Miles to go.........

Every year in the early January, I look back to audit my past. The focus is generally more on the professional career of nearly 45 years out of which over three decades as an employee. As an employee during this period I worked with four employers, all Indians and each one of these had a different work culture, norms and practices. Yet these were the top pharmaceutical companies in India ranking from first to fifth. Two of these companies were not in top five when I joined them but were eventually in top five when I left them. I have the satisfaction to have contributed for the growth of these companies and also for establishing Indian pharmaceutical industry in many countries across the world along with other worthy professionals from the industry.

I do not know if I have been a successful professional or not? I still cannot define success. I take it as a relative term. Some may claim reaching pinnacle is success, but again where is the pinnacle? This is again relative. One has to decide where one has to reach, in a desired direction, it can be cumulative with no end. Unfortunately individuals draw their horizons, individuals set their limits. I remember a management development programme that I attended about thirty years back. As a senior manager my C2C was nearly Rs.200,000/- per anum and that was good as per the industry standards in that era. During the programme the participants were asked to write on a piece of paper how much salary they would like to earn. Each of the twenty participants jotted down on a piece of paper their desirable figure after thinking for a while. The session progressed. The neatly folded piece of paper with aspiration of desirable salary was making us restless. The instructor could feel our impatience and finally asked each one of us to read aloud what our magic figure was? Someone mentioned 10% higher salary, someone said Rs.300,000/- per anum but none desired more than 100% of what they were earning. The next obvious question was why no one desired 500% or even 1000% rise?  May be salary of Rs.100,000/- per month, that was a near impossible salary in that era. The answer was simple; we ourselves had set our limits. No one was going to pay what we had desired on those pieces of paper, but we ourselves were an obstacle for our desires. We had our limitations. And this is true for everything, not just the salary. We limit our own growth. Where to go, how far to go, has to be our call. I am aware there is a great deal of change in last three decades. It’s understandable, but that should not limit our vision. I would rather say that the changes should further broaden our vision, help to explore newer avenues and accept greater challenges.

What does one needs to have to accept the challenges? Risk taking ability, yes that’s one element, knowledge is another one and balanced self-confidence is yet another. Lack of confidence or over confidence both can spoil the broth. When to surge and when to withdraw are the tricks that need to be mastered. Those who master this they forge ahead, others blame many factors including work culture, the environment. All the four companies that I worked for had different work culture. I had to adapt myself to these cultures, without compromising on my basic traits, without submitting myself, my principles and esteem. In one company there was a domination of South Indians, later on Bengalis took over but my boss in Agra was Punjabi, in another company it was a Punjabi culture with a Punjabi boss. What mattered more was immediate boss that was the immediate layer of sub-culture. I had similar experience with both these gentlemen. Both tried their best to intimidate me (typical cultural trait and threat of superior subordinate) and threaten that I would lose the job. I was a hot potato to handle. I made it very clear to them that I care a hoot for the job. My capabilities would get me another job. I will give the results beyond their expectations if they behave else I can be difficult. Once this message was loud and clear, the things changed for better. I did this when I was in Agra at the lowest level in hierarchy and again in Delhi when I was at creamy layer of the hierarchy. But in both the cases my arrogance was justified by excellent results. One can term this as success, but I would not. Every time one will not meet the aspirations and that is very normal. One cannot get 100% positive results all the time. Therefore when the results are not what one desired, then that also has to be accepted gracefully. One may term it as failures, and I would agree to this term to some extent. In such cases an in-depth analysis is important to identify the factors that did not support the decisions. These may be internal or external factors, but failures must be fathered. If the external factors are more critical then adapting to culture without losing self-esteem is more critical. Basically there should not be any fear of losing the job. Good workers are always needed at all levels by all employers. The way one needs a job, the same way the company also needs the employee. The competition has increased and has opened more opportunities. Practically half of my professional career was in just one company and the remaining half was in three companies. The competition changed in early eighties of last decade and that motivated me to move from one company to another. That gave me an opportunity to explore and grow. I am indebted to the competition.

Finally I believe there is no pinnacle. There is no end. One has to keep moving. At a particular stage if you don’t want to run, it’s ok, just walk but don’t stop. Keep moving. I have decided not to rest, not to stop but keep moving, that’s the life! I don’t see the end. I believe, death is because life has ended and not otherwise that the death has ended the life. I have to keep running.  I have miles to go……