Most company founders tend to stick fast to their jobs. But that makes other people think, “There’s no future for me; why should I stay?” I realized that this should not happen if our company is to grow. You have to move on and let those younger than you take a more active role.  Our headquarters are in New York, but our operations are in India and the Philippines. I spend half time traveling the globe and the other half in India.  Traditionally, outsourcing has involved call-center and routine, noncritical transactions. The offshore outsourcing industry has evolved and now provides more sophisticated operations.  We have leapfrogged into core operations of the banking and insurance industries, among others. For example, in the property and casualty areas, we issue policies and handle claims. We also consult on risk management, process change and pricing and marketing models.  Our company went through some difficult times. When we started in 1999, Gary Wendt, the former chairman and C.E.O. of GE Capital Services, joined us as our chairman. We were a pioneer in setting up shop as a third-party service provider in India, which was a huge risk. We couldn’t find funding, and Gary helped us find it. When he became chairman and C.E.O. of Conseco and tried to direct a turnaround there, he decided to outsource work to India.  To achieve that, Conseco bought EXL in 2001. A year later, Conseco filed for bankruptcy. A majority of our revenue came from the Conseco operations, so we lost our major client and most of our revenue and had no way to pay our employees. It was then when we, along with Oak Hill Capital Partners and FTVentures, bought EXL back, found new clients and never fired a single employee. That has helped our image in the marketplace, particularly with potential employees.  The differentiator between a good C.E.O. and an average one is the ability to lead. Employees have to see you follow through on what you say needs to be done. In our business, it’s the hours we work. When you’re in India, you start in the afternoon and work late into the night. If you’re in the United States, you work both American and Indian hours. You’re showing employees, “If I can do it, you can do it.” Even more critical is setting an example regarding the company’s values. You have to live them every single day.  As told to Patricia R. Olsen.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page BU8 of the New York edition with the headline: It’s Clearly Not Retirement. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
After 26 years with Bank of America, I decided to retire. I told my wife, an executive recruiter, that I was going to return to India and play golf. She said, “We’ll see.” Six months later, she found me a job to get me out of her hair.