You Asked For It

One of the disadvantages of this assignment has been a slight ambiguity in the objectives I'm here to accomplish.  The educational group is starting a new custom publishing division, which dovetails nicely with what I do back home, but we've been floundering a bit in identifiying specific ways that I can contribute to the team.  One of the reasons for this is because their custom books are going to be almost entirely produced for the open market, not presold as ours are.  This means that we need to extend a million feelers for custom opportunities, but most of them will never materialize.  The publisher had refrained from assigning me any projects until one was solid enough to actually receive funding.

Last Thursday, the afternoon preceding a long holiday weekend, the CEO had me into his office for a chat to discuss my progress so far.  When I gave him a report on my current activities, he spent a moment in thought and then asked if there was anything further I'd like to do.  When I suggested that, yes, perhaps I could be more useful in helping to classify potential projects and how to complete them most efficiently, he nodded.  He suggested I make sales calls with the custom editors to understand what their approach was, and how it differed from the market back home.  He expressed interest in attending the presentation I had been preparing to explain our U.S. custom processes and procedures.

We have a saying in America that, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."  The Indian equivalent is another traffic metaphor: They only see you if you honk.  As the CEO explained, things will probably not progress until I take the initiative to identify specific tasks I could be performing.  No one will know that I might be helpful checking manuscripts until I offer.  So, this morning, I went in to see my publisher, and I offered.

Immediately, my presentation was scheduled for the following day at 9:30 am, which because of traffic means I should leave my home an hour earlier than usual.  I had been working all weekend on my speech, so luckily I felt prepared enough to agree.

Before I had finished stapling my info packets, a custom editor dropped by my desk and arranged for me to join him right after my presentation on three institutional sales calls in Gurgoan, two hours away.  Essentially, I would take my bow, throw on my suitcoat, and hit the road to make only the second sales call in my career, and my first in India.

Don't you want me to prepare a bit first? I asked.

Nope--since I won't be doing any of the talking, I can just sit back, watch, and learn.

Isn't this being planned a little... quickly?

That's just the pace of business, though.  As the editor reminded me, it's probably best not to miss the opportunity.  Americans might move a bit more slowly, but we're in India now.  So I have two major events on the books tomorrow, and let's hope that I can hold it together through them both.  Learning experience, indeed.