Wednesday 18 July 2012

Choosing a Career


The opportunity to interact with young people, especially the curious, inquisitive, challenging and innocent is always such a delight. At a recent event at a B School in Mumbai, I had the occasion to engage with about 300 such fresh students beginning their MBA journey. It was indeed a pleasure to spend time with them and my hope is they found the interaction as enjoyable. Careers were often made by accident but increasing today people have choices and options that have emerged both in the approach and the nature of careers that are opening up for them. to be able to the best for your self, these need to be thought about with some care and realistic assessment of oneself and the opportunities as well.

The key aspects that need to be thought through are four :-

  1. What you LOVE ?
  2. What you are GOOD AT?
  3. What the world will PAY FOR?
  4. What is GOOD FOR THE WORLD?
Using a depiction that is fairly common place these aspects can be brought alive in an engaging way to be useful and fun for people to begin thinking through such choices. it is also a valuable to revisit these thoughts and choices from time to time. below is a presentation of one slide (a first for me!). 

If seen in paired combinations it brings alive some interesting insights and the likely impact / consequences of choices relating to the four aspects.
If I love doing some thing - Painting, and I am really good at it the question i have to address is "what will the world pay for"?
If I love a sport but am not really good at it ?
If i am really very good with numbers but don't love that kind of stuff?
This kind of conversation allows people to see themselves inside these choices from their own location of capabilities, liking, judgment  an realities of the world we live in.


I would really welcome feedback on this!

3 comments:

  1. Dear Satish Sir,

    Its a great word of expression from your side. The questions you have raised is something that come across a few. Career choices for many is by stress from their parents due to certain standards and values that parents think for their children. But basically a child no matter what loves different things and they come across with different things leaving what they love.

    Satisfaction is something what come across from what we love the most or on the immediate need. Today generation i personally feel they miss the grip. Every child has a dream which doesn't last long and he keeps shifting from one to another. Dream should be living along with life, that makes a reality in living by succeeding and also with fullest love towards it. Giving what we have and gaining what we are supposed to gain rarely happens in this world we live. At times i think are we living in a "World of our own".

    Thanks Satish sir for such a beautiful thought sharing.

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  2. Very, Very relevant and apt. Especially for the B-School crowd whose only reason for chosing their path seems to be 'Placement record' of the school. Very apt & relevant.

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    1. Many thanks, please feel free to use and propagate such thinking amongst younger people!

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