My company used to give us lot of money to be spent on local community for PR purposes. At that time, I was working in a city in a Mountain Time Zone. One day, my boss told me that she is very busy in her work and have no time to analyze the requests for donation from various community organizations. She therefore asked me to analyze those requests and make a final decision.
I, being of Indian origin, used to treat favorably requests from the Indian community. They got more money per person wise than any other community. That Indian community was able to bring a number of famous musicians and artistes with our company’s contribution.
There was a change in the Presidency of the local Indian Community. The lady who was the President of the Indian Association retired. A new gentleman was elected. One day, he came to see me to introduce himself. During the conversation he said:
“I have seen in all the Indian programs you and your wife only come. Your company is contributing funds to us. Why don’t you bring your boss to our programs.”
I asked him: Do you want funds or the presence of my boss?
He answered: I want both. I said: I will think about it.
After he left, I thought for a while and decided to reduce our company contributions to the Indian Community.
(I digress: My thought was he does not think I am high enough in my company and wants my boss’s presence. In his mind, his imagination of my boss is a white guy, aged mid-50s slightly balding. He would come to the Indian program and say “I love the music even though I don’t understand the language. I love India so much that I saw the movie Gandhi 3 times. I love to eat curry. I want to visit the Taj Mahal.)
I told this to my wife. She asked me to request my boss to come to an Indian program and see the reaction on the face of that Indian Association President.
Now about my boss. She is a black lady. She is 2 years younger than me. MBA topper from Harvard. She wears only jeans and t-shirt all the time. If you don’t know her and meet her, you would think she is a waitress in a coffee shop. But very intelligent. A spell bound speaker.
Epilogue: Two months after that, I was transferred to Saudi Arabia. I have no idea how my successor dealt with the request for funds from the Indian Community.
Sadly this mentality still exists.... I would have liked to know what happened after you left... awesome post SG.... glad to read one from you after a long time.....
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DeleteThanks for your comments Dee. Since I was transferred to Saudi, I lost touch with my successor. Therefore, I don't know what happened after I left.
That guy 's typical mentality killed the goose which lays the golden egg. There is a proverb in Tamil which means the frog destroys itself by its mouth. By the way what post you were holding in your company then?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Gowri. I was Director of Sales Operations.
DeleteI am curious to know if your boss agreed to go.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Ajeya. I asked her to come with me to the next program. She agreed. However, before the next program, I was transferred to Saudi Arabia. So, I have no idea.
DeleteWas your transfer related to your request to your boss? Incidentally, I like the image of your boss who does not believe in external show and more focused on education and output.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the request to bring your boss to the programme, my personal view is that you should have tried it out at least once. No harm even if your boss had given a well rehearsed lectured after getting thoroughly bored. The other alternate is she could have developed an interest in the subject, you never know.
Thanks for your comments vanderloost. And, welcome to my blog. My transfer has nothing to do with my request to my boss. I was transferred to Saudi Arabia. My company there had lot of third country employees. Most of them from India. Being of Indian origin, my company thought it will be a good PR if I were there as one of the senior managers.
DeleteIn fact, I invited my boss and she agreed to come. But before the Indian community could arrange the next program, I was transferred.
vanderloost, please visit here as often as possible. Thanks.
Sorry typo lecture
ReplyDeleteWill do
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