An article from Gopalakrishnan - Chairman Tata sons
Ltd
The grass isn't always greener on the other side!!
Move from one job to
another, but only for the right reasons. It's yet
another day at office. As
I logged on to the marketing and advertising sites for
the latest updates,
as usual, I found the headlines dominated by
'who's' moving from one
company to another after a short stint', and I
wondered, why are so many
people leaving one job for another? Is it passé now
to work with just one
company for a sufficiently long period?
Whenever I ask this question to people who leave a
company, the answers I
get are: "Oh, I am getting a 200% hike in salary";
"Well I am jumping three
levels in my designation"; "Well they are going to
send me abroad in six
months".
Then, I look around at all the people who are
considered successful today
and who have reached the top - be it a media agency,
an advertising agency
or a company. I find that most of these people are
the ones who stuck to
the company, ground their heels and worked their way
to the top. And, as I
look around for people who change their jobs
constantly, I find they have
stagnated at some level, in obscurity.
In this absolute ruthless, dynamic and competitive
environment, there are
still no - short cuts to success or to making money.
The only thing that
continues to pay, as earlier is loyalty and
hard work. Yes, it
pays! Sometimes, immediately, sometimes after a lot
of time. But, it does
pay. Does this mean that one should stick to an
organization and wait for
the golden moment? Of course not. After, a long
stint, there always comes
a time for moving in most organisations, but it is
important to move for
the right reasons, rather than the superficial
ones, like money,
designation or oversees trip.
Remember, no company recruits for charity. More often
than not, when you
are offered an unseemly hike in salary or
designation that is
disproportionate to what the company offers it
current employees, there is
always an unseemly bait attached. The result? You
will, in the long term
have reached the same level or may be lower levels
than what you would have
in your current company.
A lot of people leave their organisations because
they are 'unhappy'.
What is this so called unhappiness? I have been
working for donkey years
and there has never been a day when I am not unhappy
about something in my
work environment - boss, rude colleagues, fussy
clients etc.
Unhappiness in a work place, to a large extent, is
transient. If you look
hard enough, there is always something to be
unhappy about. But, more
importantly, do I come to work to be "happy" in
the truest sense? If I
think hard, the answer is "No". Happiness is
something you find with
family, friends, may be a close circle of
colleagues who have become
friends. What you come to work for is to earn, build
a reputation,satisfy
your ambitions, be appreciated for your work
ethics, face challenges and
get the job done.
So, the next time you are tempered to move on,
as yourself why are
you moving and what are you moving into?
Some questions are:
* Am I ready and capable of handling the new
responsibility? If yes, what
could be the possible reasons my current company
has not offered me the
same responsibility?
* Who are the people who currently handle this
responsibility in
the current and new company? Am I good as the best
among them?
* As the new job offer has a different profile, why
have I not given the
current company the option to offer me this profile?
* Why is the new company offering the new job? Do
they want me for my
skills, or is that ulterior motive?
An honest answer to these will eventually decide
where you go in your
career - to the top of the pile in the long term
(at the cost of short -
term blips) or to become another average employee
who gets lost with the
time in wilderness?
"DESERVE BEFORE YOU DESIRE"
- Dr. Gopalakrishnan, Chairman TATA Sons.
