Date:20/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/06/20/stories/2008062050512200.htm

Back Those tricky ‘middle years’... daring to move on

— K. Pichumani

For young professionals: Book launch of ‘Go Kiss the World’ by Subroto Bagchi at Landmark, Chennai.

Kumar Shankar Roy

Chennai, June 19

For a tech titan who regularly convinced Azim Premji with management solutions, could there ever be moments of self-doubt?

While it may appear outlandish, Subroto Bagchi, in fact, experienced his periods of regret in those tricky ‘middle years’.

“My mid-life crisis actually made me leave Wipro at the height of my professional career,” he confessed to a packed room of startled booklovers, who had gathered at the launch of Bagchi’s second book Go Kiss the World organised by Landmark recently.

It is interesting how high achievers bent upon making a wrong decision (quitting Wipro) produce convincing arguments and these, then begin to take a life of their own, he smiled wryly, while reading a passage from the book.

After 10 years at Wipro and ‘working closely with Mr Azim Premji’, the man from a small town, thought he had learnt everything and aspired to learn innovation next.

What better place then to learn innovation than a company that filed three to four patents a day, he reasoned to the audience.

The engagement with Bell Labs, however, proved to be short-lived for Bagchi, who realised his folly in just seven days.

He dismisses suggestions of many who feel his latest book reads more like an autobiography, than an attempt at sending out messages to young professionals.

“I don’t intend to make this an autobiography… I clearly see 20-30 years more of work to be done,” revealed the author, who had told people that he would work for just five more years while taking up the position at Bell Labs.

While in hindsight it took him potentially several million dollars worth of ‘lost’ Wipro stock options and the realisation of having made a ‘poor decision’, his mid-life crisis ultimately led to the creation of MindTree, the country’s first VC funded, Indian IT services company to have gone public.

In 2008, Bagchi took on the role of ‘Gardener’ at the company he co-founded, where he attempts to weed out ‘personal-professional’ issues of its Top-100 leaders in a one-on-one setting.