From Cubicle to Board Room!!!

Transformational experience!!!

I am sure many would relate to this while many would just take notes from this but this is my disclaimer that these are just my thoughts and experiences and hence, just take them as opinions and hopefully there's a lesson or two for everyone!!!

I have worked for IBM and then did my MBA at 英国谢菲尔德大学 and then was part of a start-up then but a touch competitor to many now Exceloid Soft Systems and finally landed my dream job 印孚瑟斯 .

I have been here for 7 years 1 month at Infosys and am glad I had the opportunity to enter a Board room hosting the Board of Directors of Infosys - Mr. D Sundaram(Lead Independent Director) & Mr. Nitin Paranjpe(Independent Director), both of them who had illustrious careers spanning more than 3 decades. The journey wasn't easy but neither difficult. It happened in the flow. However, I have had umpteen opportunities coming by way in the last 2 years and I still can't look back how far I have travelled already that I had an opportunity to move into a Board Room already.

What does it take to land in a dream job? Luck or Talent? Answer is both atleast in my case. But is that enough? Definitely not! Once you are in a dream job, don't take it as a race and compete with others but learn and grow together and for someone working at an organization like 印孚瑟斯 , they will surely resonate what I meant here. There are some points out of the many I have come across and I might want to guide a few and here you go:

1) Accept Feedback: Positive or Negative, if negative accept the feedback and learn from them in a constructive manner and if positive, thrive for more.

2) Learn from mistakes: Never hesitate to learn from mistakes but also ensure never to repeat the same mistakes.

3) Be Process Oriented: I will definitely credit this trait of mine to my first job at IBM to start with as that's where I learnt the importance of it. Nothing comes behind or above the process.

4) Be Confident: If you know you are right, Be Confident. Period!!!

5) Ownership: Never step back from taking ownership, be it a pass or a fail. Take ownership of the team most importantly and then yourself as that builds confidence among the entire audience.

6) Be Approachable: Be approachable to everyone you can. There's a saying which says "Your network is your net worth". The saying eventually assimilates to how approachable one has been.

7) Never Limit Yourself: If one has watched movies such as Lucy or Limitless, you will understand what I mean. Always feel that you have limitless energy and never define boundaries within yourself.

8) Always be "On the Go": Life's too short to sit idle. Be it a weekend or a weekday, try to make them productive either at work or with family.

9) Leave Insecurities: At work, position comes with a baggage of responsibilities. However, that needs to be bound to an individual. At the end, everyone is an employee and hence, leave aside insecurities and always move ahead together.

10) Ignore negative forces: When you are on the right path or more precisely the Positive path, its obviously that negative forces will try to pull or stop you. However, if you are strong enough to ignore them, then nothing like it.

11) Never get Success onto your head: Success & Failure are temporary but Life & Relations are permanent. Any award or success should be limited to that particular day and get going from the scratch from the next day.

There are many more and I will come with more interesting topics eventually but today felt the right time to voice out my learnings to a larger audience.

I go to sleep thinking 4 important questions:

A) Am I doing enough for my family(my wife & son in my case) who is dependent on me and on whom I am dependent on?

B) Am I doing enough for the organization that has given me the opportunity and to whom I need to be indebted to?

C) Am I doing enough for the society that I have come from and that's taught me a lot as I take it as my responsibility?

D) Most importantly, Am I doing enough for myself to keep up and running, motivated and challenging every other day?

Though I get Yes as the answer at the end of the day for all them, It ends with that day as I will have to answer the same questions every following day and that's what keeps me going beyond limits!!!

I am super thankful to 印孚瑟斯 for all the opportunities I have received so far and all the leaders and the Senior Management I have worked with so far.

I will keep more articles coming on various topics hereafter and hope it interests atleast a few.