Meeting at the office

The whole purpose of a meeting is defeated if there is no proper exchange of information. I think most people blindly believe in the statement "Boss is always right" - may be he is most times, but he may not be too, he is human after all. I can't understand how people can sit through a meeting without voicing their opinions, knowing very well that they don't agree with what's being discussed. Reasons could be :

• Boss may not be open to suggestions
• May not be willing to see the team's view point
• Boss may have different kind of pressures at his end.

Our team is fairly new, and we work under tremendous stress, which is accepted and acknowledged by all. In such a scenario, there are more chances to voice our opinions and be heard too. But most of my teammates operate on the premise that the boss would not agree to what they say. Another reason being, if the team challenges the Boss and for some reason beyond their control, are not able to prove their point, then they get into a much more difficult situation. So they feel, they are better off taking orders. Ultimately I feel this reflects poorly on the team as such, because the outcome is not in line with expectations.

The universal truth about financial markets is that, nobody can "time" it, and perception differs from investor to investor. Unless the team gives proper feed back on investor sentiments and mentality, it would be very difficult for a financial institution to structure a reasonably good investment product. In today's market, it's possible to come up financial structures of varying combinations. Markets are mature and technology is superior, and this can be used to the best advantage of the investor. But when there is a bunch of jokers discussing exotic financial structures, using hi-end jargons, without any clue what they are talking about, how can one expect proper dissemination of information. I have in the last six months seen my teammates going ga- ga over investment products in front of the boss and later on breaking their head over the terms of the structure. And when finally after the deal is done and the structure sinks in, they realize it was not that good after all.

In our meeting today, we decided the future strategy would be to target big tickets - meaning USD1mm and above. I had to try hard to control myself from laughing. Guess, I don't fit there!!