This Principal had Some Bling Bling

I am trying to learn more about the business from all aspects so I can completely understand the audience that we are working with, so I am jumping right in. I went on my first school visit this week. I accompanied one of the Tour Consultant here to meet with the Principal. The school that we went to has seen a lot of visitors and there is a very good reason for that - they were our first school to sign on to travel with us when we started. The K.R.Mangalam world school.

From what I have learned we used to travel with this school, and then a new principal has come in. Even though she is coming from another school that also traveled with us, it is just like starting from scratch. It normally takes a lot of time to get a visit with the Principal but we have contacts with the management so things went quicker. You see, the thing that is so different about the school systems here are that they are run like businesses. There is an owner, and management, and then the Principal who sometimes is on the Board, but there are all of these stakeholders who have a say in everything that happens in the school...especially something like kids traveling abroad.

So the Principal is pretty high up. He or in this case she is like a VP who makes the decision to either move forward or propose the trip to management. So we arrive at the school which is gated in, and sign in with the guards. We go in and hand in another sign in slip to the receptionist who keeps us waiting for about 15-20 minutes because the principal is eating her breakfast. When she is finished we are called in. I am introduced as a manager, the flattery begins and then we get down to business...I think. There are tons of tours and dates thrown around, no real firm numbers and then tea and cookies are served. We discuss a little further, some push-back, swine flu concerns, and some more tour talk.

Everyone here talks really quickly and I still struggle to follow conversation at times let alone jump in, so I was definitely an observer. What I noticed is there is this air of superiority that is around the Principal. You can be a little direct, but that comes more with time and the relationship. Also, you seem to have to keep talking, because if there is any break in the convo, the principal may decide that she is two busy and cut you off. She seemed exhausted, but didn't really seem to be doing anything, and she had a ton of Bling! She had a diamond solitaire bracelet and two huge diamond rings; one on each hand. They were huge and I found myself distracted and blinded by the light reflecting off of them.

Needless to say we left the meeting and I was a confused with what the decision had been made so I think I have a lot to learn and a lot to teach. I am excited to go to more meetings and start to compare, but I have heard that the Delhi schools are a little more pretentious than other regions. A few more weeks and I think I will be traveling to schools in other regions of India...so cool!