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Rick Warren and "It's a Wonderful Life"

Yesterday was Christmas Eve and  I was watching Tim Russert's Meet the Press with   "Faith in America" that had Rick Warren of the "The Purpose Driven Life" and Jon Meacham the Editor of Newsweek.

"The Purpose Driven Life" is the all time best selling hardcover book in America according to MSNBC and is featured at no. 6 at Amazon.com. I had browsed the book earlier but had never actually seen a picture of Rick Warren. Frankly, I was completely taken aback by the man's disarming and down to earth approach.

The text of the interview is here and several points simply jump out. The first is that 95% Americans profess "faith" and according to Rick outside Manhattan there is really no sizable "secular" group! Second, the important thing is to "do good" rather than be concerned about what religion or motive is driving the do-er. The third point was the one that gave me something new to think about- Warren emphasized the importance of freedom of religion as a major underpinning of of "balance and check" on pure greed of the individual. American capitalism is successful because of Judeo-Christian beliefs according to Warren, that caution the Businessperson to look after stakeholder  interests without "legally" being required to do so. Since all religions promote good ethics - religion and its freedom in a supplier country can be a potential predictor of long term global supplier performance.

Late at night we watched It's a wonderful life and Rick Warren's point came through beautifully..

Here is wishing Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday to readers of this blog in 350 languages....

Lord Ganesha made in China

Today is Ganesha Chaturthi the festival to celebrate and glorify Lord Ganesha the Hindu God of beginnings, success and " the remover of obstacles." Lord Ganesha is one of the most familiar icons of Hinduism and Homer Simpson once dressed up like the beloved elephant God in "The Simpsons"  during Apu's wedding to chuckles from most  Indians.

One would expect that both India and China being low cost countries would at least manufacture what is culturally dear to them. So  when I heard that there are lots of decorations and Ganesha idols made in China being sold in India - I decided to research this. Apparently this is going on since at least 2002. Globalization is indeed funny you can actually order various replicas from this Made-in-China site online.

I for one had protested to a New Delhi shopkeeper, this summer  because he was selling me a Taj Mahal replica-Made in China. When I asked for a Taj Mahal replica Made in India, the Shopkeeper assured me that the Chinese quality/price combo was unbeatable and I had to reluctantly agree.

Best wishes to all global beings on Ganesh Chaturthi - may Lord Ganesha remove obstacles, bring success and a new beginning irrespective of His "Made in " label !

Customer Satisfaction and Outsourced Prayers

Having arrived in New Delhi last week, I am still wondering at the massive changes I am seeing here. Notably the roads situation is much better with frenetic construction going on- on all fronts. Everyone seems to be realizing that that infrastructure needs to improve and  is indeed improving rapidly. Also customer service whether it is your car provider or phone/Internet provider or restaurant seems to have vastly improved. Every one seems to be much more customer focused. My guess is that the customer service culture has percolated from the very large young force working in the global customer service business who have been spreading the word that the old Indian style of being occasionally curt with particularly weaker consumers will not work in the new global market. You can be curt  occasionally but must be always responsive and resolve issues - and create satisfaction for the customer- stuff that the Mahatma always encouraged.

I was therefore smiling and am confident that outsourced prayers to India will work fine. According to this report catholic churches in the west are outsourcing mass to Kerala, India. However, in the impeccably structured organization that is the catholic church, the local bishop is given the task who finds an appropriate priest. Since God is the only witness the writer of this piece suggests that the delivery of this particular outsourced service is entirely based on trust. Knowing the Indian "God-fearing" culture and the new service credo I guess no priest will fudge or risk shortcuts with prayers. Here too new "business" models are emerging. Kerala has more catholics but is expensive so North Indian churches are looking for assignments and are being offered some. In addition priests from India are being called in on short term assignments overseas. Although just 2.5 percent of the population is catholic in India they are four times in number than catholics in Britain. If I were to get time off from my more mundane "commercial" studies in outsourcing this should be  a really fascinating topic to research !