Marketer, Bestselling Author, Poet and Columnist. Advisor and Director at the Tata Group. LinkedIn Top Voice.
An interesting question at IIM, Bangalore Recently, I delivered a guest lecture at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore on why making the right choices is the essence of strategy. It was a pleasure speaking to more than 600 students on this beautiful campus. This post is however not about my lecture or about corporate strategy. It is about an interesting question that one of the students posed to me at the end of the lecture. I was asked - "What are the three best choices you have made in your career?" Here is my answer - 1. Choosing to work with the Tata group and staying with Tatas throughout my career, for 37 years now. The Tata group has provided me such a wonderful work environment and a very fulfilling career. Finding the right Company to work in is one of the most important choices any of us can make. 2. Choosing to be a marketer. I discovered that marketing was my passion and it played to my strengths and aptitude, only after the first few years in the Tatas. Thereafter, I embraced marketing with all my heart and did not let it go. Choosing the right kind of work to do, work that you truly enjoy and relish, is a very important choice that defines how happy we will be in our careers. 3. Choosing to move into zones of discomfort : Every few years, I chose to move out of my zone of comfort to a new role or a new industry within the Tata group. This helped me keep learning new things, and enabled me to grow as a person and as a professional. Choosing to embrace discomfort is so important, because comfort can quickly lead to a plateau. Look forward to your kind views on this interesting subject. Even a few words is fine. Thank you. #ThisIsTata #TataStories #Career #Choices #Strategy
Choice no. 3 is a prerogative that only a few get. Afterall, how many groups in India are similar to the Tata Group? Having said that, career is something that's gonna be a more personal decision going forward and gone will be the days where people will seek advice from others regarding their career. In the years to come AI will obviously take the center-stage at work place and hence careers for Gen Alpha will be more personal choice than it has ever been.
Harish Bhat coming from you, this reinforces 1) my belief in marketing and 2) finding a right company to work for, sticking there and making life more dynamic (read challenging) by moving to new roles within the same organisation.
While taking training as a bureaucrat one of my co trainee asked to trainer what should be your action if you are with bad boss. He answered chose a different path than fight, if you are in govt get transferred, if you are in private sector swich to a new company than fight with a man who is ideologically different from you. Your all theree points matches to the great answer I heard say 40 years back
Your journey is such an inspiration to so many of us. Our early choices can make or break us. I never thought of being into marketing but landed up here. Initially I did my job, because I had to but later realized I was destined to be here. Because I love the dynamics of marketing. It actually opened up my mind, knowledge and skills, which I would have not gained in any other profession. And the most important being comfortable in discomfort was something that matched my personality. Action is what I believe in than planning!
One gets better and refined only by getting into zones of discomfort. TATA being a diverse group with different businesses might have given you the advantage of being within and yet exposure to different roles. People like me not getting such an opportunity of being in a large conglomerate had to necessarily leave companies to experience the diversity and get discomforted. Further I feel that it is also necessary to have a superior better than oneself who can play the mentorship role to enable one to take up higher responsibilities, which can then trigger refinement and growth.
Admirable outcomes justify the trail. A similar trail in nine other cases may NOT result in a comparable outcome. Choosing a liking specialization in a good academic eco-system, sticking to a single good company for a full career, job rotation after every 3-4 years might be a good path to follow. Even niche specialists may rotate industries if in diversified groups. Above promises upward achievements which may or may not fructify.
Insightful!! I can really connect to Pt. 2 & 3 1. Choose a Profession that is your passion- For me, it is Finance. I can say I have never worked a single day in my life. 2. Choose your Hard - I like to say ‘Having a single regret of not listening to your Heart is worse than 100 rejections’
Moving out from comfort zone to fear zone, then to learn zone and then to growth zone is the path one needs to travel to learn and grow. Continuing to stay in comfort zone will create only big discomfort. There are numerous exams to quote. Vanishing story of Nokia, Blackberry, Kodak are glaring examples for understanding the ill effects of staying in comfort zone. Of late, we see the auto engineering power house, Germany is declining rapidly. So be on the move all the time.
So, I have this mantra that I have sort of made for myself Harish Bhat I believe and really believe that all of us have some capabilities, most of us get some opportunities. It's our choices that make the difference. The funny thing about choice is mostly it works out but sometimes it might not. In my own small way, I have had the opportunity to take up multiple assignments but at the core of it has always been my deep attachment to working with brands and marketers and co-partner them in building brands and businesses. That's what keeps me going. Seems I wrote a whole lot more than I should have but then again your post was so relatable and inspiring that I might have overstepped the word count.
Asst. Vice President International Projects
2dThe first best career move that I made was to get out my home domain and move to a place that was 2500 kms away from home. It strengthened my belief that I could survive anywhere under any conditions. Second- Worked in the best of the companies which had their values and principles set. Third- Didn't move out of my domain ie pharmaceuticals. Now many may see this as a error but I thought better to be a single domain expert rather than a jack of all. It worked in my case.