The Hindu Business Line : Not all salesmen are bad, some could be worse

STORY so far: CA elections are over and there are charges and counter-charges on who spent how much for the campaign. I have little time for this gossip, so engage myself with snatches of music in sabhas, where I meet some of the top intellectuals who have chosen the city as their yearly retreat venue. For instance, a top-notch economics professor shares with me his insights about the economy, debunking some of my myths in the process.

The company heralds the New Year with a great goodie for the employees: A hefty discount on what we buy at the All-O-Mall! However, during my shopping trip, I ponder over fundamental economic issues, as if I had the answers for all of them.

Episode 58

The last quarter has started, you must be aware, once the clock struck twelve on the night of December 31. Companies live life 90 days at a time, too short a gestation period to show any results. But the markets and shareholders seem to be hungry for some growth indications.

"We are aping the US, in adopting the norm of quarterly disclosures," said Deepak Parekh of HDFC at a recent seminar in the ICSI. "It is like putting the companies on a watch list," opined a veteran company secretary, during the tea break. "Soon, some jerk will think of a monthly reporting system," he said in a hush, because there were already a few who met his description from the officialdom.

"Why not a daily reporting?" I asked, quite innocently. But he shot me an angry look, and said, "That will be no different from getting those released on bail to come to the police station daily to sign a register."

*********

In the office, we had one of those simple New Year parties, with some eats to go around, but the main focus was on what our boss had to tell us. "We stand for quality," he said. "Market would rise or fall, we may make splashes in the media or everything may be a long lull, profits may swell more than we can handle or they may just come in trickles. But we are in this business of giving our best to the product we make. Our brand is our signature. And we will not sign any junk and pass it off to make money."

Everybody nodded, and I looked around. They seemed to be getting energised by the speech. "Hey, he is saying the same old things," I whispered to Gupta who was sitting by my side. "That's right, Swati," he responded. "But, some things don't change, do they?"

*********

That afternoon, I went to meet the boss to present him with a greeting I had made by putting waste paper as a collage, and to congratulate him for the pep talk he had given the employees. Perhaps he could discern the sarcastic smile on my face, so he said, "Swati, you may be wondering why I didn't tell them something new."

There was no point evading the discussion, so I decided to get my point of view across to him. "Exactly, sir. I was disappointed that I didn't learn anything new at the end of your lecture." He didn't get angry, or if he did, he wasn't showing any. "It's like this, Swati. Our values don't change as dramatically as the headlines of newspapers. To be fair, even newspapers don't change their editorial policies too drastically."

"Why should there be a repetition of these values, as if we were parrots?" I asked, "To fill time? Because there has to be a speech?" He smiled, "More than that, we reinforce these into the minds of everybody. In the course of the daily grind of work, it is easy to lose sight of what we are working for. Something similar happens when you go on a long drive, or run a marathon." I asked, "Are you suggesting that these talks are more like anchoring?" Boss nodded, "You're right. Going at high speed is good, but the real test of control is when the situation demands that you stop or slowdown, or maintain balance on the curves.

"We are all driven by the dynamics of a fast-changing world, and it is so easy to focus on the short-term at the cost of the long-term. It is when we leave all the work and pause to think about our core values, we ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing, whether the substratum is still on, and whether we have not gone hollow."

His words seemed to have a strange effect, and I was wondering if he had some hypnotic skills. "I am still wondering, sir," I said. "What, Swati?" he asked me with concern. "If you gained all this wisdom in some Himalayan cave?" I said. We had a hearty laugh.

*********

January 2, and it is 3 p.m. There is a software guy from a `solution provider' to demonstrate his wares and Chandru wants me to join the presentation. "Why me?" I asked, "I have a lot of work to do." He pleaded, "Swati, it will be useful." I retorted, "You simply want to fill a few chairs to present a show of strength before the outsiders!" He said, "Not at all, I swear. You know we are trying to get started with ERP soon. It was all your idea, you remember?"

It was then it struck me how when he was struggling with incompatible consolidation that I had suggested an integrated system to cater to enterprise needs. Also, I always like arguing the hell out of the IT people, even if my queries were simply academic. "Okay, Chandru," I said, "only thirty minutes. Don't stretch the session like a Wrigley's."

*********

It was sheer fun at the presentation. Hiren, Project Manager (ERP) from GimmeJob.com was doing everything to somehow get our order, or at least to get us moving closer in that direction. He had on his screen the ideal scenario when everything worked perfectly.

The trailer that was playing from his CD was about a company (name masked because of the non-disclosure agreement, Hiren explained) where their solution was running. Surprisingly, all options worked, every query was answered, though no editing was possible, because it was a demo version.

It was then that I asked him a childish question: "Hirenji, when you make a query, is it picking up the data from the table?"

He was puzzled, "What table? Queries are standard, so I hard-coded the responses. That's why it is so fast." We then had coffee and biscuits for courtesy sake, Chandru promised that he would `get back soon' though `how soon' was not committed, and Hiren left quite happy.

Once the glass door closed behind him, I asked Chandru and the other colleagues if they understood the secret of speed in query-handling that the demo promised. "Fast processor," one said. "He's quick on the keys, you see," said another. "Experience," was yet another view. "It works!" said Chandru.

I nodded politely, because you don't gain anything by shouting at a group. When I got back to my desk, I wrote down under `to do this month': "ERP pitfalls and how to select the right vendor."

*********

At the mailbox:

"Hello," writes Cindy Parsons from the US. "Last year on a business trip to Chennai, I saved an article that had your `Get Talking!' message to professional women. I just learned that I am returning to Chennai in January 2004 for an extended period of time so I decided it was time to network with other professional women. I am excited about the opportunities we could create by sharing experiences. If you are still writing and interested in connecting, please feel free to e-mail me in return.

I am Director of Offshore Outsourcing for Perot Healthcare Systems in Dallas, TX. We recently purchased Vision Healthsource in Chennai and will be jointly implementing new healthcare projects."

Thanks Cindy, for the interest. I am sure you would find that women here work more than the men do, or at least as much. One only hopes they also get paid as well.

(To be continued)

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

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