Tuesday, 24 August 2010
The Art of Selling
I'm not a great fan of shopping and I am fortunate to consider myself as having pretty much all I need in terms of material possessions (with the obvious exception of a horse). However I remember learning that one of the most important things when selling is to generate a sense of need in potential customers, a form of "demand generation". Sandie's latest purchase leaves me gob smacked and wishing I was a better salesman - I didn't even know that milking cushions for twins existed, never mind the fact that my wife thinks the price of 70 EUR is perfectly acceptable for one. Unbelievable. Check it out and scroll down to see the latest bit of useless kit that is going to take up yet more space in our house which was originally intended to be somewhat minimalist.... http://www.doublezamours.fr/coussin-dallaitement-special-jumeaux.html?47e67078d2fbf846448c8c91ec70f8c3=63c8ad940856fce8f2661adc6154ed0b
Monday, 23 August 2010
Conjugal Communication
Nothing much to say in honesty so I'll keep it brief. The holidays continue to go well - I'm trying to match Maxime in the sleeping stakes - sleeping 12 hours a night does wonders for me the next day! I've also ridden some stupidly good (and expensive) horses thanks to my pal Michel, and both Sandie and I are looking forward to seeing an old friend at the end of the week. I've also enjoyed seeing a good bit of my elder brother and his little tribe.
One vaguely interesting thought did pop into my sun dried brain the other day and that is whether or not having children helps you get to know your spouse / partner better. Does Maxime's behaviour help me better understand Sandie's likely reaction to things? I presume it does in some way, but I've yet to form any concrete theory either way. For the minute I am just basking in Sandie's unprompted apology last Sunday for being unbearable (hormones must have been working in my favour on that occasion), and the revelation the day after when we realised her siestas are equivalent to my need to do sport. After 10 years together I think we've finally found a common language! If only for that, it's been a great holiday - much better than the last arm breaking and hospital operation affair!
One vaguely interesting thought did pop into my sun dried brain the other day and that is whether or not having children helps you get to know your spouse / partner better. Does Maxime's behaviour help me better understand Sandie's likely reaction to things? I presume it does in some way, but I've yet to form any concrete theory either way. For the minute I am just basking in Sandie's unprompted apology last Sunday for being unbearable (hormones must have been working in my favour on that occasion), and the revelation the day after when we realised her siestas are equivalent to my need to do sport. After 10 years together I think we've finally found a common language! If only for that, it's been a great holiday - much better than the last arm breaking and hospital operation affair!
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Venturing Out in Europe
Despite having lost my Irish passport, I’m now well and truly back in Europe. Since my return from India I’ve been to London (the day after), Glasgow (for a night out), Biarritz (of course), Pau, Paris, Zurich, San Sebastian and Orthez. I’ve found my way onto the back of a number of extremely good horses and I’ve even ridden my bike (and this time not just in my garage). Any weight I lost in Bangaluru is now well and truly piled back on, and homemade pizzas and burgers are on the BBQ menu at my parents’ place on Friday night. I’ve managed to take the tail end of August as holiday and thankfully the weather is holding up nicely despite being a bit iffy whilst I was on my travels.
After a triple fracture, sick wife and 2.5 months of a new job, I’ve not had much time to focus on the impending arrival. This little holiday has helped that as I’ve started to flick through books of baby names. The challenge with Mrs. O’Brien is, once again, avoiding excessively French names. She’d love a little Louis, Clement or Pierre-Charles but I have to keep reminding her that they will all be shipped off to some English or Chinese speaking nation as soon as I am seriously thinking about retirement. Even with this strong argument I don’t think I’ll ever get my Aoife, Orla, Cathal or Cormac, but hopefully we’ll manage to find some middle ground. I was a big fan of my brother’s recent choice, Reuben, but I don’t think we’ll find many Hebrew names in Sandie’s final short list. And although she is the proud owner of a beautiful new silk sari, I don’t think she’ll be opting for Prashant, Pushpa or Pavitra any time soon either. I have another 10 days or so of holidays. Whilst I don’t think we’ll have a final name choice, hopefully we’ll be a bit further forward in our preparations. Me thinks that November is going to come around very quickly!
After a triple fracture, sick wife and 2.5 months of a new job, I’ve not had much time to focus on the impending arrival. This little holiday has helped that as I’ve started to flick through books of baby names. The challenge with Mrs. O’Brien is, once again, avoiding excessively French names. She’d love a little Louis, Clement or Pierre-Charles but I have to keep reminding her that they will all be shipped off to some English or Chinese speaking nation as soon as I am seriously thinking about retirement. Even with this strong argument I don’t think I’ll ever get my Aoife, Orla, Cathal or Cormac, but hopefully we’ll manage to find some middle ground. I was a big fan of my brother’s recent choice, Reuben, but I don’t think we’ll find many Hebrew names in Sandie’s final short list. And although she is the proud owner of a beautiful new silk sari, I don’t think she’ll be opting for Prashant, Pushpa or Pavitra any time soon either. I have another 10 days or so of holidays. Whilst I don’t think we’ll have a final name choice, hopefully we’ll be a bit further forward in our preparations. Me thinks that November is going to come around very quickly!
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Someone pass the knife
I am now on my way home – I am currently sitting outside the bakery “Paul” in Dubai airport. It’s been a long trip and I am very happy at the prospect of seeing my little brother and Sandie in Biarritz, sleeping in my own bed tonight, and getting to play with Maxime before his bedtime (which will hopefully be extended by 30 minutes tonight if his mother agrees). I suspect the four key things I would take from the trip are as follows:
The Indians really do have a keen sense of customer service. The Europeans in our party were aghast when someone explained early in the trip that they believed that the food you give to your children or the clothes on your back come directly from customer. Never would we make such a direct connection. Over the course of the 3 weeks this reactivity to customer requests is obvious, even if at times it is poorly executed.
The Indians are also extremely tolerant – well they put up with me for almost 3 weeks! More seriously when I asked them, as the current Wipro workforce, how they felt about this sea change and increased hiring into their (very successful) company of non Indians in local markets. Their immediate reaction was one of, “it’s what we need if we want to be successful in those markets, and hopefully we’ll be able to mix the best of both worlds and cultures”. My previous experience, where I was part of the incumbent workforce facing a massive explosion in the number of new colleagues, was quite different and we talked openly of being careful not to “dilute the secret sauce” too much.
Another key take away for me was the generosity of Indians in terms of both material things and also in terms of the time they afford you. In material terms India is obviously a developing economy by comparison with Europe – I won’t win a Nobel Prize in economics for identifying that. However on Saturday my friend insisted on buying a present for my wife in his local town – there was no need to spend such sums on a person he had never met, but he wanted her to be happy and to have a positive impression of his local town and our friendship. In terms of the time people afford you, I have essentially finished 10 days of head to head meetings. Whilst that is exhausting for me personally, you also have to note the fact that that is a lot of people giving up time that is dedicated just to me. Whilst many of the meetings didn’t start on time, even fewer finished on time. The vast majority needed a follow up session because they wanted to share additional information, and in the whole three weeks only one meeting was postponed to next week when I am back in Europe, none were cancelled. I realised that time is the most precious thing anyone can give you...I would do very well to remember that as the person who likes to try and do everything, and often at break neck speed.
The final memory which will endure is the picture of a cow eating rubbish in Bangalore city centre. Initially horrified I took a picture and sent it to Sandie. I was fully expecting a similar reaction from my cow loving wife who has been trained in the ways of all things porcine, equine and bovine. Her response was that the cow actually looked in rude health. Whilst I am not sure I’m going to go and guzzle down a pint of Bangalore’s finest white stuff, that plus India’s 8.5% annual GDP growth should make me realise that there really are many ways to skin a cat....someone pass the knife.
The Indians really do have a keen sense of customer service. The Europeans in our party were aghast when someone explained early in the trip that they believed that the food you give to your children or the clothes on your back come directly from customer. Never would we make such a direct connection. Over the course of the 3 weeks this reactivity to customer requests is obvious, even if at times it is poorly executed.
The Indians are also extremely tolerant – well they put up with me for almost 3 weeks! More seriously when I asked them, as the current Wipro workforce, how they felt about this sea change and increased hiring into their (very successful) company of non Indians in local markets. Their immediate reaction was one of, “it’s what we need if we want to be successful in those markets, and hopefully we’ll be able to mix the best of both worlds and cultures”. My previous experience, where I was part of the incumbent workforce facing a massive explosion in the number of new colleagues, was quite different and we talked openly of being careful not to “dilute the secret sauce” too much.
Another key take away for me was the generosity of Indians in terms of both material things and also in terms of the time they afford you. In material terms India is obviously a developing economy by comparison with Europe – I won’t win a Nobel Prize in economics for identifying that. However on Saturday my friend insisted on buying a present for my wife in his local town – there was no need to spend such sums on a person he had never met, but he wanted her to be happy and to have a positive impression of his local town and our friendship. In terms of the time people afford you, I have essentially finished 10 days of head to head meetings. Whilst that is exhausting for me personally, you also have to note the fact that that is a lot of people giving up time that is dedicated just to me. Whilst many of the meetings didn’t start on time, even fewer finished on time. The vast majority needed a follow up session because they wanted to share additional information, and in the whole three weeks only one meeting was postponed to next week when I am back in Europe, none were cancelled. I realised that time is the most precious thing anyone can give you...I would do very well to remember that as the person who likes to try and do everything, and often at break neck speed.
The final memory which will endure is the picture of a cow eating rubbish in Bangalore city centre. Initially horrified I took a picture and sent it to Sandie. I was fully expecting a similar reaction from my cow loving wife who has been trained in the ways of all things porcine, equine and bovine. Her response was that the cow actually looked in rude health. Whilst I am not sure I’m going to go and guzzle down a pint of Bangalore’s finest white stuff, that plus India’s 8.5% annual GDP growth should make me realise that there really are many ways to skin a cat....someone pass the knife.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Jingle Bells Jingle Bells
It felt like Christmas Day when I woke up this morning. Finally I get to come home. I took great delight in finally packing my suitcase before breakfast. The only reason why I wasn't jumping up and down like a 6 year old was the knowledge that what lies before me is a hard day's work and a 24 hour journey rather than a raft of exciting presents. That and sheer physical tiredness of course!
Monday, 2 August 2010
Catching Up and Taking Over
Nothing about cars or Wipro's business plans, more a very interesting article about how China has secured know-how from other countries yet why it will never out-innovate them. As a result China is unlikely to stride ahead of all other nations unless it gets its way and companies agree to put all R&D into China if they want to win contracts....but the unfortunate consequence of that might be that innovation is stifled at a global level.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10792465
Sunday, 1 August 2010
The Fourth Shuttle
When I was in high school I played for the U19 football team. Every Tuesday we had to do fitness training. We had to do five 35 second sprints with 35 seconds of rest in between each run. They were called “shuttles”. It was widely acknowledged that the penultimate or fourth run was always the most difficult. The first two were easy, the third meant that you were more than half way there and the final one, well that was the final one. It was the fourth shuttle that was just hard because you were tired and it had no particular significance. My second Sunday here in Bangalore is like that fourth shuttle. Monday and Tuesday will whizz by because they represent the final shuttle, and I am sure that come Wednesday night I will never have been so happy as to have travelled 24 hours! But today, it is a bit difficult.
On the other hand yesterday delivered a real high point of my trip. My new Indian colleagues became aware of me being here this weekend and they have then proceeded to arrange different things for me to make sure I wasn’t by myself. I have been astounded by their generosity. One of my colleagues took me to his native town about an hour away from Bangalore. He invited me to his home and he took me around the town. It was a wonderful experience – I felt as if I had been lucky enough to see the real India. The town had 1.5 million inhabitants but I can guarantee you I was the only white person there....at one point I was encircled by 30-40 Indian children of varying ages who wanted to touch me, to ask me my name and to ask “where was my native country”. The other thing that struck me, apart from the monkeys eating rubbish, was that despite all the differences, that people are essentially the same the world over. My friend showed me where his elderly father lived, explained that his sister had moved back in with her father to help him in his old age, and showed me where other members of his family lived – all within walking distance of his father’s house. The close proximity of family members reminded me not only of my own situation in Biarritz, but also of towns such as Newcastle and Ashington where families often live within very small distances of each other.
Today has been a bit difficult up until now – for example the high point was discovering that a type of shower fitting that I had always admired back in Europe, and which happens to be installed here in my hotel room (although I have only just realised today, 2 weeks after arriving), is highly impractical.....That said I am expecting things to pick up – 3 of my other colleagues are coming to pick me up later on so I’m looking forward to that. I might also treat myself at the end of the day by packing my suitcase – now if that isn’t a sign that I’m ready to come home I don’t know what is!
On the other hand yesterday delivered a real high point of my trip. My new Indian colleagues became aware of me being here this weekend and they have then proceeded to arrange different things for me to make sure I wasn’t by myself. I have been astounded by their generosity. One of my colleagues took me to his native town about an hour away from Bangalore. He invited me to his home and he took me around the town. It was a wonderful experience – I felt as if I had been lucky enough to see the real India. The town had 1.5 million inhabitants but I can guarantee you I was the only white person there....at one point I was encircled by 30-40 Indian children of varying ages who wanted to touch me, to ask me my name and to ask “where was my native country”. The other thing that struck me, apart from the monkeys eating rubbish, was that despite all the differences, that people are essentially the same the world over. My friend showed me where his elderly father lived, explained that his sister had moved back in with her father to help him in his old age, and showed me where other members of his family lived – all within walking distance of his father’s house. The close proximity of family members reminded me not only of my own situation in Biarritz, but also of towns such as Newcastle and Ashington where families often live within very small distances of each other.
Today has been a bit difficult up until now – for example the high point was discovering that a type of shower fitting that I had always admired back in Europe, and which happens to be installed here in my hotel room (although I have only just realised today, 2 weeks after arriving), is highly impractical.....That said I am expecting things to pick up – 3 of my other colleagues are coming to pick me up later on so I’m looking forward to that. I might also treat myself at the end of the day by packing my suitcase – now if that isn’t a sign that I’m ready to come home I don’t know what is!
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