As a fresh engineering graduate, I was very ambitious. Although I came from a humble family background, I firmly believed that with the right planning and execution, I could achieve my personal and professional goals.
A major professional goal for me was to lead a team of people to achieve operational excellence. For my first job, I was recruited on campus for a sales engineer role at an Austrian multinational company. It was here that I got the first taste of Corporate India and quickly understood the various standard operating procedures.
I also understood that networking was the key to be a successful professional. This was one of the major skills I learned during the two years I spent there. I built lasting professional relationships with clients, company management, the support staff and everyone in between. This helped me gain perspective and helped me provide the right inputs and services to the right people.
However, I had always kept my sights realizing my goal of leading my own team of people. When an opportunity opened up, I seized it and attended the interview. The experience I had gained at my previous company helped me to be one of the youngest to clear that interview.
When I first stepped into this new organization, I’d already had 2 years of experience working with people and across teams. The new company was headquartered in Germany and offered me an opportunity to grow by being a part of its newly established Indian operations. It provided me with a platform to showcase my skills and handed me the privilege of leading a team of 5 people.
This new role and responsibility was radically different from what I’d done before. Whereas previously I’d worked in my own silo, now I had to learn new skills like motivation, conflict resolution and team management. I believed I was responsible for those who worked under me, and I desired that every one of them should grow to their highest potential and be recognized in the company.
One of our employees had experience in coding. However, the work that she was doing was not in line with what her skills were. Despite this, she exhibited a high level of conscientiousness in her work and quickly became one of the best performers in the team. I ensured that her work and efforts were noticed by upper management. When the need for a coder arose in the company, she was selected for the role without a second thought due to the strong work ethos she had shown. It made me proud to see a team-member growing within the organization, and moreover, she was very thankful for my guidance and encouragement which assisted her.
I spent one year at that organization before moving on to do my MBA at T. A. Pai Management Institute. I firmly believe that an MBA from an internationally accredited B-school would help me realize my long-term goal of managing my own strategic business unit. Here I learn all the skills necessary to be a valuable member of a team.
Inspiration leads to poetry, and the drive to excel in a leadership role spurred me to write the following piece:
We sail on an ocean of uncertainty
The winds of change billow
And out in the distance we see an iceberg
Bright white it shimmers on the horizon
Getting close, we see only what’s above the surface
For deep down beneath,
In the depths where anchors make their home,
Is where lay the iceberg's true essence
What is seen on the surface
Is but a dim reflection of what’s under the surface
Very alike is a good leader
Whose true essence is his character.
- Kenneth Rohan Kotian