Tuesday, November 10, 2015

How Did I Get Here?


Recently I was speaking to a small group of young Management college graduates. They had only one question to ask.

 "How did you get where you are today?"

They obviously saw the CEO positions I had held in my career as being somewhere to get to, aspirationally, and now as the Co-Founder of GrocerMax.com. If anything to go by, such open-ended questions have END in the focus, and not the MEANS. Nothing wrong in it, the end should fascinate you.

My honest answer was - "I don't know". Life has it, but we don't - we don't have stock answers for every question. For me the positions were just stops in the long road called Life. However, I didn't also reach here by a mistake or meander into one position or another. I tried to find an answer, which I will share with you.

Reason #1 - Build on what you have at hand

Every job needs your sincerity. I have moved from Tea tasting, to tea marketing, Noodle making, seafood selling, Frozen food launches, and retailing. Seemingly disparate lines, but all with food and consumer products. In every job I grew it and developed it, and left it much better than it was when I got it. Innovate to better it. Your life must depend on the work, no matter how small or insignificant. Stay consistent, honest.

Reason #2 - Diversity in education

At School I studied science with biology. In college economics, and in University - Post grad in Econometrics. This is not by design, and I don't advocate it. But after I started working I got myself qualified as a SAP qualified consultant to understand how the ERP world works. I have read widely from philosophy to management, and very deeply.

People become the real subjects once you're out of campus, irrespective of what you pursued in your studies. A diverse academics helps you know your subjects better. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Stay honest at what you do, you'll start loving it.
If you love what you do, you don't have to work a day in your life.

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