I am completely agreed with Babita. We should admit that our career growth depend on us. We should do what we wish to do. Only our passion can able to grow our career graph.
In the both cases of Mr. Komisar and Mr. Kartikey, we see that Komisar kept changing jobs getting knowledge in different fields and trying to do things that he found interesting. As a result he was a satisfied person and loved his job and succeeded. In career development, self-knowledge is everything. In a career, you can be two or three degrees off course and walk into a wall, instead of through a doorway. You don't have to be far off to have it fail. Career unhappiness often results from limited self-knowledge. Komisar acquired self-knowledge from different working fields, but in case of Kartikey he worked in the same field, he was doing well but ultimately he was not happy because his interest lied somewhere else.
In modern times you have to be always on the look out for a better opportunity. Money wise, job satisfaction wise, environment wise, prospective wise. If you get a job best by all means or you get a chance to work elsewhere where it promises greater prospects, nothing is wrong for shifting. But simply shifting from job to job is no good practice. Many companies will be hesitant to hire someone who's going to disappear on them frequently, especially if a job involves a significant amount of training. Only when you feel that your interest is gradually going to collapsed on your job, nothing is left behind for your organization and vice-versa, and then you should change your job.
Mr. Kartikey was right to take the decision, though he realized after 14years; he was finally doing what he really wanted to do.
Whatever Mr. Bagchi says it’s true that we have to satisfy job and job does not satisfy us, but we need to know what we want to do and we have to choose our career accordingly. That is where Kartikey went wrong as per my opinion. I observe that if you have worked same job in a company more than 3 years, you will reach the saturation point as per job or career, unless you shift on another job.
It is true that about 80% of people are unhappy at work and only 20% are happy. Our culture has separated work from passion, and taught us to prefer a higher paycheck to higher happiness. That mistake costs us our souls. The goal of career development is to uncover one's gifts and passions, and to link them to the practical needs of the world. We describe as "being in the right place," "finding a good fit," or "making the best use of one's talents."
On the conclusion, I feel that high compensation and high happiness are not incompatible. It's not that we shouldn't seek money. But we should first seek to love, or at least to like, what we're doing. That's the realization of our highest calling.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A career one
Non Career, Career Path:
A real interesting story of Komisar. He was doing the job on his own terms and risking himself. I have met two persons till date who works for the job 2 to 3 years and changes it on regular basis. While discussion with them I understood from both of them due to some circumstances in their early part of career they were forced to change their jobs frequently and then, they get accustomed to the remuneration and losses due to change of job and have no dread . The changing job itself becomes their passion and side of that sometimes they get better deal which makes a jump in their career. However in my view changing 11 jobs in 25 years span is not possible in normal circumstances and choosing adventures non Career, Career is an extreme end of career building methods.
Kartikey; marketing job, 14 hours a day a ridiculous pursuit:
After working for 10 to 15 years and getting fulfilled his moderate needs , in his mid way of working life a person starts reconciling what actually he has done till date and how in future, he is going to be recognised. Some person thinks to be an entrepreneur and some thinks giving back to society, humanitarian and so on. Hence Kartikey decision was very good as long as a person can afford to take steps in his life.
People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers
I believe organisation is run by a group of people and managers are the representative of an organisation. An organisation culture prevails in any organisation and the same gets reflected through their managers. Manager as an individual sometimes has influence. However in most of the cases it is the organisation behaviour influences the people. Hence I believe it’s the organisation which people leave; there is no question of leaving managers in usual cases.
A real interesting story of Komisar. He was doing the job on his own terms and risking himself. I have met two persons till date who works for the job 2 to 3 years and changes it on regular basis. While discussion with them I understood from both of them due to some circumstances in their early part of career they were forced to change their jobs frequently and then, they get accustomed to the remuneration and losses due to change of job and have no dread . The changing job itself becomes their passion and side of that sometimes they get better deal which makes a jump in their career. However in my view changing 11 jobs in 25 years span is not possible in normal circumstances and choosing adventures non Career, Career is an extreme end of career building methods.
Kartikey; marketing job, 14 hours a day a ridiculous pursuit:
After working for 10 to 15 years and getting fulfilled his moderate needs , in his mid way of working life a person starts reconciling what actually he has done till date and how in future, he is going to be recognised. Some person thinks to be an entrepreneur and some thinks giving back to society, humanitarian and so on. Hence Kartikey decision was very good as long as a person can afford to take steps in his life.
People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers
I believe organisation is run by a group of people and managers are the representative of an organisation. An organisation culture prevails in any organisation and the same gets reflected through their managers. Manager as an individual sometimes has influence. However in most of the cases it is the organisation behaviour influences the people. Hence I believe it’s the organisation which people leave; there is no question of leaving managers in usual cases.
Career Decisions
I do agree with Komisar here – A career is after all what you make of it. If you are drawing a fat paycheck and have a lot of perks and amenities, it does not imply that you are satisfied with the nature of your work. Working on what you like surely has its own benefits, you put in real efforts as you like your work and the money is bound to follow.
One might take up jobs in various kinds of disciplines and yet excel in all, though people might call that person ‘Jack of all trades and King of none’ but that’s his/her way of working. Komisar is such a person. These kind of people love to broaden their horizon of friends/acquaintances and also to learn things from people of all walks of life. The best part of his way of work is he has the option of doing what he likes. He can fail at times but that would be his own decision. Although there are deadlines to meet and goods to be delivered, he is not restricted with his scope of work nor does he have to have a boss who rules his every decision. Given a chance, I myself would like to try working on a myriad of platforms.
In the case of Kartikey, he is a person who is over-burdened with work and does not have the time to stop and smell the roses. Kartikey has arrived at his decision by thinking over for quite sometime and if he were my friend I think I would not advise him on anything. He is the best judge of his decision as he is the only one who knows why he has taken this decision. On the other hand there are people who are workaholics and perfectionists – those who love to spend 14-18 hours of their day working and they are satisfied doing that.
Both, Komisar and Kartikey are right in their own way – each individual is different – one man’s food is another man’s poison! What may suit one might not suit the other. Kartikey derives satisfaction from helping others whereas Komisar loves to gamble, as he has explained it – but his gambling is of another kind – he likes to gamble with ideas, as many at a time as is humanly possible. He likes to pour energy into them and see if they'll ignite.
The statement - “If you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent” does not hold true for all. In the IT industry where I work, the attrition rate is very high and people at the lower rung change jobs almost twice a year. They are very successful in their jobs and tend to learn not only the technicalities of the job but also the processes of the various companies that they work at. But at the same time, there have been cases where we have Senior Managers, who have worked for around 10-12 years in the same company, have got thorough knowledge of the various cycles and processes involved and are terrific in understanding any application/business unit despite of not having worked on any of them. They are a major asset to the company and these people drive the projects very well.
The best part of working in an IT industry is that we are allowed to change our projects after every 2 years. This way we can move from one domain to another with ease. Some companies also offer to train their employees in different platform if the employees are keen on learning new things. This way there are less cases of burn-out as I myself feel that after working for 2-3 years in the same project – one cannot contribute anything more to the project. The work becomes monotonous and people tend to leave the company in search of a new job. Learning new technologies help the employee in getting over the boredom as well as achieve job satisfaction. We have had such a case in my previous organization – people who had completed 2 years in our project were given the option of moving to an altogether different technology and it was in a different domain. The technology was a hot skill and experienced people for that skill were very less. So the company decided to take candidates from its own workforce and train them and bring them on-par for the project requirement. This way people are able to change their domain and the company too need not hire highly paid resources.
Moving from one job to another – across different domains is good for people who get bored very easily and dread doing the same thing again and again. These kinds of people enjoy the thrills of learning new stuff, meeting new people. In a short stint they might multiply the profitability of the organization and once their job is done, they move to fresher pastures. Such people are good in projects which have stringent deadlines and high visibility. They work very well under tremendous pressure and are risk taking in nature. But the same thing holds true here too – some people might not like such kind of jobs.
Working across different domains helps one understand the functioning of various domains as a whole and how one domain’s functioning affects the functioning of the other. This makes an individual aware of the business processes underlying that domain and also the others.
Not only does Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of MindTree Consulting say that “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”, this statement has also been made by Azim Premji – the Chairman of Wipro Limited. Managers do play a very pivotal role in shaping the career of an employee. If the Manager is a good person – takes active part in the betterment of the career of the individual – then his subordinates look up to him. They do not think twice on staying late to finish an important assignment, people even stay late without any overtime. The manager fights for the benefit of his subordinates and maintains the unity in the team. Such a person plays a crucial part in moulding the professional life of his subordinates. If the manager is not good enough, then his subordinates will not respect him and if persistently harassed, they will seek new jobs. We had an associate manager who was very friendly and approachable. He used to actively seek opinions from us regarding our work, chalk out guidelines, stay back with us if we had some unfinished deadlines to meet. He was the one who fought with our Project manager to give us home drop as we used to work till late hours. We never thought twice for working late to finish our work and used to work on weekends too. The day he left the project, we stopped working late as the new manager was in no way close to what our old manager was!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Komisar, Kartikey and Bagchi: Visualizing three different (but connected) dimensions.
Komisar vouches for a go-getter who makes a career (or no-career) by cruising into the corporate world in full throttle, one racing track at a time. It works for him, so for few others. Some people like it stationary, some like it constantly changing. There are CEOs who pick up an ailing company every third year to turn its fortune around, and do it with style. And there were CEOs who joined the organization as mere foreman and retired as CEO. Both have different taste, both justify their career.
Kartikey wants thinks enough-is-enough! He clearly is an idealistic mind who manages to measure what he is losing in return of what he is gaining. With due respect to motivational speeches, sayings and quotes, after all we are (well, a majority of us) are mere humans; with real emotion and real stretching-limits. There are times when, if you don’t enjoy it here, you will not enjoy elsewhere. Kartikey’s marketing career is in such a juncture, where he had to think about a radical change. To make peace with his inner voice, his conscience. It did not click in marketing for him. But it may in social service. Why not? After all, it’s all there in the mind. Stupid!
Bagchi’s voice to me looks like an appeal to employees from an employer. Especially to those employees who are bitten by the career bug. While his attempt to shed the ‘Over’ expectation of employees from company is crisp in this article, his attempt to discourage employees from dreaming has bitten the dust completely. While I appreciate the service of our apartment cleaner, I would definitely not teach my kid to be satisfied with a mediocre job like the apartment cleaning guy. I think nobody would.
Of these, the one appeals to me the most is Kartikey’s angle. Work should be a celebration. Despite its providing me a luxury car and posh lifestyle, if it’s taking a toll on every moment of my LIFE, I would rather settle for less and try enjoying more. It really takes so much of suffering that a successful (?) guy like Kartikey decides to give up everything and start living. A prison is a prison, who cares what is it made of!
“If you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree?
I think it’s all about a fine balance. Apart from few exceptions (or exceptional people), does anyone decide before joining a job, when he is going to quit? Nobody likes to quit but forced to by circumstances. Few planned transitions (for a raised bar of remuneration, higher grade, intermediate jobs) are necessary in a career, but a job has to be of full cycle. It has set of phases. Joining, Learning, Performing, Transforming and Saturating. While time for these phase are not fix, phases are inevitable. Quitting in between is always dangerous. Changing or Switching of jobs should not be planned, but be forced (by internal or external stimuli). Manager, Role, Saturation, Growth (or more precisely not of it) are such stimuli. We are not in a race of maximum number of jobs we switch in our career, but the sense of achievement we carry home day in and day out.
Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them?
Reiterating the similar sentiment as of last response, a job has a full cycle. Domain is incidental, professionalism is perpetual. A professional can switch to any domain, any role with proper grooming and in sufficient span of time.
“People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. What is your experience / opinion?
At home we are son, spouse, brother and dad. But at office we wear a mask that’s stuck to our face even after we come home. Although we promise to leave our file at office while driving home, we hardly manage to overcome office trauma at home. We are highly influenced (sometimes intoxicated) by job demand. Especially when time is not-so-good, it shows in the face and it becomes a necessity to change the tag. Occasionally thanks to the Manager.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
A CAREER IS A ONE....
Hi Everyone...
Query 1:
Komisar was bold and brave enough to take the decision of changing his job. I would rather stay in the same organization to learn more about it, would never take such decision based on passion to make things simple. I would rather take a Chance of changing myself for the sake of organizational benefits. Frequent changing in would not be fruit full at times.Though Komisar was enjoyed every where he had worked, but still it will always have bad impact on him.
In case of Karthikey, he is freshers to the industry, at times people should be given time for learning. I mean to say, there is a learning period in every one's professional life. Until you are well versed about the product/market on which your company is dealing with. It could tough for anybody while doing planning about the new product/scheme/strategy which is launching in the market. So Karthikey should give time to his first job to learn more about the industry. It would beneficiary for him while planning seating inside the cold room.
As both the cases are different from each other, need to be discussed differently.
Query 2:
I strongly oppose such comments that "If you are tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent". I have a list of managers who all are working in the same organizations for more that five (5) years. They all are well settled in the organization and they got huge power. Employee who are working more than five years in an organization gets more privilege than other employees. Even at times it can also be found that, an old employee who is working an organization more than four or five years are given more value than the other one by the management. They become more trustworthy to the organizations. When such employees are stating something in front of the management, it means they would taken as first choice. Most of the time employees having much experience in an organization being looked after in a different way. It has also been seen that they are given more value than a newly joined MD/COO. An employee of having more than five years in the same organization is an asset to the organization.
Hi Everyone...
Query 1:
Komisar was bold and brave enough to take the decision of changing his job. I would rather stay in the same organization to learn more about it, would never take such decision based on passion to make things simple. I would rather take a Chance of changing myself for the sake of organizational benefits. Frequent changing in would not be fruit full at times.Though Komisar was enjoyed every where he had worked, but still it will always have bad impact on him.
In case of Karthikey, he is freshers to the industry, at times people should be given time for learning. I mean to say, there is a learning period in every one's professional life. Until you are well versed about the product/market on which your company is dealing with. It could tough for anybody while doing planning about the new product/scheme/strategy which is launching in the market. So Karthikey should give time to his first job to learn more about the industry. It would beneficiary for him while planning seating inside the cold room.
As both the cases are different from each other, need to be discussed differently.
Query 2:
I strongly oppose such comments that "If you are tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent". I have a list of managers who all are working in the same organizations for more that five (5) years. They all are well settled in the organization and they got huge power. Employee who are working more than five years in an organization gets more privilege than other employees. Even at times it can also be found that, an old employee who is working an organization more than four or five years are given more value than the other one by the management. They become more trustworthy to the organizations. When such employees are stating something in front of the management, it means they would taken as first choice. Most of the time employees having much experience in an organization being looked after in a different way. It has also been seen that they are given more value than a newly joined MD/COO. An employee of having more than five years in the same organization is an asset to the organization.
Yes, there are also some cases where employees can't change their job, because of their incompetency.
Query 3:
It's true that, changing job that too very often in unrelated domain is good for one's career. In to days market condition, one should be expertise in his own field. Changing job in unrelated domain would spoil ones career. Today's organization plays huge role in choosing ones career. It has been seen in the organization that a SCM/HR guys are making calls to their customers to get feedback on their products or and finance guy is doing HR practices into the system. It is due to the pressure of the organization. And the result would either good or bad. Bad part is the- bad quality report, and the good part is that one SCM/HR guy is getting expertise into the functions. While changing such roles into the system one ca find their suitable place. Giving pressure to the employees organizations sometime plays a role to choose ones career.
Query 4:
Yes, it very much true that, employee leave organizations for managers. At times the fate of the employee depends on the managers feedback. It is very much true in to days organizations that buttering and welling plays a very important role in ones career. Employees who fails to do this, they are not a good performer to their bosses. As a result they are not being focused and given good rank. In such a condition however good performer you are, you must be frustrated and leave the organization. Do some personal/professional favour to your manager would take you to the high.
But there are also some good managers, who look their buddies as per their quality and as they should be treated.
I don't think that anyone can influence your career. If you have the potential in you, no one can stop you choosing the right path of your career. They can suggest you, but can't influence you.
Submitted By:
Debasis Chakraborty
U610077
Friday, August 27, 2010
A Career is a One
I do agree with Deepak that changing Job very frequently is not good for any individual.I would like to share my career experience, I started working when I was in +2 Final year for a Real Estate Company that point of time I was completely blank, there was no one to guide me.Then after completing my Graduation I worked for a Call Center then for a Educational Institute then for a Event management company then at last I ended up with Kingfisher Airlines.When I started working with Kingfisher I saw that my Resume has all total 6 ex-Company's name for which I have worked. Now I landed up with a Private Aircraft operator where during my Interview they asked me why you have worked and left so many companies, for which I was answer less as I have worked for many company that are into different business product and aspects.
Keeping my personal experience in view I think if an individual changes job very frequently is not at all good for an individual as it shows how frequently his/her mind changes.
Does others influence your career ?
It depends on every individual that how they react with their working environment and situation.My Ex-manager used to say that people never change Company, they change their boss.Sometimes if a person reacts to something which his manager says and takes it personally that may become a reason which influence the career of that individual.As far as my opinion is concerned I always suggest everyone that "please do not mix your personal life with Professional and Professional with personal.If anytime your senior screams on you that is not his personal grudge,that is his work pressure and responsibility.the day when you reach at his level you will also do the same thing but try to do it in different way that you achieve your goal".
Thank you
Dwarika-U610020
Keeping my personal experience in view I think if an individual changes job very frequently is not at all good for an individual as it shows how frequently his/her mind changes.
Does others influence your career ?
It depends on every individual that how they react with their working environment and situation.My Ex-manager used to say that people never change Company, they change their boss.Sometimes if a person reacts to something which his manager says and takes it personally that may become a reason which influence the career of that individual.As far as my opinion is concerned I always suggest everyone that "please do not mix your personal life with Professional and Professional with personal.If anytime your senior screams on you that is not his personal grudge,that is his work pressure and responsibility.the day when you reach at his level you will also do the same thing but try to do it in different way that you achieve your goal".
Thank you
Dwarika-U610020
A Career is one
The story of Komisar and Kartikey contradict each other in a way.Komisar says that career is after all what you make it.This is absolutely acceptable.In both the cases its the individuals who decided to change the jobs which Komisar did and take a break from present job of marketing and engage self in some other like Kartikey.None of them kept themselves idle inspite of being discontent of the present job.Its always the individual who shapes his/her career and opportunities which helps them to do so.In my veiw Kartikey's decision is right to live a peaceful life may not be right with regards to his carreer.I am sure most of us will cherish to have such break from the cat race going on provided the person is not too much materialistic and money oriented.Its very much true that our lifes are too much mechanised and dictated by routine where human being will try to deviate at some point of time.What we notice now a days that job hops doesnt include mere salary hikes but seeks for places where a person can conveniently be in touch with friends and relatives.Komisar's jump to various fields may not meet conventional standards but it added to his knowledge and experience and that helped him in long run.
Its ok to have a change in job profile if we feel we have gained ample knowledge in that area or we can do better in the next venture which will help us anyways.Not only in the duo case many people dont like to be commanded,frequently scrutinized and interrupted the way they work.This one of the causewhy people keep changing jobs.Being at one place cant be said as incompetency.It has got its own pros and cons as has a slow carreer growth as in public sectors.Senario isdifferent in private sectors where performance plays vital role.These are very debatable topics.I think it could be a relevant example where mostly this present generation is practising including me.We are pursuing electronics,electrical or mechanical engineering as a carreer andjump into a management carreer even without having a feel of the engineering carreer.It depends on individuals how they cop with their decisions to have a growth.
Subrao Bagchi has rightly said that people leave managers not organization.I have many examples where my friends who work in different organizations have quit only because of the managers.The usual complain which i have noticed is the injustice done to their caliber,lack of recognisation of their delivered work,improper career paths defined for them and partial decisions by managers on the ground of linguistic community.Whereas these reasons can be well addressed by a manager.Even there are cases where associates departed from the team or organisation as the manager changed or they moved along with the managers.Besides other parameters for parting from an organization like Salary,location,job preferences,manager's role has got a major contribution.In our organization there are few managers who very well address the concerns of associates like relocation,domain preference,recognition,setting carreer development path where there a minimum rate of attrition as associates feel secured and can forsee the growth.I would say that influence of the parents,friends and colleagues even have an impact in carreer choices mostly for female associates.Due to family they have limited location preferences or can say no preference.In case they need to relocate to perform a higher role they sometimes cant due to lack of proper family support.Many a times people join the company where they have friends or ex colleagues.So though its finally the individual's decision but it carries the impact of surroundings.
Its ok to have a change in job profile if we feel we have gained ample knowledge in that area or we can do better in the next venture which will help us anyways.Not only in the duo case many people dont like to be commanded,frequently scrutinized and interrupted the way they work.This one of the causewhy people keep changing jobs.Being at one place cant be said as incompetency.It has got its own pros and cons as has a slow carreer growth as in public sectors.Senario isdifferent in private sectors where performance plays vital role.These are very debatable topics.I think it could be a relevant example where mostly this present generation is practising including me.We are pursuing electronics,electrical or mechanical engineering as a carreer andjump into a management carreer even without having a feel of the engineering carreer.It depends on individuals how they cop with their decisions to have a growth.
Subrao Bagchi has rightly said that people leave managers not organization.I have many examples where my friends who work in different organizations have quit only because of the managers.The usual complain which i have noticed is the injustice done to their caliber,lack of recognisation of their delivered work,improper career paths defined for them and partial decisions by managers on the ground of linguistic community.Whereas these reasons can be well addressed by a manager.Even there are cases where associates departed from the team or organisation as the manager changed or they moved along with the managers.Besides other parameters for parting from an organization like Salary,location,job preferences,manager's role has got a major contribution.In our organization there are few managers who very well address the concerns of associates like relocation,domain preference,recognition,setting carreer development path where there a minimum rate of attrition as associates feel secured and can forsee the growth.I would say that influence of the parents,friends and colleagues even have an impact in carreer choices mostly for female associates.Due to family they have limited location preferences or can say no preference.In case they need to relocate to perform a higher role they sometimes cant due to lack of proper family support.Many a times people join the company where they have friends or ex colleagues.So though its finally the individual's decision but it carries the impact of surroundings.
Virtual CEO
Yes, I agree with Pranati that manager/bosses influence career of their buddies. I will also take pleasure to express my experience regarding the same. I work with a company where talent is less important than loyalty as people from outside see this organisation but as a lower/middle level manager we see exactly opposite. Here we find that the employee should be loyal enough to his/her boss instead of organisation. Once upon a time there was less demand of talent in this organisation but not now. now a days talent are much more employed and their career is purely depend on their so called loyal boss who decide the fate of their buddies.
I started my career in electrical/electronic maintenance in this organisation. I got an offer of doing cross functional assignment for about one year where I was very successfull. My unit head as well as I wanted to switch over and continue to new assignment but my immediate superior did not and as a result I had to come back to maintenance once again. The very reason behind the leg pulling is not that I was indespensible to this department instead the reason was loyalty to my immediate boss.
Now coming to the influence of family, freinds and colleague: Yes, all they have very big role to decide one's career. Family or specifically parent sometimes impose their want or need to their children. Sometimes children also get influenced to see their parents the way they live. Yhe act of playing in childhood sometimes become the real life role when chidren mature. Same thing happened to Mr. Randy Komisar. He saw the seriousness of his father regarding career. Moreover the socioeconomic condition of the individual plays a vital role. The way people grow up in developed country, the facility they get, the environment they are surrounded by, the culture they swim into are totally different in developing country like ours and the developed country like Mr. Randy Komisor. Mr. Komisor had the luxury of styding at Harvard, working with apple and floating the life as he wanted. To him life is not to struggle but for willingness to see himself/herself as the individual want. To him, he is the virtual CEO and least bother to the way world think.
Friend and colleague pressure is the one which never ending force sometime decides one's career. This pressure force to take some career path where individual satisfy their ego by comparing economic status, social status, positional status and sometime self satisfaction with the view of 'grapes are sour'. Mr. Randy Komisor never thinks of others though he needs not to be but in our society, it is difficult to supress the external forces. Living beyond all expectation and isolating private life and professional life is not so easy in our society where individual works for 16 hrs a day and merely gets 8 hrs for other activities This horse racing is not only to acheive the target one set for his career but also sometime to sustain in present global competetive market. I think, most of the cases, least likely we get an opportunity to opt for career path rather than we force-fit ourselves where sustenance is a big question in our society depending on demography, race, caste, age and educational background.
When we talk about freind pressure, I can remeber one of my friends who could not join in IIT instead did BE from regional engineering college, still he desires to get a MBA degree from Harverd to compete his friend who did B tech from IIT
I see careervis not independent of variables like family, friends, relatives, surroundings, culture, race, demography rather it very much sensitive to the external factors where we need to manage career instead of making career.
I started my career in electrical/electronic maintenance in this organisation. I got an offer of doing cross functional assignment for about one year where I was very successfull. My unit head as well as I wanted to switch over and continue to new assignment but my immediate superior did not and as a result I had to come back to maintenance once again. The very reason behind the leg pulling is not that I was indespensible to this department instead the reason was loyalty to my immediate boss.
Now coming to the influence of family, freinds and colleague: Yes, all they have very big role to decide one's career. Family or specifically parent sometimes impose their want or need to their children. Sometimes children also get influenced to see their parents the way they live. Yhe act of playing in childhood sometimes become the real life role when chidren mature. Same thing happened to Mr. Randy Komisar. He saw the seriousness of his father regarding career. Moreover the socioeconomic condition of the individual plays a vital role. The way people grow up in developed country, the facility they get, the environment they are surrounded by, the culture they swim into are totally different in developing country like ours and the developed country like Mr. Randy Komisor. Mr. Komisor had the luxury of styding at Harvard, working with apple and floating the life as he wanted. To him life is not to struggle but for willingness to see himself/herself as the individual want. To him, he is the virtual CEO and least bother to the way world think.
Friend and colleague pressure is the one which never ending force sometime decides one's career. This pressure force to take some career path where individual satisfy their ego by comparing economic status, social status, positional status and sometime self satisfaction with the view of 'grapes are sour'. Mr. Randy Komisor never thinks of others though he needs not to be but in our society, it is difficult to supress the external forces. Living beyond all expectation and isolating private life and professional life is not so easy in our society where individual works for 16 hrs a day and merely gets 8 hrs for other activities This horse racing is not only to acheive the target one set for his career but also sometime to sustain in present global competetive market. I think, most of the cases, least likely we get an opportunity to opt for career path rather than we force-fit ourselves where sustenance is a big question in our society depending on demography, race, caste, age and educational background.
When we talk about freind pressure, I can remeber one of my friends who could not join in IIT instead did BE from regional engineering college, still he desires to get a MBA degree from Harverd to compete his friend who did B tech from IIT
I see careervis not independent of variables like family, friends, relatives, surroundings, culture, race, demography rather it very much sensitive to the external factors where we need to manage career instead of making career.
Virtual CEO
Virtual CEO…
1 ) Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?
ANS: Komisar was brave and bold enough to do what he was passionate about.This type of boldness is not prevalent in every individual.I personally feel I would not have done things purely based on my passion to make things simple. Though I am a person getting bored with the routine nature of the job still I would have still taken time in jumping jobs and would have tried my maximum to stay with an organization till both are at a benefit.
And Karthikey’s claim about his present job and his dissatisfaction is welcome. But this point arises in each one’s life during some point of life. But I think I would have advised Karthikey to bring his dissatisfaction under control and to see at the brighter side of his job rather than quitting his well paid job.
Both the case are rather differet. Komisar ‘s nature is of a very restless type of person who cannot stay in a single job but he enjoys wherever he goes. Whereas Karthikey is totally frustrated about his job and feels he is not living his life to the fullest.So both are different cases about 2 different personalities and in both the cases there are different levels and types of dissatisfaction.
2 ) Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.
ANS: Staying in the same job for more than 3 years means you are incompetent is a very wrong notion. In fact I believe it will differ in every organization. Most of the organization will prefer that you stay with them for a long time. It is because you know the job well and the people and your familiar with their policies. Teaching a new person once you quit is a tedious job as the organization has to once again groom the new person. So it’s always wished that the employee stays as long as he can in the organization.
And also for the employee satying more than 3 years is a good deal. He creates a name in the organization in three years and then if he continues there he would be at an advantage because his chances of getting promotions and increments will be quite high then.
3) Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?
ANS: Changing job in unrelated domains may or may not be challenging at times. Its better to have a change always but only if the employee is smart enough to grasp the changes he has to face in the new work. Only then it would prove to be beneficial. This is my view.
In today’s organization I feel people are given huge opportunities to work in different domains inside the organization.They are given a different domain to work with where they can expand tehri scope of knowledge. But yes the choices are to be given keeping the employee’s interest in mind.
4) Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of Mind Tree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?
ANS: For the first question I definitely agree that managers and bosses influence the careers of their buddies. I have had my own experience of not getting to work with a good manager and the difficulties I had due to this. It was very difficult to justify my work in front of my colleague’s of similar experience and age group because they were blessed with good managers to groom them.
But it can be argued that what if the boss is not effective, the individual should be able to groom himself and take his career forward if he has the will to do it. But this natural instinct need not be strong in every other individual. Thus for the rest I strongly feel a good boss is a must to influence the career of their buddies at least at the beginning of each person’s career.
In a society like ours parents’, friends and colleagues influencing an individual‘s career choices may not be true in every case. It depends on each person‘s family background and their way of looking at things. There are families who leave the decision of the individual’s career on him and are ready to face the constraints or benefits due to that. And there are opposite cases also where the individual is forced to think about the family before thinking about his career.
Colleagues and friends also influence an individual’s career but as I said it need not be a generalized statement. It can differ according to the people and their attitude.
1 ) Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?
ANS: Komisar was brave and bold enough to do what he was passionate about.This type of boldness is not prevalent in every individual.I personally feel I would not have done things purely based on my passion to make things simple. Though I am a person getting bored with the routine nature of the job still I would have still taken time in jumping jobs and would have tried my maximum to stay with an organization till both are at a benefit.
And Karthikey’s claim about his present job and his dissatisfaction is welcome. But this point arises in each one’s life during some point of life. But I think I would have advised Karthikey to bring his dissatisfaction under control and to see at the brighter side of his job rather than quitting his well paid job.
Both the case are rather differet. Komisar ‘s nature is of a very restless type of person who cannot stay in a single job but he enjoys wherever he goes. Whereas Karthikey is totally frustrated about his job and feels he is not living his life to the fullest.So both are different cases about 2 different personalities and in both the cases there are different levels and types of dissatisfaction.
2 ) Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.
ANS: Staying in the same job for more than 3 years means you are incompetent is a very wrong notion. In fact I believe it will differ in every organization. Most of the organization will prefer that you stay with them for a long time. It is because you know the job well and the people and your familiar with their policies. Teaching a new person once you quit is a tedious job as the organization has to once again groom the new person. So it’s always wished that the employee stays as long as he can in the organization.
And also for the employee satying more than 3 years is a good deal. He creates a name in the organization in three years and then if he continues there he would be at an advantage because his chances of getting promotions and increments will be quite high then.
3) Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?
ANS: Changing job in unrelated domains may or may not be challenging at times. Its better to have a change always but only if the employee is smart enough to grasp the changes he has to face in the new work. Only then it would prove to be beneficial. This is my view.
In today’s organization I feel people are given huge opportunities to work in different domains inside the organization.They are given a different domain to work with where they can expand tehri scope of knowledge. But yes the choices are to be given keeping the employee’s interest in mind.
4) Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of Mind Tree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?
ANS: For the first question I definitely agree that managers and bosses influence the careers of their buddies. I have had my own experience of not getting to work with a good manager and the difficulties I had due to this. It was very difficult to justify my work in front of my colleague’s of similar experience and age group because they were blessed with good managers to groom them.
But it can be argued that what if the boss is not effective, the individual should be able to groom himself and take his career forward if he has the will to do it. But this natural instinct need not be strong in every other individual. Thus for the rest I strongly feel a good boss is a must to influence the career of their buddies at least at the beginning of each person’s career.
In a society like ours parents’, friends and colleagues influencing an individual‘s career choices may not be true in every case. It depends on each person‘s family background and their way of looking at things. There are families who leave the decision of the individual’s career on him and are ready to face the constraints or benefits due to that. And there are opposite cases also where the individual is forced to think about the family before thinking about his career.
Colleagues and friends also influence an individual’s career but as I said it need not be a generalized statement. It can differ according to the people and their attitude.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A Career is One
Changing jobs frequently is not very good for an individual that too in todays world , where there is a cut throat competition and a job scarcity situation . I would therefore suggest people not to take risks of changing frequently and also , not to try out different domains. I strongly recommend an individual to focus on a career which he / she is well versed , expertise and enjoy doing it . I have seen people changing industry and failing miserably though the job responsibilities were almost the same . One should enjoy the job he/she is doing and excel in that particular area as in todays world every one looks for an expertise . Becoming a " Jack of all trades and masters of none " is a bit riskier in todays world .
In shaping up of an individuals career , the responsibility also lies in the organizations which can and should play an pivotal role . This will help both the organization and the individual to progress and develop further in tandem . Also this will uplift the image of the organization in the market .
My personal experience in this regards has been very good as my present employeer is doing a lot in this direction . The HR department has taken this responsibility and assignment to ensure that the company gets an competitive edge over others and meet the purpose and vision of the company . My company has identified the best talents in the organization and are taking them through different coaching so that the succession plan can be lined for the future .
This may be the practice in lot of other companies so that companies have an edge over others and to ensure that talents don't move out who are so very important for the companies growth .
Does others influence your career ?
My view in this regards shall be very candid , open and different from majority as my response is neither YES nor NO as I strongly feel and believe that career decisions and matters should not be influenced by anyone else . But unfortunately it does gets effected by relations , peers , bosses , managers etc. This is very tragic . I would urge people reading my blog , plz don't allow others to take a decision on your behalf as far as your career is concerned . To avoid this situation , I follow a very simple mantra - listen to everyone very pateintly but finally do what your heart says . This gives you an immense satisfaction after you have taken the decision , whether it was right or wrong , as the decision was yours . In my case , if the decision taken was right , I used to be thrilled and if the decision was wrong still I felt satisfied as I knew that it was my decision and there is no one to be blamed . Slightly philosiphical but that is how it should be and that is how I am . I have garnered this from my personal experience which I wanted to share with all of you . Would request the readers of this blog to respond on my view , may be for or against .
In shaping up of an individuals career , the responsibility also lies in the organizations which can and should play an pivotal role . This will help both the organization and the individual to progress and develop further in tandem . Also this will uplift the image of the organization in the market .
My personal experience in this regards has been very good as my present employeer is doing a lot in this direction . The HR department has taken this responsibility and assignment to ensure that the company gets an competitive edge over others and meet the purpose and vision of the company . My company has identified the best talents in the organization and are taking them through different coaching so that the succession plan can be lined for the future .
This may be the practice in lot of other companies so that companies have an edge over others and to ensure that talents don't move out who are so very important for the companies growth .
Does others influence your career ?
My view in this regards shall be very candid , open and different from majority as my response is neither YES nor NO as I strongly feel and believe that career decisions and matters should not be influenced by anyone else . But unfortunately it does gets effected by relations , peers , bosses , managers etc. This is very tragic . I would urge people reading my blog , plz don't allow others to take a decision on your behalf as far as your career is concerned . To avoid this situation , I follow a very simple mantra - listen to everyone very pateintly but finally do what your heart says . This gives you an immense satisfaction after you have taken the decision , whether it was right or wrong , as the decision was yours . In my case , if the decision taken was right , I used to be thrilled and if the decision was wrong still I felt satisfied as I knew that it was my decision and there is no one to be blamed . Slightly philosiphical but that is how it should be and that is how I am . I have garnered this from my personal experience which I wanted to share with all of you . Would request the readers of this blog to respond on my view , may be for or against .
Thursday, August 5, 2010
A Career Is a One...
Dear Participants,
I am happy to receive a number of requests from our participants to share their experiences of career through our dialectic forum. Besides, the four questions that I posted yesterday, we may go through the interesting story of Mr. Randy Komisar (sent through email) and compare it with that of Kartikey (in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).
Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?
Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.
Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?
Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of MindTree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?
With Regards,
Ganesh
P.S: This dialectic forum will be open till 31st August 2010.
I am happy to receive a number of requests from our participants to share their experiences of career through our dialectic forum. Besides, the four questions that I posted yesterday, we may go through the interesting story of Mr. Randy Komisar (sent through email) and compare it with that of Kartikey (in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).
Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?
Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.
Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?
Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of MindTree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?
With Regards,
Ganesh
P.S: This dialectic forum will be open till 31st August 2010.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)