Eaglezview

Most of what I understand and deduce about the economy and the market arena is empirical. Nevertheless, I try to simplify things for ease of my own understanding. The following post is also one in the same genre – to simplify a few things for me. It primarily tries to answer the question – what could a new entrant in the Indian market scene (In any industry) bring with him that would enable him to sustain and be profitable?

After a while the following key differentiators emerged in my mind: 

• Integration across & disintermediation of value chain
• Strong branding
• High quality products &/services
• Consistency & predictability of delivery
• Provision for easy access to products and services – be it geographic or financial
• Low cost by leveraging Information technology

I have listed below a few points which I have gained through my practial experience of working with the Dutch.   

• The Dutch are extremely friendly but they are not averse to openly disagreeing or criticizing. They are open and direct in their talk. They expect the same. They expect you to criticise their work in return, honestly and directly.

• They speak in a friendly tone, but in rather short, clear, sober sentences. They become suspicious when the talk is too polite – they misunderstand it for a flaw that is being hidden from them. 

• They are better in verbal English as compared to written English. It is better to clarify verbally what is written. Like wise, in your written communication try to include more diagrams, pictures, flowcharts, tables as compared to verbose documents. 

• Decision making process is a bit slow and complex. They spend a lot of time in meetings. This comes out of their inherent tendency to eliminate all ambiguity and the need to hear out everyone involved. Hence, a change at a later stage may be time consuming. 

• The Dutch are very particular about their time off. They love to spend time with family, for vacation or study. Vacation days may range from 21 to 35 days a year. Work hours are strictly from 8am to 5pm. They don’t over stay at the office. Plan your work accordingly. 

• They are highly organized in their work. Meetings have to be scheduled at least 3 to 4 weeks ahead of time. Even in personal life, you have to seek out time before hand. Don’t be surprised if you have to schedule an appointment with the hair stylist 2 weeks ahead of time. Ad hoc requests are not entertained. Beware from putting such requests to them. 

• Dutch retire between 50 and 65 years of age. Old people may be sidelined in the corporate world. 

• Say a hello to everyone you have eye contact with, especially in the elevators and office floors if you see them for the first time in the day. This is irrespective of whether you know the person or irrespective of whether you both are going to interact further on a task. You don’t have to pay to be courteous, do you? Be courteous, it pays good dividends. 

I hope this is helpful to quite a few.

In this post, I list a few of the critical take backs for me in the last two and a half years of working in the IT industry; they are generic and can’t be restricted to the IT industry. I think they apply to all industries.

• Only the crying baby gets milk!

Unless you voice your opinion, your colleagues, especially your boss will tend to think that you are comfortable in your current position although in reality it may not be so.

• A batsman’s statistics speak as much about him as his current form!

Your bosses will repeatedly tell you not to talk about your past experiences within and outside the team or organization; they might reinforce that it is not relevant to the current situation or discussion. During such moments it is imperative that you remember and bring out the essence of the adage – a batsman’s past speaks as much about him as his current form.

• If you don’t know the Prime minister, know somebody who does!

Build your network. Like a professor from the INSEAD school in France said in a research paper, it pays to build your network. Operational network needs no special attention as it is built while we perform our day to day chores. Social network may need us to spend more time outside of our work. The third kind of network labeled as the strategic network is all about building relationships outside of your team in your work environment. This is a weak an unattended area of many managers. Remember the above credo to help you mend this.

• Put it in black and white – grey cells don’t matter when grey areas crop up!

Be precise and concise. Ask if you don’t understand. It is better to look stupid asking a question before hand as compared to cutting a sorry face at a later stage.

• Watch your back as much as you look forward 

Always plan a back up course of action. Be adventurous but don’t goof up.

• Keep your eyes and ears open           

Be all attentive, all the time; you don’t know what information may be handy.