Not far back in the history of Indian corporate culture a young aspirant was required to have the following characteristic:
1. Qualification
2. Perseverance
3. Dedication
4. Intelligence (measured mostly by the qualification)
5. Right attitude and skill sets.
All of the above are still required in the new modern corporate field. But one of the most important characteristic that was not predominantly present was the characteristic to influence others. It’s not enough these days to be a good performer in a corporate structure. It takes lot more than that to go up the ladder. You need to know to sell yourself.
Isn't that what is also taught at most of the professional courses these days as well. I remember in one of the sessions of the GMCS classes, the presenter reminded us again and again that when you go for an interview regard yourself as your own salesman. Pitch hard for the product that is you and convince the people sitting on the other side of the bench that there is worth in buying the product. What she missed out on that session was perhaps the thought that the same pitch is required throughout the professional life.
The concept of making yourself 'visible' is dominated in today's work-sphere. You have to be good and you have to be visible to create a niche for yourself. So predominant has the culture of visibility become in today scenario that you end up making a mockery of all that you have believed and taught earlier.
This just got me thinking as to why it has become so important. Is it not that if you are good you would be noticed? Isn’t that’s the law of nature? The reason perhaps is that you might be good but some one is perhaps as good as you are in the skill sets that are required to perform a particular job. Now that’s not a good thing. If all of us are equally efficient then it not possible to attain an organization pyramid-cal hierarchical structure. We must remember that each one of us is different. There is that one thing that you have which others don’t and it’s important for the world to know that and the only way out is to ensure that you create a visibility for that special skill sets that you have that separates you from the others.
Especially today when corporations are moving away from seniority based organizational hierarchy to a meritocracy based structure it is even more important to ensure that you create that special place for yourself. The art is of creating and sustaining the need for you over there. It is also called perceived importance and that can be achieved only through ‘visibility’.
And whether we like it or not this concept is going to stay. And it doesn’t mean in any sense of the term that sheer visibility can replace all the above characteristics that has been mentioned above. Visibility for yourself is an added quality that you need today to maintain, sustain and grow in your organization.
It’s an art guys go train yourself for it.
2 comments:
well articulated ... but it also means that someone who doesnot have the charisma will loose out ... but i guess thats the name of the game today
From my practical experience of carrying out HR talent hunt for many of my clients, I can say with a fair measure of conviction that only a small percentage of graduates, post graduates including in professional courses like engineering and management who come out of most of the colleges and universities have the basic requirements for being offered employment: (1) Attitude - like knowing things outside of text books about their field of interest, about the company in which they seek a job, about their immediate neighbourhood, about their state, the country, its economy, happenings in industry and commerce etc. (2) Presentability and display of character : like being properly dressed, punctuality in appearing for test or interview etc. (3) Communication: Most organizations now do national or international business and a better than working knowledge of English and Hindi is called for in most cases. Job seekers in many instances do not even speak fluently and properly in their own language, leave alone English and Hindi. (4) Work ethics and culture: For the lure of a few more bucks, the youngsters job-hop almost twice a year, little realising that when they will attend a fifth or sixth interview they are surely going to be rejected notwithstanding their academic brilliance and other skills.
In this scenario, it is no wonder that most people do not first care, then do not know and then do not train themselves to come up to the expectations of employers!
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