Career Obsession

Do we need to be obsessed about our career or do we just need to ensure that we have a job and do it well? Isn’t a good job synonymous with a successful career?

When we started out in the employment field in India thirty years back, job was a luxury and career a word in dictionary. Better qualifications got you a better job- a more secure job. The first thing that was mentioned on getting a job was that xxx has got a secure job. Today’s generation would be puzzled by this obsession, as job insecurity ( for a skilled and young individual in India ) is not on the horizon.

When does job translate into career? I believe that gaining expertise and higher responsibilities in one’s chosen area or allied area of expertise on a continuous basis would translate a job into career. Doing a function mechanically needing limited application of mind would perhaps indicate that stagnation has begun. Another indication would be when your immediate Superior’s job seems attractive, easy to do and more importantly having self confidence to do it well.

Do we need to be obsessed with career? In other words, is career different from our employment with the present organisation? In today’s circumstances career obsession seems to be a pre requisite for success. In today’s changing times, every organisation demands skills and talents relevant to today and not yesterday or day before. We are as good as our last victory (like our cricket team). If we do not measure up to the tomorrow’s need, then in comes a rank outsider who is seen to have those skills. Yesterday’s heroes or heroines are now to follow the new leader or well …. look elsewhere.

In such a situation what does an individual do? I believe that he or she has to continually upgrade their skills so as to be relevant to today and tomorrow. Age has nothing to do with it. It would be incorrect to say that “I am too old to learn new tricks. In my time we used to………”. These kind or dialogues would draw embarrassed silence only.

Is not the organisation responsible too? Does it have to be obsessed with its own success and survival and not care for the people who were responsible for this? Yes, it also has its responsibilities. It has to nurture and grow people who lack the obvious skills, but with some assistance could be re-deployed suitably and prove to be assets in changed circumstances also. This requires visionary skills at upper and middle levels of management and listening ability. Also the appraisal system should be have a core of honesty which has creditability within the organisation and which would inform the correct situation so far as the individual is concerned.

Well, what would you say to your young cousin who has started to examine new openings within a month of taking up a new assignment? I would say focus on career, upgrading of skills, higher levels of responsibilities, exposure to new areas and opportunities for a larger contribution to the organisation would be the key to the decision.

What do you feel? I would love to get responses to the above views- especially from the younger generation.

On writing blogs.

I love to write. So I post blogs. Ego whispers to me that I write well- in fact very well-; brain sardonically questions that and goes to sleep. The reality is that what remains in the memory of the reader a few months after he or she has read the blog is a well written blog. Rest of it is well -”love’s labor lost”.

Anand – my nephew- told me that he would love to post a few blogs, but is afraid that it could become addictive. He is partly right. The real difficulty in posting a reasonably interesting blog is identifying an interesting general purpose topic and getting adequate information and anecdotes to decorate it well. The readers – a majority of them- would belong to younger generation as they are more ‘tech savvy’. However for a 50 plus person like me; the peers I may be addressing to would be of equivalent age with varying interest and ablity in accessing net or blogs.

So what do I do? I send my link to all my g mail relatives. Most of them correspnd with me for their children’s marriage. They have become familiar with net thru Tamil Matrimony .com kind of site. Our community has survived so far by being adaptable to changing times. So even grand mothers belonging to 19th century thinking ( are you aware that electric rice cookers do not conform to true religious customs as the electronic parts cannote be opened and washed with water- ) and born in 20th century are aware on the possibility of internet and its ability to pass off an otherwise “slow moving product” in an uncertain matrimonial market.

So how do I address this audience who stand at the edge of my market for possible readers? The simplest is catch hold of an admirer/well wisher who has in a weak moment appreciated my ravings on the web and push a print out of all the recent blogs for them to read. The more important purpose is that they should discreetly or even aggresively compel other helpless close relatives to read it and convey appreciation. The circle gets completed when some relatives and acquaintances convey appreciation.

At a more serious level, I could understand my limitations when Padma suggested a few topics I could write on. We can communicate well on topics we are personally familiar with. But on other topics of general interest (where any one could give some view or other) our views have to be supported by some interesting facts, figure, experiences- first hand or hearsay- to make it readabale. For example on a subject like education, good governance by Government, corruption and so on, every one would have a view. But few would read or hear such views unless it is made interesting by giving a unique view point or situation.

Writing is an act of creation emerging from an indivdual’s mind- that is creating something out of nothing. Any great act of creation gets a reward totally disproportonate with its intrisnic value. One classic example that I am able to relate to is painting. The actual cost of canvas, paint and human labor may be minimal in monetary terms. But the reward- in monetary and non monetary terms- that a great painting gets is many times the multiple of its intrisnic value. So the satisfaction that such a creator would get would also be many times the multiple of the efforts he has put in.

So where do I go from here in the blogosphere? Follow my ego or brain? I think ego would lead in the front. Once in a while I will look back at the brain for confirmation. If the brain is sleeping I will ignore it. If it is awake, I will casually seek its views.

At this stage Shivam’s – my grandson- image comes in front of me. Whenever he tries to imitate or do what is impossible for him to do- he looks at his mother or father for appreciation/cofirmation. There is a beautiful smile, tinged with some doubt, on his face. The child seeks approval from parent because his entire world comprises of his mother and father only. For an adult (whose parents have gone in search of another and perhaps a better world), the approval has to come from the world he resides in. So somewhere in the heart there is child residing within the man in me.