Looking at the bunch of career queries at my inbox today, I pondered – Am I capable enough to give career advice? After some contemplative moments, it occurred to me. No one, I realized, but the very person in need of advice is best suited to steer her own career. Others can just share their experience and pinpoint pitfalls that often lurk in the youthfully conceived career path of ambitious minds.
In my speeches at different business schools, I encourage young students to learn from our past mistakes and how we overcame them to be where we are today. These facts of our journey through the undulating alleys of the corporate world serve to forewarn young minds of several hindrances that will always remain as obstacles in their career path.
Let me go back to my early life to help the reader better appreciate my thoughts. It all started in 1985 when I was pursuing my hotel management. During this time I also worked as a dishwasher to support myself. I was subjected to such ill-treatment at this time that I made up my mind to pursue my career overseas. I had numerous opportunities in Middle Eastbut never took up any. Looking back just a month, I feel that was the right choice. I got my passport made in 1988 when I passed out from college. Every day, I used to look at the empty pages for Visa and wondered when they would be filled up. Many of my friends often told me that the only opportunity for me was to embrace any offer from theMiddle East. One of them even suggested me to go on a budget trip toHong Kong, buy cheap clothes there are sell them at Janpath – which would be enough to pay for the trip! I listened patiently and waited for the right opportunity. On 10th July, 1991 my passport received its first stamp – not a visa, but change of address. Finally, in 1992 I had my first visa stamping when the shores of Singapore beckoned me, thanks to my ex-boss.
Hospitality at Singapore, however, was never an easy business. My friends ridiculed me for not knowing what a ‘7-11 Store’ was at that time! This and many such small incidents instilled in me the understanding of cultural difference at workplace. While jargons like packaging, fair treatment of employees etc. should be culture independent, in reality they are deeply rooted in a country’s culture. In emerging economies people ought to work extra hard to make up for any cultural disadvantage at workplace. With this realization I started my own business which had to be closed down faster than it opened – but that left me with another learning which I’ll share in some other post.
Back to India, I was continually reprimanded in meetings and asked to keep my mouth shut with phrases like “This is India, not US or Singapore..Things are different here” bombarding my ears! But I was confident that the basic concepts of this business (or for that matter any business) don’t really depend on culture. To prove this point, I took up a project with IIM Bangalore to illustrate basic mistakes every restaurateur make in menu design and was awarded the prize of best project for the year.
I am sure, as a reader you are wondering, what has this got to do with career advice? Well, when I look at several career queries today, I can still sense the same frustration among young candidates from emerging countries. If there is one word of advice for them, it is never to compromise on ethics and principles. Everyone must realize that success comes at a price and comes the hard way. The sooner we know what price is to be paid for success, the better. In today’s world with hundreds of MBAs and Hotel management grads from top institutes, there is no dearth of knowledge. What is however scarce – is the ability to use this knowledge within the bounds of ethics and principles.
Volumes have been written on “Business Ethics” and are part of every B-School curriculum. And yet, let me share my latest experience with a top notch banker from an even better B-School. He was frank in admitting that his latest job involves counseling a builder how to evade bank rules and regulations. The same gentleman gave a speech on ethics few months back. It’s not that he is not aware of “ethics in business”, the problem lies in him having forgotten his past. This is why I keep reminding myself of my humble beginnings to keep my feet rooted to reality and never to disregard the values that shaped me and my career.
At lebua Hotels and Resorts, we had a case where we had to pay an employee a mere THB 3000 for a dispute but against the company principles and ethics. After speaking to our owner, Khun Rattawadee Bualert, we a pursued a legal case with costs over USD 33,000 to stop this payment. I did discuss this with my ex-bosses in different MNCs and all of them termed it as ‘absurd’ and categorically ruled out any reason for doing this. On the other hand my supervisor, K Rattawadee, a young owner at 32 wanted to build the organization on solid principles and approved me to pursue the case. This is what commands respect and reverence. This sole incident helped me formulate plans to train employees better and we became the first company in the world (across all categories) to formally correlate a Customer Satisfaction Survey and Employee Satisfaction Survey. After all how can we understand our customers if we fail to understand our own employees?
Coming back to emerging markets, it is always a challenge to pursue a luxury business in these demographics.
The challenges involved include
- Proper training of staff
- Charging top dollars to your customers for quality
- Getting international press to focus on these markets
- Competing with best brands (mostly foreign) in this sector
If any establishment has been doing the above consistently in emerging markets, I guarantee they would be one of the best places to work for!
Finally, for the couple of queries that I received from MBA students regarding whether to major in HR for hospitality and what opportunities it holds, let me emphasize that there is ample opportunity in this sector. Bright young students from emerging economies are best suited to create such opportunity for themselves and this industry as a whole. After all, the world is a neutral platform and the best talent would be amply rewarded in every way possible. So, ladies and gentlemen let’s work together to create the best in hospitality.
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