When One Pillar Becomes the Hero
For the last few months, I believed we were building something extraordinary.
We had divided the organization into four major pillars.
The first was Technology — responsible for everything from hardware to software. They built systems, solved problems quickly, and consistently delivered beyond expectations.
The second was POD Management — responsible for managing our network of PODs, supporting community leaders, coordinating execution on the ground, conducting research, and ensuring every POD continued to grow and succeed.
The third was Marketing and Sales — the people responsible for telling our story, bringing people into our ecosystem, and ensuring the organization could continue growing.
The fourth was Management — finance, operations, governance, and everything that kept the organization functioning.
On paper, every pillar looked equally important.
In reality, one pillar had quietly become larger than the others.
Technology.
A Shift in Identity
We had made a philosophical shift a few months earlier.
Instead of seeing ourselves as just an education organization, we began calling ourselves a technology-first organization that serves education.
It was the right decision.
The tech team became incredibly productive.
New tools. Better systems. Faster execution.
Everything improved.
I was proud.
So when we scheduled a meeting to discuss the performance of different departments, I expected conversations about processes, targets, or hiring.
Instead, Ashish said something that completely changed how I looked at our organization.
He didn’t criticize the technology team.
He admired them.
“They’re probably our highest-performing team.”
Then he paused.
“But I think they’re accidentally creating a culture that’s hurting everyone else.”
The room became silent.
Small Moments Create Big Cultural Shifts
He started describing small incidents.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing anyone would report.
The tech team would point out mistakes in marketing.
They would explain why another team’s work wasn’t good enough.
Sometimes an entire group from tech would question another department’s decisions.
They weren’t trying to insult anyone.
In fact, many of them genuinely wanted to help.
But intent isn’t always what people remember.
People remember how they felt.
Slowly, other departments stopped feeling like partners.
They started feeling like students being judged.
The Hero Problem
Then Ashish said something I’ll probably remember for years.
“The problem isn’t that tech is performing well.”
“The problem is that everyone now believes tech is the hero of the story.”
That sentence hit me harder than I expected.
Because once you start looking through that lens, you begin noticing everything.
People from marketing wanted to move into tech.
People from operations wanted to learn coding.
People from management wanted technical responsibilities.
Very few people wanted to become better marketers.
Or better operators.
Or better managers.
Not because those roles weren’t important.
But because somewhere along the way, people had learned an unspoken rule.
“No matter how good I become in my department, technology will always matter more.”
That’s a dangerous belief.
Because once people stop believing their work matters, they stop competing.
They stop improving.
Eventually, they stop staying.
Connecting the Dots
Looking back, we started connecting dots we had never connected before.
- Why was retention lower in some departments?
- Why did people feel less ownership?
- Why did some teams hesitate to share ideas?
Maybe this wasn’t the only reason.
But perhaps it was one of them.
Culture rarely breaks because of one big mistake.
It breaks because of hundreds of tiny moments that slowly teach people what is valued and what isn’t.
An Invisible Hierarchy
The irony was painful.
We had invested months into building specialized departments.
We wanted every team to become world-class.
Instead, we had accidentally created a hierarchy where one team’s success made everyone else feel smaller.
No organizational chart had ever said:
- Technology is above Marketing.
- Technology is above POD Management.
- Technology is above Operations.
But culture doesn’t read organizational charts.
Culture watches behavior.
Asking a Better Question
That meeting changed the question I was asking.
I stopped asking:
“How do we make every team perform like tech?”
Instead, I started asking:
“How do we make every team feel like the hero of its own mission?”
Because organizations don’t become great when one department becomes exceptional.
They become great when every department believes its work is indispensable.
Every Pillar Matters
Technology without marketing builds products nobody knows about.
Marketing without POD Management creates promises nobody can fulfill on the ground.
POD Management without operations never scales.
Management without all three has nothing meaningful to manage.
Each pillar exists because another pillar makes it possible.
None of them win alone.
A Work in Progress
I’m still figuring out how to solve this.
Maybe it starts with changing how we celebrate success.
Maybe it starts with leaders giving equal visibility to every function.
Maybe it starts with teaching high-performing teams that excellence also means making everyone around you stronger.
I don’t know the complete answer yet.
Final Reflection
But I know one thing now.
The biggest threat to a growing organization isn’t an underperforming team.
Sometimes it’s a high-performing team that unknowingly convinces everyone else they can never matter as much.
And if that happens, the organization doesn’t fail because one pillar becomes weak.
It fails because the other pillars slowly stop believing they were ever meant to carry the building.