Ajay was on the phone with Daman. “Daman, isn’t that the sixth major resignation from India in the last six months?” he asked.
“Yes Ajay.”
“This VP who just resigned, wasn’t he the one who you brought along from HP?”
“Yes that’s right,” Daman confirmed.
“Have you spoken with Sid in Mumbai?"
“Not yet, Ajay. I will call him in the morning, his time.”
“Thanks,” Ajay said, and hung up.
Daman was certain that Ajay had already spoken with Sid.
Old loyalties — the background
The reason was because Ajay and Sid went back a long way — they were classmates from the same school. Ajay moved on to IIT Delhi, then Carnegie Mellon and then to National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, California. He later founded AOS Inc.
Sid dropped out of college and joined a small manufacturing company in Mumbai and grew to become the Factory Head. He later started a food business in Dubai that was funded by Ajay.
When AOS Inc commenced its operations in Mumbai, Ajay brought in Sid to oversee canteen services. Eventually, he became the Facilities in-charge, then Centre Head and finally, the Country Head. Soon, Sid expected to be named the next CEO.
The moment he sent out the email welcoming Daman as the new CEO, Ajay had expected the call from Sid. “Ajay, I just received your email. To be frank, I always thought I had it in me to be the CEO,” Sid said, disappointment evident in his voice.
“Sid, our bankers were adamant that with our upcoming IPO, we need to hire someone from a big brand, right here in the US, and restructure the company.”
“I understand that Ajay, but I had hoped that my reporting to you would not change.”
“Sid, please remember you will always remain my go-to person.” The conversation ended there.
The present
While Daman felt helpless, he also sensed something foul — Sid was clearly targeting most of his hires in India. While no one admitted this openly, they did share this with him confidentially.
What made matters worse was that Ajay believed Sid’s explanation — that those who resigned did so because of their failure to adjust to the company culture.
As Daman set up a voice bridge for the customary exit interview, he hoped that the VP, who had worked with him earlier in HP, would provide more concrete evidence that would help nail Sid. Unknown to the outgoing VP, Daman had requested Ajay to listen in.
The call
The VP dialled into the bridge from Delhi, while Daman and Ajay listened in from the US.
“Welcome to the AOS Bridge. You are the second person on the call.” It was the automatic voice activated system.
Then the VP spoke up, “Hi Daman, how are you doing?”
“Fine thanks,” replied Daman, adding, “I am sad that you have chosen to call it a day. Is your decision final?”
“Yes it is final, Daman. Honestly, I cannot take it any more.”
“I respect your decision, but what is the reason for this?”
“A number of factors,” the VP continued, “The main one being lack of respect — there is no respect here. The culture in India is driven more by fear and insecurity. Don’t be surprised if there are more resignations.”
Daman felt good that the VP was opening up and that Ajay, who was quietly listening in, would know the truth.
“Would you attribute this to the culture, in general, or is it something to do with the style of any particular person there?” prodded Daman.
However, at this point, there was power failure in Delhi and the VP dropped out of the call. Once the back-up power was restored, he dialled back in.
Fourth person
“Welcome to the AOS Bridge. You are the fourth person on the call,” the automatic voice activated system informed him.
“Hi Daman, sorry, we had a momentary power outage here,” the VP explained.
“No issues. Welcome back. You were talking about the insecurity and fear prevalent in India? Who is responsible for this?”
“No, I was not pointing at anyone in particular. What I meant was that because of inadequate communication from our HQ in San Jose, folks out here are not very sure about the future. Hence they feel insecure.”
From there, the conversation drifted into generalities. It was clear that the VP was holding back; there was no way Daman could get him to open up. It ended with an exchange of pleasantries.
Daman wanted to know what went wrong. Immediately after the call was over, Daman rang the VP on his cell phone. “What happened during the call? Initially, I felt you would open up and tell it as it was. But later, you suddenly turned very diplomatic,” he said.
“Daman, let me be honest with you. Initially, I thought it was just you and me on the call. But after my call dropped and I dialled in again, I was informed that I was the fourth person on the call.
I realised then, that you had invited Ajay to silently listen in. But what was Sid doing on the call? I am sure even you were not aware that he was listening in as well.
“And now you know why I cannot work in this culture any more.” With this, the VP hung up.
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