Prelude: Ever since I attended my first class of MBA (back in 1996), I wanted to give a lecture. Two reasons for that:
- My first class was an awful experience. I was mad at that point but every time I thought about it after finishing MBA it looked to me as a very funny moment in life. (I will write about it later separately)
- I had this great belief that I can give a great lecture. I had no idea on what it takes to give one – then & even now – BUT, I still believe I can do a damn-good job of it.
13 years passed by, I did not have a chance to give a lecture – neither did I try nor did someone invite me.
Damn these colleges and universities, I told myself few months back, why can’t I use my blog and write what would I say to a graduating class? – Then I started jotting down my thoughts (not very sure but I think for over 40 days in all) and this post is really about thoughts – It won’t sound verbatim ‘coz I did not develop it that way – I developed it as dry, short sentences.
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Let’s start
All of these thoughts are based on my experiences and beliefs – the moment you start thinking ‘I wanna follow this’ at any stage during the next 1 hour - jot down the thought, look at it next day morning - take a deep breath – think again – and again – and decide!
1. 50% (sometimes more) of what we
study is useless. 100% of what we
learn is useful – I don’t want to be your English teacher but, in school,
we often study and we rarely learn.
If the above one liner is not sufficient, let me give you a three-liner (
I saw this in KCP cement factory near Nagarjuna Sagar when I was in 6th class and it remained with me)I hear – I forget
I see – I remember
I do – I understand
Many of us think studying is learning – it’s definitely not. Learning goes far beyond studying a particular thing – understanding, comprehending, visualizing, doing, implementing, noticing the mistakes, correcting them, and doing it again.
I studied ‘performance management’ in school – I am still learning about it.
2. Don’t take these ‘lecture-series’ too seriously – I mean it – Including mine.
Not because what we speakers say is not good but it doesn’t always reflect the reality of working in a corporate world. Remember, we are also human – we like to hear applause, we want to be seen as knowledgeable and worth-our-slat and hence a lot of times we sound nice and we say things that you expect us to say.
Reality of working in a corporate world is w-a-y t-o-o-o different from what you get told. You probably are a master of financial reengineering and your math tells you that the company needs to get rid of a particular brand (or a factory) but the CEO might be emotionally attached to it – your financially mastery will be of no use to convince him. You need skills like politicking, negotiating and many more (yes it is politicking – you heard it right. I will talk more about it later)
Any company (I don’t care whether it is a professionals-run company or a Gujarati owner-run company) is full of emotions, egos, attachments, likes, dislikes and politics (some good, some ugly). These things play a significant role in decisions that companies make.
[PS: Explanation for ‘Including mine’ in the title – While I tried to share what reality looks like, you gotta know that it is ‘my reality’ (the world that I saw and the experiences I carry). ‘Your reality’ might be completely different and hence what I say may not be fully relevant.
]3. Learn the art of politicking – In India we often use the word ‘politics’ with derogatory connotation. But I bet (mine and all of your bottom dollars) politicking is a good thing – what we use it for is a different matter though.
It is an art that you must learn and, more importantly, use it effectively. If you use it rather carelessly you will be typecast as the one who uses tricks and discount all the skills you have.
This art involves (indicative list not exhaustive list):
- Understanding human behavior, emotions, mood of the person etc
- Being mindful of context and saying right things without necessarily compromising on the content
- Losing battles that don’t matter to win battles that matter (A lot of times bosses lose a battle to you and to win you over) (BTW, if you can do it without making the other person realize it, it’s even better)
- Selling yourself, subtly, along with what you are selling (If we like the salesman, chances of we buying what he is selling increase dramatically)
4. Sell yourself – I know of many people, especially the ones of your age, bubbling with energy and confidence, who think ‘my work speaks for myself’ and believe that promoting oneself is viewed rather negatively (in vernacular, self-dabba).
The problem with this view is that these people do not realize that it is very competitive out there and it is very rare that you find someone else selling you. If you think it is your boss’ responsibility to distinguish the performers – you better go and first recruit a boss who you think can do a good job of it before you apply for a job in his team.
This is not to say that bosses do not distinguish performers from non-performers but just to point out that it doesn’t happen as often and as well as you think it would. Besides, it also not easy to distinguish clearly because most of us fall under ‘normal curve’ or ‘crowd’. Distinguishing in crowd is rather very difficult and this is where subtle selling yourself helps a great deal.
Again, do this very carefully and judiciously. Do this to enhance your chances not to cover apparent weaknesses (Will you buy a dented car because you like the salesman?).
Never ever bad mouth your colleague. You are dead the very moment you started it.
5. Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, Blogs are not the only world – There is another world called ‘The World’.
Beyond ‘social networking’ do the ‘real networking’ as well and do it well.
If you can go and meet a person to discuss a thing – go and meet him. Don’t do it over emails, IMs, Blogs etc ‘coz it is easy or ‘coz it saves petrol. Leave energy issues to Obama.
6. Enjoy Life – Don’t take work too seriously that it consumes your life. It is OK to miss a deadline once in a while. It is OK to fail sometimes.
It is very easy to get sucked into working long hours and becoming unproductive. Stay away from this – Find your own work-life n personal-life balance.
Leave office early enough, every day, to go and have a beer with friends or to take family out for a dinner or to watch a game on TV or to just sit and relax at home.
Let me stop here. I am stopping here not because these are the only things that you need to know. No, definitely not. There are more things and but I do not know them as yet – I am still discovering them.
In any case you are also going to discover them as you start working for a company or an institution. So let the discovery be your ‘lecture-series’ from now on.
All the best.
