Rishav Singh, Co-founder of Boriya Bistar is an impassioned apostle of No Sir No Madam cause.  Boriya Bistar is an e-commerce start-up that helps in providing household essentials while moving to a new city.  It makes the stressful job of purchasing amenities simpler by providing one common platform to buy from.

An engineer, Rishav has worked as a software developer at Accenture.  He had to move from one city to another for his work.  To make the strenuous job of buying household items easier, he gestated to Boriya Bistar.

Ideology of No Sir No Madam has been followed at Boriya Bistar since the inception.  Employees do not have to adhere to the usage of any form of titles.  Rishav converses “I believe, any salutation will not help, if you do not have genuine respect for the same person.”

“First-name custom has helped ensure better correspondence between the employees and me,” he confesses.  Giving employees the opportunity to communicate and express themselves is essential for any organization to work smoothly.  He adds — many start-ups follow a similar culture.  However, I am aware of the prevalence of Sir/Madam tradition in private corporations.

In India, most of the companies still follow the hierarchical custom and make it a mandate for the employees to address their seniors as Sir/Madam.  This practice needs to be scraped out.  Evacuating salutation and hierarchical obstructions creates a transparent and enjoyable environment for employees to work.  Rishav voices, “Although in spite of the fact that Sir/Madam propensity is profoundly established in us, I am happy that is gradually vanishing.

Rishav conveys, “Once I had to meet a venture capitalist for my start-up work.  To ensure that I respect the concerned person, I kept referring to him as ‘Sir’.  I was amazed to see that he got annoyed by me calling him as ‘Sir’.  He requested me to address him by his initial name.”

Tending someone utilizing a salutation, is a convention that we have been following since the British era.  Indians are renowned worldwide for our hospitality and the way we respect others.  Thus, it is time that we eradicate the colonial customs and booster our own ethics.

It is vital to bring this change in the public administrative services.  Officials do not like being called by their first name as they take it as an indication of disrespect.  A person who has followed Sir/Madam decree all his life might get offended when referred by their first-name. 

Hence, it is essential that both the young and old be preached about No Sir No Madam drive.  Nonetheless, youngsters should not take the liberty of first-name practice to disregard seniors, Rishav advocates.

It is a human tendency to expect some form of respect as well as authority as we age and accomplish professional success.  However, it is important that we must not forget the role of empowering and uplifting others as we progress in our life.  Unlike Sir/Madam order which inculcates a sense of inferiority, upon whom it is imposed.

Rishav concludes — it is imperative we remove communication barriers and work on making everyone felt at parity.  It is a difficult to change the perception of so many people, but an initiative must be taken.  As it is said, “Without initiative, leaders are just workers in leadership positions.”

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