Networking needs commitment! Networking helps to fulfil other commitments!!

They say man is a social animal. Very true. We live in a society, everybody knows and accepts. But the lesser-felt fact is that the society we live in is expanding everyday. If Mr John interacted and dealt with x persons in his entire lifetime, and if other things remain the same, Mr Johnson will interact and deal with 2x persons in his lifetime. Unnecessary clarification : They both belong to the same family and the names are indicative of their relationship! :-)

Now this growing periphery of human interactions requires one to follow some disciplined networking habits. We come across many people in the normal course of life who are very likeable, interesting and of course, useful. We want to stay in touch. We tell ourselves to do so. We promise to call back or meet again. We make a mental note to do the same. Still many times many of us are unable to keep the contact alive. To be very frank and honest, i also suffer from this disease. And one more fact based on personal observation, around 9 out of 10 people i know also have this bad habit. What do we call it? Lack of commitment can be the answer.

Networking needs commitment. And a successful career growth needs networking. We all know about some habits of wealth and success. I would definitely rank this committed networking among the top three in the list of such habits.

Last evening i was witness to the magic of networking and commitment. While i was sitting with a senior colleague of mine at PROTON, the issue of placements came up for discussion. After some initial discussion, someone commented, 'Hum sabko apne apne network ko use karna padega!' This provided the ignition. And i observed with great astonishment that this senior colleague of mine started calling his CEO friends. In about an hour, 10 calls were made. Every call to the CEO of some company. A lot of discussion took place on every call - about the company, about the economy, about recession and about the trends of revival, and of course about placements.

It was a very good experience. Apart from getting some very good openings for placements, a lot of other revelations sprang up. It became clear that the trends of partial revival of Indian economy are sectoral only. While some sectors such as Telecom and Realty are showing promise, some others like Commercial Vehicles industry are still in the dock. And a very big learning was discovered. When some CEO or any profit centre in charge starts with the cliche "The fundamentals of this country are rock solid", it's a definite evidence that the company is in a soup!

The best part was that we did get to know about some real placement opportunities. But the most useful learning for me was that you must be committed in your networking habits. It certainly helps. And how does it help? It helps you in fulfilling your other commitments!

It proves that the world is round. Commitment helps networking and networking helps to fulfill other commitments. Amen.

Life lessons - from Marathon!

How can we test whether a particular fact or observation is a universal truth?

Our mind is a thinking machine. It keeps on thinking in every situation. Our inner voice is never tired of commenting on every event, every incident and every person we come across. Dr Manas C. Fuloria has very rightly termed it 'the thinking life'. In this thinking life, we come across many facts and also observe many things. Sometimes these thoughts and ideas become permanent but mostly they get lost as time passes.

Recently i watched a marathon taking place. It refreshed some well known facts in my mind. We all know that it is not advisable to start the race with our full speed. Such a strategy will tire us and we may not be capable to complete the race. It is always advisable to start the race in a slow, comfortable but agile speed and gradually increase it as our body gets habitual to the process. Our speed steadily keeps on growing as we progress.

Now this fact caught my attention. I kept on thinking this for quite some time. Then it struck upon me that our entire life can also be compared to a marathon. It is also a long race.

The most striking feature is that of speed. After some contemplation, i came to the conclusion that the speed strategy applies to our life also. If we start our life running very fast, we get tired very early. I have seen many people who started their life in a hurry and got retired also in a hurry! Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule. There may be some top performers who began early, who began in a style and continued it for very long and stayed in shape. But, we all would agree that Sachin Tendulkar is an exception only. And exceptions never become the rule. They can never take the place of a suitable example.

There is one more explanation to this factor. When someone starts his career with a very high responsibility job, it often happens that the person may find the duties, responsibilities and the challenges too demanding. And his mind soon gets conditioned as a loser. His graph comes down quickly.

On the other hand, when you start slow and steady, you get the benefit of margin of errors! And in this gradual process, you develop confidence and a positive 'i can do' mindset. After some initial successes, one is ready to take on greater challenges. Isn't it similar to a marathon?

Yes! The speed strategy of marathon is a universal truth! It applies to life in a very general sense. Can you please suggest me some particular cases where the marathon case applies?

The secret of earning a lot of money - guaranteed!

When i passed out higher secondary examination in 1985 and took admission in a commerce college for my B.Com., the first question put up before the class by the first teacher on the very first day was, "What is the one thing your desire most in life?"

This simple question animated the classroom. The fear, the suspense and the confusion of the first day of college life just evaporated in thin air. Nearly everybody participated. The students sitting in the front rows caught this opportunity and tried to impress the teacher (as is the case with them- always). They uttered some words which were probably not the honest replies but were more correct politically. Responses like satisfaction, growth, service for the nation etc. echoed. But then some honesty prevailed. One boy told assertively, 'money'. Many others agreed with him. One backbencher shouted, "more money than my would be wife could spend" and everybody laughed. It was clear that the majority of the class opted for a lot of money. And the teacher was also kind enough to allow us to stay with our dreams. He then elaborated how we could earn money by pursuing the job at hand i.e. college education properly.

After 24 years, i realise that our focus was not totally appropriate. If someone would ask me today, i would say, 'satisfying the job at hand with 100% activity, efficiency and effectiveness'.

Why would i say such an abstract thing in response to a simple materialistic question? Because this is not only my personal experience but also the summary of my interaction on the subject with all those achievers whom i was lucky enough to meet. One wants a lot of things in life. The primary ones are money, social respect, the satisfaction of fulfilling challenges and continuous growth. And all these can be achieved by following just one principle - satisfying the available job with heart and soul.

What interests a person? If you devote yourself entirely to the job before you and try to achieve it wholeheartedly and don't miss any chance to enjoy it as a game too, it is bound to interest you.

And what causes a person to grow? When your immediate boss is of the opinion that you are performing much better than expected, you grow. And when this information reaches the ultimate boss, you grow faster!

And what satisfies a person? If you are able to complete a seemingly-impossible task successfully, nothing can be more satisfying.

Please allow me to repeat the one point formula - satisfying the available job with heart and soul.

Someone has very rightly said, "Either you chase money or money chases you".

My advice to someone who is starting career today would be just this. Don't care about money or the salary package. Just get any job and devote yourself totally. Apply your intelligence and perform the job ethically. Network properly. And the universal principle 'either you chase money or money chases you' works in your favour. Period.

Some questions draw the attention of every generation. And many of us learn only after committing the same mistakes. Some errors are generation independent. Isn't it?