15
PROMOTE YOURSELF
G. Bharath
It is '1otuncommonthat we hear lamentsaboutcompany's
policieson careerrelatedareasor ratheraboutlackof any.
I alsousedto be one to join suchgroupsto givea full vent
out, but that was only until I happenedto comeacrossan
articleon managingone'scareerin EconomicTimes.I would
notsaythat I amnowtoo enlightened to botheraboutpromo-
tionsanymore,but at leastI havebecomesavvyenoughto
knowhowto nurturemy owncareer.Andthat is the reasonI
thoughtsharingmy updatedviewson careerbuildingwould
perhapsbe of somehelpto you also.
'No matterwhereyou work,youarenotan employee. Youare
in businesswith an employer- yourself- in competitionwith
millionsof similarbusinessesworldwide...
Nobodyowesyoua
career.Youownit as a soleproprietor'- AndyGrove,chair-
man of Intel adviseshis employees. Startinghis life penni-
less,Grove'scareeris notonlyan epitomeof professional suc-
cessbut alsoof lastingcontributions
to the digitalworld.
Lifetodayis lotdifferentfromwhatit wasin yesteryears.There
was a time whenjobs were for life.Todaymoreand m
peopletakecontrolof theircareersandtheirdestinies
leavingthemto thecompanies, theyworkfor.It does
theykeephoppingjobs,buttheyactivelymana
of developingand deployingtheir ownhu
seehowwe canmanageourpersonalas
tal. Humancapitalconsistsof lalelle
capitals.
The tableindicateswhat~h of t'lm represent.Individually,
each of these elements~n capital contributesto
successnotjust in professionallife butalsoin ones'personal
life.But,the realkeyto successlies in recognising andman-
aginginteractionsamongtheseelements.Intellectual,social
andemotional capitalsareall inter-related
andeachhelpsbuild
the other.
Theauthor-SumantharaGhoshal-goeson to saythatyoucan
managetheseassetsvery similarto the waythe businesses
are managed.Likeeverybusinessmusthavea goalor a vi-
. Intellectual Capital
Specialised knowledge
and skills
.
Social capital
Network of
.
. Cognirive complexity . relationships
Sociability
Learning capacity . Trustworthiness
A_S
- -----
sion, it is importantfor an individualalso to fW'
havea goal.As theysay if you do not know '
whereyou wishto go,any pathwill takeyou
there.Youneedto haveat leasta roughidea
of whatyouwouldliketo be doingin 5 to 10
yearsfromnow.Havingthoughtthat,youneed
to translatethat in termsof yourhumancapi-
tal requirements - whatkindof knowledgeandskillsyouwill
need- whatrelationships ne or s will bevital - whatwill be
l
the emotionaldeman", The u needto makean honest
, assessment of existingr i' , ,e you are andwhatyou
havein termsof th e s of humancapital.The gap
,', ,
between a. th ' e current reality provides an
!;
agend
'. r w~~ CIto doto meetthegap.
It~ve . iS~ assessthesegapsandset an agenda.
doesi,~ ., tJalclaimto haveanymagicformulafor this.
the BPintis not to get them exactlyright,but that you
to thinkaboutthem.Thatthoughtprocesswillclarify
the gaps - betweenthe knowledge,relationships and action
takingabilityyou haveand whatyou will need - and allow
youto speculateon howyou mightclosethesegaps.
Whenonescareergrowthdoesnot commensurate withhis
academictags, we must attributeto lack of other capitals
requiredforattaininghisaspirations ratherthanblameit solely
on the company.If the numberof applications for NOe for
higherstudiesis anythingto go by,I wouldputit as our.high
biasfor intellectualcapital- for howmanyof us cashin on
the additionalqualificationswe acquire. We look to the
organisation for recognising
them.Butwhatwe perhapsdon't
realiseis whetherwe have built the right mix of human
capitalto matchourcareerneeds.Thatis howwe canmake
an attemptto translatewhatwe learnto whatwe do.And
this abilityto constantlydo and experiment whatwe learnis
perhapsthe greatestpersonalasset. Actionis the basisfor
developingexperienceand judgement.It is throughaction,
knowledge becomes useful and relationships become
resources.
I
..
Emotional
Self confidence
capital
.
Ambirion & courage
. Risk taking ability
Resilience