ContraMinds Podcast - Unlocking Personal Growth and Professional Excellence · Swami, ContraMinds Labs

#055 Rajendran Dandapani on Skills Over Scores: The Zoho Schools Approach

·1 hr 10 min·4 clips

Zoho Schools removed fees, examinations, and attendance, then let students learn by using computers with mentors nearby.

Rajendran Dandapani starts from a simple claim: the idea of being perfectly unbiased is a myth. He says the world is already biased and polarized, and the more honest move is to recognize that some people need more time, more attention, or less interference than others. He pushes back on the urge to make people work feel perfectly balanced. For him, leadership is partly the art of giving one relationship more and another less, depending on what the moment requires. That same directness shows up in his view of feedback. He argues that openness and candor matter because criticism should not wait until appraisal time. Appreciation, he says, can be public, but criticism belongs in private and should happen right away. Zoho Schools is then presented as a route for young people without college degrees. The program began with an age rule and a narrow entry path, but the team kept hearing from graduates who wanted in. In response, Zoho created a school for graduate studies for people who had finished college but had not yet entered work. That program is framed as a three-month boot camp focused on sharpening skills and preparing for interviews at Zoho School or Zoho Corp. He also describes Marupadi, a women’s empowerment and return-to-work program. Marupadi is meant for women who have worked in IT or technology, taken a break for more than a couple of years, and now want to re-enter. The episode makes clear that the school is not tied to any university. It does not offer certificates, and Dandapani says Zoho does not value paper as much as what a person brings to the table. When universities asked to collaborate and certify the program, Zoho even told them there would be no attendance requirement and no exams, and he says they have not heard from them since. He says the school now takes about 250 students a year. It started with six students in 2004 and grew gradually and organically. By now, almost 1,800 students have gone through the program and almost all work at Zoho today.

As heard by us

A skills first case for training, feedback, and hiring that values proof over paper.

Rajendran Dandapani frames Zoho Schools with a blunt view of people work: neutrality is less useful than knowing when to spend more time with some people, less with others, and giving feedback quickly and in private.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a blunt case for hiring on skill, Zoho Schools is the proof point.

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