Few Americans have ever heard of the 35=10 rule, but it It could be a lesson in what Indian executives have learned from observing American officials and corporate execs.
Few Americans have ever heard of the 35=10 rule. It isn't taught in our colleges or part of any U.S. business course. The formula isn't based on fact but it is what Indian executives believe they have learned from working with American officials and corporate execs and it is the first thing they want new trainees to know.
I learned about the 35=10 rule from from a report in ITExaminer.com by Subhankar Kundu.
“’35 = 10’, the instructor wrote in a big bold letters on the blackboard”
The 35=10 formula isn't based on fact, or science but is instead based on a popular novel. It could be a lesson in what Indian executives have learned from observing American officials and corporate execs.
“‘Remember’, the instructor said to the class, ‘a thirty-five-year old American’s brain and IQ is the same as a ten-year-old Indian’s brain. This will help you to understand your clients. You need to be as patient as you are when dealing with a child".
As an American, this angered me to the point of frustration but it does explain why BPO workers seem so condescending and arrogant on the phone. It doesn't explain how Indian companies came to have such a low opinion of their customers.
It seems Indian company executives may have formed this opinion while dealing with their U.S. counterparts. After all, how gullible must an American exec be to think that staffing his company's consumer service center with people who cannot properly speak english would improve costumer relations in an English speaking country?
Indian belief in the stupidity of Americans is reinforced when they see U.S. officials, plagued with identity theft by foreign criminals warn Americans to guard our private information on the Internet, while other officials recklessly post the same data on government websites and call it a public service.
Comparing a 35-year-old American to a ten-your-old Indian child also seems even more accurate when observing state and county officials in the U.S. carelessly playing with their new internet toys (and the lives of citizens) by recklessly dumping constituent data all over the internet.
American officials should know better. Indian officials certainly do. Officials in India do not post their constituents private information online. But they have no problem with encouraging their citizens exploit the childish behavior of some U.S. state and county officials.
A BPOIndia.org post tells how "Identity theft and Phishing are being promoted within BPO employees."
The short BPOIndia report says"...[Identity Theft} has become more prevalent as easily accessible information about people has become more prevalent".
It seems apparent that India's low opinion of American intellect is derived from what outsourcing companies have learned from naive US public officials and greedy corporate decision makers eager to find cheaper ways to exploit public records comiled at taxpayer expense.
The 35-10 formula taught by Indian trainers was first seen in a best selling Indian novel by Chetan Bhagat where the lead character recalls his training days as a BPO employee.
While outsourcing companies may deny this arrogant and racial attitude was learned from U.S. officials and corporate execs it continues to be taught in BPO training.
The instructor concluded his first lesson to Indian trainees with, "Americans are dumb, just accept it".
Are Americans really that dumb? No, but judging by the sloppy decisions of some U.S. politicians and corporate executives in dealing with Indian outsourcers it isn't hard to understand why Indians might come to this conclusion.