I wish I really had a
mantra that if applied will always work for me or everyone, but yes there are
few tenets that have worked well over these years. Few of them are-
·
Khud mare bina swarag
nahin milta! (You have to die yourself to see the heaven) -Fundamentally you
have to roll up your sleeves and work hard to achieve the goals that you have
set for yourself or your team. You can’t expect that you will not have to do
anything and you will achieve what you want.
·
You can’t do it alone!
– In conjunction with what I said above please know that in the corporate world
it’s a team that delivers results. So be a part of the team and build a strong
team to succeed. Be a team player.
·
Change is the only
constant – Be flexible and be adaptable. Be open, learn, adopt, adapt, and
thrive.
Embracing &
Overcoming Challenges:
Being a Fauzi Kid (my
Dad’s retired from Indian Air Force) I had a wonderful life traveling across
the country and changing cities and schools every 3-5 years. I did wonderfully
well through the school years and joined BITS Pilani post my 12th grade having
scored 94% in those years.
I had never imagined that
life has its own plans for you and you just can’t have an entitlement mentality
based upon what you think you deserve. Here’s a chronology of events that
unfolded in my life over the years –
·
1992 - I was
diagnosed with Osteoclastoma (a form of malignant bone tumor) on the lower end
of the femur on my left leg in my 3rd year of college. This came as a big shock
and a traumatic experience not just for me but for the entire family. I had to
undergo major surgery and cancer therapy (Chemo and Radiation). My friends and family
helped me to pull through this and I did manage to graduate from college
without having to lose a year.
·
1996 – I was
working in Mumbai and was detected with a local recurrence of the tumor and had
to undergo a major 9-hour surgery leading to the removal of 12 cms of lower end
of the femur bone and Total Knee Replacement with an artificial knee joint
implant in my left leg.
·
2002 – The Knee
Implant had to be repaired for the wear & tear through another 9-hour
surgery.
·
2004 –
Unfortunately the knee joint got infected. Amongst all the choices of either
replacing it with a new implant (requiring 6-10 months of being bedridden) or
fusing the leg straight by using bone from the other leg or above-knee
amputation and using a prosthetic limb, I opted for above-knee amputation. This
decision wasn’t an easy one but seemed to be the safest looking at the past
experience and future prospects of the options available.
Since
then I have been fitted with a prosthetic limb from a German Company called
Ottobock and have been able to lead a life that I feel is as blessed as anyone
else’s. I think this quote - “Life's under no obligation to give us what we
expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.” - sums
it all up along with the tremendous moral support from my family, friends, and
well-wishers.
Mentors
That Have Guided You:
I
have been extremely lucky to have some great friends, colleagues, bosses, and
leaders who have been great mentors and coaches. I am thankful to them for
their support, help, and trust reposed in me that has helped me through my
journey so far. Some of the lessons that they taught me are-
·
Success is not
final and failure is not fatal.
·
If you learn from
the mistakes of others rather than their success you will be one experienced
man!
·
You can’t control
what happens to you but if you can control your attitude towards what happens
to you, you will ride the waves of change.
·
Happiness is a
state of mind and you can’t compare the happiness of two minds. So don’t
compare yourself with others, cultivate a happy state of mind in your own head.
Evolution Of Process
Excellence:
The journey of Process
Excellence so far has been based on the concept of continuous improvement
through monitoring and studying the current state of the process and
identifying the variation/waste in it and then eliminating the same to
streamline and stabilize the current state. The challenge with this approach
has been that it has given incremental and limited results/business impact.
With the advent of the
new era of digital, the erstwhile paradigm must shift from continuous
improvement driven Process Excellence to Business Transformation. Organizations
must re-evaluate their business models itself using Design Thinking (hinged on
Customer Experience) and Design for Six Sigma to radically redesign the
processes that must be solely focused on the customer rather than being
designed to cater to internal delivery models or organization structures. The
companies that will succeed in this new age are the ones who are not going to
be the slaves of their internal constraints – Process/People/Technology and
above all policies. One of the most overlooked aspects of transformation are
the current policies governing the process flows that end up being a constraint
on agility/customer experience. The new-age transformation would be driven by
customer experience led Technology / Policy / Process /People design as
compared to the erstwhile paradigm of continuous improvement that focused on
Process / People / Technology / Policy (in that order).
Importance Of Being
Resilience In The Current Market:
I feel people will need
to first of all accept the fact that the world is not going to be the same
again (though that’s how it always has been but this time the change and the
fact has hit the entire world at the same time!). In this VUCA world here are
few things that are going to be more important than ever before –
·
Emotional
Intelligence - EI is going to be a far more critical skill than just pure play
academic intelligence. People must build mental/emotional resilience. One must
try and see if one can invest and learn more about being emotionally
intelligent.
·
Learning Methods
and Options - One must be flexible to look at multiple options available to
learn new skills / develop new competencies. Self-learning, Learning-on-the-go,
and through digital platforms is going to be new norm for self-development.
Learning is going to be far more agile, constant, and changing as compared to
the static model of graduation/post-graduation degrees.
·
Traditional Job
& Role Definitions – The job descriptions and role definitions are going to
change drastically. The world and job market requirements are going to get
flat. The Contractual and gig economy is going to dominate against full-time
jobs and roles. One must be open to operate as a consultant on multiple
assignments. This requires one to be able to manage the entire cycle of
prospecting of projects to successful execution and closure- entrepreneurship
at an individual level is going to be the new order.
·
Core competency
vs. Generalists – The job market is going to be more focused on people who
bring specialized skills/competencies to execute special projects vs.
generalist management roles. So it is important to acquire some niche skills/competencies
in your field of interest and expertise.
· Liberal arts and social sectors – The service/social/liberal arts economy will see a huge revival and surge with people willing to spend time and money in the pursuit of a balanced life (hoping that we all learn from this pandemic the importance of sustainability and environmental balance). So careers in these fields are going to see an upsurge.
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