Moonmun Kanoi, the CEO of The Bling Stores is a fanatical upholder of No Sir No Madam practice. The Bling Stores is a brand offering chic fashion accessories for women belonging to all age groups. They provide curate and unique accessories to glam up your wardrobe.
After earning her masters in molecular biology, she worked as an associate at Genpact before establishing The Bling Stores. Since childhood, she believed that a girl with glitter remains unforgotten. This served as an inspiration for her to start a fashion accessory company.
At present, Moonmun follows first-name culture at The Bling Stores. She expresses — I have been trying to get my employees abrogate Sir/Madam tradition. Not everyone has inculcated this habit. However, I am glad that the number of people not adapting salutations in my workplace has increased over the years.
Expelling salutation decree has made the communication between her employees much easier. Prior to utilizing first-name custom, employees had a sense of fear in them. However, now they feel comfortable and realize that they are an integral part of the company.
Being a firm adherent of No Sir No Madam concept, she understands that it bears some obligation. While utilizing first name, we ought not to be overlooking that we should demonstrate regard as well.
Being fortunate, Moonmun indicates that she never had to force the Sir/Madam tradition on herself. She recollects,“At my first job, I addressed my senior as Sir. Typically, I was always being taught to communicate with my employer as Sir/Madam.
However, Even though my manager asked me to refer him with his name, I could not do it. Therefore, one fine day he said, — If you call me Sir, I will call you Madam. Since then, I started addressing people with their first-names.”
She vocalizes, “I am glad that an ever-increasing number of companies have begun to adopt No Sir No Madam concept.” It should not be mandatory to bow down to someone because they are senior in age or by designation.
Establishing her company has given Moonmun a plethora of experience. She emphasizes, how bureaucrats exploit their position in order to demand respect and bribe. “I have seen officials asking for bribes to do a specific job that they are assigned. They are getting paid by the government for doing their work. The common citizen should not have to exalt them and put these officials in a position where they can exploit us.”
Eradicating this awful taboo requires a change in the mindset. She advocates — I feel that children should be taught the importance of No Sir No Madam ideology at school. As we tend to carry forward habits that are imbibed into us since our childhood. Children when go to colleges will not misuse their superiority to show dominance.
“In my college, there was this one batch of seniors, who wanted us to address them as ‘Sirs’ and ‘Madams’. This was to show their authority and ascendancy on us. This created a boundary between us and made it difficult to approach them for any kind of help.
On the other hand, other seniors did not expect this form of reverence. We used to address them by their first-name. This unceremonious relation made us more comfortable to socialize with them and befriend them.”
Moonmun recommends — people of influence should take up this cause to spread awareness among the masses. We tend to follow people who inspire us. This will have a greater impact and help in eliminating Sir/Madam attitude and the malpractices it breeds.
She culminates, “Do not be afraid of this change, implement it at every phase. Be confident as you are not doing anything wrong.” As Robin Sharma rightly said, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.”
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