A few days ago, it was a gratifying day in my consulting career. It came completely unexpected and hence, was more pleasant. I began the day slightly earlier than usual to take the flight to Delhi. I had my meeting at 12 noon there with NTPC Limited, India's largest power generation utility. I had met them a few times earlier regarding providing advisory services for coal assets acquisitions abroad. This meeting was as a result of new business leader at the helm of affairs. I had to meet the executive director of corporate planning and head of strategic management group. Our Delhi based partner had met him a few days earlier and had suggested that I should meet him to apprise him of the status of the industry, the acquisition markets and the targets we had brought on the table for their consideration.
As usual, the flight was delayed. Upon landing at the new runway of the Delhi airport, the aircraft could make its way to the parking only after half an hour. However, once I came out of the aircraft, it wasn’t very difficult to locate the cab that was waiting for me. I headed to the client office and could make it at 11:59 am. The meeting started a little later as the executive director desired to get some of his senior team members to attend the meeting. That was unexpected as I had planned for a one on one meeting. But then I had a presentation from my earlier meetings which I thought could be modified to suit their needs. I made the modifications in less than five minutes in the time the team gathered.
We talked about the prospects of coal mining in Indonesia, Australia and South Africa. The presentation was not the best I could make, but I was satisfied since I could answer most of the queries. Most questions were the ones which I have answered time and again in several meetings. But that’s how every corporate house takes the first step into entering a new business domain, taking learning step by step.
After the meeting, I was eager to leave so I could catch up with work at Delhi office. The executive director engaged me through his questions about my experience and also shared some of his thoughts about his current role in the organization. After a while, he thanked me for coming all the way from Hyderabad for the knowledge sharing session. And he suddenly rose from his seat and began looking into his drawers. Out from there came a nicely wrapped gift pack, which he insisted I take. I was surprised. Consultants are not used to receiving gifts for presentations. I could compare this with another meeting with a prospect a few days ago, where the senior managers quizzed me endlessly and got most of the information, worth a few thousand dollars engagement. I wasn’t sure if I should take it, but I took it eventually for his insistence. I didn’t even know how to thank him for his extra-ordinary kindness.
Well, on my way back I could recall reading in one of the books regarding an episode of Dennis the Menace cartoons. After receiving cookies from Mrs. Wilson, Dennis reveals to his friend that Mrs. Wilson gave them cookies not because they were nice but because she was nice. The same applied to my gift, the executive director gave this nice necktie to me not because I deserved it but because he is good at heart. May God bless him abundantly.
The concluding remark in this article has certainly to go back to God, who has saved me all through, blessed me, has been merciful and given me grace to work according to his purpose for me, even when I have been completely undeserving of His love.
(Picture is from MEAI Seminar on Managing Performance in Mining.)
