MR.SIKKA, INDIANS CAN ASK QUESTIONS

Image Source: Tech Crunch

This post is triggered by Mr. Vishal Sikka's interview to the Times of India. You can see the interview here.

I admire Infy. Infy demonstrated to India that you can make money ethically, it instilled employees with pride in what they do. Just one transformation story that is definitive : a teacher at a college in a small town was recruited by Infy and within a year was sitting in a meeting in California presided by Steve Jobs since he was working on a project for Apple.

My submission to Mr. Sikka is: Indians can and do ask a lot of questions. It is just that Infy is not hiring or retaining these Indians. And no, the Mysore Campus is not the solution, it is the problem. 

Asking questions is NOT an "India" problem. Nor is formulating a solution. India has had a long tradition of questioning and debate. From the Shankaracharya/Madhvacharya debates to the Ambedkar/Gandhi debates to the tea shop 'behas karna', Indians ask a lot of questions and formulate solutions. A business example: 'Thanda matlab Coca Cola' is a great example of an Indian asking questions of an MNC and formulating a solution that is culturally adapted. In fact, the motto of The Ugly Indian social movement is 'Moo Bandh, Kaam Chalu' precisely because Indians ask a lot of questions and do NOT just do what they are told. 

The issue is this. Infy was founded on a very brave idea - that Indians can create great software. In the early years the organization has been brave and path -breaking. But over time, Infy's success has bred an orthodoxy. This orthodoxy, in turn, attracts conservative people. Conservative people do not ask questions. And conservative people hire others like them. 

Mr. Sikka can change this by changing how Infy hires. Send in your mavericks to hire. Hire the girl who has colored hair and her tongue pierced. And put some mojo into the Mysore Campus. The dress code and everything else there is about regimentation. The Army never produced any painters. 

Finally, get rid of the hideous glass pyramids and other such architectural monstrosities from your campuses. We live in a hot country with a heritage of context sensitive architecture (Hampi, Taj Mahal). When you build replicas of Athens or the Versailles you destroy an employee's ability to ask questions. How can an employee question a Western customer when you are signalling through your architecture that Infy believes in aping the West?

BTW, this is not sensationalism. I would be happy to describe my thoughts in much more detail but the blog medium requires brevity.