Recruit-G Celebrates Gandhi Jayanti: Honoring the Father of the Nation

I know, I know. It’s easy to hear a corporate leader start talking about “values” and immediately tune out. It can feel like just another piece of corporate messaging. But I want to talk about this for real. Not with buzzwords, but with actual stories and what this stuff means for us, day-to-day, in the trenches.

When we talk about Gandhi, the two big words that always come up are truth (Satyagraha) and non-violence (Ahimsa). In our heads, we picture massive historical movements, the struggle for independence. How on earth does that translate to an office in Delhi in 2025? It’s simpler than you’d think.

Let’s start with non-violence. For us, it’s not about physical conflict, obviously. It’s about creating a space where people feel safe. Genuinely safe. It means no yelling matches when a deadline is missed. It means no backstabbing or office politics to get ahead. It means you can voice a dissenting opinion in a meeting without fearing you’ll be shut down or secretly penalized for it. It’s psychological safety. It’s the quiet, daily practice of treating each other with fundamental respect, even when we’re stressed, even when we disagree. It’s about killing bad ideas, not the people who brought them up. This is way harder than it sounds. It takes constant effort, from everyone.

And then there’s truth. In our line of work, the temptation to… let’s say, exaggerate… is always there. To promise a client a timeline you know is impossible. To sell a candidate on a role by glossing over the tough parts. It’s the easy way out in the short term. But it’s a disaster in the long run. Truth, for us, is about radical transparency.

I remember a situation a couple of years ago that really cemented this for me. We were in the final round for a massive client. A real game-changer for a company our size. We knew the other firm in the running was promising them the world — a ridiculously fast turnaround, a fee that barely seemed possible. The pressure from our side to just match their offer was immense. We had meeting after meeting, running the numbers, trying to figure out if we could somehow make it work. The team was split. Some felt we had to do whatever it took to land the whale.

But in the end, we walked into that final presentation and told them the truth. We said, “Here is what we can realistically do. It will take two weeks longer than what you’ve been told, and here’s why. Here are the potential roadblocks we might hit, and here is our plan to deal with them.” It was terrifying. I was almost certain we’d lost it. But a strange thing happened. The room went quiet, and the client’s CEO looked at us and said, “You’re the first people to not just tell us what we want to hear.”

We didn’t get that project. The other firm did. And six months later, we got a call from that same CEO. The project was a mess, the promises had been broken, and they were in a bind. They asked if we could come in and help clean it up. We ended up building a relationship with them that is ten times stronger than that one project would have ever been. That’s what telling the truth does. It builds trust. And trust is the only real currency we have.

This is the stuff I was thinking about when we planned a few small events around the office this week. We wanted to do more than just send an email; we wanted to live these ideas for a moment.

The reflection session we held wasn’t a formal, stuffy meeting. We just grabbed some chairs and chai and started talking. And it was incredible. People really opened up. Ankit from the tech team talked about how the principle of truth influences his coding — no shortcuts, no messy patches, just clean, honest work. Priya from HR shared a story about using non-violent communication to resolve a team conflict. It was one of those rare moments where you stop seeing job titles and just see the people you work with, you know?

And for those of you who went out to the community kitchen to volunteer — thank you. I heard it was a humbling, powerful experience. Just spending a few hours chopping vegetables and serving meals, with no agenda other than to help. It’s a powerful way to get out of your own head and connect with the community we’re all a part of. It grounds you.

My favorite part might have been planting those trees. There’s something about putting your hands in the dirt, about doing simple, physical work, that clears the mind. We planted about 50 saplings in that barren patch near the office. It doesn’t look like much now. But it’s an investment. A bit of hope. The idea that in a few years, there will be shade and life there because we took a couple of hours out of our week — that’s a powerful thought.

So, as we head into the holiday, I just want you to think about this. This isn’t about being perfect. We are all human. We’ll mess up. We’ll have days where we’re impatient or where we’re tempted to take a shortcut. But it’s about the intention. It’s about trying, every day, to be a little more honest, a little more patient, a little more respectful. It’s about the kind of company we want to be, and more importantly, the kind of people we want to be.

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