This comes to you from Chennai (formerly known as Madras) which is the headquarters of our Indian operations. It was the Annual General Meeting this afternoon after a series of exceutive and Board meetings this morning. We now employ more than 3000 people in India and it is our fastest growing market. The shareholder issues today included complaints about the colour of the paper in our annual report, the lack of takeaway presents for attendants and the lack of a bonus shares or a share split. On the other hand there was enthusiasm for our strategy and our brilliant and diligent Indian team.

During the courese of the day I came across some wonderful words and phrases. I particularly like:

Blamestorming - a meeting to decide who to blame for bad performance.

PDCA - plan, do, check, act - the antithesis of most publishing procedures.

Strategy without action is daydreaming; action without strategy is a nightmare.

And as I left the meeting an ex-employee grabbed me and said that the difference between Indian and American (or British) business is that the Indians don't 'go with a smile'. My experience says the opposite.

Back to the plane - incidentally free advice, avoid Delta Airlines.