In the summer of 2003,
I led a business delegation from Chambers of Commerce to Copenhagen
Denmark. The entrepreneurs and small business owners enjoyed the
interactions with their counterparts in Copenhagen. We also had
regular orientation workshops, industry visits and other
opportunities to understand doing business in Denmark.
During the weekends,
the delegation also had an opportunity to explore Copenhagen and soak
in the local culture, do a bit of sight seeing and shopping. During
one of these explorations, our business people came across stores
selling “Amber” stones. Amber is actually fossilized resin from
ancient forests. During this process, it traps debris like seeds,
leaves and insects. Amber stones with insects are considered very
valuable. Amber sold in Denmark is considered highest quality and is
approximately 30 – 90 million years old (source: internet)
All of them were
naturally fascinated by its honey and bright orange (amber) colour
and also curious about the insects trapped inside (see inset picture: Source: Wikipedia)
Some of them wanted to buy and even enquired the price. Strangely,
even after visiting several stores selling Amber, nobody actually
purchased any thing. I thought to myself, maybe the price put them
off.
On monday morning, when
our host for the day wanted to know the experience of shopping in
Copenhagen, few of the 'shoppers' were excited about the Amber shops.
Our host acknowledged their excitement and wanted to know if any of
the curious shoppers brought any Amber. The response came as a chorus
from our delegation: “We did not buy, as we are not sure if the
Amber sold in these shops are genuine” The
host seemed to be taken aback by this 'genuine' question. He took his
time to gain his composure then asked them another question: Where
did you see the amber stones? The response was in “Amber Stores”
Then the host shot back: “If
the shop says it is selling Amber, it is selling Amber” From
his Danish perspective, he could not even understand the reason
behind such a question from our Indian guests. For us fakeness,
corruption and mediocrity being the order of the day, it seemed a
reasonable question. Whereas in the Nordic Countries that enjoy high
level of integrity and transparency in all aspects of life, the
question itself struck a jarring note.
Let's
pause here a bit while I want to take you back to an incident that
occured in “namma' Chennai during the famous Mango Season. Few of
my German colleagues were visiting Chennai on a business trip and on
their way to airport, asked me if I could get them some mangoes to
take with them. I jumped at the opportunity to showcase our King of
fruits and went to a fruit seller who had neatly packed “Export
Only” cartons of Alphonso Mangoes. After usual haggling on the
price, I chose a carton which had “Genuine
Alphonso Mangoes”
Export quality etc colourfully marked on the sides. I could not
resist the temptation to take one more box of this export quality for
my own consumption – after all why should only foreigners eat
export quality mangoes?
After
dropping them at the airport with the neatly packed mangoes duly
delivered, I smiled all the way back impressed with my alacrity. My
happiness was short lived. When I went home and unpacked the “Genuine
Alphonso” cartons, there were only few rotten mangoes and the rest
of the package was only paper stuffed in the shape of mangoes. Even
the rotten mangoes looked like the local variety and not the
colourful Alphonso mangoes advertised on the sides of the carton.
I
felt terrible not just for the fact that I had been cheated by
“genuine” mangoes but felt sorry for our German guests and what
impression they would have when they discover the truth. Later I
wrote an email apologizing for the incident.
To
get back to the Amber story. It taught all of us a lesson that day of
what it means to be truthful and genuine in business and in other
walks of life. Of course, the delegates went back to the Amber stores
and purchased them – a precious acquisiton - not just because it
was 90 million years old, but because it taught them the importance
of being genuine in transacting business.
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