There are two road to success. The first road is super-quick, it all happens in an instant. It’s like taking the express elevator to the top floor of a tall building. The second road involves multiple steps, is long and hard, and would take you considerably more time. It feels like taking the flight of stairs in a tall building.
Building base for a successful career
I believe there are 4 building base for a successful career – excellence, risk taking, resilience, relationship. As we go through them, you will find that these building blocks can be acquired skills. These are competencies and attitudes, which you are not just are born with, but can build with practice.
- Excellence. It is important to build some distinctive capabilities and/or knowledge that can become a bedrock for your career. You need to have at least a few areas where you have distinctive depth that become your calling cards. Passions are a good starting point but not enough. Passions alone are like sparks that will flicker but might not sustain. To achieve sustained success, you need to strengthen your passions with excellent skills or knowledge. Excellence is the fuel that will convert your sparks of passion into the bright and sustainable fire of success. However, achieving excellence requires hard work, patience and discipline. As MBAs we often have this urge to move up in our careers very quickly. As a result, sometimes MBAs end up being flaky with little depth. There are no short cuts to excellence – “no pain, no gain”!! You look at any successful person you will find they have some distinctive capabilities and that they have worked hard to build it. So, figure out your areas of focus and immerse yourself deeply into it. It is not necessary that all of you should be aim to be toppers. But, do ensure that you end your MBA having built some distinctive knowledge or skill. Don’t be superficial; give your 100% and build real depth.
- Risk Taking. Often in a career, you get caught in a “comfort zone”. You get some success, are satisfied with that and want to protect it. That is when you miss the bus. Successful people are risk takers. They are continuously challenging themselves to climb the next mountain. What I have realized with risk taking is that the downside is less than what you think and upside lot more. Even if you fail, it will not be a catastrophe. For me leaving McKinsey when I was doing well there and setting up my venture ActiveKarma was the biggest risk I have taken in life. The venture failed but I was able to recover and get going again very quickly. Moreover, what I gained from the experience was invaluable. I am convinced this experience has helped me do better as a manager and leader than what I might have done otherwise. I believe the courage to take risks is one of the biggest differentiator between the truly successful and middle of the road. I would encourage you to consider taking some risks both in your choice of courses and eventually carer. Consider being an entrepreneur or join a start-up. Your opportunity cost and commitments are relatively low at this stage of life and will only rise from hereon. So if you want to be an entrepreneur, consider staring now!!
- Resilience. Business world is full of uncertainties. Velocity of change is higher than ever before. It often feels like a snake n ladders game. You will rise but will also certainly seen setbacks. It could be business downturns, own mistakes, organization restructuring or just organization politics. You have to be resilient and quickly adapt to the situation. The great Steve Jobs is an amazing story of resilience and bouncing back from adversity. Jobs was kicked out of Apple, a company that he founded with a lot of passion, at the age of 30. For most people that would have been a knock out blow. However, Jobs was able to pick himself up and keep going. He faced more failures notably at NeXT Computers, but he persevered. In a remarkable reversal of fortune, he came back to Apple and led it to unprecedented glory. This resilience is visible also in his battle with cancer. He did lose his 3rd battle with cancer, but he came back from his first two battles and each time led Apple to major product breakthroughs. Some of you might get bit of an ego knock in the first term as you come to face with the relative grading system!! Be resilient and keep going. Those who do so will rise and finish strongly.
- Relationships. When I joined McKinsey in 1996, one of the senior partners speaking at our induction training said that to succeed you either need to know something or to know someone. At that time, I felt that I would be the “know something” types and that success by knowing someone was a bit superficial. As I have gained more experience, I have realized better the tremendous value of relationships. People respond more to trust and emotions than to knowledge and logic. Whether it is achieving difficult targets as a team, resolving conflicts, or finding your next job, relationships are the key to success. They are a force multiplier helping you achieve outcomes, which you can never do on your own. Moreover, relationships are not just about a means to an end. They are an end in themselves. Man is a social animal. We crave for trust and togetherness. Deep relationships bring joy and warmth to life making it more meaningful. Campus life is a great opportunity for building new friends. Don’t limit yourself to superficial networking. Build deep friendships. They will be amongst your most important asset in life.
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