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……
