Lata Subramanian > Quotes

“I hope I live to see a day when a yellow rose[183] is extended between the warring factions of shareholder and employee value.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“I discovered that I wasn’t good looking when I went out into the world to look for a job. No, don’t mistake me. I was never delusional. I knew I was no Helen of Troy[32]. But whenever I looked in the mirror, I liked what I saw. I liked my face. Plus I had a great figure. Anyway, turns out that when you are a woman looking for a job in a glamourous industry, you need to be fair and lovely. See, that’s successful branding for you – when you so unconsciously use the phrase ‘fair and lovely.’ Of course, back then in the early 1980s, the skin whitening cream, Fair & Lovely, was not marketed as the route to bagging the job of your dreams. That”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“What’s more horrifying to my mind is youngsters from economically less privileged backgrounds paying through their nose to obtain a certification as a trained beautician or hospitality worker. Many of these programs are run or financed by the business world. I wonder what happened to simply training such people on the job, like they once were. Some clever soul no doubt probably thought there is money to be made in getting people to pay to be trained.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“I wanted to be a daughter like Enid Blyton’s Molly in The Family at Red-Roofs.[176] I thought the kind of friend I should be was like the ones I saw in the Bollywood movies of the 1960s who willingly fell on a metaphorical sword for their buddy’s happiness. In professional life, the person I would have liked to be was Jerry Maguire.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“The winning strategies in chess has always been something the powers-that-be have been particularly fond of….on the board and in life. I wonder if that’s why we call the room where policymakers meet ‘the Board Room’.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“I lost all airs of being a senior management executive – running around pouring coffee, taking orders, hefting gigantic platters laden with food and at times, working the cashier’s desk. My airs were not all that I lost. I also shed tons of weight and never felt fitter. Lighter on my feet and less thick in the head, the months I spent waitressing earned me the most valuable degree ever – in life management. It was just a high school degree, but it was still better than the unlettered so-and-so I was till then in the University of Life.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“At the turn of the twentieth into the twenty-first century, Almack’s like clubs exist in forums such as Davos[8], Cannes[9] and the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference[10]. Of course, gatherings in the twenty-first century such as the Davos one are meant for the rich and powerful to collectively strategize on how the world growth engine can be kept going full throttle so that their personal fortunes and status can keep increasing. But attend one and it is obvious that rules of etiquette and protocol have to be observed to fit in and be accepted. God help you if you don’t know how to swirl your cognac, delicately sniff at the goblet and pretend you know the vintage. A worse gaffe would be picking up the wrong fork at a sit-down dinner.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“Ever watched the crew aboard a commercial airliner discriminate between well-dressed, well-schooled in the English language, passengers and ones that don’t appear as well-heeled? I have, time and again. I particularly remember this one Air India flight from India to Kuala Lumpur via Chennai. When the aircraft stopped over at Chennai, a horde of typical South Indian passengers boarded the plane. Not well-versed in the Western style of living, these passengers were ill-treated by the crew on that flight. I saw at least one crew member openly grimace with distaste at the way an old man (dressed in the South Indian veshti) was eating his meal with his fingers, ignoring the cutlery on his tray. Yes, I know that such eating habits on an aircraft can cause a mess and a cleanliness issue but I doubt that the crew member in question was grimacing for that reason. She was looking down on that old man.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“Let’s call it a different type of nose job. Some Indian Maharajas have turned their ‘looking down the nose’ into a privilege people are now willing to pay through their nose for. Perhaps it’s a good thing they do because the traditional way of Indian living is otherwise rapidly disappearing, giving way to the convenience of a Western lifestyle. I think it all began somewhere in the nineteenth century when the Indian Ton began to get confused and turned schizophrenic like my family did – sometimes very Western; sometimes very Indian.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“I wonder if the Corporate Ton even thinks about how much the staff know. I wonder if they know that the staff know but just cover themselves by hiding behind a corporate version of the Miranda Rights[35] - the right to remain silent and avoid giving employees any proof of concept.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant

“But they may just find then, like King Midas did, that their wealth creation markets have disappeared. Robots, you see, do not make for good consumers.”
― Lata Subramanian, A Dance with the Corporate Ton: Reflections of a Worker Ant