Go & Get Your Success - Few Tips

Behold, the fool saith 'Put not all the eggs in the one basket' - which is but a manner of saying, 'Scatter your money and your attention;' but the wise man saith, 'Put all your eggs in one basket and - watch that basket.'" - Mark Twain

No one statement is right or wrong and are true for different people in different situations considering  confidence, risk taking, experience and sensitivity of the situation into consideration. Not all people can dare to experiment the second saith as it is not the position but the disposition that determines our destiny and most of us thrive onto the position and forget the later part i.e. disposition. 


When it comes to professional context, I invariably find people who are very hard working and keep slogging without due results and consideration. It is a cut-throat competition and the world of smart workers. It is very important for us to understand where to dig. If we dig 100 shallow ponds, oil will not come out, however, if we dig one single pond and dig it deep, it will help us get the requisite depth and breadth that is so important to get professional success in life. If you look at renowned leaders, we hardly find people who would have changed 20 jobs in 20 years. Invariably, these people would have dug deep in one organization for long.

Attrition that has almost become a disease in our IT & ITES industry is short circuiting the career of many potential employees. Some of them run after short term gains and some experience a situation where they find it tough to cope with idiosyncrasy of some of their managers. The career damage of these impulsive moves in either of the cases is high.

We all get our fair share of jerks and I am no exception. At one point in time my career, I was so sick of this Manager that I decided to quit. I spoke to my Coach after a gap of 4 years and told him that I would like to quit GE and explained my predicament. He simply asked me to close my eyes and said, "Raj, ask yourself whether you want to change your Organization or your Manager?" Pat came the reply, "I do not want to change my organization but my Manager" and he said, go ahead and do what you want to do and I don't think that I need to teach you how to do that. I continued with GE for almost another half a decade post that experience. That taught me yet another lesson, it is important that we find a mentor or a teacher whose hindsight can become our foresight.

One of the Leaders in GE told me, when you have stopped growing or making a value addition to your role and want to make a change, be cognizant of the Brand, Role & Compensation (BRC Model) and while doing so also figure out not about where this job is taking you, but a sense of direction, where it can take you in the next few years and whether it fits into your long term scheme of things. Of course in this model, depending upon the position, 2 factors will always play key role in permutation and combinations. Here is where good Mentors can act as guides.

Another very important factor wouldalso take its toll here and that is LUCK which has least to do with destiny and I define it as Labor under Correct Knowledge. Mentors play a very important role here. They can be our friend, philosopher and guide and help us understand the larger perspective and also teach us tricks of the trade. Great coaches are a fountain of knowledge….it depends on us whether we leverage them to drink or sip or just to gargle and as we all know that  the best of teachers will not give you something to drink, they will make you thirsty. They will put us on path to seek answers.

There is yet another belief to be successful, we cannot make it big till we cut down competition and reach heights while pushing people down. This belief has deepened its roots as not all can be at the top and out of the lot only handful will emerge as renowned leaders. As much as this is true another truth is that no one in today's world can make it alone. There is just too much to learn and things are changing too rapidly. High achievers always spend time with other high achievers. Like minds attract each other. They attend the same events, eat at the same restaurants, join the same clubs. Ideas and innovation never generate in isolation and to be successful you would always need someone who will be supportive, caring and effective and someone with whom you can work hand-in-hand to define, develop and design a  plan in advance.

Your business and social environment is more important than your heredity, choose your relationships and partnerships wisely. I learned early in life that if you want to grow, you do not need to push people down, however, just need to enhance your own stature / height.