Grooming a Professional

During one of my overseas trips, I was reviewing a project at the customer location in South Africa. We had just sent one of our techies – Satheesh, to work there. “So how is Satheesh settling down?” I asked – Mahesh – the program manager, burst into laughter. “What happened?” I asked. Mahesh was one of our veterans and someone with great temperament with people. “Well, nothing serious but I stopped Satheesh from eating other people’s breakfast since yesterday. I guess he was feasting on someone’s personal breakfast”. “WHAT?” I almost screamed. “Well, actually it was little misunderstanding. This is the first time Satheesh has travelled onsite. Since his arrival he was generally impressed with the office and pantry in particular. He did not realize that while tea, coffee and cookies are there for general consumption, items kept in the refrigerator by people are for their specific consumption. After spending 3 days in this office, yesterday he came and asked me about why have they stopped keeping muffins for the breakfast. I was initially confused but then realized that our friend was happily eating someone’s breakfast kept in the refrigerator! Poor fellow was extremely embarrassed when he realized his mistake!” “My god, what do we do now?” “Nothing really. Satheesh is a great guy technically and as I see it, he will settle down personally as well.” I trusted Mahesh and moved on ….. though little worried….
……. Days passed by and I visited South Africa six months down later. While visiting the same customer site mentioned above, I had a review with Program Manager from customer’s side and Mahesh. The customer singled out Satheesh in his praise and requested us not to move him away from the project for any reason. Instinctively I glanced at Mahesh who winked at me!

This incident took me back to my joining time in the industry. Back then the international exposure for IT professionals was still new. I had attended a personal grooming program. It was really an elaborate program with all details including table manners and personal grooming in terms of wardrobe etc. I still remember the distinct feeling that we all had at the end of the program – if we decided to implement our newly acquired knowledge, we would worry more about our cutlery and perhaps throw away half our wardrobe! While we laughed at it, it did leave some feeling of inadequacy with us. All of us had come from simple middle-class background and our careers were built more on our knowledge and the ability to slog than any blue-blooded pedigree! As we went along, we learnt through our exposures and some great mentors who focused on our basic strengths than our lack of grooming!

When I look at the Indian IT industry, Satheesh perhaps represents the common Indian IT techie travelling abroad for the first time and is a subject of humor – some true, some imaginary. Thankfully it is also made up of many souls like Mahesh who focus on basic skills of the people like Satheesh than grooming them on some standards! A big thank you to unsung heroes like Mahesh who quietly groomed the Indian IT Industry into a force to reckon with!