I was having coffee with a friend – an engineer in his forties. We were at the Taj West End when the founder of a successful IT company walked by. He was recognised by the staff and both of us noted the deference he was accorded. “Right place right time,” said my friend with a dismissive smile.
We all know people who we believe are not “enough” but somehow have made it big. Having interacted with them a little, we realise (or we think) that they are not competent enough, bright enough, or don’t have the “chops” to get things done. And yet…and yet, they are in positions of power, fame, money— all the things that we all aspire to. How? The throwaway line in such a situation is “right place right time.” The line is often used, particularly with women and minorities these days in the “DEI” or Diversity Equity and Inclusion context. My niece who lives in the US and works for one of the Big Five accounting firms dismisses the CEO of her company – a woman – in this way. “We all know that she got the job because she is a woman,” she says. “There are so many more people who are more competent.” Even if this argument is true, there comes the question: why this particular woman versus other women? Why this particular male CEO versus the others? Why is this startup founder so successful when better folks in his arena have failed?
A lot of it has to do with luck, so let us take that factor out of this discussion. You cannot engineer luck. What I am talking about is a bit more internal: What’s holding you back from your aspiration? What are the mental models that you have absorbed that are not serving you well?
No matter what the field, there are three things that all of us need for success. The first and the foundational factor is content, by which I mean talent, knowledge, expertise, rigour, all of these that each of us have learned and cultivated since childhood in our chosen field. The second is attitude, which is the set of character traits that each of us have, either through genetics, through how we were parented, or because of the circumstances of our particular life. The third factor is projection, which has become increasingly important in this digital age. It refers to how comfortable we are with being well-known, either in our chosen field or adjacent ones.
So if you want to get on an upward trajectory, you need to unpack these three factors as they apply to you.
- Content: does your education serve you today? If you are an engineer or an MBA, does what you have studied apply to today’s work scenario? Have you kept up, either with AI or gaming or coding or new media or social media or whatever it is that is the feature of today’s jobs. It all boils down to one question: if I were in the job market today, would I get hired? If you are a finance person, do you have fintech skills? If you are a journalist like me, can you create films and social media posts three times a week? If you are a lawyer, how tech-savvy are you? If you are in hospitality, are you keeping up with trends? If you are a doctor, how familiar are you with telemedicine? It goes on and on. But the point is that you need to keep up. How to do this? The simplest way is to find a friend who is between 18-26 years of age. This is the sweet spot. These are the folks who are on the cusp on the newest trends that will become commonplace in the future. Instead of giving them advice, ask them questions about what they listen to, watch, and consume. Ask them about new tech and new trends. You will be staggered by what you don’t know.
- Attitude is both malleable and not. You can cultivate certain attitudes to improve yourself or your life, but the bulk of who you are is because of childhood and circumstances. That said, there are certain attitudes that will serve you well in your chosen profession, and these vary by profession. To be an excellent scientist or researcher requires a different attitude than the qualities needed to be good in sales and marketing. To be the former, it is okay to be an introvert. To be good in marketing, you have to be an extrovert, or at least fake being one. The trick is to align your career with your attitude. If you are not detail-oriented and meticulous, don’t be a wedding planner. If you don’t have an appetite for risk, don’t do a start-up. If you have a poor tolerance for chaos, don’t be a nursery school teacher. All this seems self-evident and obvious but you’d be surprised how many people fall into professions that they are intrinsically ill-suited for, mostly because these are well-known high-earning jobs and professions. Lots of us become doctors or engineers because we are goaded by our parents. But it is not too late (it is never too late). Know yourself and align your next big career move to be in sync with your nature, attitude and interests.
- This really has to do with how much we seek media and new media attention, whether we are ‘famous’ or ‘recognized’ for our achievements, and how much we get called – for board positions, keynote speeches, panels, and media interviews. Some part of this has to do with projection: putting yourself out there, hustling, meeting people, doing the thing that all good marketers and politicians do.
The question then becomes how to go from where you are to where you want to be? How do you square your aspiration to your actions? Should your aspiration be more ambitious? The only person who can answer these questions is you. Years ago, when I did a profile of Nandan Nilekani for Mint Lounge, he told me that every now and then, he would sit with a paper and pen, just by himself, to figure out what he wanted to do in the next stage of his life. He would write down his dreams and aspirations, figure out a road-map, and then get to work. But it all started with introspection.
So the next time you do busy-work and to-do lists, take a break. Get a paper and pencil or pen. Sit down and reflect on what you want to do and where you want to go.
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