Serendipity and Learning

About 20 years ago in our MBA class, the organization behaviour professor asked us "How many of you want to be CEOs". A plethora of hands went up. I think only a few hands did not go up. One of them was mine. And the professor asked me, why did you not raise your hand? I said, I dont know if CEO is what I want to become.  And 20 years later, I am actually sure that there are surely many other possible goals and roles than become CEO.  PS:You can argue that I was not good enough. But I consciously took a different path to measure my success differently. PPS: Many from the batch did go on to become Head of departments, functions, geographies. A couple did rise up to be CEO. But most CEOs were the ones who started off on their own. So, a question worth asking MBA students is, How many of you will take the entrepreneurship route - and notice that is far more than becoming CEO?  Of course if at that time we were asked that question only 2-3 hands would have gone up knowing my ...

I had to make a presentation on building disaster proof careers. Now, nothing is disaster proof, so I told them I would make a small presentation on building resilient careers - that are take more shocks, can enable one to bounce back rather than prevent the fall. Here are some points: Stand on two feet - have two skills - so that there is always a backup Think skills rather than jobs.  Think cross industry application Remember that you can pivot What that also means is that one has to think long term - think ten years, not one year and therefore, short term blips, breaks, u turns, pivots dont matter as much as the gaining of experience over 10 year.  Think skills. A skill is something you can sell regardless of firm. The more skills you have - sales, marketing, creativity, design - the more fungible you become across industry. And maybe even independent. Built a network by giving. And start early. Your school, college - are all part of a multibagger (to use a ...

When I was in MBA, one of the favourite lines we heard about job hopping MBAs justifying their job hopping was this "You have may 30 years experience, but it is actually 1 year experience multiplied 30 times". While not exactly true (and it is a much longer topic to discuss), it is an important think while thinking about a long term career. One way to make a career is to do one thing and get really good at it (and there is no escape from getting better at something if you want a good career). Key questions if you are a one thing person is: Are you doing that one thing for fear of not exploring other things? And if you are in that one thing are you contemporary on all those things that you need to be upto date in those things? The world is changing rapidly - are you on top of them? Are you in touch with the latest developments? Do you experiment? Do you try out new things (both for yourself and for your team)? Or are you happily claustrophobic in your office? And what i...

Some learnings from my career... (an edited version of what I sent to my team) Two things about trust. Trust is built by solving problems - especially unstated. Find a problem, and a solution and take it to your stakeholders – that builds relationships better than meetings and order taking ever can. And second, trust is reciprocal, always – and that is the only way to build it. Assume Goodwill – trust pays. Two ways to work – one is to do what one is asked and the second is to go out there and take ownership and deliver. I am a big fan of the second model – and that comes with a risk of putting ourselves out there committing that we will deliver. Value added work is never given – it is always taken. Value added work has a benefit – it gets you a chance to do more great work. Likewise for other categories. Don’t befriend TINA. TINA stands for There Is No Alternative – and is the first line of defence to continue entrenched practices.  Always believe t...

Years ago, practically on the first day of my career - I was given some advice. "Today, our hiring process guarantees that almost anybody we hire can do what they are told to do. But, what differentiates the high performer is the ability to do what they are not told to do" Simple profound words. A few weeks back interacting with a set of first time supervisors - this became the focal point of discussion. The first time you manage work - the entire expectation moves from stated to unstated needs - cracking this is perhaps the biggest learning for a newly promoted manager. To go back to a Charles Handy terminology of Type A and Type B errors - Type A are direct mistakes and Type B are opportunities lost - this is also like that. Doing what one is told to do - and then finding out other things to do that are not directly in your 'stated' line of responsibility. This is the one thing that makes a big difference in my view... Evolving through!

Over the last two weeks, I had a school reunion and I resumed my reading of David and Goliath - a book by Malcolm Gladwell. While I will post a longer review of the book at some point in time but, the meeting with the batch that we passed out made for some interesting thoughts. Two things stood out in particular. One was that the best students in school - those who topped the exams, those who did well in studies - are all in one band. The band that does the 'predictable' stuff. Perhaps in marquee names, perhaps in the big companies, perhaps with the so called bigger destinations - but working on what I call as 'predictable' careers. On the other hand, are those who were not 'great' at studies at school, but are following their passion and /or working on non-mainstream fields. These are the guys doing the unpredictable stuff. Those who took a leap of faith and found themselves rewarded in the end. Now not great does not mean bad in studies - and I believe th...

Last week, I discussing with a friend on career moves.  And my career has been anything but linear. And when I say that I don’t mean stratospheric growth, it means that over time I have moved my career in many a direction before finding my feet. I have worked in many a function, technical, operations, support before settling down on what I think is what I want to do.  That decision has not been easy. You see, my qualifications are different – as per my qualifications I should be doing something else. As per my experience, I should be doing something else. If one combines qualification and experience it is something else (whatever that is).  There are no established rules for success - your qualifications need not hold you back at all. And the real world is all about such people. I am sure you have met such people. As much as it is great to have your interest building up your qualifications leading to your experience, it is also equally great to build...

Each time I have had a discussion on strengths and weaknesses, the question I have been asked or faced with is should I work on my weak areas or areas of strength. Conventional wisdom states the former, but over the last few years the view has veered towards the latter. Certain weaknesses are "fatal flaws", but other than that I believe that working on your strengths are far more rewarding in the long run. I cant think of a better example than sports. And in particular, this story comes to mind. The story of the one armed boy who learnt judo. But think about it. Think of how Virender Sehwag would have felt when he was drafted into the Indian cricket team to partner with a certain Sachin Tendulkar. It is a different matter altogether that not too many people have as de-cluttered a mind as Sehwag (read this interview of his) , but any other person in his place would have worried about how they can ever keep pace with Tendulkar. So, if you were Sehwag and you were in the...