Do companies have a personality????

Do companies have a personality????
I believe they do...

Companies like people...
Have a face...
A public one..
And a private one...

Just look around you!!!
At the millions spent...
On image-building...
In corporate houses...
To present the right face...
Or the most politically correct one!!!

A company's personality..then...
Is an amalgam...
The end result ...
Of the ideas that formed it...
The unspoken code of conduct that it stands for...
Its public posture...
The causes it may take on....
The values it espouses...
The work atmosphere...
The way it treats its employees...
And sundry other little details!!!

That said..
Let's try our hand at guessing the persona of some of these...companies...
Past, passing and present!!!

East India Company???
It brings to my mind...
A European adventurer..and sea farer.....
Out to pillage the world...
Mercantile...yet menacing!!

Satyam??
Couldn't be further from the Truth...which is what its name stands for!!!
Indeed..there is so much to a corporate name...
Coming to think of it!!!

Satyam's persona to me...
Has always been Andhra..with a vengeance!!
A 40 plus Telugu computer geek...

Infosys??
Is bespectacled....
Like its Founder and Chief Mentor…..
He is Infosys....
His personality infuses the organization in the public eye...
Professional...
Intelligent!!!
Ahead of the pack!!!

One could go on and on.....

At India's first business magazine...
Where I cut my teeth as a trainee reporter...
Our publisher encouraged us...
To swear allegiance to the Truth...
As we saw it!!!...
And to sneer at the Ad department...
If they ventured into our territory...
In search of PR!!!

The personality of the magazine.....
Was distinctly youthful.... and yuppie!!!
Like one of those cocky IIM (A) grads...
Who flooded the place back then!!!

Since then...
I have seen other places...
Been with other corporate personalities!!!
And enjoyed them all!!

And now...
It is my karma...
In the autumn of my life....
To be associated with an organization which has the persona of a middle aged woman!!!!

That's right!!!
Sweatshop...
Is a post-menopausal woman!!!!...
Moody..
Its ways are often unfathomable!!!!
And increasingly inclined to yearn for youth...
Nay...it is...
Totally obsessed ...
And so enamored by it!!!

I used to be thin and tall.....a co-worker tells me..
As we wait on the High Road...to go home..
Only my headlights used to stick out like that!!!!..she says..
Headlights???
Oh..she means...
My eyes unwillingly stray to her bosom...
Ample!!!
But I hardly want to think of them as headlights!!!
And anyway...
Does one's youth matter so much???
Apparently it does!!!

Especially since the past is a beautiful dream...
The present..
And future...
Full of yearning....

Perhaps it is...
Time now to bring out the glad rags...
And move into the Kitty party circuit???...

I wonder .....
As I listen politely...
To a senior editor read a short story ...out aloud...
On a quiet March afternoon...
In company time...
To a captive audience!!!!

The place should be a perfect fit!!!..
Given the number of years under my belt!!!
But it isn't!!

Is it because of a lifetime of abhorring ladies meets???
And staying clear of them???
Of believing that man or woman...
We are the human race..
And therefore our basic humanity should bind us together??
Not separate the sexes???
Is it because I still don't have a handle on the games ladies play???
Do I think such games are mentally inferior???..
And somehow beneath me???

Or could it be that I am really a 30-year old...
Trapped in a 53-year old body???
You think???
Or maybe...
Just maybe...
It is MY post menopausal persona...kicking in!!!

Just be my guest..
And take a wild guess....
See ya then