Sorting Out Sid Read Online Free PDF Page B

maybe even ‘Your Highness’ to his face. Anyway, this didn’t sound too bad. Polish up the… Wait a minute!
    ‘Boss,’ Sid cried, ‘how can we put together the annual plan and strategy in one day? We are supposed to do it over the next six weeks and…’
    ‘I know, I know,’ Akash said hastily. ‘But when Rakesh mentioned how we should fast-track the process this year, I thought it would be a great chance to showcase how proactive and organized we are, and so I volunteered to be the first to present. But don’t worry, it’s just an approach presentation.’
    Sid swallowed his protests and managed to say, ‘Okay, boss. Sure. Can you just send me the slides? I’ll jazz them up and have them ready by the evening.’
    ‘Oh!’ said Akash. ‘See, the thing is, I haven’t actually made the slides. But I do have the broad framework in place – you’ll just need to fill in the gaps and things will be fine.’
    ‘A broad framework, boss?’ Sid now had a bad feeling about this.
    ‘Oh, it’s nothing very complicated – it’s just some strategic top-line thoughts.’
    ‘Oh I see – strategic top-line thoughts.’ Sid stared at his boss for a moment and then said, ‘Okay, boss, why don’t you just email those to me at least…’
    ‘Email them to you?’ Akash interrupted. ‘At the moment they’re just some high-level growth ideas in my head, but wait! Why don’t I just quickly jot them down as bullet points for you? That’ll get you going quickly. No time wasting for us, eh? Got a pen?’
    After a small pause, Sid wordlessly held out his pen. Akash sat down next to him, picked up one of the loose sheets of paper on Sid’s desk and started to write. Sid watched him as he wrote with his head bent over the paper, the tip of his tongue sticking out as he concentrated on writing out three or four bullet points in his large, childlike handwriting. Sid thought he looked like a true imbecile, which of course, he was. He had never liked Akash’s bug-eyed bespectacled, potbellied, balding appearance, but today he found it more revolting than ever. He felt a strong urge to empty the contents of his coffee mug on Akash’s head, but by the time Akash looked up, Sid had his practised fake smile pasted on his face again.
    ‘So, can I expect this by lunch?’ asked Akash. ‘That’s okay, isn’t it? Four hours is plenty of time for a rising star like you!’
    Sid took a deep breath. He knew he was screwed. He would have to cancel all his meetings for the day and set himself and his team back because of the delay. He widened his fake smile, looked Akash in the eye and said the only thing there really was to say: ‘Fine, FINE, boss.’

    Sid worked furiously at his computer for the next few hours, pausing only for brief, hourly smoke breaks. He gathered market share details and put together a presentation on the cross-portfolio strategy, made his brand managers run helter-skelter for data, images and other information. He was irritated that Meenakshi, the head of HR, kept coming up to him with silly questions about his team’s appraisal process. It hadn’t escaped his notice that, of late, Meenakshi seemed to be flirting with him. Yeah, right, he thought, like he was going to fall for that one. She was the long-haired, sari-wearing, traditionally good-looking type, but Sid had always been a little wary of her, thinking of her as the ‘Office Vixen’ variety. She was known to be rather sly – and was surprisingly unpopular for someone heading the people function. All her bosses seemed to love her though, so she obviously knew how to keep them happy. Sid tried not to get distracted by thoughts of how Meenakshi kept her bosses happy. She had never paid that much attention to him earlier, so he didn’t really know what she was up to. He figured perhaps his innate animal magnetism had finally struck her. Whatever. Right now, he had a presentation to focus on.
    At exactly 2 p.m., Sid took a deep breath and leaned