Today, that candidate stands out as Bahl’s most successful hire. Kanan Bahl took a calculated leap when interviewing a candidate from a Tier-2 city who possessed outstanding technical abilities but struggled to articulate himself in English. In a corporate culture often obsessed with polished English , one Mumbai entrepreneur decided to break the mould. Rather than letting language barriers dismiss genuine talent, Bahl hired him for a client-facing role and encouraged him to speak comfortably in Hindi.
He continued, “I was tired of hiring people great with their English but terrible with their technical skills. I asked him to communicate confidently in Hindi with clients. A fourth wrote, “Companies expect English-speaking skills like a native English speaker from the candidates. How could anyone speak like native English speakers when we speak our mother tongue most of the time? The majority of Indian parents don’t speak English, so we can’t speak in English at home either.”
Today he’s my best hire.
