Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Tips on Career management by Mr R Gopalakrishnan Executive Director, Tata Sons

The Economic times has recently been bring out a series of articles by Mr R Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director , Tata Sons.

An IIT alumnus, and a 31 yr stint with the the Unilever group rising upto the Vice Chairman of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), and presently a director on several Tata group companies, it is very interesting to note some of his thoughts from daily life !!It is really enlightening for all those in the corporate race!!

In his latest piece, he tackles the question –is it the aim of a career to go far –or in the right direction?? The analogy of a club golfer's enthusiasm is so apt. They often hit the ball to see it soaring with speed-only to observe where it has either landed in a difficult spot or even got lost! The mature ones take a measured approach of landing the ball on the fairway at a spot where they want it to land. For them, the next stroke is as important as the first tee shot!! If you are very talented, you may learn to do both..take the right direction, distance will follow!!

Some of his words of wisdom from the the earlier articles in the series:

Enjoy what you and do what you enjoy! A career is not a destination, it is the journey

Learn from simple ideas and stories that surround you!

Management is about leadership — of people, of ideas, of markets. It is not merely about how far you go, and definitely not about doing what you are told to do, it is about doing what you are paid to do.

No comments: