the briefing is on its way and we start our first set of interviews, introducing ourselves, what we do, where we are from, how we like India all the usual stuff, it doesnt really get interesting till some 20 min into the interview, where the questions starts to be about what we have learned, what the NGO has learned, what we take out of this assignment, how we will carry this back with us, how we have changed, how we would have prepared differently - there is a lot of good questions, and equally good answers, the first interview really is only the warm of to what soon is to become for yours truly a test of patience ..
so here is what happens.. already when she enters the reporter, you sense her arrogance, her sense of pride of being a reporter, and how superior she is to the rest of her fellow country men and women, and my God she is not holding back, within 2 min she is having a go at our local media representative, challenging why our company is doing what we are doing, why, how, what, and in the end pretty much ends up making it sound like we are wasting everybody time (needless to say i am getting a slight bit upset here.. - ignorance and arrogance as i always say is a dangerous combination - but even worse, it is a very bad combination..)
however friends it gets worse, at one time Prija from the organization i have been working with comes with a comment about how she has benefited from this assignment and the reporter literally says the following "well to be honest your NGO and the project done there wasnt to important and difficult so thats not really interesting.." - and here i am now biting my tongue, feeling blood in my mouth - taking street children of the street, is not important? taking children out of child labour to put them into schools - that is not important ? empowering women that have been in abusive families, that are selling their children - so they can become better off is not important ? - if that is not important and interesting, what is .. and then i remember one thing, its a newspaper, to hell with importance and objectivity what she is here for is a good story that will sell some papers, some sensation news, some gossip and that is what she is fishing for .. and she is not sharing any tricks to get these stories.. she has another go at the NGOs here - pretty much telling them that they are more or less incapable of taking care of themselves, etc.. she then strongly indicates that since our company hasnt so far gotten any business out of our work here, that it has all in all been a bad investment to send us here - and at that time i have had it (you would all have been proud of me, seeing how i was able to control my emotions..) - without being aggressive, pushy or any way what soever hostile, i ask her a fast set of simple questions: how much are you willing to pay for your company to have your leaders developed ? what is the price for doing what is right ? what is the price for community development? what is the real role of a leader? what is the price of one senior executive is you would buy that person from the street versus developing this person yourself ? and as she clearly cant answer any of my questions, i run through all of them, giving her the answers, showing that us coming here is indeed not for us to make short term business with a couple of NGOs, but for development, us, them, the communities, it is for growth both personal and professional, is development of skills, mentalities, its an investment, a commitment, an opportunity to stretch you, and so on, it seems like she doesnt disagree with me - and even compliments my emotional take on it, but - she comes with another questions, and here is what happens, Espen takes the lead on answering this question, hammers her with his answer - and there she stops, no more questions.. - and that is the end from her side, she doenst know what to say ..
(Susanna and Prija having fun at the press conference..)
she thanks us for our time, refuses a lunch invitation - and leaves... in the end i guess she got what she came for - a story that she can twist and turn into whatever she need it to be .. - she provoked a reaction from us, but i am not sure it was the reaction she expected to see from us - the reaction she saw was sincerity from all of us - based on mutual trust and respect, loyalty, a bond that has gone beyond just work now - a commitment and connection that cant be described in a sentence or two.. what she saw i guess is however not what she will show, this in the end doesnt sell any newspapers now does it ..
Thank God that interview is over - this is the general feeling all have when we head into lunch in Taj - as bad as this interview went, as great the lunch is looking like, seriously - i dont remember the last time i was this confused over what to pick and choose first ... - lamb, vegies, soup, bread, rice ... it looks amazing .. and the taste - ohh i wish you could have tried it .. - it was delicious, and i have to admit - i do another portion, i even have ice cream, it is perfect ... - i dont recall the last time i have been this overeaten - dear Hotel Taj - my compliments to your chef well done ..
(WOW - what a wonderful lunch..)
(more food ...)
(..and more food.. )
so with a good feeling, a full stomach, and heart, we leave the Taj, the quietness and wander into the busy streets of Chennai ....
so here is what happens.. already when she enters the reporter, you sense her arrogance, her sense of pride of being a reporter, and how superior she is to the rest of her fellow country men and women, and my God she is not holding back, within 2 min she is having a go at our local media representative, challenging why our company is doing what we are doing, why, how, what, and in the end pretty much ends up making it sound like we are wasting everybody time (needless to say i am getting a slight bit upset here.. - ignorance and arrogance as i always say is a dangerous combination - but even worse, it is a very bad combination..)
however friends it gets worse, at one time Prija from the organization i have been working with comes with a comment about how she has benefited from this assignment and the reporter literally says the following "well to be honest your NGO and the project done there wasnt to important and difficult so thats not really interesting.." - and here i am now biting my tongue, feeling blood in my mouth - taking street children of the street, is not important? taking children out of child labour to put them into schools - that is not important ? empowering women that have been in abusive families, that are selling their children - so they can become better off is not important ? - if that is not important and interesting, what is .. and then i remember one thing, its a newspaper, to hell with importance and objectivity what she is here for is a good story that will sell some papers, some sensation news, some gossip and that is what she is fishing for .. and she is not sharing any tricks to get these stories.. she has another go at the NGOs here - pretty much telling them that they are more or less incapable of taking care of themselves, etc.. she then strongly indicates that since our company hasnt so far gotten any business out of our work here, that it has all in all been a bad investment to send us here - and at that time i have had it (you would all have been proud of me, seeing how i was able to control my emotions..) - without being aggressive, pushy or any way what soever hostile, i ask her a fast set of simple questions: how much are you willing to pay for your company to have your leaders developed ? what is the price for doing what is right ? what is the price for community development? what is the real role of a leader? what is the price of one senior executive is you would buy that person from the street versus developing this person yourself ? and as she clearly cant answer any of my questions, i run through all of them, giving her the answers, showing that us coming here is indeed not for us to make short term business with a couple of NGOs, but for development, us, them, the communities, it is for growth both personal and professional, is development of skills, mentalities, its an investment, a commitment, an opportunity to stretch you, and so on, it seems like she doesnt disagree with me - and even compliments my emotional take on it, but - she comes with another questions, and here is what happens, Espen takes the lead on answering this question, hammers her with his answer - and there she stops, no more questions.. - and that is the end from her side, she doenst know what to say ..
(Susanna and Prija having fun at the press conference..)
she thanks us for our time, refuses a lunch invitation - and leaves... in the end i guess she got what she came for - a story that she can twist and turn into whatever she need it to be .. - she provoked a reaction from us, but i am not sure it was the reaction she expected to see from us - the reaction she saw was sincerity from all of us - based on mutual trust and respect, loyalty, a bond that has gone beyond just work now - a commitment and connection that cant be described in a sentence or two.. what she saw i guess is however not what she will show, this in the end doesnt sell any newspapers now does it ..
Thank God that interview is over - this is the general feeling all have when we head into lunch in Taj - as bad as this interview went, as great the lunch is looking like, seriously - i dont remember the last time i was this confused over what to pick and choose first ... - lamb, vegies, soup, bread, rice ... it looks amazing .. and the taste - ohh i wish you could have tried it .. - it was delicious, and i have to admit - i do another portion, i even have ice cream, it is perfect ... - i dont recall the last time i have been this overeaten - dear Hotel Taj - my compliments to your chef well done ..
(WOW - what a wonderful lunch..)
(more food ...)
(..and more food.. )
so with a good feeling, a full stomach, and heart, we leave the Taj, the quietness and wander into the busy streets of Chennai ....
No comments:
Post a Comment