Nitin Seth

Excerpts from my talk to the new batch at IIM Lucknow, July 20, 2013

Today I would like to talk to you about building a successful career. When you join MBA, the main thing on your mind is career success – what type of job should I aim for, what I should focus on during the MBA program, how I ensure I get my dream job, and so on. I have gone through the same stage of life that you are going through, and thought would share some perspectives on career success now that I have more experience in life and some sense of what works and what doesn’t.

I will talk about three topics:

• What does career success mean?
• How do you make the right career choices?
• What are the building blocks for a successful career?

What does success mean?

When I was graduating from IIM Lucknow in 1996, success for me was about getting the best job. And, how did I define the best job – company that had the best brand, offered the best compensation, and where I saw my peer group joining or wanting to join. 17 years after graduation, do I think those were wrong objectives?  I don’t think they were wrong, but in hindsight they were not sufficient. Career is not a sprint; it is a multi-stage obstacle course. When you take a longer term view of your career, additional perspectives start becoming important.

Many of my friends are mid-career, in their 40s, with 20 years of experience and perhaps another 20 years to go. Most of them are very successful by any conventional yardstick – in senior positions in great companies, and earning more money than what you would ever need. However, I often sense emptiness and boredom in many of them. They are searching for something more. Some have even started talking about retirement in a few years!!  Why is that?  Money and Position are important. However, if you are just focused on them, you will be stuck in a “rat race”. Whatever you achieve will never be enough, you will always want more. This never ending cycle can become very stressful.

For sustained happiness and fulfillment, you need at least two more ingredients: 1) Alignment between your career and your passions; 2) To be making a difference.

• Alignment. If you do what you like doing, you are likely to do it well and will be happy doing it. Passions are a gift. They are a source of energy. They light up your life and bring joy and vitality. They are also the foundation for excellence. Therefore, alignment between your career and passions is very necessary for sustained happiness.
• Making a difference. As humans we have a need to leave a legacy. To make a positive impact and create lasting change that goes beyond self. It could be at different levels. It could be with the family, organization, community, industry, or the country. As you grow in career and in life, making a difference is perhaps the most important way of getting deep fulfilment.

In summary, think of your career objectives at multiple levels: level 1 – money, status, power; level 2 – alignment with your passions; level 3 – making a difference. You will get deeper and more sustained happiness and fulfillment the farther up these levels you are able to set your sights.

Making the right career choices

Now that we have talked about career objectives, let’s talk about how we make the right choices to achieve those objectives. There are different approaches you could take. One end of the spectrum is what I call the default view, which is to go for the best opportunity. The other end of the spectrum is the idealistic view, which is to follow your passion. I believe these views can be joined up. I have already mentioned that alignment between your career and your passions is a necessary condition for success. I also believe that making money and following your passion does not need to be mutually exclusive. Just the fact that you will graduate from this prestigious institute will ensure that whatever you do you will make a lot of money. That should liberate you to follow your passion!!

I believe magic can happen when you find the “Sweet Spot” where your passions, skills and opportunities come together.  At the intersection of these three forces, you realize the powerful and sustained purpose of your life. That leads to tremendous energy and a reinforcing cycle that leads to both professional impact and personal satisfaction. Finding your “sweet spot” is a journey. Passions are the likely starting point but not enough. They need to be coupled with talent or skills. Finally, you need the right opportunities to channelize your passions and skills. This coupling with opportunities is necessary – there is little point playing the most brilliant orchestra to an empty theatre.

Finding this “Sweet Spot” in your career and life is not a predictable formula. It is a patient journey, an exciting adventure, a voyage of discovery. For this you need to take a long-term view of your carer. You need to realize that your career is perhaps a 30-40 years journey. You probably need to have different emphasis for different stages of your career journey. I would suggest for the next 5 years, the most important objective for you is learning. So, choose a job that provides you the best possible platform for learning and experimentation that will help you discover your “sweet spot”.

Building blocks for a successful career

I believe there are 7 building blocks for a successful career – alignment, excellence, risk taking, resilience, relationships, balance and humility. I have already talked about the first one, alignment with your passions. Let us talk about the other six. As we go through them, you will find that these building blocks can be acquired skills. These are competencies and attitudes, which you are not just are born with, but can build with practice. So, as I talk through the building blocks, I will also try to share some tips for your 2 years at IIM Lucknow to practice and develop these skills:

1. Excellence. It is important to build some distinctive capabilities and/or knowledge that can become a bedrock for your career. You need to have at least a few areas where you have distinctive depth that become your calling cards. Passions are a good starting point but not enough. Passions alone are like sparks that will flicker but might not sustain. To achieve sustained success, you need to strengthen your passions with excellent skills or knowledge. Excellence is the fuel that will convert your sparks of passion into the bright and sustainable fire of success. However, achieving excellence requires hard work, patience and discipline. As MBAs we often have this urge to move up in our careers very quickly. As a result, sometimes MBAs end up being flaky with little depth. There are no short cuts to excellence – “no pain, no gain”!!  You look at any successful person you will find they have some distinctive capabilities and that they have worked hard to build it. So, figure out your areas of focus and immerse yourself deeply into it. It is not necessary that all of you should be aim to be toppers. But, do ensure that you end your MBA having built some distinctive knowledge or skill. Don’t be superficial; give your 100% and build real depth.
2. Risk Taking. Often in a career, you get caught in a “comfort zone”. You get some success, are satisfied with that and want to protect it. That is when you miss the bus. Successful people are risk takers. They are continuously challenging themselves to climb the next mountain. What I have realized with risk taking is that the downside is less than what you think and upside lot more. Even if you fail, it will not be a catastrophe. For me leaving McKinsey when I was doing well there and setting up my venture ActiveKarma was the biggest risk I have taken in life. The venture failed but I was able to recover and get going again very quickly. Moreover, what I gained from the experience was invaluable. I am convinced this experience has helped me do better as a manager and leader than what I might have done otherwise. I believe the courage to take risks is one of the biggest differentiator between the truly successful and middle of the road. I would encourage you to consider taking some risks both in your choice of courses and eventually carer. Consider being an entrepreneur or join a start-up. Your opportunity cost and commitments are relatively low at this stage of life and will only rise from hereon. So if you want to be an entrepreneur, consider staring now!! 
3. Resilience. Business world is full of uncertainties. Velocity of change is higher than ever before. It often feels like a snake n ladders game. You will rise but will also certainly seen setbacks. It could be business downturns, own mistakes, organization restructuring or just organization politics. You have to be resilient and quickly adapt to the situation. The great Steve Jobs is an amazing story of resilience and bouncing back from adversity. Jobs was kicked out of Apple, a company that he founded with a lot of passion, at the age of 30. For most people that would have been a knock out blow. However, Jobs was able to pick himself up and keep going. He faced more failures notably at NeXT Computers, but he persevered. In a remarkable reversal of fortune, he came back to Apple and led it to unprecedented glory. This resilience is visible also in his battle with cancer. He did lose his 3^rd battle with cancer, but he came back from his first two battles and each time led Apple to major product breakthroughs. Some of you might get bit of an ego knock in the first term as you come to face with the relative grading system!!  Be resilient and keep going. Those who do so will rise and finish strongly.
4. Relationships. When I joined McKinsey in 1996, one of the senior partners speaking at our induction training said that to succeed you either need to know something or to know someone. At that time, I felt that I would be the “know something” types and that success by knowing someone was a bit superficial. As I have gained more experience, I have realized better the tremendous value of relationships. People respond more to trust and emotions than to knowledge and logic. Whether it is achieving difficult targets as a team, resolving conflicts, or finding your next job, relationships are the key to success. They are a force multiplier helping you achieve outcomes, which you can never do on your own. Moreover, relationships are not just about a means to an end. They are an end in themselves. Man is a social animal. We crave for trust and togetherness. Deep relationships bring joy and warmth to life making it more meaningful. Campus life is a great opportunity for building new friends. Don’t limit yourself to superficial networking. Build deep friendships. They will be amongst your most important asset in life.
5. Balance. Business school is a phase of life when one tends to be obsessed about career. However, to sustain a hi-intensity career, it is necessary to cultivate interests and passions outside of work. They will give you a fresh and deeper perspective on life. They will also recharge and rejuvenate you and ensure that you have the energy to play a long innings. Remember, career is not a sprint; it is a multi-stage obstacle course. Therefore, these turbo-boosters are necessary. For me, my big anchor in life is my family. I am married, have 3 beautiful children and a large joint family. They are an enormous source of strength in my life and keep me centred. In addition, I have multiple passions and pursue them actively. I am passionate about sports and play squash regularly. I follow Art of Living, have been doing it for more than 12 years and go for Yoga & meditation sessions every Sunday morning. Finally, I love travelling and take at least 2 vacations every year. All of these passions help rejuvenate me and keep my system going at high energy levels!!  This campus offers avenues for so many extra-curricular activities. So, do pick up a hobby and pursue it wholeheartedly. That will not just add to your personality, but will de-stress you and enable you to do even better in studies!!
6. Humility. One of the negative consequences of success is arrogance. Sometimes successful people become too full of themselves, stop listening and learning, and eventually lose touch with reality. That is the beginning of their end. So, do not let success or position go to your head. Always stay humble, grounded, natural and spontaneous. It will help you connect with people and earn you their love & respect. It will also help you avoid making big mistakes. I have seen some great professionals who let success go to their head. It perhaps blinded them and resulted in them making some big ethical mistakes. That finished a lifetime of hard work and accomplishments. Integrity is the glass mirror that once broken can never be repaired. All your great work can be undone in a single moment of indiscretion. All of us have both good and bad within us. You never know when the bad comes out. I believe that humility is the pillar that ensures that we stay good. That is why the Bible teaches that meek shall inherit the world!!  For us MBAs, it is important to be conscious that we are often characterized as being arrogant. Focus on continuously learning something new and challenging. As you do that, automatically more humility will come to you.

I hope you the found the 7 building blocks I have shared to be helpful. In the end, I want to mention another very important factor. That is LUCK. As I have gone through life, I have realized that success is not a predictable formula. Sometimes your best efforts go waste and sometimes you get success that you never anticipated. That is the nature of life; it is not linear and deterministic. That is why it is very important to have a broad and relaxed perspective towards life. Gita talks about KARMA. It says, “Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma Phaleshou Kada Chana – you should do your duty but not worry about the results”. There is deep truth in this. If we realize it, both our individual lives and the world around us will be a much better place!!

Thank you!!