Change Catalyst competence: he recognised that the status quo — an anxious, directionless organisation — was no longer good enough, removed the obstacles slowing Infosys down, and rallied leadership and employees around a renewed digital-services strategy. Under him, Infosys stabilised, grew revenue, and re-established its position among India's top IT services companies.

    Is a change catalyst the same as an innovator?

    No, and this is one of the most important distinctions in the Change Catalyst trait. An innovator invents a new product, process or idea. A change catalyst inspires and mobilises people to embrace a change that may already be defined — a merger, a relocation, a new system, a new market reality. You do not need to be the person with the original idea to be the person who makes the change actually happen. Transformational leaders, as described by Bernard Bass and echoed throughout the Change Catalyst trait, succeed by appealing to people's sense of purpose, not by out-inventing everyone in the room.

    What is the ADKAR model and how does it apply at work?

    ADKAR, developed by Jeff Hiatt, is a five-step model for managing change at the individual level: Awareness of why change is needed, Desire to support it, Knowledge of how to change, Ability to implement it, and Reinforcement to sustain it. A team leader introducing new project management software, for example, would first explain why the old process is failing (Awareness), address people's personal worries and highlight benefits (Desire), run training and appoint change champions (Knowledge), coach people through the transition (Ability), and finally celebrate wins and gather feedback so the change sticks (Reinforcement). It is a practical checklist any manager can use before rolling out a change.

    How does Change Catalyst fit into the Winning Kite framework?

    Change Catalyst is Trait #24 on the EQ (Emotional Intelligence) side of the Winning Kite — the left panel — and it sits deliberately near the top of the EQ list because it draws on almost every other EQ competence that comes before it: self-awareness, empathy, motivation, adaptability, and active listening. In the Winning Kite, EQ (left) combines with RQ (right, Relationship Intelligence) and PQ (bottom, Productivity) to lift Success (top). A leader who can catalyse change without the relationship trust or the productivity discipline to back it up will struggle to make that change stick — which is why the kite only flies when all four sides pull together.

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