14 Years…14 Kms…14 Realizations…

Last week, I completed 14 years at Skillsoft-SumTotal and decided to run 14 kms to celebrate this milestone with my running companion Deepak Malviya. Most of our weekend runs, we try to focus on our running form, breathing pattern, heart rate, pace, cadence, etc. This run appeared to be different as it became a very chatty one. We started talking of my completion of 14 years recently with Skillsoft-SumTotal and delve into multiple areas about my journey in the organization, what drives me to continue working there, why I am still going strong and what’s are the next steps. As we continued to chat about these things among other areas, an exhilarated thought occurred. Why not share my discussion with everyone! This is an attempt to do some introspection or should I say self-evaluation of what I am today. #makeworkmatter

From my childhood, 14 years was considered with a negative connotation, especially coming from the mythology of Lord Rama’s 14 years of exile to vanvas or this period sentenced for imprisonment to criminals in many India movies, etc. However, when I look at my last 14 years, I see many positives (over very few negatives) during my tenure with Skillsoft-SumTotal shaping me to what I am today both professionally and personally.

During these amazing years, not only have I worked with a dozen plus managers, but also, have seen a huge transformation of marketing function and its ever-growing impact on the business growth. Although I am greying and thankfully not at the pace at which the Learning & HR Technology industry is maturing, learning and talent development has become an integral part of me and how I drive it within my team.

There were many feelings that came to my mind while discussing my stint, I tried to summarize most of them in this post. They are not in any specific order or priority, but just what were touched during my Sunday morning run. 

Here are my celebration of 14 years and I call them my life endearing 14 realizations.

1. Follow your heart and do what you think is right – Being an engineer by education, I always tried to find logic in everything that I did in my past life. However, I realized over the last decade that both the heart and the head should work together to help you make the right decision. Your heart gives you the inspiration and once your head sees that your heart is following the best path, you can see them working together. Take a deep breath, close your eyes and listen to what you really want!
2. Discipline towards everything you do – Although from childhood, our parents, teachers and elders have asked us to become disciplined, but the value on discipline or should I say ‘self-discipline’ become an integral part while my kids started growing. You need time for so many things around you – work, home, family, friends, health, social life, networking, etc. With this realization, not only I have started organizing & prioritizing items in my office & home, but also in my mind. Believe me you will always find time for most of the things!
3. Work hard, stay determined and you’ll get recognized – From the start of my career, one way for me to motivate myself to work hard was not considering it as ‘hard work’. I always thought it as part of making myself into who I want to be. Especially, when I have made the choice to do something, I try not to think about how difficult, frustrating or impossible that might be. I just think how good or proud I might be once it is done. This approach really helped me in my career and get the well-deserved recognition I have received.
4. Hire people smarter than you – Some folks perceive talented candidates as a threat but believe me that this type of thinking can have a detrimental impact on the team and the overall business. Over the last decade or so, I realized this big time and started hiring individuals whose brilliance exceeds my own.
5. Empathy is an important soft skill – Over the years, I have realized that empathy is a very crucial skill for effective interpersonal engagement. Before engaging with anybody, you must be in the moment and acknowledge the ongoing emotions first. Post that you should watch your body language, facial expressions and then the tone before focusing on the words you speak. When you find that sweet spot where you can empathize effectively, whether navigating a workplace hurdle or comforting a loved one, it is absolutely worth the efforts.
6. Inspire and enable your team – While managing a team of diversified specialists in various areas of marketing, I feel that the key role of a manager is to empower your team for success. Realizing that my team is the most important asset and biggest resource, I keep on encouraging and inspiring them daily. Providing them with challenging targets, opportunities to learn and whenever possible invite them to shadow me, has helped my team to grow in their respective roles.
7. Walk the talk – With my marketing career spanning over two decades, the first few years were spent in working as an individual contributor (IC) across marketing sub-functions. This is helping me to work hand-in-hand with my team on various stages of planning to execution for the business function. To become an effective and inspirational leader, you must ‘walk the talk’ and, you can’t follow ‘do as I say, not as I do’ philosophy. While I was building teams and running new initiatives, I tried to lead by example so that my team would follow as they know that I will keep my word.
8. Team is an extended family – While managing teams over last 16 years, I have always believed that my team members are my extended family. Possibly this ideology has developed within me while growing up in a joint family where the staff members of my family business were treated as family too. I have realized that when contributing members of a team get this feeling from their leader, they really feel appreciated and it derives intangible benefits such as feelings of self-worth, trust, happiness, and contentment resulting into lot more commitment from their end towards the team’s goals.
9. Having a best friend/s at work – I am very happy to share that I have made some ‘friends for life’ whom I met first as my colleagues in SumTotal Hyderabad office. I have personally experienced that having a best friend at work really matters. They keep motivating you to excel in your day to day work life. It has also given me an opportunity to have someone to talk to who will not only listen, but also advise you on a regular basis.
10. Mentor matters – Whether is it your work or personal goals, I have found that mentors/coaches really make a big difference. Lack of self-motivation is a universal issue, especially when you have to come out of your comfort zone. Here mentors can not only help you to come out of it, but also bring out the best of you. I have aimed to get a mentor for each of my goals, although finding the appropriate one is very tough. I am lucky to get a few excellent ones who helped me to achieve some of my goals.
11. Work-Life balance is a myth – In today’s world, it is a misnomer. One should focus on synergy between personal and professional commitments and do conscious efforts to create a 'work-life synergy'. I am trying to create constant value professionally at my workplace and provide quality time with my family once home.
12. Your habits shape your life, so choose them carefully – I know that it is very hard to change a habit as most of them get controlled by your subconscious. I am still struggling to change a few of them. However, I realized that many of the habits were chosen by yourself and if you are a little careful, it can make a big difference to your life and people around you. So, to gain a new good habit, consciously repeating it will lead to becoming part of your subconscious and eventually become one.
13. Become your own Health Hero – When I was entering into a new decade of my life, this was one of the biggest realizations I had a few years back. Trust me, I found that my father was fitter for his age metabolically due to his regular health regime and I was not. It took me some time to digest it, but I quickly picked up a healthy regime to not only change my eating habits, but also added running as my new passion. Over the last three years, I have done 20+ half marathons and thousands of kms, making me my own Health Hero and inspiration to many others around me.
14. Live life to the fullest – When I was in my early 30s, I either used to think about my past or my future life. But, over time I have realized that living in the moment is the key to live life to the fullest as I have seen my father living for decades. You must ask yourself what makes you happy, excited, joyful and motivated. That’s what you should be doing with your life (as long as it’s legal) and you can manage it without compromising on your financial goals and commitments.

Although, I didn’t intend to write such a long post, but this seems to have turned out longer than expected. Most of these realizations are congealed in, and I will continue to improvise on them as I continue my journey. I don’t think that there are any silver bullets, but I believe you need to define your own path through continuous ‘self-realization’ and ‘self-work’.