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Is it About Culture or is it About Values?

One of the important rites of passage for a young company has nothing to do with business. It has to do with culture. In MindTree, we were trying a create a next generation company that would work business backwards - blending high-caliber "local-feel" consulting with the discipline of off-shore software development.

The two are inherently different animals. No doubt, the world was comfortably perched on the dichotomy between on-site and offshore software development and here was MindTree saying it was possible to forge a concept we coined internally as "OneShore". The teams that came together on the platform of that promise also brought excess baggage from their pasts. The more successful teams are in their past lives, the larger becomes the baggage. The challenge very often is not in dealing with people’s inabilities - the challenge is in dealing with overly capable people. That was beginning to happen to us.

The consulting world works in a ‘business-backward’ manner - many among us, who came from the software development world, were more comfortable working in a ‘technology-forward’ manner. The style of the consulting folks was one of authority and confidence, with the ability to articulate and be upfront. Consultants demonstrated high physical and mental energy. In their interactions, form precedes substance and they invariably look for intensity as a pre-requisite to commitment when looking at others in the team.

On the other hand, the folks who came from a software development background were understated and deferential. They had invisible but sustained energy. In their paradigm, substance was everything. Finally, if they were Indians, intensity was a culturally unacceptable thing.

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Subroto Bagchi is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for MindTree Consulting (P) Ltd. The "Making of the MindTree" is told in the first person by Subroto Bagchi. In condensed form, it was published by Business World, filmed by InfiniTV, and aired on CNBC, IT Hour. Websites: www.mindtree.com & www.mindtree.com/subrotobagchi