‘Culture clash’: Inside three years of transformation and tumult at Xero

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy was hired to turn Xero from a Kiwi upstart into a global heavyweight. In more than a dozen interviews with current and former employees, and with Singh Cassidy herself, Forbes Australia examines what that transformation has cost, and whether a company can go global without losing the culture that built it.

Late last year, as Xero’s $3.9 billion acquisition of payments company Melio was closing, chief executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy fronted the company’s 5,000 staff. 

Monthly all-hands meetings were made a ritual early in her tenure, and they always ended with ask-me-anything sessions in which staff could query her on Xero happenings. Pointed questions had been asked in the past about quiet restructures, the company’s centre shifting from New Zealand to the United States, and contentious initiatives from new management.