Team Ready for the Match
Raring to Go
Straight Drive!!
Winning Moments.
Pearson Vs TMH Match in Pictures
Team Ready for the MatchRaring to GoStraight Drive!!Winning Moments.
One more entry:)
It has been great to read all the entries from people about their (or their team’s) greatest achievement in 2008. I thought I would just round it off with a final story of mine. It’s about the South Asian adaptation of the thirteenth edition of Kotler:Marketing Management. And while my colleagues at higher ed editorial will probably be muttering, “There she goes about Kotler, again…(and I do tend to, ahem, become a little obsessed by the book around the time it’s about to come out, so they know all about it), I thought it would be interesting for others to know a little more about the behind-the-scene process.
This book was due to come out in 2008 but work on it had actually started in 2007. Since this was a part of the Pearson global initiative, all the teams participating in the program started participating in conference calls from June 2007. It was fascinating to discuss various issues, participate in the planning, and share the details of the project with colleagues as far away as Australia, USA, UK, Canada, and Singapore, to mention just a few. Sometimes we would forget the time difference and the Australian team members would often (finally) say that it was 10 pm there and we needed to finish!
Part of the global initiative was to prepare shared features—case studies, questions based on them, suggested readings, and other highlights—that readers could access from all over the world. We were given a deadline of December 1. While it was touch and go at one point, and I must have made about a million calls to Bangalore and Ahmedabad, thanks to our adaptors Prof. Koshy and Prof. Jha and their graduate students, all the case studies were up and ready on the final day. Next, Vibhor coordinated with the U.S. team to have them up on the site and our version was quite a hit with the rest of the team.
In the meantime, I was receiving chapters and finalizing them. Based on the feedback from the previous edition, we had added more case studies and advertisements from not just India but other South Asian countries. Calling up these companies, explaining what we wanted from them, and then following up with them to receive all the material was quite challenging. One memorable occasion, my desk phone was not working. I asked Amar if I could use his phone to call various companies in Pakistan. It was only when I entered his office and started making the calls, that I realized that there was a horrible smell in the cabin. It turned out that a dead mouse had been found in the cabin the previous day and although it had been removed, the stink remained. But, the calls had to be made… so with my dupatta around my nose, and taking very short breaths, I made those calls.
There are many such stories but I will reserve them for some other time. I would just like to say that working on the book was an amazing experience. And I decided to write about it not because it was my achievement but because so many people contributed to it and this is my way of saying thanks to them. So, thanks to Jogu who pitched in to help with the editing, to Gaurav who worked on the proofs on behalf of the production team, to Madhur’s team for the marketing reviews’ design, and to Vibhor and Manav who helped with the supplements. And thanks also to the marketing team headed by Vikesh and Vikram who helped with the reviews and promotion, to the manufacturing team headed by Deepak, and to Naval’s team, who do the actual work of “selling” the books. Until the next timeJ!
Jonaki
Cricket Fever is on....Pearson vs Walter Kluwer Health
This time we played with Walter Kluwer Health on Saturday 3rd December 2009. It was a perfect morning for cricket both teams arrived at the venue at 9.00 am in the morning we warmed up while ground staff were still rolling the pitch .We asked Abhishek Shukla to join the Walter’s captain for the toss, the call was right . Looking at the early morning conditions we decided to field and started our attack with Abhishek and Binit. Both of them bowled pretty well and restricted the scoring to almost 5 runs per over .We rotated the bowling with myself Amit, Kamal, Nikhil and Rohit, We took wickets at regular intervals but the middle order batsmen were good and scored some good runs .Finally they scored 170/9 in allotted 25 overs . It was a challenging target.
After a brief snacks session we started our innings. I was joined by Bharat Rana as opening pair and braved through some very good seam bowling . They tried almost every bowler and almost every tactics including short and body line stuff but couldn’t break the opening partnership. Myself and Bharat had 100 runs plus opening partnership and set the tone for rest of the players to come in and finish off, which Rohit Chopra did in style with blazing 44 runs . We won the match with by 7 wickets and 2 overs still to be bowled.
My congratulations to the Pearson team who braved the fog and 10 degree temperature to come to the ground and play with full spirit and enthusiasm.
Prashant Rathore
____________________________________________
Prashant Rathore
Asst. Marketing Manager
Pearson Education
482, F.I.E. Patparganj,
Landline (Direct):91-11-43030116
website :www.pearsoned.co.in
Fax : 91-11-22146071
Happy New Year
Â
µµµµµµµµµµµ
I take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones peace and prosperity in the New Year.
JJJJJ
from
Amit Chauhan
Lets per say assume, we all want to reach the un-flagged, virgin land with twigs around, gliding in an ocean-full of water, swinging on the branches of larger than life trees, cuddling serenity, surrounded by every imaginable being in flesh and blood – from red ants to havoc creating whales to meek looking sloth to ferocious spider monkeys. It’s just a matter of calling names and they’ll come forth to make sure that their being is acknowledged. There is no ship, no boat and no coast guard to help you, guide you or to get to the shore. How would you go about it???
Halt! This view is from the other side of the grass.
Come back to the real world!
We took you for a ride for a second. Give it a third thought and see if you can find similarities between the two worlds…
If you have scratched your brains enough, here goes the allegory:
- The unflagged beach is the territory we aim to be the masters of.
- Twigs are the resources we ought to capitalize on.
- Wretched and not so wretched beings are apparently the people you collide with, on your way up and down, adding to your bagful of pleasant and not so pleasant experiences.
Of what we know, Pearson India started off amidst such grounds, where it had to fathom the unconquered realms, capitalize upon its strengths, crush the competitors and hoist the flag of victory. Pearson has been there. Seen it. Done that. Inevitably, it is still is in the process of raising the bar since it knows that the law of success dances to the tune of ‘Survival of the fittest’. Since no one beats the law, Pearson has sprinkled the seeds of concrete and obviously this concrete is its people – the Pearsonites!!! Today each one of us proudly associate ourselves as not merely a part of Pearson but also being a part of the molecular unit (respective departments) of Grand-pa firm!!!
To define this molecular unit - a team, we find it appropriate to quote the thought proposed by Gestalt
As a department we too sketched our aspirations and believe we have much more to achieve! Rights & Contracts department after coming to the forefront, took up the task of solving the puzzle when it came to the accomplishing the task of remitting royalty. We recovered lump some licenses from the
Through the medium of book fair, rights were sold. Pearson
Never before was there a permissions desk but this too was set up in May ’08. We work closely with the editors to work on permissions and lubricate the process of book development.
Further to it, living up to its name and educating millions, Pearson continues to penetrate in the Indian soil as well. Another major task of translation has been taken as a challenge by us. We are aiming on bringing out substantial number of translated texts not just for generating revenue but because our aim is also to make those books accessible which can work wonders by crossing the barriers of language.
With the arrival of winters, the mood was set to work upon author satisfaction. The author satisfaction survey was circulated and Pearson’s first ever author and distributor meet was organized across the four metropolitans. It was a successful event with praise earned from the authors and distributors. Unfortunately, towards the end, Chennai flight was clipped due to fog but our colleagues handled the meet with ease.
Teaming up and streamlining our goals has been quite a task. We are glad that we are living up to the vision we had eyed and are taking baby steps to reach the finish line, where another race lies ahead of us! With a warm heart we thank all those who’ve been supportive and encouraging throughout!
To pour a final food for thought, our post doesn’t categorically fit into this week’s theme – My Achievement. We feel that the spirit with which we worked was exploited to the best partly because we are a team! That we think is an achievement in itself!
Until next post, we sign off and wish everyone a Superbiful year ahead!
Regards,
Team Rights & Contracts
My Biggest Achievement for Year 2008
My biggest achievement this year was to realize USD 42720/- which were nearly 24 months old and it was an uphill task when I was assigned with the role of entire foreign collections. Even though the amount is not too much in the currency terms but pitching with foreign customers were difficult as they were grossly clumsy in terms of managing it as from India it is quite difficult to convince them through e-mails without meeting them face to face and able to make them understand the statement and reconciling them to their satisfaction. There were no representative till late 2007.
After persistent mails & phone calls to every customer be it
Regards
Kuntal Kar
Pearson Education
Ph No. +91 11 43030225
Fax No. +91 11 22146071
My biggest achievement this year
It's a hard topic that Jonaki has set for us for this week. For many of us, there have been so many achievements, on both the professional and personal side. It's tough to highlight any single one as the biggest achievement. What was yours, Jonaki?
I am merely the sponsor of the prizes, not the judge, so I thought I'd pitch in and try to answer. I also have lots of time on hand, as I sit at Delhi airport waiting for the fog to lift. Yesterday a bunch of us were trying to get to Chennai, and we sat in the aircraft for 5 hours before we aborted our trip. With naïve optimism or utter stupidity, I am trying it again, this time trying to get to Bombay.
Actually there is one project I had hoped to close within the year, which might have qualified, but I couldn't close it in time.
So for me, if I have to sum up my achievements for the year in a single sentence, it would probably be : I didn't mess it up! This was my first year as a CEO, in a new company and a new industry. In retrospect, the chances of making big errors (of either omission or commission) were huge. But I think we had a good year. We performed well, we have set ourselves up for continued success, and we had fun.
Thank you, everyone at Pearson, for helping me (and us) get to where we did. Having such a great team makes my life so much easier.
We are blessed to be working in an economy and an industry that has so much potential. I know that 2009 will be even better for all of us, and I hope that you all have a wonderful start to the New Year, surrounded by people you love.
Enjoy yourselves, and see you back at work on the 5th.
Vivek Govil
Sent from my BlackBerry
My achievement during the year 2008
MY BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE YEAR: 2008
The year 2008 has been very eventful year for me. Prior to joining Pearson on 5th November, 2007, I was working with a well known German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, as the Head of Indirect Taxation, managing taxation matters of 28 states in
Perhaps, their blessings inspired me in making some worthwhile achievements during my tenure with Pearson. In my initial few days at Pearson, I was learning the dynamics of business, its accounting policies, reporting standards as well as pulses of other departments. Slowly, I came to terms with the system as the rigors of Chartered Accountancy profession helped me in understanding any system, whatever be its complexities. I was told by VP-Finance and other senior colleagues that 3D P&L reporting had been long overdue after I joined here. This is a three dimensional Profit & Loss Account analyzing profits / losses for our three divisions, e.g. Higher Education, Professional & Trade and School. I was given the stiff target of developing the 3D P&L in a fortnight.
This has been the operation from the scratch. First, I had to understand the accounting codes, profit centres as well as the P&L groupings being followed in TMS. Basically, it was an exercise on accounting concepts and policies tailor-made for a publishing industry. The fact that I had no prior experience in publishing industry, made my task even for difficult. But, my self determination to achieve something, which, I knew, would be highly beneficial to the company, propelled me to contribute towards attaining new heights of company’s financial analysis.
Amongst other jobs, I involved myself throughout day and night, whether at office or home, in developing the well sought-after report. It took all of my skills so far accumulated over my 14 years’ professional experience in the fields of accountancy, finance as well as computer applications to make it operational.
I earned praise from my seniors and colleagues, but these adulations were nothing when a thought came to my mind that I had done something very good towards organizational goals. I am not exaggerating the fact that throughout my career, I never looked upon my career as a priority, rather, I felt enlightened at the benefit derived by the organizations from my work. May be, this was considered as weakness by some, for not becoming ambitious. But, I don’t care. Becoming ambitious only does not fetch me any peace of mind. Rather, I want to move up the ladder as a member of the team. I feel proud as a member of a brilliant finance team of Pearson Education,
Regards,
Sujiban Ghosh
Yes!!!!we did it again
Every year in the month of December almost all of us ask each other this question “did you get your numbers ?” New joinees often scratch their heads puzzled thinking what “numbers” these people are talking about! We rush in during the day and after the office hours as well, scribbling the orders from the customers on each and every piece of paper we see around, checking the inventory, running up and down the stairs towards Customer Service and manufacturing for the titles in demand. Orders come in from each and every possible mode of communication like phone, fax, e-mail and even on sms .Its really fun to read them and many a times I feel them referring to some intelligence department for decoding like KnG 1-8 # 200 or Dark O Brown 3/200 (if you are wondering what is this? it refers to one of our prominent authors Mr. Derek O’ Brien whose name our distributors fail to pronounce despite their best efforts).
Some times I wonder how the maximum sales numbers we did earlier in our monthly budget few years ago are now being achieved in a single day by our go getter sales team .Yes we can!!
Well, this year again we did our budget in style well before the day of closing on 24th itself and I celebrated Christmas partying all night with the friends, just now I got confirmation from my colleagues that the party is going to continue over the weekend .
In all it was a great financial year. On behalf of School Division I would like to thank each and every department, our customers, authors and vendors for their continuous cooperation and support for making things happen.
Prashant Rathore
Just the other day, my friends/colleagues and I were discussing how our lives have changed significantly after the thing called "recession" hit the market. Right from spaces in newspaper columns, magazines, and journals, it affected the subject and content of every conversation floating around. Everything going wrong could now be tagged as being a result of this demonic thing. To put it very simply, I could fathom that one needed to be careful about a few more things in life. It took a little more than brushing up my high-school economics to understand the whole phenomenon. But everywhere I went, from marketplaces to restaurants to bookshops to coffee shops, people suddenly seemed to have discovered a lot of common things to talk about. Different people came up with different reasons, causes and theories, and I continued absorbing them along, retaining what I liked to believe, and discarding those that did not sound romantic enough. Of course, the story of this man about to get married, losing his job in the
I was having a conversation with a friend on the phone right after his appraisal got over. He sounded quite satisfied, if not positively happy. Later I realized that all the satisfaction came from the very fact he had not lost his job, even though there was not even a paisa raise in his salary. So here was one man, satisfied and devoid of greed, just because of this thing called "recession". Well, had any other person, deconstructing this so-called "evil" phenomenon, stumbled upon its spiritual benefits? I wonder.
So under these given circumstances (validated with a mail from the CEO declaring the fact that a raise in salary would only be a rare thing, and that all of us should be cooperative in these times of recession), we were given another choice to think of a place we could fix up for our NSM in 2009. Incidentally, my friends/colleagues and I were discussing once more what an ideal place for our NSM would be. Of course, just as everything is related to everything else, we could not keep away "recession" from our discussion for too long. We know how we ought to be thrifty and considerate, and we kept coming up with ideas. Somewhere close by - one wise suggestion - as it saves travel cost. So what would be the places close by? Manali, Ranthanbhore, Rishikesh, Lakshmanjhula, Dehradoon, Mussoorie, Sariska, Corbett, Jaipur, Shimla, Nainital, Bhimtal, Chail, Ranikhet, Alwar, Manesar, Gurgaon.and we realized that the list gradually was closing down to places around and almost inside Delhi. So once we did include areas we visit almost regularly in our list, we became more accommodative. Places in