Interview of Subroto Bagchi - Author of The Professional

The Professional, by Subroto Bagchi, Vice Chairman and Co-founder of Mindtree Ltd., was released in November, 2009. In this interview he talks about his views on professional ethics. To begin with a quote from the book cover – ‘Great public efforts are often rooted in deeply personal experiences and sometimes very private feelings’.


Corruption is not unique to India, so what is the focal issue for Indian professionals in this?
(1) The fundamental difference between corruption in India and other countries is that, in other places, it is not necessary to ‘take care of people’ in order to get a voter-ID card, a house allotment, or just to deal with the policeman.
The very fact that corruption is mainstream means there is a need to speak up.

(2) Independent India is entering adulthood. Today, we are a member of G-20. In 1980 when we were nearly defaulting on an IMF loan, there is no one who would have expected this of us. Now, we have grown in a way that people say India will determine the future of the world. Adulthood brings responsibilities and there are certain minimum standards that a country must follow to be worth its entry into the club of few.

The next sixty years is the age of the young Indian professional. When that professional engages with the world, the rules of the game will be quite different.

(3) Having said all that, finally, it is not for someone else, some kind of reformer to teach you this. At the end of the day it is a personal choice. Take the story of Mahadeva, a young boy whose mother’s died, orphaned at age eight, running around with the urchins, living on people’s alms - to that guy, all options were open. He could have become a pickpocket, a smuggler, Dawood Ibrahim... it would have been condoned by society, for who could blame this orphaned boy? But he did not choose that. Mahadeva is central to the question. No one can impose a rulebook on you. Finally, it is a choice between the right thing and the convenient. Neither can you expect a red carpet for making the right decision. Doing right is not about heroics. It is about who you are.

(4) Every professional has to develop within himself a self-awareness and depth. It is better to be a good criminal than a vascillating professional.

Who is the book for?
The book is not just for the corporate sector. I want the book to be read by every medical student, law student, chartered accountant, every professional who should know the difference between good and ugly.

If you go to a different country … as a software engineer, or a rocket scientist, or the next booker-prize winner, suddenly the world is aware of you! To handle that world you will need a change of attitude. You can take a short circuit, jump the queue for short-term gains, but when you take the longer path, you are building an inheritance for your forthcoming generations.


Issues in your organization -
Integrity issues such as sexual harassment or forging an LTA bill are not small professional mistakes: A few days ago, I was counting the number of professional mistakes that we had made that were above US $250,000 in their impact and I counted ten. [I found] It is okay to make a mistake in negotiating a contract, make a wrong hire, or mess up a software design, but it is not okay to forge an LTA voucher!

We are just saying that if you want to be one of our tribe, you must be like this.