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Neil Miller May 4, 2015 Filed Under: #ThinSkinned, On the Job, Podcast

Episode 8: David Peace

Podcast

 

There are many types of expats in India, but knowing which ones to trust for advice can be hard.

Ideally, you are looking for someone who has been living here for more than five years, has good business experience, a decent level of cultural knowledge, and isn’t prone to overreaction.

David Peace has lived in Delhi since 2001, has run his own company here for 14 years, teaches cross-cultural knowledge, and might be the most level-headed person I know. So he’s basically ideal in every way.

In this month’s Working With India Podcast, I interview David Peace, the founder of Shanti Consulting and an all-around great guy.

David and I talk about a lot of great things, but here are the ones you won’t want to miss:

  • How to instantly build credibility with a room of 25 or more Indians waiting to hear you speak
  • What Indians really mean when they say they are ‘sentimental’
  • What the inner workings of an Indian HR department look like
  • Tips for negotiating in India where everything is up for discussion
  • The difference between adapting and adding value

A big apology for the audio in this program. David sounds great, but there was apparently some trouble with my microphone I did not realize. Still, there are a lot of insights to get out of this.

 

Here’s where you can find out more about David:

  • Shanti Consulting’s website
  • David’s LinkedIn Profile

 

http://media.blubrry.com/workingwithindia/p/podcast.learningindia.in/Episodes/Ep8Peace.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Neil Miller March 23, 2015 Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, #ThinSkinned, #TimeIsEternal, On the Job

How to Ruin Your Relationships in India

Runining Relationships

 

You repeatedly email and call an old contact who won’t reply or pick up.

The manager of your Indian operations suddenly quits for no apparent reason.

You get a legal notice in your office mailbox.

 

Even though Relational Capital can be straightforward to build, it can be a pain to maintain. And worse, it can all come crashing down very quickly. Months or years of effort can be reduced to nothing in what seems like an instant.

Sometimes it is necessary to intentionally end a business relationship in India, such as calling out a vendor who is using unscrupulous practices. But more often, you will find yourself bankrupt in Relational Capital with someone without a clue as to why. Relational Capital is high-risk/high-reward and can be a dangerous game to play.

Thankfully, there are patterns in the ways that outsiders lose all their relational investments, and you can learn from those of us who have lost more than we have gained. The following items are character traits that most Indians hate about other people, particularly outsiders. [Read more…]

Neil Miller February 2, 2015 Filed Under: #PowerPlays, #ThinSkinned, Communication, On the Job, Podcast, Team Management

Episode 5: Robert Stephens

Podcast

I’m constantly amazed at the paths people take to India.

Some people get called into an office one day and find themselves in an Indian airport the next week. Others come here trying to start their own business and capitalize on the Indian market. Others come to live out a sense of adventure.

Then there’s Robert. [Read more…]

http://media.blubrry.com/workingwithindia/p/podcast.learningindia.in/Episodes/Ep5Stephens.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Neil Miller January 20, 2015 Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, #PowerPlays, #See1See100, #ThinSkinned, #TimeIsEternal, Daily Living

13 ways to be a gracious god in India

Being a good god

Marty was a bit nervous about his first trip to India. He was visiting a team he had worked with for a few months, and was delivering some additional training to them.

A driver with Marty’s name greeted him at the airport and tried to take Marty’s bags. Marty felt a mix of suspicion and do-it-yourself-ness, and got into a small tug-of-war match to take his bags away from the driver.

When he walked into the office after freshening up, the entire office stood up with smiles to greet him. Marty gave a mostly blank look and tried to quickly find a place to set his things down. The head of the office came and asked if he’d like to join him for tea. “No thank you, I’ve got to get a few things organized here first,” Marty said.

After getting settled, the team took Marty out to lunch. On the way, Marty said he was still feeling a little jet-lagged and wasn’t very hungry. After looking over the menu, Marty selected a single bowl of soup. “Don’t you want some rice or Indian breads?”, the team asked. “No thank you, I’m trying to watch my carbs and my wife says I need to eat less gluten.” [Read more…]

Neil Miller January 12, 2015 Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, #See1See100, #ThinSkinned, #TimeIsEternal, Daily Living, On the Job

How to Recover from Offending Someone in India

Offended Bird

You made a careless phrase.

…or you forgot to cc someone on an email.

…or you unknowingly made a senior person look bad.

…or the hint of sarcasm in your email wasn’t taken the right way.

…or you forgot to invite someone to a meeting.

 

If you stick around India long enough, it’s not a question of if, but when you offend someone.Therefore, instead of discussing how to avoid it, let’s talk about how to recover from it. [Read more…]

Neil Miller January 5, 2015 Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, #ThinSkinned, Parent Leadership, Podcast, Team Management

Episode 4: Arjun Buxi

Podcast

You have identified an ideal partner for your business in India: strong financials, common interests, and experience in the field. The company is an older family-run business. You soon realize that the key to sealing an agreement is a meeting with the patriarch, an older man who doesn’t come to the office much anymore. His blessing is essential, but you are having a lot of trouble getting his attention. What do you do?

In this episode of Working With India, I talk with Arjun Buxi. Arjun is a native Indian who grew up in a Punjabi family business, and is now a Communication Consultant and Educator in the San Francisco area. Arjun is a true expert in the field of Indian business culture, especially when it comes to how family dynamics affect things. His knowledge is both experiential and scholarly.

Here are a few of my favorite moments in this show:

  • What an HUF is and why it’s central to understanding Indian business
  • How to ‘investigate the hierarchy’ of an Indian family business #PowerPlays
  • Practical tips on how to correct someone of higher status than you #ThinSkinned
  • Really insightful rules for gift-giving
  • Why Jugaad is essential for your ability to navigate Indian businesses #GreyisWhite, #ChaosBeatsLogic

Here are some of the links mentioned in the show: [Read more…]

http://media.blubrry.com/workingwithindia/p/podcast.learningindia.in/Episodes/Ep4Buxi.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Neil Miller October 28, 2014 Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, #PowerPlays, #See1See100, #ThinSkinned, #TimeIsEternal, On the Job

34 Tips for Training in India

Young Man in Session

At home, you’re a pro. You are the subject matter expert, the go-to person. You regularly run trainings for your colleagues, or maybe you are a professional trainer. You get the room warmed up quickly, you are funny, you flow, you delight the audience, and you always get great feedback.

But now you are training in India for the first time. No one laughs at your jokes. Everything feels tense. Some participants seem combative. No one is getting the concepts. Your ‘flow’ never seems to show up.

It’s a trainer’s worst nightmare. You covered the material, but you suspect that everyone might hate you, and you are pretty sure the training didn’t make a difference. You feel like the whole day (and maybe the whole trip) was a waste.

 

34 Tips for Training in India

Whether it’s technical training, updating your India office on new tax laws, or even soft skills, there are certain ways you need to adapt your training style. Here are 34 tips I’ve compiled about how to make the most out of your training in India. [Read more…]

Neil Miller October 2, 2014 Filed Under: #ThinSkinned, On the Job

Should You Shake a Woman’s Hand in India?

Indian Women in the Office

Karl, a large man from Canada, was visiting an office in India for the first time. He was led around by Maneesha, a smartly-dressed, super-punctual woman who made sure Karl was at all of his meetings on time. Towards the end of the first day, she took Karl to meet a group of brand-new freshers who were going through some technical training. Karl joked about looking like a huge white monster, and promised not to be too scary.

Karl walked along behind the trainees and stopped behind Sangeetha. He noticed a few mistakes in a sentence she was typing and asked her in a friendly tone to “just fix it quickly”. She stared straight ahead at her screen. Karl said, “No, it’s easy, just erase that word and add a period.” Sangeetha’s eyes grew even bigger than before; she asked to be excused, and hurried to the bathroom.

Megan had just arrived for a one-year internship in India. She was put in a small group of desks with three younger single guys. Her first week went well, and she enjoyed working with her colleagues. On Friday, one of the guys mentioned at lunch that they were going out to a bar that night. Megan said, “Sounds like fun, can I come? I don’t have anything to do.”

The guys looked at each other and nervously agreed. Later in the day, one of them said he was not feeling well and might go home for the night, and the other two slowly dropped out as well, leaving Megan without any plans, and wondering what happened.

 

Nothing is higher on the list of ‘I-don’t-want-to-look-like-a-fool-in-a-new-country’ than knowing how to interact with women and men, specifically the opposite gender. It can seem extremely simple when done right, but extremely devastating when done poorly. In this article, we’ll explore how gender affects relationships in the workplace for an outsider in India. [Read more…]

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© Neil A. Miller, LearningIndia.in, and Madras Media Marketing LLC 2013-2015. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.