Often it is said that people resign from their jobs because of their bosses. But in my case, the opposite is true. I have stayed in the job for the last five years because of him!
He is known for his accurate judgement and his ability to see through things. Also, his decision is backed by deep research and a detailed study of the subject. He does not act or react to things without a thorough understanding of it. As a subordinate, I have been trying to learn this ability from him for some time now.
Recently he mentioned to the team that he plans to change his 8-year-old car. So all of us gave him our suggestions and he listened to all of them very patiently. But we knew that he was doing his bit of research internally and would not haste into things.
That’s when I told him that I had booked a Renault Kiger and was expecting the delivery in a day or two. He told me that he had heard a lot about the Renault Kiger’s features and wanted to see them whenever the car was delivered.
A couple of days later when the car finally arrived, I took it to the office and told him about my Kiger. He said he wanted to drive the car and so we both went to the parking lot.
Instead of getting inside the car, he stood a couple of feet away and started observing Renault Kiger’s external features intently. Then he moved his fingers across the front, back and the muscular body of my car.
We then got inside the car, but again he froze in the driver’s seat. Without uttering a single word, he kept on examining and touching the various internal features of the car. He was quiet all the while, and his face showed no signs of what was happening in his mind. By then I was convinced that he had not liked the Renault Kiger's features and hence would disapprove of my decision of buying a Renault Kiger.
Trying to break the ice, I said “Boss, the Renault Kiger is a joint effort by Indian & French designers. It is a world car by Renault first launched in India.”
But that did not have any effect. He kept gazing at various things inside the car.
“The Renault Kiger features are currently the hottest ones in town. This sub-4-metre SUV sports dual-tone exterior across all variants. On the outside, it has a tri-octa pure vision LED headlamps with DRLs and C-shaped signature LED tail lamps. It even stands tall with 205 mm of high ground clearance.”
His silence made me even more nervous, but I continued pointing out my Renault Kiger’s features in an attempt to get a response, “But that’s not it. The car has a 20.32 cm floating touchscreen, 405L cargo space and 29L of internal storage space, rear knee room of 222 mm, and ergonomic seats for comfortable, long drives.”
“Is it AMT or MT?” he finally spoke.
“1L petrol Turbo AMT boss”, I replied anxiously, waiting for his next question.
“What is the price?” he continued.
“It starts at just Rs. 5.64 lakh” (Ex. Showroom Delhi) I replied hoping for the conversation to continue.
Without questioning me any further, he continued to test drive my Kiger for the next half an hour or so. During the entire drive, not a word was exchanged between us.
When we came back from the drive, he finally spoke “Of all the cars that I have seen, I like the Renault Kiger’s features the most. I think I will finalize the Kiger now.” he declared as he walked away from the car.
I just stood there relieved when he said that. I am sure he had already done his research about the car and was probably waiting to see Renault Kiger features in person before taking a final call.
Whatever may be the case, I was happy that I had started making the right decisions in life, just like him.