Saturday, 23 August 2025

📘Howard Gardening Story #14 — Azim Premji and Docendo Discimus

 


🌟 Time for another corporate “fairy tale”

Three invitations. One unusual honour.

This story comes from a personalized book I created, a few years ago, to honour Wipro’s iconic Founder, Azim Premji.

It’s a glimpse of what may happen when quiet conviction meets compassionate leadership — and when workplaces nurture not just performance, but purpose.

Here goes the summary of my fairy tale - 

In 2010, Premji received three separate Best Teacher Awards — not for himself, but on behalf of his company.

Why? Because his people weren’t just building code.

They were building classrooms.

It all started with a bold question: 

“What if our best employees taught in schools and colleges — not after they retire, but now?”

🌱 The program was called Docendo Discimus — Latin for ‘We learn when we teach.’

⭐ Premji gave employees world-class training who volunteered to teach real-world topics.

🎓 People loved it. Students learned what the curriculum never taught them.

🧠 The company coined a new term — Cub-sourcing — real project work done by students, enabling talent spotting, faster onboarding, and lower training costs.

This wasn't just CSR.

It was culture. Community. And a sustainable talent strategy.

🧑‍🏫 5,000 students were project-ready from Day 1 when they joined Wipro.

💼 Employee pride soared — with stars embossed on ID cards for every year they taught.

🏛️ And in 2010, three state Governors called this company - India’s best teacher.

Not bad for a company that never claimed to be in the business of education.

🌟 What legacy will your people leave behind — inside or outside the boardroom?

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The story above is just a glimpse. The full story lives in the book I crafted for Mr Premji. Feel free to ask him for a peek. 🙂

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Bangalore, Karnataka, India
My purpose is to manufacture success and happiness