While I was studying and when had I started working, I had assumed few things to be important over others. But over years, I learnt the hard way that those I assumed important are overrated and which I ignored were underrated. Let me describe those things here.
Dressing is overrated:
This is unless you work in a fashion industry or in a customer facing role. I do not contest at all the pleasing appearance good-appearance brings in. But one needs to go beyond that too. Having a great presence of mind is needed to shoulder higher responsibilities and fetch the rewards come with that. At the next level, a compassionate heart earns you comradery over fellow colleagues and that leads to the path of leadership.
Close your eyes and visualize the people you know well. You may likely see their face and their attitude towards you may come to your mind rather that what dress they wear. In the long term, we tend to remember the personality more than just outward looks. Now you may see my point. Another point I want to make is, I have seen may executives with not so pleasing looks but carrying themselves with high confidence and getting the results they wanted. If you only see their gestures and body language, you may conclude they may not be considered for a minor supporting role in Bollywood or TV serials, but they are business savvy. They make right business decisions and act on what is critical. Their deficiencies in physical appearance if any, is completely ignored by their conduct.
Networking is overrated:
In the beginning of my career I was told networking or how many people you know is important. It may be true if you are in marketing or similar fields. But for rest of us, it is grossly overrated. If you know just handful of people in key positions, it may be enough for getting mentored and for your career progression. It is just like having hundreds of friends who you barely know over few friends who know you better than you know yourself.
My point is, there is nothing wrong in knowing more people but rather spending that time and energy in strengthening the relationships with the people you already know might be more helpful.
Communication is underrated at junior levels and overrated at senior levels:
At junior levels, technical skills are perceived to be important but if the ideas and thoughts are not communicated clearly in written or spoken words, it may not have the desired impact and they may fail to draw the attention those junior employees deserve. Similarly, executives focus more on the preparing presentation slides and conveniently ignore the fact that Steve Jobs and Elon Musk did so well without slides.
In the beginning of career, while striving to gain mastery over one domain, it is also necessary to spend time in improving communication skills. And as one steps up the career ladder, they also need to stay relevant with the changing technologies to command respect from their juniors.
Interpersonal skills, most ignored but can be a dark-knight:
If you can read another person’s emotions, understand what drives or influences him or her and have tolerance to work with people having different attitudes and approach, there is nothing which can prevent you from growing in your career. Of course, interpersonal skills do come with mastery over one’s personal emotions which require understanding the emotional intelligence aspects. It would mean understanding how people behave in different phases of life, varying preferences across different personality types, cultural differences and different motivations and fears driving the human beings.
Go and study any great leader in the history, from Alexander to Napoleon, from Mahatma Gandhi to Abraham Lincoln, you would notice how they built trust in their followers. If you lack interpersonal skills, you are unlikely to have any following. Develop empathy and have genuine interest in others, you will see your circle of influence widening too.
Dressing is overrated:
This is unless you work in a fashion industry or in a customer facing role. I do not contest at all the pleasing appearance good-appearance brings in. But one needs to go beyond that too. Having a great presence of mind is needed to shoulder higher responsibilities and fetch the rewards come with that. At the next level, a compassionate heart earns you comradery over fellow colleagues and that leads to the path of leadership.
Close your eyes and visualize the people you know well. You may likely see their face and their attitude towards you may come to your mind rather that what dress they wear. In the long term, we tend to remember the personality more than just outward looks. Now you may see my point. Another point I want to make is, I have seen may executives with not so pleasing looks but carrying themselves with high confidence and getting the results they wanted. If you only see their gestures and body language, you may conclude they may not be considered for a minor supporting role in Bollywood or TV serials, but they are business savvy. They make right business decisions and act on what is critical. Their deficiencies in physical appearance if any, is completely ignored by their conduct.
Networking is overrated:
In the beginning of my career I was told networking or how many people you know is important. It may be true if you are in marketing or similar fields. But for rest of us, it is grossly overrated. If you know just handful of people in key positions, it may be enough for getting mentored and for your career progression. It is just like having hundreds of friends who you barely know over few friends who know you better than you know yourself.
My point is, there is nothing wrong in knowing more people but rather spending that time and energy in strengthening the relationships with the people you already know might be more helpful.
Communication is underrated at junior levels and overrated at senior levels:
At junior levels, technical skills are perceived to be important but if the ideas and thoughts are not communicated clearly in written or spoken words, it may not have the desired impact and they may fail to draw the attention those junior employees deserve. Similarly, executives focus more on the preparing presentation slides and conveniently ignore the fact that Steve Jobs and Elon Musk did so well without slides.
In the beginning of career, while striving to gain mastery over one domain, it is also necessary to spend time in improving communication skills. And as one steps up the career ladder, they also need to stay relevant with the changing technologies to command respect from their juniors.
Interpersonal skills, most ignored but can be a dark-knight:
If you can read another person’s emotions, understand what drives or influences him or her and have tolerance to work with people having different attitudes and approach, there is nothing which can prevent you from growing in your career. Of course, interpersonal skills do come with mastery over one’s personal emotions which require understanding the emotional intelligence aspects. It would mean understanding how people behave in different phases of life, varying preferences across different personality types, cultural differences and different motivations and fears driving the human beings.
Go and study any great leader in the history, from Alexander to Napoleon, from Mahatma Gandhi to Abraham Lincoln, you would notice how they built trust in their followers. If you lack interpersonal skills, you are unlikely to have any following. Develop empathy and have genuine interest in others, you will see your circle of influence widening too.
