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HOW TO ASK YOUR BOSS TO SEND YOU TO A SEMINAR - Pramod Batra

Let me give you an actual story.

I was 25 and working as a foreign student trainee after my MBA with General Mills Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. In the house journal there was a news item that a team was being sent to India to do a soyabean survey. It was 1962. I started thinking. I started asking myself how I can go on this trip. I put myself in my boss's shoes. My attitude was positive. I thought and thought for six days.
Then I wrote a simple letter to my boss, Mr. Sewell D. Andrews Jr. The proposal from my head and heart was simple:

1. I would like to go on the trip. It will be good for General Mills, as being an Indian I can be of tremendous help to the team, and it will be good for the team.
2. Air fare: I will pay in installments when I return (and I meant it).
3. Stay, food, conveyance: I will pay on my own, as I will be staying with my relatives.
4. Absence: to be deducted from my leave account on return. My boss read my letter with interest. He believed what I had in my head and my heart. He listened and heard from my eyes. He called the Soyabean Council of America and wanted to know if it was okay for him to send an Indian student. The reply was simple, ".we don't care; you can send two persons, even if they are donkeys!" After a few weeks I got my assignment letter: a Round The World ticket (first class), $25 a day plus all expenses paid!

It was not charity. It was not a knee-jerk response. It was a well considered decision of the boss. I had given the proposal in all sincerity, and I was genuine about it. My attitude was positive. No negative thoughts entered my mind, like I am an Indian, I am only 25, I don't even know what a soyabean looks like, they will send an American and so on!

I had followed the Simple Management Wisdom concept of 'Management is
THINK : ASK : DO.'
I followed the same principle during my 33 years with Escorts. I went to learning seminars in the USA and around the world six times, and to more than three dozen seminars in India. It was not that easy, either! For every yes, there were two no's! But I was clear in my thinking. I was not begging the boss to give me a promotion or give me my increment. I was asking for an opportunity to increase my knowledge, so I could do my job better.

(Incidentally, in one of the seminars, on Office Administration in 1976 in Delhi, Dr. N.H. Atthreya, asked the participants for their good office management ideas. I gave ours to the class. It was suggested I write a book! To encourage me, Dr. Atthreya published it and the result was a princely sum of Rs.3000/- for almost three years of sweat and toil. Later, more zeroes were added to this princely sum, as my writings and publishing continued. And I am confident that these zeroes will keep on coming, to the next generation at least!).

By contrast, most of us, including my colleagues at Escorts, have a negative attitude about such things as seminars - why should I ask? I am not a beggar! And why should I go to a local seminar? I would like to go to Goa or Detroit. We don't care about learning or improving our attitude through participation in a seminar - it never occurs to us! Instead we hanker for a free ride to an exotic place.

But a negative attitude goes nowhere. To expand our horizons, we need to
understand this:
1. Get into a positive attitude.
2. Life is unfair. People are unfair. India is not the land of
opportunity. Agreed. But, in India, Mohan Singh Oberoi, whose father died when he was six months old, made The Oberoi when just tenth pass! The Nirma man used to sell home-made soap on a cycle! The Luxor man used to sell ball-point pens on a cycle! The Nanak Milk man started selling milk on a cycle. Look around. There are 1000 such success stories in India. Agreed, in the USA there are 1,000,000 success stories. 3. If you are an MBA or an IIT graduate, good luck to you! Simple Management Wisdom Seminars are not good enough for you! But if not, come and increase your knowledge. Get prepared for your tomorrow.
4. In India, too, when you read good books and attend seminars you can become better and better, and also have good friends who share your positive attitude - sone pe suhaga. Then boy, you are up and up and away! 

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