A man who had just been hired as the new CEO of a large corporation met with the outgoing CEO, who gave him three numbered envelopes. "Open these if you run up against a problem you can't solve," he said.
Six months later, sales took a downturn and the new CEO was really catching a lot of heat. Uncertain about how to proceed, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The paper inside simply said, "Blame your predecessor."
The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press and Wall Street responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.
About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, "Reorganize."
He did, and the company quickly rebounded.
After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. The CEO headed straight for the third envelope. The message said, "Prepare three envelopes."
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Article: If Indians begin outsourcing
It is the year 2020 and call centers are opening all over the West, as the new economic power India outsources work to the countries where many jobs originated. Millions of Americans, still struggling to adapt to a global economy, are willing to accept jobs that pay them in a new currency sweeping much of the world: EuRupees.
Some of them, eager to land one of the customer service jobs from India, are attending special training sessions in New York City, led by language specialist Dave Ramsey, who goes by a simpler name for his Indian clients: Devendra Ramaswaminathan.
On this warm afternoon, the professor is teaching three ambitious students how to communicate with Indian customers.
Professor: "Okay, Gary, Randy and Jane, first we need to give you Indian names. Gary, from now on, you'll be known to your customers as Gaurav. Randy, you'll be Ranjit. And Jane, you'll be Jagadamba. Now imagine you just received a call from Delhi. What do you say?"
Gary: "Name as tea?"
Professor: "I think you mean 'namaste.' Very good. But what do you say after that?"
Gary: "How can I help you?"
Professor: "You're on the right track. Anyone else?"
Jane: "How can I be helping you?"
Professor: "Good try! You're using the correct tense, but it's not quite right. Anyone else?"
Randy: "How I can be helping you?"
Professor: "Wonderful! Word order is very important. Okay, let's try some small talk. Give me a comment that would help you make a connection with your Indian customers."
Randy: "It's really hot, isn't it?"
Professor: "The heat is always a good topic, but you haven't phrased it correctly. Try again."
Randy: "It's deadly hot, isn't it?"
Professor: "That's better. But your tag question can be greatly improved."
Randy: "It's deadly hot, no?"
Professor: "Wonderful! You can put 'no?' at the end of almost any statement. You are understanding me, no?"
Jane: "Yes, we are understanding you, no?"
Professor (smiles): "We may need to review this later. But let's move on to other things. Have you ever heard Indians use the word 'yaar'?"
Randy: "Yes, my Indian friends use it all the time. Just last night, one of them said to me, 'Randy, give me yaar password. I am needing it to fix yaar computer."
Professor (laughs): "That's a different 'yaar,' yaar. The 'yaar' that I'm talking about means friend or buddy. You can use it if you've developed a camaraderie with a customer. For example, you can say, 'Come on, yaar. I am offering you the best deal.' Do you understand, Jagadamba?"
Jane: "Yaar, I do."
Professor (smiles): "Okay, let's talk about accents. If your client says 'I yam wery vorried about vat I bought for my vife,' how would you respond?"
Randy: "Please don't be vorrying, yaar. She vill be wery happy and vill give you a vild time tonight."
Professor: "Vunderful! I mean, wonderful. You have a bright future, Ranjit. And so do you, Jagadamba. But Gaurav, you haven't said anything in a while. Do you have any questions about what we've just learned?"
Gary: "Yes, Professor, I do have one question: Wouldn't it be simpler to learn to speak Hindi?"
Some of them, eager to land one of the customer service jobs from India, are attending special training sessions in New York City, led by language specialist Dave Ramsey, who goes by a simpler name for his Indian clients: Devendra Ramaswaminathan.
On this warm afternoon, the professor is teaching three ambitious students how to communicate with Indian customers.
Professor: "Okay, Gary, Randy and Jane, first we need to give you Indian names. Gary, from now on, you'll be known to your customers as Gaurav. Randy, you'll be Ranjit. And Jane, you'll be Jagadamba. Now imagine you just received a call from Delhi. What do you say?"
Gary: "Name as tea?"
Professor: "I think you mean 'namaste.' Very good. But what do you say after that?"
Gary: "How can I help you?"
Professor: "You're on the right track. Anyone else?"
Jane: "How can I be helping you?"
Professor: "Good try! You're using the correct tense, but it's not quite right. Anyone else?"
Randy: "How I can be helping you?"
Professor: "Wonderful! Word order is very important. Okay, let's try some small talk. Give me a comment that would help you make a connection with your Indian customers."
Randy: "It's really hot, isn't it?"
Professor: "The heat is always a good topic, but you haven't phrased it correctly. Try again."
Randy: "It's deadly hot, isn't it?"
Professor: "That's better. But your tag question can be greatly improved."
Randy: "It's deadly hot, no?"
Professor: "Wonderful! You can put 'no?' at the end of almost any statement. You are understanding me, no?"
Jane: "Yes, we are understanding you, no?"
Professor (smiles): "We may need to review this later. But let's move on to other things. Have you ever heard Indians use the word 'yaar'?"
Randy: "Yes, my Indian friends use it all the time. Just last night, one of them said to me, 'Randy, give me yaar password. I am needing it to fix yaar computer."
Professor (laughs): "That's a different 'yaar,' yaar. The 'yaar' that I'm talking about means friend or buddy. You can use it if you've developed a camaraderie with a customer. For example, you can say, 'Come on, yaar. I am offering you the best deal.' Do you understand, Jagadamba?"
Jane: "Yaar, I do."
Professor (smiles): "Okay, let's talk about accents. If your client says 'I yam wery vorried about vat I bought for my vife,' how would you respond?"
Randy: "Please don't be vorrying, yaar. She vill be wery happy and vill give you a vild time tonight."
Professor: "Vunderful! I mean, wonderful. You have a bright future, Ranjit. And so do you, Jagadamba. But Gaurav, you haven't said anything in a while. Do you have any questions about what we've just learned?"
Gary: "Yes, Professor, I do have one question: Wouldn't it be simpler to learn to speak Hindi?"
Friday, August 05, 2005
My Writeup: Discrimination at workplace...A Bengali fact??
I work for an Indian software solution provider. I tend to move from one project to another and this brings me to work with various Project managers. In this article, I am recalling a set of incidents during my work at Pittsburg, PA.
Over the first 9-12 months in the project things went quite smoothly. I had made good impact to the team and the client loved my work. My responsibilities increased and I stood upto it beyond any of my colleagues. My colleagues constituted mostly of people from Kolkata and I had some very good Bengali friends whom I had the opportunity to move with during my Initial Training program days.
The issues began with my appraisal. During the appraisal one-to-one with my manager, it was agreed to give me a rating of 4/5. But upon return after a trip back home, I was informed that my rating was 3 and my promotion which had been due was stalled. This shocked me and I had to make major decisions on rewriting the entire records that was planned behind my back. Moreover, I was taken aback when I came to know that my bengali friend in the team had received a 5. Well, i wondered not whether he deserved it, but why was I treated to an injustice when it came to an appraisal. In the next few days, as the ratings of various people in the account came up, there seemed to be a clear demarcation in the ratings. Bengali associates received ratings of 4 and 5 where as most of the non-Bengali associates received 3 and some even 2.
I did wage a lone battle and won it to some extent. But never again I would want to be wasting time fighting for something I deserve.
I wonder can a Bengali's be true friend? Can there be ethnic discrimination when it comes to them? My advice if you are a non-Bengali, please stay away working under one.
Over the first 9-12 months in the project things went quite smoothly. I had made good impact to the team and the client loved my work. My responsibilities increased and I stood upto it beyond any of my colleagues. My colleagues constituted mostly of people from Kolkata and I had some very good Bengali friends whom I had the opportunity to move with during my Initial Training program days.
The issues began with my appraisal. During the appraisal one-to-one with my manager, it was agreed to give me a rating of 4/5. But upon return after a trip back home, I was informed that my rating was 3 and my promotion which had been due was stalled. This shocked me and I had to make major decisions on rewriting the entire records that was planned behind my back. Moreover, I was taken aback when I came to know that my bengali friend in the team had received a 5. Well, i wondered not whether he deserved it, but why was I treated to an injustice when it came to an appraisal. In the next few days, as the ratings of various people in the account came up, there seemed to be a clear demarcation in the ratings. Bengali associates received ratings of 4 and 5 where as most of the non-Bengali associates received 3 and some even 2.
I did wage a lone battle and won it to some extent. But never again I would want to be wasting time fighting for something I deserve.
I wonder can a Bengali's be true friend? Can there be ethnic discrimination when it comes to them? My advice if you are a non-Bengali, please stay away working under one.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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