Even today I evoke the day 21st July, 2006 when I, for the first time, stepped in L&T, with a sense of change in the way I looked towards world. The day of my transformation from a young amateur enthusiast into a responsible aristocratic professional. It was the same me, yet with a distant sense of detachment from childhood. Still somewhere, the hesitation was there that I should not care for this small change. I was poised. I turned back. I saw the choices I made & the share of my conscience in these choices as opposed to the pull of my parents. I saw the contradictions & they grew as I looked back with different set of questions.
But the stage was set. The induction program went on & we got acquainted with the versatile & giant domains of the organization through the talks of veteran who lived their work for an average of 25 years. All their authority was beaming in the chic style in which they carried themselves. Thorough understanding of business & bottomless knowledge of the products. And to add to this, the passion that radiated through their eyes. It was all new & fascinating for me.
We were all thrilled to listen that most of them joined L&T as GETs. And when they revealed how they rose to their current positions, giggles made one round through entire audi. I don’t mean bribes & dowries. But the fact is that a candidate has to put an excellent performance for about 16 whole years to rise to a DGM level. I’m sure they should have been given a daily dose of some good adhesive in the market. (Read Fevicol. Its tagline resembles the resilience of these people)
Seven days of doctrine concluded to flood us by information. Few of us learned that short but frequent naps surely increase endurance power & help keep one fresh. The departments were allotted to candidates according to strict statistical practices of random number theory! I was allotted PDP & later on subsequently, the design department in it. Thus started my corporate life which dished out hoards of lessons for me.In my view corporate is a synergy. Synergy of all those sincere efforts put at individual levels by men driven by passion to fulfill the mission of organization, steered by the vision of its leader. This synergy has speed & purpose. It takes a form of a vector, that I call C-vector (C for corporate!) which has a magnitude & definite direction. We, the Young Turks with all the gusto & energy in the world, constitute the magnitude of this vector. But energy if accumulated may explode & hence needs to be channelized. Here comes the role of those clued-up seniors which show us the alleyway to march on! So seniors & juniors come together to form a prevailing force to move the industry & hence economy & hence nation.
Expertise in C-world strictly demands the wisdom that only comes through experience. The experience of having mistaken while the things are given a try. Gone are the days when you excel in a subject by reading books of scholars & start putting it all down on a paper. Here, you need to be resourceful, multi-talented & practical to apply your knowledge in demanding situations & should be able to deliver results in time. “I tried my best Sir” can’t be an excuse when things go off beam. You are hired to do your job & not to do your best!
But at times, being new-fangled puts you in uncomfortable & unpleasant situations. And I tell you, you are not prepared for that. Sometimes you hear a language you had never been used to. And at times, while “listening” from you boss, you realize – Oh, that also is my responsibility! I remember the days, and nights, that I burned because I felt I was not putting up my best simply because I couldn’t grasp the scope of my work & responsibility as opposed to what has been my past life-academic as well as personal. Expectation minus rewards is equal to burnout. And perhaps, this burnout was severe in my case as I had never been used to the petty treatment & always had been competent at whatever I undertook since I had been a kid. Exceptions are there-couple of semesters in Engg, when first rate performance deserted my result card. Yes, life has wider dimensions than good figures. Nevertheless, that taught me to accept failures. And I could summon courage to confront these failures because I could find some good friends, that I was starved of, since my 10th. The guys that pulled me out of a “Vicious Circle”!
Pressures are inseparable facet of C-world which is a brutal form of expectation that crops up whenever a human resource is exploited. This is because everything you do here is a cost that pays off only when your product starts selling & earning dividends for its people. This cost is characterized by money & time. When my boss drops by me for a tete a tete , he expects not only the project plan, schedule & strategy but also the man hours & outlay for the activities. He often comes with this very interesting equation: Progress is equal to Innovation upon Time! Yeah, quite out of the box. To grow, innovate or be fast! No alternative. If one is not able to cope with it, at times he falls into the loop of anxiety, fear & restlessness, collectively causing him stress. He can avoid this if he puts intellect & not emotion on the driving seat & understands his role completely, prioritizes the to-do’s accordingly & separates performance from ego at work place. Most importantly, he should keep his individuality intact by salting away some time for himself, for things he loves to do-sports, hobbies, entertainment- and people he cares & loves the most.
Confidence, Courage & Conviction! The values I always worshipped. Together, they comprise a moral fiber of an individual for his endeavor not only as an employee but also as a living being. But it’s a transgression if he deceives himself by putting up a show of semblance just to satisfy his very human need, gratification. I’ve seen people raising their voices like anything in meetings just to be heard & recognized. But when it comes to taking a decision, they dither to say “Put it on my name chap! I take the responsibility”, choosing neither the leadership nor the subordination. In crisis, the damage control tags on but people continue tossing arguments just to sound “I’m not to blame” instead of, “Let’s come together guys & solve the problem”.
Indeed, exceptions are there. Few exalted top dogs do dare to step out of their comfort zone, sell decisions, command respect & escort their men to the fore. They are the men who expect nothing of nature without trading their best efforts. They are the sole hope & drive for the industry.
The two G’s that keep us moving? Gossip & Girls. And later play an important role in composing & spreading the gossip. It has been proved scientifically that few chuckles of gossiping help relieve people of stress & work pressure. Be it a pretty new girl making rounds in the department or a story of how one poor fellow was hauled over the coal by boss who deems every person under him as mixture of imbecile & enemy; the chat goes on, freshening the loaded lives. The favorite subject? HR policies. When this issue crops up, everybody becomes so charged up that only the clock can stop them. Breakfast or Tea without such a tiny round table conference sounds insipid & incomplete. Few use sarcasm to generate humor. Few open up with their problems to get dropped off. Others just savor the stuff, pleased with the thought-Hey, I’m not alone!
This is corporate, the C-world, where experience is the only teacher & where you spend most of the active time of your life. If you learn to live in present, exploiting each moment with sincere urge to learn & produce, still manage to savor the joy that comes your way, the work & life can just be fun!
