How to be a rock star in whatever you do in life? Align your passion with profession.

What was Sachin Tendulkar born to do? He was born to bat.

What was AR Rehman  born to do? To create music

What was Vishwanathan Anand born to do? To play chess

What was Amitabh Bachchan  born to do? To act

What was Michael Jackson born to do? To dance

What are you born to do?

According to the hindu mythology a human birth is the most sacred and we achieve this birth after a life cycle of 84 Lac birth and deaths. Your birth is not somebody’s mistake, it has happened by cosmic design. And each one of us has a genius, a passion like these people whose names I mentioned in my opening statements. Till the time we are unaware of our passion we exist, and the moment you understand what you have come here for, what is the reason you are born, that is the eureka moment after which you start living. Every moment is sheer bliss. In this era of never seen before competition if one is not passionate about what he does 99.99 percent chances are that he will fail.

Ask yourself a question “What if you inherited 100 Cr from a distant relative?” How will you then spend your life when you do not have to bother about food shelter and clothing? What will you do now fill up your days? If you get an answer that is your passion, follow that. I see a lot of young people today just want money. Please understand making money is not the final objective, if you are having passion for what you do money will come it’s a byproduct of passionate satisfaction. Being satisfied, healthy and happy with what you do is a life well lived. Unfortunately 95 percent people die without understanding why they were born? I reiterate in my seminars and to my students “Don’t start running because you see everyone else is also running.” Wait, slow down and introspect what are your special skills which you have been gifted with and how do you use them to get the best result from this life.

My journey till now.......

This is certainly not something that I read in a book or someone told me about, this has been my own personal experience. I started my career in 1997 as a sales guy for Tata British Petroleum selling engine oils and lubricants in Agra. My father was a doctor, mother a lecturer, elder sister also a lecturer so technically everyone was a government employee. Like most parents wishing a stable job for their kids my father was very keen that I also join public sector however being a bit of rebel, I was hell bent that I would not, however I relented after he took ill and was with him before I lost him in Feb 1999. His last wish was that I join army as he himself could not make it through the SSB, and as any proud father, wanted his son to do it for him. As luck would have it I was that very year selected for combined defense services and went for SSB where again I was selected so joined army in the prestigious armoured corp.

Indian army was the best thing that ever happened to me, however due to personal and family reasons I took a discharge after five years and decided to join the corporate once again. When I left army having an MBA degree was an in thing and a must for a good start in any company, so I did my MBA from MDI Gurgaon and on completion got selected for DLF and ICICI Bank. I worked for banks like ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank for about four years. I came to Mumbai in the year 2007. Due to luck and some smart investment I had made enough money to sustain my family for at least two years if I did quit my banking job. By this time my better half had also settled nicely in her job, she was a principal in a college where she still works. Like any normal person in Mumbai the commercial capital of India I decided what everyone aspires for, to start a business.

After lot of brainstorming at home I decided to start a DSA/DMA for banks selling loans on their behalf because technically that was the only thing which I knew or maybe being an army officer could have opened a security agency. This DSA venture started rather well. For the first time in my life I felt things were not happening by default, I was in charge of what I wanted to do, make lots of money that was it. The only goal was to create wealth. After about six months I did introspection whether I was really happy and satisfied, though I was making money but frankly speaking “No, I was not happy”. I did not know the reason but something was missing. There are always some answers which you never get, this was one of them. I did not tell my wife about it, how could I, after all the entire decision was mine. Nevertheless I kept on tugging along.

One fine day, early morning I get a call from a close friend who is a corporate trainer and a speaker, he was a guest lecturer at an MBA college and he asked me to stand for him as he was running a high fever and he could just not have the event cancelled. I asked him “What am I going to speak?” He assured me by saying “Just go there and narrate any of your army experiences, kids would love it.” Not very convinced but since there was no way out, I agreed.

I still remember it was at 10 am when I started and some of the students on coming to know of my banking experience asked me some really smart questions on different verticals in banks, trends of the bfsi industry, retail banking, its future etc. I tried to answer whatever little I knew, it was turning out to be an enjoyable session, I do not know when I really went in a trance, after some time I realized all my hair follicles stood up, I was super charged with energy and loving each moment of the session. I was given an hour’s time but the session went for the next three hours. It was one “Wow” moment of my life.

Over dinner I just could not wait to share my experience with my wife. When I told her that finally I feel I have discovered what my passion is, and I intend shutting my DSA business to start teaching kids I still remember the shocked look she gave me “You’re nuts” is all what came out of her mouth. Jokes apart, frankly this was my Eureka moment, at the age of 35 years after having donned various roles of a salesman, army officer, real estate guy, banker, businessman I came to know I was always born to be a teacher. Had I started my life as a teacher I would have been more satisfied and enjoyed my life more nevertheless no regrets.  

Now that my little secret is revealed I must also tell you that the day I am not well and I take a class I start feeling better that is the power of your passion. I just love whatever I do now, training, writing blogs, content creation, every bit of this. Money has become secondary; if you are doing what you are passionate about money will follow.

Now imagine if you get to know what your passion is at 21, you will become a rockstar if you make it your profession. I am blessed to know some people who chose to follow their heart and do what they wanted in life, it certainly is a challenging choice to be made. It requires courage. A lot of people choose a life that does not deeply fulfill their deep inner yearnings because it provides security, predictability, safety and the approval of family and society. Our social system is driven by mind, fear and ego; we do not place too much importance on self fulfillment or our passion. We are more fixated about external success, money, security, stability and reputation.

Its very simple your heart is free and wild driven by love, whereas your head is practical and analytical and is often driven by fear, it will always tell you how to be safe, to make more money etc but this is not how we are meant to live, this is not what life is all about. I feel one needs to wake up and connect with what one wants, do that incase if you want to become a rockstar. Follow your heart and do what you love.

Much needed improvement in the Indian education system

Fact # 1. None of our institute be it the IIT’s or the IIM’s figure in the Top 200 institutes of the world?

Fact # 2. Indian higher education is in a tremendous mess and is arguably one of worst systems across the globe proven by Program of International student assessment (PISA).

In India, students study mainly to score marks in exams, and sometimes to crack exams like IAS, IIT-JEE, AIIMS etc. Meanwhile, in the West, teachers encourage their students to acquire application oriented skills. We seriously need to revisit our pedagogy and the ways in which we are educating our youth. The education system in India is geared towards testing knowledge at every level as opposed to testing the teaching skills.

In India, the best crammers are rewarded. In the West ones who learn skills, and more importantly learn how to apply them are rewarded. Creativity, original thinking, research, and innovation are all cultivated and encouraged from a young age (and the age seems to get younger every year).

All of this leads to one fact, that while students from the West rarely apply to Indian universities for undergraduate studies; Indian parents are willing to fork out 25 lakhs annually in order to get their sons and daughters into the Western education system.

The truth of the matter is that Indian students are rapidly escaping India. In the past decade alone, there has been a 256 per cent increase in the number of students studying abroad. The number now stands at 200,000 annually, and the students are going everywhere - Spain, Britain, Australia, USA, and even China.

The staggering statistic is this one - Indian students studying abroad cost India $17 billion annually in lost revenue. If India was able to replicate the educational system of the US and was able to either prevent its students from leaving, or was able to attract students from other countries, $17 billion can be saved annually.

So what is the solution wrt the Indian education system/ B-schools?

"The competition for good students is on the rise. The student market itself is hitting the saturation point not because there aren't enough students but because there aren't enough right students. What is a 'right student'? A student who is bright enough not to be a liability for the institution in the first place but to be an asset in a manner that (s) he goes on to bringing good repute to the institution in the long run. Finally, the reputation of the institution is created by its faculty and the students on the larger part.

A number of colleges and universities opening in various geographies around the country over the last decade have led to increasing marketing costs to enrol students. These marketing costs on the other hand are fast spiralling as institutions fight for the limited media space. Media channels and publications on the other hand are laughing all the way to the bank.

So, what can reverse this trend and put things back in control of the institutions? The simplest solution that comes to my mind is a great student experience such that they become industry ready followed with great placements on campus and now your students are your ambassadors in the true sense.

But that entails a lot of work on the front of developing the 10 key skill sets that i spoke about in my earlier posts, which is traditionally considered non-essential and non-academic. We call this the student engagement and campus activation program. Imagine what the excitement of a student coming to a campus happy in the morning can do. Not only that, the student learns while having fun. We help integrate a lot of learning on the domain knowledge, leadership development front, team behaviour, soft skills and personality development into the college curriculum in a manner that is easily digestible, practicable and produces good results in student’s development. And as a bonus, the institution is automatically marketed by the students who love the college now and simply can't help talking about it. Imagine students in a college that are artistically inclined, confident to carry themselves with elan and also academically ignited. That companies will line up to recruit such students is just a natural consequence. We have to keep in mind that this cannot be achieved without excellent faculties. I will be following this up with another post especially for today’s youth in the current scenario “How to be a rock star in whatever you do in life?” Till then keep reading and keep evolving.

The Finale of skill sets and the 10th skill recruiters look for - Work Experience

Imagine you are born at 6 in the morning and will live till 6 pm in the evening. Each hour is equal to 7 years of your life. Going by this analogy you have 84 years to live. At 7 am you became 7 years old, at 8 you were 14 years, at 9 you were 21 years old and so on…. So what is the time right now? For some of you looking for jobs, after having finished with your graduation and post graduation, it would be anything between 9 am to 930 am. Till now, your parents supported you, taught you and fed you. It’s time to spread your wings and start your flight of life called career. 

Suppose a friend just called you and told you about an open for all interview advertisement in today’s newspaper, which is being conducted by Citibank at Church gate branch in Mumbai, salary starts from INR 30000 per month, freshers are welcome. What do you do, obviously go for the interview…So all you guys get in your best dress, put on a nice deodorant, take the blessings of your parents and rush for the interview….. Now the big question is “How will you reach Church gate?” the obvious answer from those who know Mumbai, will be the local train. So you reach for the nearest local station around 930 am. You are now on the platform and see the Church gate train coming from a distance.

OK hold this moment in your thoughts, the train approaching you. Now tell me which seat you want to take in the train. Which is the dream seat in any local for a common Mumbaikar? The WINDOW seat…… And now let’s narrow down the search further. Which window seat..? The one facing Churchgate because you want the breeze straight in your face not blowing behind you. Is it all that we aspire for in our dream seat…. No hold on there is one more; its morning and you don’t want the sun to spoil your skin or your make up so you want to sit towards the west window seat. Wow, some choices are homogeneous, I can bet 10 million Mumbaikar who take the locals every day, rich or poor, learned or illiterate, be it the first class or the second, every morning dream to get that seat.

And now the infamous Mumbai local train having the ability to make people shudder merely by looking at it arrives. There seems to be no method to madness as people start pushing their way in even before it halts. You see it is extremely overcrowded, the doors that have not closed for years, passengers of all shapes and sizes hanging out of them, some people even travel sitting on the roof and all your dreams of getting that window seat are shattered. What are you going to do now? Some of you may board some of you may wait for the next train.

Like you, there are two friends also on the same platform wanting to take this interview, both are fresh MBA’s out of college searching for jobs.

The first friend Chirag is a bureaucrats’ son, is quite well off, the family have their own house in Mumbai and also a decent land bank in their hometown. Chirag gets a handsome pocket money, life is quite cool, and he has practically everything any guy his age may want. Chirag is a chilled out guy. He is “Chilled out Chirag.” The other friend Deepak came to Mumbai from Nashik to do his MBA, he had lost his father five years back, whatever little savings the family had got exhausted in paying for Deepak’s MBA education, and his mother who does not keep well wants to join Deepak once he gets a job. Everyday Deepak calls up her mother to tell her that he is desperately trying to get a job and the moment he gets one, he will call her. It’s been six months since Deepak finished his degree and he has been trying to get a job, now it has become so frustrating that he often cries to sleep. And he knows if he does not get one soon he might not be able to sustain living in Mumbai for more than a month. When in the morning he saw the newspaper ad, it was a god sent opportunity and a silver lining in these dark days for him. He is desperate to make the most of this opportunity. He is “Desperate Deepak.”

So what happens now when the train arrives? Deepak calls out for Chirag and tells him to board, Chirag declines, he has not paid 5 Lacs for an MBA degree to travel like this. He will only travel if he gets that window seat that he has always dreamt of. Deepak tries to reason but to no avail. Finally Deepak boards the train and the best that he could do was hang on the door and starts the journey. About three more trains come and go. Chirag still waits for his dream window seat. After about 15 mins. Chirag gets a call from Deepak whether he started. Chirag replies in negative so Deepak tells him to hurry or he might miss the interview. On the arrival of the 4^th train Chirag by now having understood that the situation is not going to improve and he should start off now if he wants to give the interview starts walking in a chilled out manner to board the local. Anyone who ever has boarded a local in Mumbai will know what will happen to you in case you try board it in a chilled out manner.

Suddenly out of nowhere a huge crowd of people rush towards the train and pushes an extremely surprised Chirag back and he misses this one as well. Any guesses for who these people were? These were Chirag’s immediate juniors born at 615 am. 40 Lac students graduate every year. I have seen some people still standing even at 11 am of their life for that window seat wishfully thinking “Ek din mere Karan Arjun aayenge ……………….  aur mujhe woh seat dilaayenge”

This story is repeated every year in most of the B-Schools, by the time the Chirag’s get over with their Redbull hangover and understands the ground realty they become obsolete. Whenever I get a chance to meet some of these B - School graduates who even after 6 months of completion are still searching for jobs, I ask them “If the first job offer which was made to you in the campus is once again offered to you. Would you now accept it?” I get a lot of Yes’s.

Having an experience of placing over 3000 candidates I can vouch for one thing common among all who were blessed with success, each one was desperate. Please remember these words desperate guys get success, I know being chilled out is in vogue but it definitely does not get jobs. You cannot pursue great career and comfort simultaneously. All the successful people you know or see distinguish themselves from everyone else by what they do with their comfort zone. There are those who are perfectly happy staying warm and cozy in this safe box they've built; and then are those who constantly push and test the limits.

On meeting some candidates who are yet to get a job after 6 months of finishing their degrees I invariably ask them “Tell me in the 3^rd semester of your degree what was the amount of “Josh factor” in you?” I am told anything between 90 to 100 percent. “And what is it now?” When you sit at home for four months jobless, your josh plummets to 40, now confidence is replaced by questions on one’s ability. You suddenly are not very sure on your capabilities and there is a big question mark on your career? And now a simple question, if you are the recruiter who is hiring. “Who would you hire?” A fresher of 2014 having josh at 100% bubbly, cheerful waiting to have a go at the career willing to give it all or a 2013 pass out with a josh level of 40% who has lost his self belief and confidence sitting at home? Remember 2014 pass outs are the new entrants, 2013 is history and 2012 belongs to the forgotten. The longer you keep waiting the lesser chance you get. That’s what I meant when I used the terminology “Obsolete”.

So what do you do now? How do you get that “Josh factor” back to 100? Can any amount of motivational talks by anybody get it back for you? I don’t think so. So the big question “How do you get your self esteem and that confidence in you back? Answer is very simple “Get four offer letters” Even if you don’t want to join that job what stops you taking the offer letter. What is that feeling that you have on knowing that 4 companies want you in their team and they require you? Precious, you are back at your best…. that’s 100% josh…. boy. Even if you do not join it you can still flaunt the offer letter to your girlfriend/ boyfriend and tell them “Look how wanted I am?” Or preserve it and show it to your kids later as to how capable you were at their age.

This is what should be done ideally whereas on the contrary candidates reject the job offers on the interview table and I humbly urge all of you that you cannot afford to do this as the numbers today stack up against you. Remember 70 Crore Indians are looking for jobs. When you are taking the interview if you do not show desperation to grab the offer chances are quite high that it will not be offered to you. “Yes I really look forward to working here and I am sure I will be an asset here.” “I am absolutely ready for the profile offered and I think my skill sets match the job description” “Absolutely Sir” “Yes Sir” are some of the smart answers candidates who get selected say. I always maintain that when you have spent your time, effort and money going for a particular interview why waste the chance of collecting the offer letter? And when you have 4 offer letters, in the evening just lie down on your bed and spread all 4 on your pillow. Do that and comment here…. Let me know how you felt doing that?

Can you ever imagine getting that window seat without having boarded the train? I reiterate to all the candidates who are looking for that window seat/ dream job to kick start their career. It won’t be a bad idea to get inside the train even if that means standing. If you want an operations job in a bank and not getting one, maybe get into sales, there is always a chance of lateral hiring within the organization which eventually might get you your dream job, give yourself three to six months, if still you are unable to adjust move out. What’s the big deal? If you feel, so do not show that experience in your resume. Start moving, get in a job first.

Before signing off let me tell you a natural process of “The first six months.” When a child is born, the first six months are critical for the baby and the mother, they have to be given due care. When a child joins his school the first few months are very painful for him as he does not want to leave his comfortable and protective environment. When he leaves school and goes to college again there is a level of discomfort but hardly felt as he has his friends who undergo the same transition. On leaving college the first few months are again challenging. When one gets in a job, again the first six months are the most challenging when youth gets exposed to an absolutely new environment, office politics, an abusive boss, work pressure without any support, impossible targets, late working hours etc. So many times you will feel to call it quits but my suggestion would be to hang on and brave the first six months. If you bide that time, you will know how to survive.

By the way, everything you've read here about the Mumbai local is probably true! However, if you're feeling adventurous, don't miss taking an unforgettable trip on the Mumbai local. (If you need reassurance, my 66 year old mother has done it and survived just fine!). Hope you enjoyed the skill set series, will be back with more, thanks for reading. :)

The 9th extremely critical skill - Domain Knowledge

“Do you know Excel?” is a standard question which Banks'  HR asks when candidates are interviewed for back office/ operations openings at Evolve XL. 95% of the candidates normally give a chilled out “Yeah, I know Excel” or, “Yes, I know Excel.” And all these guys get rejected…. Surprised..?

The candidates who get selected answered something like this “Yes Sir, I know excel, advanced Excel, V Lookup, H Lookup, pivot table, mail merge, micro, macro, if you give me a system right now I can show you how comfortable I am working on them. These are the kind of answers that gets you jobs.

In my last corporate stint as Head, SME for Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai, I normally used to interview the prospective candidates in their 2nd or 3rd round. These candidates invariably used to be MBA Finance students and were absorbed as Branch Managers or Wealth Managers for a salary of approximately 4 to 5 Lacs per annum. I invariably ended up asking just one question and 99% could never get it right and the question used to be as given below:

“Mr. Hitesh Shah is our elite HNI (High Networth Individual) customer having an annual relationship of 50 Crores with the bank. He never comes to the bank in normal circumstances, this morning, however, he just walked in and asked you for a loan as he plans to buy a new property in Bandra. He needs to execute this deal in the next 5 days and seems to be in a tearing hurry. He is carrying his last two years' balance sheets along with all the profit and loss account statements, his Director's report, auditor’s report, his bank statements and other KYC documents. He needs to know in the next 15minutes, how much loan is he eligible for, and now you need to quickly calculate his EBIDTA income eligibility and also check out if he can get more under industry margin eligibility calculation.”

This is what you need to know if you want that dream job in the bank which you aspire for. This is the domain knowledge recruiters want in the candidates they hire. This is the difference between teaching skill and teaching content. As an MBA finance I will, for sure, expect the candidate to have the skills to be able to analyse balance sheets and work with application oriented calculations and ratio analysis.

As I have earlier brought out that there are two kind of knowledge- the first is content based knowledge that we normally call  “academic knowledge”, and the second would be skill based knowledge, which we know as “application knowledge.” People who are working will vouch that academic knowledge is of no use at workplaces where only application knowledge might be required. Since Indian education system still promotes academic knowledge, smart candidates take time out and utilize resources to improve on their application knowledge simultaneously.

I always advise our students and candidates that if they are looking for a specific job, they must go and meet people who are employed in that role and ask them “What are the skill sets that one needs for that job?” And it's only then that you will have some bang on answers. If you have them, Bingo! and if not,  you must learn them.
Will soon come out with the last blog for this section. Till then, happy reading!