Career Mastermind : Sawan Kapoor

Reach your APEX, your highest potential, tip. Unwritten important rules of work place. Each work place is unique with their own standards, norms, code of conduct. It's an organized framework, Systems should work for you. Strategy statement, Mission statement, core values, departmental KPIs, are same. One has to take a big picture view. 

What human being respect, will always remain the same. When we start we start with:

1) Inadequate knowledge - but want to show their values.  - You land up making bad decision - Credibility will be lost - People will start becoming resistant to you because you can be brash - Unsupportive alliance and Cultural disconnect.  This becomes a cycle. Its hard to break out of this vicious cycle. This leads to ineffective relationships. You have to go with the feeling, I am going to fit in the mission. 

Building relationship is important. Give a feeling, that in associating with you, their life will become pleasant. This is the approach with which to proceed. 

Go with the feeling, that I am going to fit into their mission, and this is the approach with which to proceed. This cycle is difficult to break. 

2) Get into focused learning.  Good decision, you will start getting Informed strategy and vision  as people will start opening up to you. It will help create early wins, and increase your credibility. You create supportive alliances. 

When you join, create the right foundation:

 

The first three months are the learning period, where you try and understand the values of the company. Following 90 days, you will be able to produce the right value. In the first 6 months, it would be stabilizing period. You will start creating wins in the third month. 

3) The way you build your foundation, is the way you get your respect. Even if any one insults you, it becomes insulting, only if you let it impact you. Only when you give consent. When you do great work, it will be building your foundation. Your foundation is your work. 

1. Most important and the centre point is Your work
2. The start and end are Physical appearance and what you say.
3. How you act and your belief adds to this.

The totality of this is your image. 

Truth Bomb:

1. Early success or early failure in a new role is the best indicator of your overall success or failure in the job.
2. The lesson will not leave you, until you learn it.....Good leaders are ready to learn from mistakes. If you don't take feedback from your life, you will keep making the same situation. You will keep giving justification. 
3. You are not looking for the best run business . You are looking for the business where you can create the maximum impact
4. When in need, everyone turns to the A-Player. 
5. People don't quit jobs, they quit situations. It cold be unreasonable boss, political environment, Lack of opportunity, lack of clarity, Inappropriate harassment. 

Fitting into the system is different from being concurrent with the system. First you need to fit into the system. 

Unwritten rules: - Blood , sweat and tears are needed. 

1. You are being judged by all, at all times - by your friends, boss, at all level. Your image should be most important to you. 
2. Never appear too busy or too stressed about anything (this means do not let anyone know how hard you work , including your boss) You have the option to  choose to react,  be cool. You can ask for support in the beginning. Don't push your work onto somebody else. Pick up your spirit. 
3. Keep your home life at home, and your personal life, personal. Do not go out with your coworker and regret it the next morning, by speaking too much. Don't be calculated but be smart. Cleverest person is the simplest person. 
4. Get your work noticed. E+R=O; An occasional unsolicited report, is a way to stand out. Research and give boss what he is worried about. To know your boss have issues, you need to set up right relationship with him. When there are problems give solutions as well. 
5. Never Stand Still. 
6. Act One step ahead. 
7. Value creation at every step as you grow up. 
8. Know the promotion system in your company. Results + Values. 
9. No matter how you feel it is important to know what to say where and what not to say where - Know your boss, and remember he is your boss. 
10. Three options - Accept, Speak, Search. - It would be Denial, being rebel, or being smart. 
11. Don't work in the business , you must work on the business.  - Make your boss look good, it should be genuine. It will earn you their heart. Stand up for others, but don't cover up for anyone. 

Work Place Politics: 

1. Let your work speak for your self, and be fair.  - Some people like to play intricate game, go back and forth, you be straight.
2.  Only person you can control is you. Don't react. If you react, you have let it impact. Only person who can give consent is you. Mastery of oneself, is mastery of ones emotion. 
3. Focus on your impact and your result. 

Future of Work

Massive sudden change, pandemic has made everything urgent. Basically in three areas:

• Workforce related change - 
• Siloed to connected workforce, 
• disempowered to empowered work force, 
• separate to integral personal and professional life, 
• Centralized large teams to globally distributed smaller teams. 
• Culture related changes - It is not your seniority but your productivity that will matter.
• Activity based to outcome based
• Scarce innovation to innovation everywhere
• Controlled to abundant learning 
• Risk averse to experimental mindset
• Prescriptive to personalized workforce
• Governance related changes -
• Own the asset to rent the asset
• Focus on profits to focus on impact
• Biased to diverse senior management
• Biased to objective decision making
• Hierarchical to flat structure. 

People don't deal well with change - radical change need, radically proactive people and stability. 100% responsibility. Dealing with uncertainty is going to be absolute necessity. 

The certainty of misery is preferable to the misery of uncertainty. - Virginia Satir.

There is no choice, but be ready for change. Only people who are able to adapt quickly are going to be able to make it. It is not only ones with emotional intelligence who will be successful. Businesses are reinventing massively. 

Number one factor that will determine your success is your adaptability quotient. It is going to be the survival of quickest and not fittest. 

The successful will be people who can adapt quickly. Old industries will vanish and new ones will emerge. 

By Funding stage and life cycle - Funding hierarchy start with bootstraping, pre-seed funding, seed funding, series A funding, series b funding and series C - much bigger funding and IPO.

Emerging -) Scaling -) Matured Work. 

Adapt or die. 

How work is done will change. 

How world is changing?

It will be divided into four types:

Understand which tribe you want to be into. There can be a mix. 

First duty is to your self, family, friends and relatives and the world/society. Charity begin at home. 

• Yellow world - Meaning impact
• Red world - Innovation impact - Digital, technology, 
• Green world - Social impact
• Blue world - Monetary impact - Big companies with cut throat competition. example pharma company, willing to experiment for profit at the cost of peoples lives. 

There will be lot of people willing to work for less salary with more joy and happiness. 

Career Transitions

When you get a dream job, how do you move from being a seed in the organization to a healthy tree.  10 Steps:

When you first uncover your red diamond, it is going to be a rough stone. You need to cut, polish and bring it to shine. Be the master crafts man. Continually reinvent yourself. 

Most difficult time is transition - New job, promotion, role, boss, vertical depth, new culture, change departments, Cross functional , Leading former peers, new industry.  One of this situation is going to hit you every 1.3 years. Some of these will happen in parallel, some will be visible, and some will be invisible. 

During transition, all eyes are on you. 

At that time, you still don't have the cushions in the relationship. Culture/methods have to be understood, business is a dynamic entity - you have to comprehend the strategy. 

Be aware of certain traps that you fall into:

1. People tend to stick with what they know. Be open minded
2. You must take action
3. Setting unrealistic expectation. Don't over promise and underdeliver. 
4. Attempting too much
5. Coming in with the answer - new role is new , you yet dont know enough, if your knowledge is applicable or not. 
6. Engage in incorrect learning - marry people to a system of belief. 
7. Neglecting horizontal relationships.

Right foundation when you start a new job - Plan for creating right foundation:

    Very important to produce the right value. It will happen only when consume the right value. 100 day report in Government, we get only 90 days.

Truth Bomb:

Early success or failure of a transition, is the best indication of your overall success or failure. Well begun is half done. 

To get 90 days right, you need to get the first 90 days right. 

You have to be disciplined. The 10 strategy to polish the row diamond are:

1. Prepare yourself
2. Accelerate learning
3. Match Strategy & Situation
4. Negotiate for success - 5 conversations you need to have - how do you diagnose, how your manager manager, what resources will be provide to you, what happens to your carrier next
5. Secure early wins
6. Achieve Alignment - Leaders never claque their way to top, they are taken there.
7. Build your team - You have to institutionalize processes,  lean process that is self improving. - Hire slow, fire fast - If you made a wrong decision, don't let your ego get on your way. 
8. Create Alliances - have amazing relationship - people have to say amazing things about you behind your back.
9. Manage Yourself -
10. Accelerate Everyone - Your behavior makes you the leader.  Blame should be with you, credit should be with everyone. 

You cannot stop change, you need to accelerate.  The complete elements of the career triangle are 

• Job satisfaction
• Balanced Lifestyle
• Total Compensation