The Human Network Effect!!

Cisco’s ads are up and they are pretty powerful too! ‘The Human Network effect’ is the tagline. Please remember this, will come back to it later.
Last week, was trying to get in touch with the Facilities Manager or Admin manager of Cisco. And similar to the experience I had with companies earlier, these first calls usually went like this:

Me: Self intro, name, calling from… regarding.. etc., and ‘Can you pls put me on to the Facilities / Admin person pls?
Other person : Hello?
Me:.. repeat intro.. conversation continues…

My experience when I dialled Cisco office, Divyasree chambers, O’Shaughnessy Road, Bangalore:
Me: same as above…
Operator: Ma’am, I cannot put you through to the Facilities Manager unless you tell me the name of the person
Me: Ma’am, this is my first call….
O: Pls visit our website for getting details of who the FM is. It is not our policy to disclose person’s name.
HANG UP!

I call Cisco office Marathahalli, Bangalore…
Me: Same as above above
O: Same as above..
Me: (had done my search on the website but was unsuccessful, apart from local office addresses, no mention of names).. Ma’am, I cannot find the details on your website
O: I doubt it would be on the website
Me: Maybe I can come over to your office directly and try my luck!
HANG UP!
Yesterday, I had been to the SEZ, Marathahalli for some other meeting and noticed that Cisco office was located right in the very same complex. So decided to walk in, do the intros etc., and get the name of the FM/Admin person.
Me: (intros done).. Can I pls know the name of the person?
Receptionist: Sorry ma’am, without an appointment I cannot let you meet anyone.
Me: But ma’am, unless I know whom to fix an appt with, how can I?
R: (by now she’s beginning to get irritated): Ma’am, you submit your catalog on email directed to WPR_ Admin and they’ll get it. If they are interested and have a need, they will get back to you!
Me: And what if they do not?
R: It means they are not in need.
Me: But ma’am, what guarantee is there that ‘they’ would have received it / seen it etc.?
R: (clearly irritated) : Ma’am, am telling you, in Cisco the rules are like that. Without appointment, you cannot meet anyone.
Me: But ma’am, what’s with your human network effect if you do not let me meet / speak to a human on the other side of the door?
By now, I was getting wild too, but tried my level best to keep my voice low.
I saw someone with the Cisco badge walk in and so I approached him, introduced myself and asked if he could let me know the name of the Admin guy. Unfortunately turned out he was a Wipro employee on a contract assignment. By now, the receptionist calls the Security
R to Security: Security, why do you let people in without proper IDs or appointment?
R to me: ma’am, I have told you clearly what needs to be done. Send an email.
I thanked her and walked out.

And I could not help but think.. IS THIS THE HUMAN NETWORK EFFECT? ARE CISCO EMPLOYEES SO INACCESSIBLE TO THE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO NEED TO MAKE A FIRST LEVEL CONTACT FOR PURSUING BUSINESS? SO THE FORMULA IS : NO APPOINTMENT, NO ENTRY;AND AGAIN NO DISCLOSURE OF ANY EMPLOYEE NAMES TOO. So, what’s this equation and how does it get solved?

Ok, here’s what I did next. Dropped into Aricent Technologies, another large company located close by. I had now become curious, you see, how these first time interactions were done.
And mind you, Aricent I was doing a complete cold call, had not even contacted them on telephone earlier.
Me to Security : Intro.. same as said earlier
S: (calls a no., then connects me to the receptionist)
But, I think instead of the receptionist, the concerned person came on line, although even here the name was not disclosed.
Voice on other end, after hearing me out: Today we are busy, this is our board no., gives me the no., asks me to call up after Thursday and pls fix an appointment and come over and meet.
Security to me, after I am done on the phone : Ma’am, we cannot disclose name, so pls call up on Thursday… Lekha the receptionist will help you, give you the person’s name and connect you. These two days all are busy with meetings, though they are in the office.

MADE PERFECT SENSE.

It’s really simple yet so difficult and challenging to follow this: As companies grow and communication expands, the more appealing the conversation, the greater memory recall for the common man and somewhere, perceptions are formed that if a company speaks like this about itself, everything and everybody in it will be speaking the same language, or at least attempting to.
And then when it doesn’t happen or some incident happens which proves otherwise, alters the perception completely, right?

Knocked Up!!

Watched ‘Knocked Up’. Though the story is about how the guy deals with the whole ‘knocked up’ situation and through the course of nine months, the two realize they want to go the whole road together, this whole side track of the preg woman’s sister, and her family with two kids just got me thinking. Must be about 10-12 years of married life, this guy sneaks off every Wednesday to a ‘band meet’, the woman suspects he’s having an affair, well, let me tell you, when women suspect, they are convinced, all they want is their theory to be proved. So along with this preg woman and the dad-to-be madam spies on her husband. And when the door opens, what does she find, this guy along with 10 others in the middle of a ‘fantasy baseball meeting’. The woman’s baffled, but mad, mad cos she didn’t see what she was sure she would she and turns out that last Wednesday when he’d said he was going to the band, he went to the movies, alone. This completely pisses her off. Pissed cos she did not do something like this for herself.
And then she decides to take off with her sis one day and just go out there and try to do fit into the ‘youth’ party, is refused an entrée and has to get back home cos past midnight the baby sitter gets mad, you see!!
Our men also take off to Vegas, keep convincing themselves they’re having a great time, miss home all along and head back. The thing in all this is, after this ‘break-free’ attempt, something in the sis’ attitude changes, she’s much nicer to the guy and easier on him and so is he on her. The preg girl keeps seeing how her sis and the BIL argue, thinks that she would never want to live that way... and this guy keeps saying all along, ‘but they’re happy’. That’s it! Just cos of those small endless fights, biting morning sarcasms over why one of them got delayed cos they didn’t get the shower first, over who should clean the potty, over who deserves more sleep cos they worked more…and more such things which are absolutely insignificant, don’t give a damn! You’re happy! ‘Happy’ just takes on different dimensions as you go along, in dating times and early marriage, the ‘happy’ state is much different from the ‘happy’ state you are with hubby and kids, am sure few years from now, with growing kids, it’d be an altogether different state, no idea how that’d be but sure look forward to it, One thing tho’, the happy state definition for today : keep those small fights going, those ‘freedom breaks’ going, cos they keep the happy relationship going!