work in progress

when multi-national companies plan and execute a “global sales conference”, they tend to do it in stages and in multiple locations. our company had three conferences this year; i attended two of them on opposite sides of the world. the theme of the conference was “one <company name> ”. this is part of our transition from a fragmented and separated firm into a single global entity which is working together on common goals.

the second of the conferences i attended was in india, at a conference center near the taj mahal. the event was attended by 700 of the local staff (management, sales, marketing, customer service and technology people), 23 invited guests from the business groups in four other locations, and one technology guy who crashed the party by more or less inviting himself along for the ride. would you like to guess which group one i am in?

flying into dehli for a conference in agra involves long bus rides to get to and from the event. i noticed the first night how many signs are spread around delhi that proclaim “work in progress”. a simplistic reading of those signs would assume they meant the rail system which does not appear any further along this year than it was last. a deeper impression is that the signs mean the country over all.

as you drive in india, you are shocked by the amount of building material that is simply piled in any open lots, on the side of the road, or many times directly in the road. bricks, gravel, soil were all apparently dropped and forgotten where they are. it appears to be a logistical error, because you also see an unbelievable number of construction holes which have been dug and seemly equally forgotten. you do begin to question, are they forgotten or simply not filled because they are not sure which random pile of material was meant to fill which random hole?

besides dodging rubble in the roads, driving in india also requires dealing with traffic involving all sorts of vehicles, moving much slower than those coming up behind it. lorries, tractors, buses, horse or camel drawn carriages, auto-richshaws and bicycles can all be found on what sadly classifies as a highway in india. the common denominator of the other vehicles is the fact that all were horribly overcrowded with people, goods, grain or unimaginably large piles of bricks. the results are the constant use of horn to demand the lumbering vehicles make way for those behind.

the level of overcrowdng is made more apparent when a bus less than half full of well paid, well groomed, well feed expats pulls up along side a local vehicle in a bottle neck of congested traffic. the air conditioned expats stop sipping their mineral water, and ignore their ipod loaded with music/video for a moment to glance over at the hot, sweaty, crowded and bored locals next to them. almost every time, the locals will burst into a smile and wave. asking why they are so happy to see you is useless, it’s simply easier to smile and wave back which further brightens their smiles.

india is country of contrast; truly a work in progress. but i am not sure what the work is? there are new buildings going up all over the country. and as you drive you can see other buildings which look as though they have either fallen or been pulled halfway down. the piles of building material randomly left all over the country do sit next to half built or destroyed walls, which makes you wonder if the material is truly rubble of collapse; rubble which was simply never cleared. could the country simply be falling apart from lack of attention as we roll by on the way to the airport?

how can a country of 1.3 billion people, who are exporting professionals all over the world, be 600,000 doctors short of its ability to provide health-care for its people? how can a country with so many poor and unemployed people, not put people to work clearing the roads, if not building proper highways to allow you to cover short distances in reasonable time? how can liter build up in layers in all over the country and not motivate someone to pick up at least their front yard?

having grown up in a country which is dominantly clean, well run, modern, stable and progressive you simply do not know how to view india. the common view by the outside world is that the country is just sad. too much poverty, too much garbage and too little action to correct it is hard to understand by those who have left poverty and garbage in their pre-industrial past.

it may have been a function of the time spent together on the bus, or the fact that we were all naturally outsiders to the country, but the group of 23 invited and one self invited guest appeared to make the deepest connections on this trip to realize the “one <company name>” concept. future trips to visit each others offices, future chances to work together and coordinate efforts were planned; and i am confident will be executed. the spirit of working together to succeed was there, and was contrasted with much of the rest of the message that was localized.

the country and the message then appear to equally be a work in progress.