Cardinal Principles for a professional

Setting rules of professionalism is not optional, it may not be sufficient but it is as necessary as any other skillset.

You must develop vision and values, knowledge and personality, and professional competence. Work with excitement and passion, but imbibe humility and ethics.

1. Reset attitude: Rediscover the child in you, and build a great human. Add the human values of ethics and humility, to your innate gifts of curiosity, boldness, perseverance, and excitement. Perfection in ethical standards is itself a journey, often lifelong. Defining boundaries for self is the first step. Introspecting on each action, to examine whether a boundary was crossed due to temptation, is next. You must resolve to avoid repeating such mistakes if these occur.
2. Acquire knowledge: About your domain, and also about other domains. Solutions to real life problems need knowledge from multiple spheres. Demolish silos in your mind.
3. Master the skills: Be proficient in the methods and techniques of your field. Perfect your articulation. Ability to put your thoughts succinctly and clearly, counts a lot in life.
4. Be meticulous: Execute all actions carefully. Be the God of little things. Avoid sloppiness. Remember that disregarding one small factor can negate your major efforts.
5. Work Hard: People cleverer than us have tried to find a substitute for hard work, but have never succeeded. Hard work is the only way you can attempt to solve complex problems in life.
6. Learn to commit: Do not take an ambiguous stand. Think hard before taking any responsibility. Once taken, honor it with all your might. Respect the word of mouth.
7. Respect Deadlines: Workflow in any organisation critically depends upon everyone finishing the assigned job within a stipulated timeframe. Learn to manage your time optimally.
8. Face failures squarely: Failures will happen in life. The hurt is inescapable, but the resulting frustration is curable. Learn to recover quickly. There is much more to do in life than sulk.
9. Be a trusted friend: A friend is one who can politely but firmly tell you where you are wrong, suggest what can be done to correct you, and will stand by you in bad times.
10. Be a good leader: Basic leadership traits can be developed, even if you are not a born leader. Acquire these as you grow. For example, a leader always takes a little less credit than due, and a little more blame than deserved.
11. Enjoy giving: Giving is not (only) about money. Give others a portion of your heart and mind. Give others some of your time and your advice. Make them part of your concern. A very important thing to give is plain courtesy. Learn to say “Thank you”, ‘please’, and ‘Sorry’, is especially difficult, but will reduce the burden on your heart, and will enhance your stature.
12. Emulate what is good: You do not have to go far, to search for great virtues only in great names and role-models. You find these in people around you. Try using this (by Dr. D.B. Phatak) hypothesis. It consists of selecting any ten colleagues randomly and making two lists. The first consists of all the desirable and virtuous characteristics displayed by these ten. The other consists of all the avoidable ones displayed by the same ten. The hypothesis says that the first list will describe a perfect human. It is up to you to decide what you emulate from whom. Strive to become a role model yourself.

For a successful Career and a beautiful life: you must develop vision and values, knowledge and personality, and professional competence. Work with excitement and passion, but imbibe humility and ethics. This will lead to a highly successful career, and also to significant contributions to nation-building. Let your life be as the dew-drops you see on flower petals in the morning. The full form of DEW would be:

             Dream big, as your dreams will limit your achievements.

             Enjoy life, since each moment in life is precious, and comes only once.           

         Work hard to create history.

Treat these in IIT style: any two of the three is not an option, so you have to practice all three.

Become a great professional, and be the change agent to build such a nation for all of us.