About daring to be different and challenging the status quo
[November 2024 Vol 52]
Mohandas Pai’s entry into Infosys is the stuff of legends. During an annual general meeting, he distinguished himself from other shareholders, who were simply watching the proceedings, by posing insightful, well-researched questions to the Infosys board. Impressed by his deep expertise in finance and his sharp understanding of related matters, the Infosys board persuaded him to join the company. Mr. Pai went on to don several key roles during his tenure at the IT behemoth, including heading Finance and Human Resources.
But how easy is it to stand out from the crowd, not follow the norm and carve your own path? Truth be told, not at all. I’ll admit that a recent decision by my second-born to forgo the much trodden and “safer” Science route in academics to pursue an alternative stream gave me quite the jitters. In another instance, a recent branding workshop for a client in the home wellness space, saw us encouraging them to stand out from the crowd and bring in the much-needed disruption in an already crowded marketplace. Our bold proposal was accepted but after some reluctance and much debate, simply because it was not the easier path to follow.
History has shown that many who challenged traditional boundaries, refused to conform, and had the conviction to follow their vision are the ones who succeeded! While mobile phones were a dime a dozen, it was Apple’s iPhone, with its sleek and minimalist design, that gained a cult following. Love him or hate him, Elon Musk’s ability to question traditional approaches has made him a trailblazer in varied fields – like automotive, aerospace and renewable energy.
Overcoming new job anxieties and jitters
Do you remember the first job or internship that you took up at the beginning of your career? That was a time when we were filled with self-doubt on our ability to make a mark in the world of work. Fears of underperforming, negative feedback or being unable to handle workloads and deadlines rattled us during this phase of work life. Do you know anyone who is prepping for an internship or first job and going through the same pressures? Then we have just the right webinar for them. Shwetha Vishwas, Chief People Officer at Clearly Blue will be speaking on the topic “Prep for your internship or first job” to ease the doubts of first-time job entrants and foster their confidence.
Click here to register.
Prioritizing well-being and self-care
While the debate about 70-hour work weeks rages on in India, I watched this interesting conversation on self-care and well-being on the occasion of World Mental Health Day between Arianna Huffington, the Founder of Huffington Post and Founder and CEO of Thrive Global, a behaviour change tech company and the Founder of the Live Love Laugh foundation, Deepika Padukone. What I found interesting was the fact that while the virtues of multitasking are extolled to high heavens in the corporate world, it was panned during the discussion for being contradictory to a mindful way of working. There were a bunch of other brilliant nuggets that stayed with me:
“Sometimes the things that go wrong, open doors for the things that go spectacularly right”
“To be most productive, we need downtime”.
“Negativity sometimes is a good thing, it is what you make of it”!
Watch the video for the full discussion here.
“My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards.” - A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
- Tara Chacko
Key Account Manager