What's in a name?

A spanish Principal partner calls me Rataaan, the Israeli lady another principal partner  calls me Rataan, A GM with an aspirant principal partner who goes by the name Yang, has never spoken to me, we have only have a "ping" conversation on Skype, Ping conversation with Mr. Yang, sounds all Chinese.
Like Mr. Yang Lisheng, Mo Duo Ping never introduces himself by his original name but is addressed as "Tarek" Mo. Another Chinese individual, a lady with whom I interact often, is known by the name "Ella"( Ella's picture appears above). It intrigues me as to how the Chinese decide on these English names, I find this to be quite an innovative concept which helps them to gain acceptance with their international clients. Also how do they feel when they are never called by their actually name. Dean, Leo, Ella and also Justin, Diego and the like...nice choices for names I must say.
Coming back to the way that I am addressed, this is certainly not restricted to foreigners, Delhi-ites invariably spell my name as Rattan Sethi , and the contortions on my face are most conveniently ignored. Very often I hear the person on the other side of the phone line, very respectfully saying, kaun Sethiji bol rahe hain? Koi gal nahin...after all as the great Bard once said "After all What's in a name?"

"Farhaan" in real life.

We had a training session on new products recently for a group of sales people hand-picked from all zones.
I have been correcting the answer papers of trainees, we asked them questions on Products and  the principles on which they were based as well as key benefits.

The basic acumen one needs to have is to be good at selling, most of this bunch I could find did possess this ability. If the knowledge is imparted in a systematic fashion the person who is focused will lap it up so easily. This was seen in the huge difference in the pre-test and post test scores of this bunch of lads who were primarily interested in selling the product and the thrill to them came from that part of the job.

The matter of concern was the two gentlemen who already had reasonably decent scores in the pre-test, to the tune of 60% or so These two trainees showed an increase of hardly 20% in the Post test and this was a low percentage of improvement when compared with the others. The issue which concerned me more was that one of the respndents was not consistent in his answers, he was missing out important points which he had mentioned in the Pre-test.

This brings me to the point that I think it is very important for one to be doing work that one is passionate about or at least one should have an outlet wherein he is able to do things that he is passionate about so that he is able to do his job  and do it reasonably well with utmost sincerity such that he can earn his daily bread.

I had some time back made a discovery of sorts when I found that a pathologist from one of the biggest Diagnostic lab chains in the country was also an avid wildlife photographer. He reminded me of the character "Farhan" played by R Madhavan in 3 idiots...? I had read about this passion of his on the internet when I googled his name. While interacting with him I could actually see just how "cool" this MD holder was, with no airs about the prestigious post he was holding. I was able to see the glint in his eyes when I spoke of his passion for photography and the almost immediate change in body language with the boyish grin writ large on his face.

Coming back to my trainees, well best wishes to all of them and to these two lads in particular, I sincerely wish that they are able to make the all important adjustment and come emerge as winners in their respective lives!

My Article in Medical Buyer Magazine.

Microplate Luminometers -By Ratan Shetty. Group Product Manager, Diagnova, RFCL Ltd.



Please click on the above link.

The speed of the leader determines the speed of the team!

I had read this quote on a poster of one of my colleagues in an earlier organisation...In this context, how important is it for the leader to have a face to face interaction with his team on a regular basis and how important is it for the leader to be inspirational to his team members at every occasion? One thinks that at least during an interaction with the leader, the team member should feel inspired and more committed towards his work, more motivated to keep going at it and giving it one's best shot. Though it may sound hackneyed, Cliched or rather old fashioned to say that a leader must be a father figure to his subordinate the fact remains that he/she must be able to set an example, to be able to "Lead from the front". Working together on a project or during client interactions might serve as an important enabler towards this goal. Because ultimately that is where the income comes from,  the salaries comes from, the business keeps running especially when the team in question is responsible for running the business.

Blah Blah Blah....

Yesterday was a "fun"ny day,... We had a meeting of the team that is mooted to be running the organisation, an array of personalities, the combined experience of this team is 50 years, the difference in rank is tremendous, the energy in the team comes from the fact that it is composed of two  people below 30 and the wisdom from two individuals though differing greatly in designation, have a combined experience in vitro diagnostics of 40 years. My SBU is poised to take off and the year is all set to unfold although two months have already gone by. The transition from a private equity owned company to a part of a Multinational organization has been partially responsible for this delay. The other part being the inertia associated with getting things rolling. My load has been lightened with part of my responsibilities having been shared by my younger colleague, helping me bring in greater  focus to my job.

The pending issues will be rattled one by one and nothing can prevent a strong foray into the future (with the blessings of the almighty of course!)