3 L's and a career!

As many of my students leave us for industry, a few stop by and ask, what would contribute to a successful career.

While there are many things that lead to success. I think from my experience that the following play an important role:

#1. Language: Who ever said that you could get by without decent language skills was giving you a load of BS.While it is important to have good language skills it is very important to be vigilant enough to detect BS. For example, have you heard somebody say ' Your presentation was wonderful, but..................... . Well everything before the 'but' is BS and can be safely ignored. Other words that should get your sensors up are words like 'only', 'just' and so on. 'There is only a small mistake'. Sit up and take notice, immediately.There is trouble in the offing.

Then there are the power players who use power words like urgent, strategy, important,paradigm to hide real facts and their ignorance. Another trick is to serially drop names of people who are in power and are fairly sure you will not cross check.

At a critical moment in your discussion you will hear the sentence, ' In my last meeting with the General Manager, she said that.....................'. The tactic is meant to strike fear in your heart and get you to shut up, pronto.

#2. Lies: It is a fairly well known fact that folk pad up their resume. What is not very well known is that about 5-10 % are pathological liers and worse are very skilled at the game. The general trick here is not to lie because most lies are not sustainable and you will eventually be found out and more importantly guard against liers by not being overly trusting. Most of us trust and then weep, when we are suckered.

#3. Luck: You bet your last paisa that without this you are doomed. However, you can improve your luck quotient my investing in the following:

a. Practice: Look at Sachin Tendulkar.
b. Persevere: Infosys Narayanamurthy.
c. Prepare: Look to the future and keep the big picture in mind. Don't get lost in small details.
d. Promises: Keep them. That's how you build credibility and folk trust you.You build a network that will cushion you in bad time, and trust me they do come.

Most of all to be really successful, you've got to enjoy the voyage, rough sea's and storms, as well, and watch out for the bullshitter's!Treat them like bubonic plague!