Summer is coming!

April is probably my favourite time of the year. 11 years ago, around just about now, I started out very apprehensively at a summer at Godrej. Every year since, when I prep to meet our new batch of interns, I look forward very much to this walk down memory lane. It's nearly impossible to not get caught up in the infectious, incredibly hopeful enthusiasm of some 80 very young and very ambitious people.

I'm in equal parts inspired and quietly amused by the rush of the summer. There's so much that has changed since 2008. And there's so much that just hasn't. Back then, my project was on crafting the employer value proposition for the newly rebranded Godrej Consumer Products. Today, that comes full cycle as we dive deeper into reimagining the Godrej employer brand. In fact, just last week I spent a few days in Lagos with our West Africa team, exploring how to build a more purposeful Godrej Africa, especially for our team members in the region.

This year, my ever experimenting team decided we should bring together our favourite things in April. You guessed it - Gurukul (our internship programme at Godrej) and the much awaited new season of the Game of Thrones! (When you think about it, the parallels are unmissable!) So, I thought I'd extend the analogy to my conversation with the batch on what I wish someone had told me when I was starting out.

(1) The easy part is over

Given just how tough the on-campus placement processes are today, this feels a bit ironic. But true. The summers are what the finals used to be. The stakes have never been higher. You have probably worked very very hard to win this internship. But that was the easy part. Now is when you need to get out there and prove yourself.

(2) It's ok to be scared. We all are.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a little scared right now. I haven't met anyone who wasn't - and I was certainly more than just a little scared myself. (If anything, you should be concerned if you're not!) Acknowledge how you feel. Know that you're not alone. And now use that same feeling to push yourself to do your best.

(3) Don't worry about losing out

I know they say that when you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. And that there is no middle ground. But in the real world of your internship, you must be able to try something new, take a few risks and be okay with it not working out sometimes. If you're too caught up in worrying about whether you will lose out on these opportunities. Playing safe just can't set you up to excel.

(4) Be your Whole Self

At Godrej we truly want to build an organisation where our people feel comfortable being their "whole selves". We believe that only when we are able to harness the true potential of every person, will we be able make the magic happen. We just don't see how it can work any other way. So don't feel like you need to be someone else just to fit in. Like with any other relationship, it won't work in the long run unless you're authentic.

(5) It's ok to not have all the answers

We aren't expecting you to have all the answers. What we want is to figure out if you're committed to learning how to find them. So, be humble. Make mistakes. Learn. What you will take away isn't the answer - it's the method, the mistakes, the people, the memories.

(6) Never stop learning

Be a sponge. I know this probably conjures up images of a fluffy, yellow Sponge Bob like character - and it's intentional. That's exactly who you should be right now. Absorb everything around you. There will be so much to learn - and in the most unexpected of places! I'm pretty sure when you look back on these two months, you will find that you have learned things about yourself that you didn't think possible. How to live out of a small suitcase for a month. Where to find internet connectivity in remote villages. What to do when you can't speak the language you're supposed to negotiate a deal in...

(7) Learn to thrive in uncertainty

The one disclaimer I always hand out on campus, is that we will make your internship as real as possible. That means it comes with all the complexities and uncertainty and rush of being on the job real time. We won't pretty it up because there's no point to that. You won't learn. So, instead of being intimidated by flux, learn to work around it - and maybe even enjoy the challenge.

(8) There is no shortcut to hard work

It shows when you work really hard. Trust me. So don't cut corners. Be 100/0. You will hear this a lot at Godrej. What we mean, is take 100% accountability with 0 excuses. Basically, get out there, take charge, get your hands dirty and make things happen. To make this successful, you will need to do the heavy lifting. Refer: Malcolm Gladwell and the 10,000 hour rule :)

(9) Dream big

This is one of my favourites - "Your ambitions are a glass ceiling to what is possible". Your internship can be as big or as small as you make it. Don't for a moment believe that you're "just an intern", so there's not much change you can drive. You have something that the rest of us just don't now. You're not coloured by bias, you have fresh perspective and I'm willing to bet that you're way more driven than many of us were when we started out. So, channel your inner Daenerys!

(10) Keep your values close

If there's just one thing I could tell you, it would be this. Be honest with yourself. Set your personal bar high and look to raise it. But do so while knowing who you are and what you stand for. Nothing is more important than your values. Now is also the time for you to ask yourself if you see a match between your values and the values reflected in the organisation you intern at. And if you don't, then think hard before taking this forward.

P.S: This won't be complete without telling you that in all that you do, don't forget to pause, make some friends and have fun. If you don't, you're missing out on the best parts :) I hope that many of you will leave with the kind of memories and learning that I did, because you will carry them well beyond the summer.