Tuesday, July 06, 2004

trumpets and entrepreneurs

Some people(read men) just love to blow their own trumpet. Me and Padds were in Leela's the other day for a Microsoft event. This MC, Mr. S really bugged us. I know he was an RJ before and had a good voice. It was the second time that we worked with him. He started bossing to the guys around that we were his girlfriends. Initially, we were cool and said that it was our second date. Then, he started talking loud acting as if he is one rich bugger. I have this, I have that blah blah blah. All we know is that he has got a pot belly, he is bald and ugly too. I just asked on purpose, 'are you married?' he replied smilingly, 'no' and I added 'looks could be deceiving.' Enjoyed seeing the transformation on his face. God has been fair by not giving him looks. He thought he was one charmer.

The event was meant for people with small and medium sized business. It was nice to have a dekho on the young entrepreneurs many of them smart,young and handsome. There was positive energy all around. Remembered some of my friends, entrepreneurs I should say. Shyamkishore, Kalyanjit, Brajeshwar, Rajan. Rajan is my ex-colleague and he owns his own company now. One thing I noticed was that there were very few ladies at the CEO level. Among the few, some were partners of their husbands. Is it because we don't even bother to think differently?

I spoke about this to 'J' the other day and she added that there are five lady managers in her office out of which 1 is still married and the other four are divorcees. I don't know why?

9 comments:

Arunima said...

point taken mManoj about the trumpetting ladies and I agree there are all kinds of male and females. I was just alarmed by the ratio in just one organisation. yes, I did not bother to find out how many male managers are there n how many of them are married or divorced.
Me and my brains! I was concentrating only on bachelors:-)

Amit Goel said...

... i'm still a bachelor ... ;) :)

Jubilant said...

It is not every day that I find a lady who doesn't like to blow her own trumpet. But I would never want the issue to be attributed to the genders. I would just say that every individual has his/her own pride(now, one may argue that it is not the case, but this is what I have experienced) and would get a hipe when their efforts are recognized.

I guess the way to see it is that the group which was featured in the analysis was of predominantly men and I would put it as men are inclined to take risks and the greater the amount of risk one take, the more are the chances to make it big in life.

Arunima said...

arnab, my idea was not of women being better managers. that goes without saying :-)

I was musing on the alarming rate of divorcees as I mentined before. anyway, everybody has their own opinions and I respect them even if I don't always agree

Brajeshwar said...

First, thanks for name tag there in the post!

Second, let me tell you that "there is a woman or indeed many behind every successful man", is rather a very true axiom. I am not trying to go astray from my man folks by saying that, in reality, man needs a woman more than a woman needs man in ones life.

I just wish some are just as loving as my mother, sometimes hovers like my hawky grandmother, as caring as my elder sister, as naughty, sweet, pretty as my little baby sister and be a good companion like a friend. Better if she can poke her nose in my Busineess affair and say that this one is wrong and things should be like this-that. Better if she can understand how to "format the freezer" though that is not always necessary.

And yes, successful woman entrepreneurs are indeed growing in numbers these days. I would be proud to say my sister is one, from whom learning bits and pieces of useful informations, tips and tricks never finishes for me. There are always something that she can impart to me each and every day. I would not be mistaken to say she is one person who was responsible for bringing up "Durian Industries, Furniture" to the limelight of the Mumbai Social Circle.

But then, there are miles to go and many milestones to achieve before I rest, retire and sleep!

Noufal said...

A couple of thoughts.

Most of society has been male dominated (perhaps an evolutionary vestige) and this has been carried on into most modern societies for a while now. I don't think women are fundamentally incapable of excelling at anything they put their mind to. But opportunities and negative pressures (from the society) were always higher where they were concerned and hence the number of them that have ventured into more traditionally male dominated areas and succeeded have been lesser.

I think you're confusing the behaviour of individuals and the sex altogether. Someone (a single individual) blowing their own horn is not an indication of the general behaviour of their group. That would just be an indication of the person's character. In particular, I think "Some people(read men)" is inaccurate.

I'm also of the opinion that certain things for which a woman is biologically and evolutionarily better equipped are being neglected by males and females. eg. Men cannot have maternal instincts and I've seen a lot of women who view them as some kind of weakness and actively supress them. The loser in this is case is the society as a whole. You need both Yin and Yang for anything to exist. There are a lot of behaviours that are "feminine virtues" (as Rosseau would have put it) but they're often viewed as "weaknesses" these days.

Arunima said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Prasanna said...

I've decided to start a company with only women employees - from the peon all the way to the CEO level - ur always welcome to join.....

Arunima said...

thanks guys, I agree with you Noufal and other points are noted. yes, prasanna , lets do it. I would love to be the security guard. place me outside. I have no intention of sitting inside and see the ladies. I rather watch other guys of other companies. Buddy Brajeshwar, you will definitely get the right gal. tried shadi.com? just kidding.
and one more addition, my friend told me it's not 5 managers but 6 of them and 5 are divorcees.