Sridhar Vembu has lately been a hot topic on internet forums. From revealing the updates to Arattai’s security features to discussing philosophy and theoretical ideas, Vembu’s voice is draws a lot of attention. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), however, Zoho’s Chief Scientist reveals that his company’s policy is not to allow any of the employees to publicly praise the senior management, including himself.
Vembu shared insights into the company’s unique culture of humility and the value of constructive criticism. The message, which has sparked widespread discussion, arrives at a moment when Arattai edges closer to implementing the long-awaited end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for text chats.
In his post, Vembu detailed a longstanding internal rule at Zoho, “One long standing principle within the company is that no employee is allowed to praise the leadership, including me, in public. We remind people of this rule periodically and it has become a core part of our culture.”
Vembu explains the ‘no-praise policy’ at Zoho
Vembu said that this policy allows the company to foster an environment free from sycophancy, allowing the focus to remain on innovation and customer needs. “The spiritual principle I have tried to follow in life is to let neither praise nor abuse get to me. I don’t read or watch videos about me. I am not that important to me and do not want to carry the burden of being important.”
Instead, he views existence itself as a divine gift, invoking the Sanskrit term “Satchitananda” — truth, consciousness, and bliss — to express daily thankfulness.
“I think of being alive and conscious, drawing breath, as the ultimate gift bestowed by the creator and remind myself to be thankful for that gift.”
However, Vembu clarified that he takes feedback for his company’s products and services seriously. “I do read critical feedback of our products or the company. They are important. I remind myself and our employees to be thankful for the fact that we even receive that feedback, because the natural or default state for any product or idea is to be completely ignored. The fact that people take the time to tell us is a gift we must be thankful for.”
The post comes at a time when Zoho is constantly in the chatter for Arattai’s end-to-end encryption in text messaging. Vembu, in previous responses, had confirmed that the company has been working on the encryption feature to get it out to consumers as fast as possible.
In response to a direct query from user @quantam_lock, who asked, “When can we expect E2EE for chats in Arattai? Without E2EE adoption of Arattai will be difficult. And it’ll lose steam. I hope you bring that feature soon,” Vembu replied, “Yes going through testing right now. We are doing multiple rounds of QA to be sure.”
