Zoho founder and chief scientist Sridhar Vembu on Tuesday shared a piece of advice for managers, saying they have to grow a thick skin in order to lead any effort.

“A critical question every manager should ask themselves is "Can bad news reach me? Would people be comfortable telling me what I don't like to hear?" Being too sensitive is not a virtue in leaders. It would just mean bad news never reaches you. So one piece of advice I have always given our managers is "You have to grow a thick skin in order to lead any effort,” Vembu said in a post on X.

Vembu, who announced his decision to step down as CEO of Zoho earlier this year, now focuses on spearheading research and development initiatives in his new role as Chief Scientist.

These comments come a day after Vembu joined the raging Hindi language debate, saying the link language of the Indian customer is Hindi and this is not just in Hindi-speaking states. “You can get by with Hindi in Hyderabad or Bhvaneshwar (sic Bhubaneswar) or in Kolkata. Unlike English, no one in India judges you for speaking broken Hindi - they appreciate your effort,” Vembu said in a post on X.

“Now that globalization is going in reverse, we have to rely on India's own vast domestic market ($4+ trillion GDP and growing!),” explained Vembu.

Citing an example from Tamil Nadu, Vembu said: “In Tamil Nadu we learned English to do business globally, because you speak the language of your customer, you don't get to dictate what the customer speaks.”

Vembu’s post came after he met an Odiya entrepreneur who spoke in “halting English”, making its easier to understand with “halting Hindi”.  “Last week I met a smart Odiya entrepreneur (and Zoho customer) hailing from a small village, and he spoke halting English but his Hindi is quite decent. He was forced to use English to speak to me. My speaking halting Hindi mixed with English words would have been easier for us to do business. That is what I am aiming to get to,” he said.

This is how a practical business person thinks, added Vembu. “You can attack me all you want but if you are a business person, you would be smart to take this advice! I am generally immune to being mercilessly attacked so thank you for wasting your time rather than fighting out how to get ahead in life,” said Vembu.