Culture Musings: The Price of Freedom

The first part of the series can be found here.

So every discussion on culture with our new joinees continues to throw up new insights. It’s also a testament to our hiring that we have people who from day 1 can have an intelligent POV / discussion on company culture.

The latest instalment brought a shift in focus from culture as a collective (team / org level phenomena) to the individual. Let’s take “freedom” or “flexibility” as two aspects of our company culture — they seem to speak of what the company gives the employee. But the foundation is a high belief of individual capability — that they can surprise our wildest expectations, so our structures will only come in the way of their performance. This places a huge responsibility on the individual — simply said the greater the freedom the company provides the greater the responsibility the individual bears. Those who understand this implicit expectation will use the freedom given wisely.

Responsibility is the price we pay for freedom.