Looking back- the three key learnings - to be more relevant in future!

Today on a fine Sunday evening while having a cup of coffee by the river side, I was rolling down the #memory lane – trying to create a collage of different #learnings so far and making sense of them by understanding the inherent #connection they have left in between! Here, I have penned down three key #learnings which have #positively impacted myself to become a better #professional over the years.

2 years back I came to Taipei to partner with one of the largest insurers in the world. I was then a young professional,with 4 years of experience, travelling overseas for the first time! Like always I was full of enthusiasm and energy – trying to understand and help my client steer through different challenges! 3 weeks into my assignment, one fine morning, my supervisor called me for a coffee and then shared something which was my #first biggest learning in my corporate journey – My supervisor told me that indeed most #enterprises across the world are racing in the same track of #digitization but still each of them has their own #story and that’s why even though most problems might look alike but the solutions stand out from each other.—  Now that was a big learning for me! As I went back, I recollected that learning many a times – and I realized – even patients with same problem are not prescribed the same medicine by doctor! I realized my #recommendations might be industrially correct but have lacked the most important angle - #Contextualization ! From then on I restructured the approach of my consulting work where in addition to #assessment and #assertion – I started to understand each #mind, #culture, #rhythm and #pulse of work – trying to contextualize each problem! This advice was a great eye opener for me at the start of my career as it helped me add more #purpose and #relevance to my work! 

I always carry the thought of Jack Ma with me, where he advises professionals before age of 30 should follow somebody from whom you can derive how to #learn and how to #dream! I am extremely lucky to find the #role-model who happened to be in my professional place ( and eventually became my supervisor at a later stage). Among numerous valuable learnings from him – the biggest of them was –how #empathy plays a key role in problem finding and solving and its relevance in today’s world ! That day I learnt from him, in future among all the #technological advances what will stand out is an individual with empathy ( of-course along with other skills)! This is indeed a learning at the core for me. With time I have slowly tried to embed within me the #attitude to treat with empathy ( even if it is a task as small as writing a mail to giving a presentation or writing a piece of code ) ! I strongly believe I have received lot of #respect and #affection from my colleagues, family and friends because of having that blend of empathy in my actions! 

I derive my #motto of life from Satya Nadella and specifically from his statement where he says – “Be brave and not perfect!” Over last 6+ years of professional journey – for me the two key takeaways for success are- to be brave enough to be a continuous learner and having an attitude to #listen and to #understand from others! I feel myself extremely thankful to have got one such professional; who in-spite of being many ranks above me in the corporate ladder, had the patience to hear from young professionals to understand what they have to say (and that’s who is a leader to me)! One of the biggest learnings from him was when he advised me in the very start of my career – “Always remember: a good consultant is two ears and one mouth” . Now that’s a very important statement ( not just for consultants but across the industry) especially when we are in a world where the least virtue with us is ‘#Patience’. Ever since then I have tried to train myself to be patient and have better control on my actions. 

Now as I take my last sip of coffee ,penning down the last thoughts here- to summarize my three key #learning s- to be more relevant in tomorrow's world it is extremely important to –

1.      Be a continuous learner

2.      Solve problems by listening deeply and engaging with empathy

3.      Be a leader by action taking everyone along ( from freshman to accomplished)

And finally - Package all the above three with the right blend of #attitude!