Thought leadership turns USP for tech firms

Two innovators employ legends, mock at staff churn

Two innovative companies across the hardware and software divide in IT have given notice to the unique niches they occupy through their efforts to create standout work cultures.

Both Norwood, Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices (ADI) and Chicago-based software technology firm ThoughtWorks consider thought leadership in their operational spheres as pivotal.

According to William Matson, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at ADI, the semicon major is positioned as a company that solves problems no other firm can solve. Consequently, the 50-year-old ADI is home to many of the industry legends.

“We recently acquired a company called Hittite. A delegation from Hittite was at our global technical conference. They were lining up to get the signature of Barrie Gilbert, because he is kind of the father of analog design in the whole semiconductor world,” Matson told Deccan Herald recently.

Gilbert invented numerous analog circuit concepts, including the Translinear Principle, and has over 100 patents to his credit. Matson said employees at ADI deeply value the chance to work with such legends.  Matson himself came to know of ADI from engineering friends with whom he roomed at the university. “ADI was the company for which people who wrote most of the textbooks they were actually studying at the university worked.”

Talk to Sudhir Tiwari, president and chief operating officer (COO) of ThoughtWorks, and he turns eloquent about the scores of books written by ThoughtWorkers. “We were on this client call yesterday when someone named a competitor firm as made up of 30 very senior people. We replied that all of those people would have read books by Martin Fowler and come up and we have Martin (chief scientist who helped create the Manifesto for Agile Software Development in 2001) in our firm. That’s the differentiation, right?” he told Deccan Herald recently.

Swears by long tenures

Both ThoughtWorks, which wants to be the most influential technology company in India, and ADI flaunt the long tenures of their employees, in contrast to the tech industry trend of rapid churn. “We are fortunate to have a very low attrition rate. People just don’t leave. They come to ADI and work for 20, 30, and in one instance 50 years,” Matson said.
ADI India Director (HR and Operations) Joe Lazar said even in the 300-strong India team, there are people who have spent up to 20, 18, and 15 years in the company, besides the many who have spent over 10 years. Joe himself is in his 11th year.

Tiwari has a similar story to tell about ThoughtWorks. The COO, now in his 10th year in the company, counts about 100 people in the 400-strong Bengaluru team who have spent more than five years. In the 800-plus India team, he said there are at least 50 with 10-plus years of tenure.

On career growth, ThoughtWorks presents employees with opportunities to connect with everyone in the office, right till the leadership level. “You will have access to thought leaders globally. A Martin Fowler or a Sam Newman or a bunch of people who even sit outside, they are accessible, they visit offices….But you should have the passion for software. If you are thinking of this as another job, you may not like this place,” Tiwari said.

At ADI, the Analog Garage is the platform that allows employees to come forward with ideas, even crazy ones. “We select those most promising ideas and we fund those projects and teams,” Matson said. “It’s a lot like venture capital. Many of these ideas won’t amount to anything. But some will create businesses that generate hundreds of millions of dollars in value over time.”