Imported Professionalism

With reference to consumer preferences, I have noted a unique thing about the Indian consumer. I am referring to our inclination towards foreign goods. The fact that any object or item that has ‘imported’ as its prefix, notionally climbs a few notches up the quality charts defined in the mind of the Indian consumer is quite typical of us. This could, perhaps, be the result of consistent better performance of imported products vis-à-vis their Indian counterparts.

By the way, for the benefit of the reader, the scope of the word ‘imported’ in this blog is restricted to developed economies (like the United States of America) and Imported ‘objects or items’ could be anything, ranging from imported chocolates to imported wine to imported fabric/dress material and so on.

I, being no different from the typical Indian Consumer, have a fetish for ‘Imported’ Professionalism.

Well how can professionalism be ‘imported’ you may ask? To which I would say, at the cost of sounding like a traitor (which is absolutely incidental), professionalism in the Indian context has always been an ‘imported’ phenomenon.
Before you raise your brows, I would like to clarify that I am not saying that we as Indians do not display professionalism (I know many of us may not agree with me on this!) but the kind of professionalism that we see in India is just the ‘customized’ (rather Indianized) version of this global trend.

Although customization is not always appalling, as a matter of fact - there are certain things (like these ERP applications) that need definite customization when imported/bought to suit the local tastes. Say for example when you try Chinese cuisine in India (which is a hot favorite amongst a lot of us) may not taste the same as authentic Chinese food in China. The Chinese food that is available in India is customized for the Indian palette. And because we are so used to the localized version, for all you know, we may not like the way it is done in China. Similarly a lot of other things have to be customized for the local crowd.

However for a universal phenomenon like professionalism, there is no need for improvisations or customizations to accommodate local requirements, because if you try to customize them – it stands a chance of losing its essence. And I am afraid to admit that I sense that loss of essence in the ‘customized’ version of professionalism prevalent in India.

Speaking of ‘Imported’ professionalism, every time I meet someone from the west, I see and feel a stark difference in their attitude and their approach to things/situations. From Communication to Commitment from Planning to Time Keeping, there is something very striking about them that always makes me wonder as to what goes behind ‘the making’ of a professional attitude like that.

Just to illustrate this with an example – there is a popular phrase used in India about punctuality. We often say ‘The problem with being early or on time is that there is no one to appreciate it’. This, I assume, is with the assumption that everyone else is expected to be late.

How true! But only in the Indian context; where 10.00 a.m. more often than not can mean anything from 10.15 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., sometimes even later.

However in a scenario when everyone turns up on time (like in the west) – the same phrase could change to : ‘The problem with reaching late is that there’s always everyone to sit up and take notice !’

This is what I refer to as ‘Imported’ Professionalism!

It is heartening to see the magic of ‘imported’ professionalism rubbing on to people when they return to India after a reasonably long stay in the west. In other words, they return customized to imbibe this quality without making any alterations to the quality itself.

Therefore, the good news is - that we have a choice! The choice is - whether to make alterations in ourselves to imbibe a quality or to (conveniently) make alterations to the quality itself to suit ourselves?

It is a difficult choice to make (like most other choices) but that is what differentiates ‘Imported Professionalism’ from ‘Customized Professionalism’ and perhaps also an evolved person from being just a creature of habit!