Zerodha Has No Goals, Says CEO Nithin Kamath

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Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath has said that they never set goals at the company. He added that the outcomes in business are mostly driven by luck and being at the right place at the right time.

Zerodha Twitter handle

“We’ve never set goals at Zerodha be it user growth, revenues, or profits. The idea has been to get up every day, improve, and do what’s right for users, knowing that we’ll get to wherever we have to get to. The journey is a lot more fun this way,” Nithin Kamath tweeted.

“In any case, the range of outcomes in business is mostly driven by luck and being at the right place at the right time. Sharing so that people know that there are multiple ways to build a decently large business,” he wrote in a post, along with an article published at University of Pennsylvania’s site, Penn Today.

In the article published on May 7, 2009 entitled ‘The dark side of setting goals’, quoting Maurice Schweitzer, an associate professor of operations and information management at Penn’s Wharton School, stated that while people understand the importance of setting realistic goals, they often miss out on realising the harmful effects of setting goals altogether. Most believe that setting goals is beneficial but fail to understand that the same motivation can push people towards unethical behaviors.

According to the article, Schweitzer added that, “It turns out there’s no economic benefit to just having a goal—you just get a psychic benefit and that’s quite motivating in itself. But in many cases, goals have economic rewards that make them more salient or powerful.”

The article further emphasises on the research citing two case studies where employees who were given goals by their organisations resorted to lying and cheating in order to fulfill the same.

Kamath has also often stressed on the importance of starting financial journeys early. As per earlier reports, Nithin Kamath had shared a video of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, on 16th December, highlighting in parliament that many young Indians were not equipped with financial management skills.