Not Sure You Want to Be Groomed as an Executive? Ask Yogesh Sood.
Dear Yogesh,
I have been working as a marketing executive, and so far, doing my job has given me immense pleasure. My only concern is that I am stuck at a place where I love my job and dislike the turn it is taking. I am in the marketing field by chance and not by choice, and I think it is the best accident that has happened.
I love the work that I do and the people I work with, but in the recent turn of events, things changed a little. I had a performance review, and my boss conveyed that there are great development opportunities waiting for me in the future, including a shot at executive leadership in the long term.
My concern here is I never gave a thought about leaving what I do and moving away from it. I am very comfortable in my job. I believe my growth lies in the same position and in researching more about the field I work in.
This unambitious attitude might be because of my side hustle, which is my personal blog. I’ve never seen myself as someone who can manage people, and I don’t know if I can really handle both. I’m really not sure about what I want to do. I tried making a list of pros and cons with my dad and some help from the internet, but I’m just clueless about the whole scenario.
What are your thoughts on this?
Dear Rahul,
After reading your question, what I’ve concluded is that whatever the answer to this question might be, it will require deep introspection and research. I understand that you have made a pros and cons list and introspected regarding your final decision, but I also believe that this list only provides a go or no-go on binary decisions, in places where you have a lot of quantifiable information. This, on the other hand, is very complex research that you need to do.
The good news is that you have time on your hands to decide. Let me walk you through the steps that I recommend you follow.
Firstly, Gather information on all sorts of possibilities available to you.
Start by collecting information about how it would feel if you were to become a senior associate. This can be done through a dialogue with your seniors and those who have been in this position before. I am pretty sure it won't take long. A lot of people, especially leaders, love to be tapped on for advice and love to talk about their professions.
You can start by asking some open-ended questions to your seniors. This can be done through the following questions:
What are your most and least favorite tasks on the job?
- What are some of the work values that you follow? How have these values evolved over the years?
- Where do you spend most of your time?
- What are the compromises that you made along the way?
- What advice would you give to young managers?
The reason why you should do this is to have a wider scope of each person’s values. The more people you talk to, the wider picture you will be able to paint for yourself.
Secondly, gather information about who you are and what you really want.
We are all work in progress when it comes to finding what we love and would like to do. As they say it, ‘students for life.’ You are on the younger side, and whatever you find out after deep introspection, it will be the start of it. This will later help you build and refine your answer. Your first step should be to start by asking yourself the following questions.
- Where have you come from?
- Who are you, and how have you become that person?
- What have been: the main decisions, events, and obstructions in your life; who are your influences?
- Think about: your education, your home, and where you grew up.
- What is really important to you?
Write down the first 3 things that come into your head.
- What are your values?
- What do you believe in?
- Which principles are important to you?
- When everything else fails, what remains?
- Which people are important to you?
- Whose opinions do you value?
I believe that you’ve got a start for yourself, and you will have to work for yourself. Uncertain. I am convinced that if you start with these two ideas, you will be able to take yourself close to the conclusion of the beginning. You don’t need to rush. Make your plan, get going on it, take your time, and stay relaxed.
Regards,
Yogesh Sood
The above is an adaptation of a blog written by MADELEINE HOMAN BLANCHARD on DECEMBER 4, 2021: