Vaibhav Arren, Founder of Manage my Finance is a sincere promoter of No Sir No Madam ideology. Manage my Finance is a Financial Analytics platform that provides automated audit analytics and financial analysis tools to auditors and internal finance team. These operations are carried out by a team of dedicated finance and tech professionals.
He is an MBA in finance and strategy from the esteemed Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and a Chartered Accountant. He has been a long service maestro in the field of finance and has bagged experience by working in various organizations. Vaibhav believes in parity at workplace and has implemented No Sir No Madam custom in his office.
He believes communicating with people on a first-name basis creates more openness and transparency. Vaibhav narrates, “I come from a tier-2 city. As a result, I took time to adapt to No Sir No Madam convention that is now being followed in multiple MNCs. After adjusting to it, I noticed the openness it instilled while communicating to others in my workplace. It also eradicates any hierarchy driven practices and empowers employees to question their seniors.”
“I specifically remember one instance when I had written to the Managing Director of a company. I addressed him as ‘Sir’ in the letter as he is an effluent person in the field of finance. However, he replied saying that there is no need to refer him with a salutation. Such interactions and people motivate you to want to work with them.”
Although, Vaibhav is aware that not everyone finds being addressed by their first-name respectful. He shares one experience, while he was writing a letter to an executive of a traditional company. My boss notified me to address the concerned person as ‘Sir’ in order to avoid upsetting him.
Likewise, he has had a lot of dealings wherein he has greeted clients with a salutation. Vaibhav adds — You have to be careful about the way you address people. As a lot of individuals ignorantly equate salutations with respect.
Such notions are usually carried by the government sector employees in India. Vaibhav mentions, “It would be very foolish of a person to address a bureaucrat without salutation. They consider being addressed with a salutation as a great sign of respect.
However, it is not entirely their fault that they continue to adhere to ‘Sir/Madam’ tradition. They have been made to follow a salutation dictum since the beginning. Therefore, we need to educate and inform them about No Sir No Madam routine.”
Moreover, he ventures on the discrimination people doing menial jobs have to face in India.
He recollects — While I was studying in ISB, we had some foreign students as well. While discussing with them, we stumbled upon the lack of dignity of labor in India. People do not respect blue-collar workers for their hard work. Instilling No Sir No Madam heeds while interacting with them would ensure that they too feel respected.
Vaibhav suggests that people should be cordial in their behavior while interacting with anyone irrespective of the other person’s background. This would have a ripple-effect when others notice you conversing with people politely. They too would feel motivated to do the same.
Additionally, he recommends corporate organizations should spread awareness about No Sir No Madam initiative by conducting seminars. When one person gets aware of about this cause, he or she will go on and spread news about it to others.
Vaibhav terminates by quoting, “Be nice to people. You can get your work accomplished faster when you are polite and genial with others. Besides, always remember, what goes around comes back around.”
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