The Corporate World is a Pain in the Heel!

'What do you want to be when you grow up?' was a very common choice for paragraph writing way back in primary school. My answer was always - a teacher. I mean, it was but obvious because that was the only profession I was exposed to as a kid. I had a huge blackboard in my room and during my play time I taught my imaginary class all my lessons. In fact soon this became a way of learning for me!

As I grew a little older I thought I should become an air hostess. Trust me back then I didn't once think about all the travel they got to do as the benefit. The uniforms were nice and they always looked pretty...so I wanted to be an air hostess. I loved the Gulf Air uniform. In fact my little sis and I used amma's thrown away dupattas and our hats to imitate their uniform.

By the time I was in high school, I decided that like appa I too would be a chartered accountant. My dream then changed to completing my CA and joining appa's office. I never really knew what appa did...but well he was doing well...and I guess that is all I saw.

The reality is, I didn't become any of these...not even close. I joined an engineering course and specialized in Electronics and Communications. There were a whole lot of silly reasons upon which this decision was based...but let me not digress. 

Just one year into this routine and I knew it was wrong for me. Quitting the course was not something I saw as an option. So I stuck on and completed my studies in E&C engineering, while all through I dreamed of being an actress in Bollywood working with the Khans, the Roshans, the Chopras and the Johars.

It was glitzy dream life that I led back then. I'd spend hours in front of the mirror mono-acting this second life of mine. Initially I thought I was a little nuts, so I kept to myself...but then I found some girls who did the same. Just that in front of the mirror some were actors, some were models...the stories were slightly different but the dreams were all glamorous.

By the end of my graduation, I was 21...and my dreams were more real. So acting in Bollywood went out of the window and I started toying with the idea of branding, marketing and maybe even celebrity management. I still remember the first time I spoke to appa amma about not wanting to be an engineer...I think somewhere appa thought it was all talk and he didn't pay too much attention.

But I think after choosing the wrong field to study for 4 years I wanted to be extra careful with what I chose for my post graduation. So I worked for a while in an internal communications team, with an NGO and also with kids. And at the end of it I knew I loved teaching...my first dream profession...but I had also discovered a love for marketing communications.

Once I had that figured out, I specialized in Marcomm and joined a media agency. Working in an agency was something I always wanted to do. It is a chaotic environment and each client is a specimen...but it was a fun place to be. I worked with a fantastic team. We walked into office most times in tattered chappals and ill-fitting clothes...there were not too many rules...but we still managed to break the few that were there.

My life in the agency was fun...but somewhere from wanting to be a teacher to studying Marcomm...I had started to want different things in my life. I wanted to be more in charge of what I did (I never got that opportunity in an agency as the client usually runs the show), I wanted my brains to be used and most important I needed to maintain my work-life balance. And so began my hunt for the next job.

The hunt took me about 6 weeks and I had 2 offers and it took me 2 days I think to take the final call.

I started working for my new organization on the 3rd of May...and as the days went by I could not fight the feeling that this was very close to my dream job...and I'd keep my fingers crossed and say touchwood! The work was good, the people were nice to work with and there was travel.

Last week I went on my first Corporate travel. I traveled to Mumbai on Wednesday, to Delhi on Thursday and back to Bengaluru on Friday. And you know what? As I walked into the airports to catch those early morning flights, tugging my laptop along I suddenly felt that all my dreaming, planning and a little bit of studying had paid off. I was now a part of the Corporate World!!

I slept 13 hours in 3 days. There was an event to attend and then an event to plan for and present. My phone had multiple alarms to make sure I didn't miss my early morning flights...my dreams were about technical glitches, speakers not arriving on time and an empty hall. I was very nervous.

Well, luckily none of these dreams came true. The event went off well...with very minor hiccups...and after 3 days of running around I was back in Bengaluru.

It felt great to be home...and with the events all wrapped up...I felt so light...but my legs hurt.

Yes...you read me right. My legs hurt!! With all the high-heeled footwear I wore to look great...my legs needed an entire Saturday of not being used to recover!!

So yeah, my trip was in a way liberating...I had started carving a little spot for myself in the Corporate World...but well after the 3 days of being a 'high-flyer' all I thought about was the corporate world is a real pain in the heel!

Sense & Sensibilities

This blog I warn you has one intention - blowing steam.

Last month it was announced that the account I work for was calling for a Pitch (for the laymen - a Pitch is just a fancy word people from the advertising and creative fraternity like to use instead of a drab phrase like tender submission). This was unexpected for me...at my level...coz with the top management 'protecting' you; you hardly ever have the real picture.

I work on a big client (big = big monies & big as*****s). They want every paisa of theirs to be worth at least a few thousand rupees...I hope you get my drift. I've never quite been fond of my client...and don't really think that my affection for them is going to change as I have been feeling the same way for 21 months now. In fact I was also planning to do something different and not work for the biggies.

Anyways, the announcement of the Pitch just made me feel really angry with my client. Coz I had been putting in my best and I know for a fact that my counterparts were doing their best too. I had also heard that my rather anal client had appreciated our work...something I really didn't publicize as well my client is anal! So then where had we gone wrong? Why was all the work I had put in for the last 21 months being questioned? And why didn't I have a clue about the Pitch?

I didn't know the answers to these questions...and well my higher ups didn't really think it was high time to stop 'protecting' us and maybe for a change tell us the facts.

Going on, with a Pitch one always had the right to not Pitch. Considering our work was being questioned openly and obviously the client wanted better I didn't see the point of trying to win this business back. But at my level...my opinions really do not matter. So the decisions were made and we asked to jump on board to fight to keep the Biggies with us. We had a rather fake inspirational speech about having fire in our bellies and about handling our anal client actually being a prestige for all of us...a prestige worth sacrificing sleep, eating nutritious food, holidays, weekends...basically our lives for 20 whole days.

We were given the 'option' of opting out...but you know it was one of those options...where there actually is only one option!

So yes I kind of trudged along with the team...with no fire in my belly but a small spark under my ass (which with time would rage into a fire)...and went along and sacrificed my first family vacation with my folks after my wedding...a 5-day long weekend with my husband who was busy all of March...my first Vishu for which I had picked out my sari like a month back...and yes lots of couch time and love time with my husband.

We started work on 30-March and with every passing day the team working on the pitch grew from 6 to 8 to 13 to 15 to 18...and the hours we put in on an average was 12 hours...all through the week. We've been working 13 days now and somehow with just a day for the pre-read (tender) to be submitted we still seem to have a lot of work...that requires my counterparts and me to just hang around in office waiting upon the bosses to seek inspiration from our rather tired sleep deprived faces to find some more new work.

But slowly with each passing day I realised that this pitch was not the fault of my level...but the fault of the 'protectors'. Their biggest mess up is that they did not keep us informed of the situation. There was no warning, no preparation time...which I am sure they had plenty of. The last two months we were being continuously reminded by our 'protectors' to be proactive with information to the client. This according to be is probably the smallest issue our big client has with us.

There had to be bigger issues - the existence of which I am aware of but the details I am not. My intelligence tells me that my 'protectors' failed to address the bigger issues...trying to stress us out on the smaller ones...to manoeuvre the client into believing we were taking the efforts. But what I have come to understand is that they got caught with the micro and forgot about the macro. And courtesy them not doing their management properly our anal client just got more anal and called for the Pitch.

Now why for the fault of 'protectors' do I have to doubt my capabilities...be forced to think about having a job on hand...be sacrificing my life outside work trying to work hard and fight for something I don't care about? The answer is not money...coz honestly I don't get much of that.

I think the answer is the lack of sense and sensibilities.

The guys in charge mess up. Their biggest account calls for the pitch. Before a plan is put up or even communicated to the team...a bunch of other minds are brought down from the other offices to add fresh thinking...which translates into lots of ideas flying all over the place and no direction...which then percolates into a bunch of juniors running around like headless chickens trying to deliver work to their more than one bosses...lots of data...lots of excel...lots of work hours...lots of rework hours...lots of people slowly making their way out of work...lots of frustration...lots of chaos...and still directionless.

It is this crazy need to work unplanned long hours...and look enthusiastic about something your heart is not into...which makes me wonder why don't sensible people exist anymore?

We are in the business of Planning and Communication (I love this line) and yet we could use a lot of lessons on planning and communicating. Today is a Sunday, and I am at work...and yet I have time to blog...which means I don't work...and I am here just for the count...count of people who don't have their priorities right...count of inefficient people...count of more work hours going waste.

All this effort we are putting in today...had the 'protectors' been proactive with the client...got the bunch of other minds down from the other offices to add fresh thinking...used their senses to understand their environment and competition...been sensible in handling the woes of the big client...would I not have been at The Serai in Chikmagluru today?