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Pariveda Solutions
THE NAME “PARIVEDA” IS SANSKRIT for “reaching for
complete knowledge,” and CEO Bruce Ballengee believes
knowledge is found in people. Therefore it’s no surprise that
the secret of his success is in cultivating the team and helping
its members advance. In fact, new hires at the Dallas-based
company are given a 10-level plan for climbing the company
ladder on the first day of employment.
“Our mission is to acquire, develop and manage talent in
our industry is on people hitting a glass ceiling, so it’s hard to
know what you need to do to advance.”
Part of the employee cultivation is a lot of hands-on coaching. Staffers are given employee reviews every six months and
usually are up for promotions every year to year and a half, on
average. “One of our goals is to make these project reviews
not a thumbs up or down thing, but on how your performance was. It’s bringing career development down as granular as possible,” Ballengee says.
All reviews are in the form of a letter
that speaks to an employee’s strengths
and weaknesses, and what the key things
are to do or development areas. “What
we are really trying to do is find
strengths to leverage. People are generally going to succeed and advance on
their strengths over their weaknesses, so we put a lot emphasis on that.” Major promotions are treated like a doctoral
oral exam where the initiate is gilled before a review board
to see if he is ready for the next step.
Ballengee sees this career cultivation as a key advantage for
Pariveda, which specializes in the “business of IT”—helping
clients optimize their value chain and transform their business
and technical architectures to deliver value. With the right team
in place, consultants apply the best value and resources to their
mostly IT clients at their six locations.
The plan is working as its revenue is up 42 percent and
the number of billable consultants has almost doubled in the
past year to 90. Ballengee, who himself brings 25 years of
experience to the table, foresees more growth in the future—
a projected 85 percent increase in revenue—as Pariveda expands between one and three offices a year in new markets:
On tap for 2008 is a new location in Los Angeles.
“We are a long way from becoming a dominant player in major
markets, but since we are small and people are able to work
locally, we are able to attract and maintain good people [to keep
our clients satisfied],” he says. “We’re already in six of the
top twenty-five
markets in the
world, and we just
want to continue
expanding. Our
team will help
realize this goal.”
—Christine
Galea
“Our mission is to develop and manage talent in IT for
the benefit of our clients; it’s all about people development.
We’re trying to grow people to become executives, and our
business model is geared toward that. Bruce Ballengee, CEO of Pariveda Solutions ”
I T for the benefit
o f clients, it’s all
a bout people devel-o pment,” Ballengee
says. “We’re trying
t o grow people to be-c ome executives, and
v arious aspects of
o ur business model
a re geared for that.”
New employees,
w ho are usually in
t he top tiers of un-d ergraduate or grad-
Bruce Ballengee, CEO of Pariveda Solutions u ate levels, are given
a path that spells out
how to get to be an executive—there’s no mystery.
And most people can make vice president in 10 to 12 years,
though the firm also hires people at the executive level. The
thinking behind this strategy is that these new employees have
already gone through an education system that is based on annual promotions to get to the next level, so they know how to
play the game. At Pariveda, a curriculum is set up that mimics
their school career in that they have an expectations framework
that is clearly defined at every level of the corporate ladder,
which Ballengee sees as unique to his firm.
“People want to work on interesting projects, where they are
making an important contribution, are recognized for their efforts, and where they have the opportunity to advance to the
best of their abilities,” Bellengee says. “Much of the turnover in
Headquarters: Dallas
Offices: 6
Billable Consultants 2007: 90
Revenue 2006: $10.3 million
Revenue 2007: $14.6 million
Projected revenue for 2008: $27 million
