MAX New York Life's (MNYL) philosophy is simple: reward performance. It applies that philosophy diligently, some say ruthlessly, to its 4,000 agents. And to its 900 employees. For an agent who does well, Rs 10 lakh as annual commission income is common. They also get to attend special offsites, where fun, training, and insights are combined in equal measure. The most successful ones get nominated for the chairman's gold pin or the Million Dollar Roundtable, a worldwide club for insurance agents who cross the $70,000 (Rs 5 lakh) mark in annual commissions. Similarly, MNYL employees can expect lots of money, recognition, special training and other rewards if they do well.

The flip side: laggards don't survive. Targets are stiff - 100% annual growth is common at every level. Results are monitored monthly and discussed publicly. Key Result Areas (KRAs) of the senior managers - from managing director Anuroop 'Tony' Singh downwards - is placed on the company intranet. Little wonder that attrition rate is over 25%. Singh sees it as necessary blood-letting for a high-performance organisation.

Despite the singular focus on performance, or perhaps because of it, MNYL employees who survive take great pride in being part of the organisation. Singh makes sure that the rewards for the high performers go beyond just soulless cash. He meets every one of the company's employees at least twice a year at presentations organised at the 20 offices across the country in which he discusses the vision and the values of the company. MYNL has a policy of goal-setting for its agents. They are encouraged to set personal goals - it could be money for son's education for one and a certain number of hours devoted to a particular cause for another - and then break up these goals into finite targets to be achieved year after year.