We all go through our lives and careers, looking back on our learnings, from time to time. As I thought about my own journey, I thought of a few incidents that made me pause, think, and do things differently, from then on. Here are 4 such stories from my life and the lessons I learnt, that have shaped my thinking and my career.
Lesson 1 - Test, Test until you succeed
I was in school, and my younger sister asked me for help to
make a working model of hydrolysis. Together, we spent the whole weekend
meticulously building the model. It turned out great, and my sister proudly
took it to school. The teacher looked at it admiringly and turned it on. But,
nothing happened! It didn’t work! Because, we never tested it. We had become so
engrossed in building something cool, that we forgot the painfully obvious act
of testing it! It has been decades, yet I still feel the pain of putting my sister
through embarrassment and a poor grade. This experience taught me great respect
for testing. Today, as a marketer, my success depends on constantly testing
what works – subject line, creative, segment - everything. Over the years, I have
become a strong advocate for quality and processes. I like to put processes in
place to minimize errors, empower my quality assurance teams, and expose all my
team members to testing, so that that they can develop a deeper appreciation
for quality. Now, I always remember that - one good test is worth more than a
thousand opinions, including my own!
Lesson 2 - Team work above everything else
My husband and I went for a family kayaking event organized
by my husband’s employer. It was a beautiful sunny day, and there were about 25
odd kayaks, with a husband-wife duo in each one of them. This was my first time
kayaking, and I was really excited as we started. However, soon we realized
that we were not making much progress. Neither of us trusted each other’s
rowing skills, and we kept doing our own thing. Our rowing was completely out
of sync, and we were constantly arguing. Finally, we made it to our destination
– 15 minutes after the last of those kayaks had already reached. It was
embarrassing, to say the least! Here we were - 2 reasonable smart individuals
who just could not get a kayak moving in the right direction. Why? Because, we
were not a good team! It was a great lesson in the value of team-work. Since
then, while we have made huge strides in becoming a great team as a couple, I
have become a vocal advocate of collaboration and team work at workplace. I
have seen seemingly impossible goals achieved, just because of outstanding team
work. This experience among many others solidified my belief that it doesn’t
matter how smart you are, if you don’t know how to collaborate and bring out
the best in others, to accomplish great things together.
It was my first day at a new school, in 9th
grade. I was feeling overwhelmed and self-conscious, as one of the teachers
walked me to my new class. When I reached the classroom, 40 unknown faces
turned towards me. The teacher in the class asked me to come in and take a
seat. However, as I scanned the classroom, I realized that none of the seats
was available for me to take. I was rooted to the spot, nearly in tears, as one
of the girls at the back stood up and said to me – “You can share my chair”. A
feeling of immense relief and gratitude flooded through me, as I walked towards
her. Through the years, that little act of kindness has always stayed with me. I
have learnt to appreciate the value of nice gestures and small acts of kindness
at workplace. I have seen people fill up with emotion at seemingly smallest of
acts. It reminds me that at the end of the day, regardless of all our
differences, we all are humans, and we want to be treated with respect and
kindness. I have built great relationships over my career, just by
understanding the value of “treating people as people”. A little kindness
really goes a long way – yes at work too!
Lesson 4 – Believe that work is a choice
When I got married, I took a break from work as I moved to
the US to live with my husband. While I loved my first few weeks as a “free
bird”, that feeling soon gave way to boredom. In a few months, I went from a
happy housewife to a frustrated job seeker. A bad economy and work visa
challenges kept adding to my woes, and rejections started piling up. I tried to
divert myself to community work and other pursuits, but all I really wanted to
do was - get back to work. At the end of a very long year and a difficult move
back to India, I finally got a job. That year made me realize how important
work is to me and my identity. I have been much happier at work ever since!
Whenever I am struggling at work or thinking about taking a step back, I think
back to that year, and that always puts things back in perspective! I have
realized that believing that work is a choice can be a very empowering thought
- It makes you happier and more purposeful in all that you do at work.
These are the lessons I learnt from varied life experiences.
Which stories from your life do you think about, when you think of defining moments
or incidents?
Article originally published at: https://www2.deloitte.com/ui/en/blog/life-deloitte-blog/2021/four-life-lessons-that-shaped-my-career.html
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