Fortune.com: Cognizant CEO Talks About Leadership in Times of Rapid Change

“I have always believed that leadership is about rapidly understanding the context, having the courage to set a direction based on that understanding of the context, and then building a team and inspiring that team to follow and pursue that direction,” says Francisco D’Souza in a “From the Corner Office” interview with  Fortune’s Senior Special Correspondent Susie Gharib.  “That continues to be the case when a business is going through rapid change.” Excerpts:

“When things are changing more quickly, you have to have an ability to sense and respond more quickly than before to the changing environment.

As a leader, you have to be willing to trust and empower the people on the frontline to really do the right things for the business because things are changing fast and they change on the frontlines first. It is the people who are on the frontlines, dealing with customers every day, that are going to have the best and most current information about what’s happening. You’ve got to be able to trust the people on the frontlines to make the right decisions, and in a sense, have the ability to get out of their way so that they can do what they need to do.

The best advice that I’ve got about being a good leader came from a professor of mine at business school, who said something very simple. He said to me, “In your career and in your life, you’re not going to have time to do anything of which you’re not going to be proud. So every time you have a decision ahead of you, use that simple test.” That’s what I have done and it has worked well for me.”