I had my first job offer to work as an assistant accountant with a commercial automobile company. The year was 1988. I was a fresh commerce graduate. And it was perfectly natural for a young graduate to think of creativity and innovation as the only requirements for growth and development. As it happens with every young brain in that age, my mind was also full of new ideas and i used to consider it my primary duty to flood everyone i came across with those ideas.
It was a campus selection. (Yes! Simple B.Com. pass outs were offered jobs through their colleges in those times prior to LPG!) Eight of us were called for on site selection process. Finally three of us could manage to get final job offers. The salary offered was Rs. 1475 per month. Ultimately none of us finally joined but this decision had nothing to do with the compensation figures. In fact, one simple wall plate containing some instructions for the new recruits had played the spoilsport.
And what did that plate read? It just carried four simple instructions:
1. Boss is always right!
2. Shut your mouth and do your duty!
3. Any confusion? Go to number 1 !!
4. Any suggestion? Go to number 2 !!
All of us preferred not to join the place where our creativity and innovation were not welcome.
How do you rate this decision? Twenty one years have passed, and even today i can't decide. I am a teacher and entrepreneur, Krishnakant an advocate and Rajesh a school teacher. And the company? It has also grown to become indisputable market leader in its own category.
We can never have water tight compartments in life. Everything is relative. Isn't it?
7 comments:
respected sir ,
after reading this post i am bit confused because for establishing and getting work experience we have to do our first job quietly to understand the work culture and can measure how our ideas can be evaluated.
withh warm regards
saurabh bansal
fall 09
Hello Sir,
It feels great to listen the live experiences of someones first job offer.After reading this blog,Sir,i would say and rank your decision of not choosing that job a very kind and correct one.
How hard it would have have been for you to leave that offer, i can understand,but when someones creativity and innovations are not respected it gives a feeling of like living in an independent country but with a mind that is governed by others.
And probably sometimes right timed and right placed decisions gives positive result.
But a question arises in my mind is that,we,youth,eager to work in corporate world,do we need worry?
Leaving aside the compensation figures,do that trend still persists in companies in some or the other way..I would be grateful to you If you throw some light on that.
Regards
Lovish Dua
Fall'09.
Good morning Sir,
I believe, regarding decisions, nothing is right and nothing is wrong. We cannot define what is wrong and what is right, if the frame of reference is not clear. As you rightly said, "everything is relative".
One should look towards the inner satisfaction rather than the lucrative outer world. Life give you a choice to wear a coloured glass and its your wish in which colour you would like to see the world.
Thank you sir for sharing your feelings with us; may be we PROTONS can give all together a new angle or a new dimension to see by shifting the paradigms.
PROTON Arpit Kumar Nama
Fall'08 Batch
I think what you did at that time was absolutely right decision as far as your values and believes are concerned. But what that organization was doing was also right thing because this kind of practices was part of that organization's system thinking.
As one has one's belief system, which I think is the foundation of one's life like this organization also has its foundation in its system thinking. Crossing the foundation in both the cases would not be a right choice or decision to make.......
Vivek Sharma
IMDR, Pune.
Sir,
Many Happy returns of the day! Any special reason to post these thots specially on your B'day?
Hi Sir,
Insightful blogpost!
It has always been true that young minds have tried and emphasized on innovations and new ideas. Whether it is America or India, youth have always shown its interest for new things. Sometimes it is very important to decide that whether to work for such organizations where these qualities will be least used. To add further I would like to say that decisions once took must be supported with all the right and not wrong reasons.
Regards
Proton Sanjay Dodeja
Dear Sir,
I remember our first visit to Gujarat where you told us this story. At that time also I was very inspired and very determined to value the opportunity not the money in the path of my career.
Thanks a lot for giving us such wonderful wisdom nuggets.
Regards,
Mayank Umraode
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