EXA's Corporate Culture

Inspired, Diligent, Idealistic, Innovative and Fair

The immutable laws of management physics include some simple yet important concepts: Do only those things that you can be the best in the world at; those things you can be passionate about; things that make simple economic sense. Take the axiom that you need to "put the right people on the bus."

Group Commitment of the Leadership Team, EXA

"In truly great companies, change is a constant, but not the only constant. They understand the difference between what should never change and what should be open for change, between what is truly sacred and what is not.

And by being clear about what should never change, they are better able to stimulate change and progress in everything else."
--Jim Collins,
From the revolutionary book "Good to Great"
Graphic courtesy of JimCollins.com

There is nothing more important to any company's success than its corporate culture. In fact, a cornerstone of EXA's core strategy is based on a clearly defined, extensible and committed corporate culture. It is imperative that we honor our commitment to this culture.

EXA's corporate culture has been established through a variety of sources, including the past perspectives of the founders of EXA, Mr. Tisi, Mr. Margolin and Mr. Mukherjee, the distinctive culture that Mr. Walton was part of at Goldman Sachs, the faith and convictions of its founders and the culture described in the Jim Collins book, Good to Great.

In all cases the consistency of description across all of these experiences is compelling and proves that the EXA culture is more than a preferred choice. It is the only choice. This culture is the tangible foundation of our firm and has been proven valid through data as well as experience. The EXA culture is typified by the following attributes:

Attributes of the EXA Corporate Culture

• Steady and strong executive leadership
• The retention of A level talent combined with A+ effort from all employees
• A selfless approach to the best interests of the company
• The acceptance of comment and conflict, valuing rigorous debate regarding the best interests of the firm
• Acceptance of all cultures, religions and creeds for purposes of the betterment of EXA as a business and the creation of a challenging, stimulating work environment
• The selection of the "right" employees, not "good" employees, for every role
• The endorsement and promotion of the corporate culture by all employees
• Integrity, honesty and drive toward the pursuit of results
• Compensating employees fairly and within industry guidelines
• Discarding the assumed correlation between compensation and effort
• Identifying only self-motivated, "can do" employees
• Assessing the "right" employee based on an overall personality approach rather than purely on prior experience
• Placing the best talent on the greatest opportunities rather than the biggest problems
• Not deviating from an agreed to vision in the face of daunting challenge
• The establishment of a training program for every employee; every individual should be able to describe EXA's mission and core value proposition