Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank
- Achievement: Named among the world's most powerful women by Fortune.
- Recipe for success at work: Leadership and Confidence
- In her own words: “If there is a challenge, your shoulder ought to become broader and your back straighter. Confidence is important. Two, you have to be the sponge that absorbs stress. Else, it passes down to the team and they cannot function efficiently.”
Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo
- Achievement: Ranked No.4 on Forbes magazine's annual survey of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
- Recipe for success at work: Involvement, ownership and Hard work.
- In her own words: “Success rests on three important factors, family, friends and faith. I am what I am today, because I love my job. I view PepsiCo as my extended family”.
Just like these two leading ladies, there are umpteen examples showing, how very ordinary people - like you and me - have achieved extraordinary success at their workplace, and their exemplary performance in their fields of work have taken them higher up the ladder to actually represent their companies!
So what is it that makes some people more successful than others at the workplace? Well, to put it simply, there is this common thread of “traits” that runs across the fabric of their personalities, and takes them from where they are to where they want to be.
And when the fabric of your personality is stitched with the thread of these traits, you will be able to make it big in the corporate world of tomorrow! Because it is these traits that make the difference between ordinary employee and outstanding employee, between the follower and the leader!
Here is a list of eight such traits, that if imbibed by you, can ensure that you move from being one of the many faces to being the “one prominent face” of your office.
Qualities that make a success of very ordinary people at work…
Dream, for your work!
We all dream, but we all dream different! It is the difference in our dreams that brings about a difference in our actions. You dream to own a car, to buy a villa, but it is when you dream to make a difference in your work, will your other dreams be taken care of.
And here I am talking about, ideating. Dream of bringing in a new deal, starting a new project, working on a new brand, and innovating new ways of doing a particular task. See how you get noticed in the office. Your innovative ideas that make a difference and bring value to the organization will take you higher up the ladder.
Capacity to work under pressure-
Stress, erratic working hours, sedentary lifestyles and work load and pressure- how much ever you crib about these, they are there and are there to stay. The solution lies with you, in the ability to beat these and yet, emerge a winner. With increasing competition and the rat race, it is pertinent that one has the gumption and the spine to be able to work under pressure and deadlines. Yes, you may not be successful the first time, but train yourself. This will keep you under the eye of your boss.
Learn, unlearn, relearn
You need not know everything about the job that you do. But you constantly need to learn new things, grasp new ways and imbibe new perspectives that best suit your present work. Keep a tab on the latest news, trends and buzz related to your field of work.
Nobody wants a robot, whose breadth of knowledge is limited to his/her task at work alone, but someone who is well informed and updated about the latest trends, news and happenings in the field of work, around the world. This will keep you in the good books of your superiors and will also make you a good company at official gatherings so that you get a fresh perspective always to anything related to your work. Expand your knowledge, read more about the client, know more about the product..
Get involved
To be noticed at work, one needs to show involvement. The reason why Narayan Murthy chose Nandan Nilekani as his successor at Infosys, was because Nandan showed his involvement in the company. He owned his responsibilities and identified with his work and when you reach this stage - when you actually treat the projects you are assigned as your babies - will you come out with the most striking presentations and proposals and achieve results that spell success. And once you start loving your work, and own it, you will see, success is the by-product.
Chase Excellence
That’s the theme behind the success of the biggest blockbuster of 2009, “3 Idiots” – Chase Excellence, Success will follow. To be successful at anything, you need to be an expert first in that particular thing. Unless you know the product you are selling, its make, its parts, the chemicals, used, and its functions, you will not be able to market it or sell it. It was because Steve Jobs loved working around computers, that he got the idea of Apple. In your work, try to learn and understand your work thoroughly, before you expect a promotion. Remember, excellence is a habit not an act. It takes practice and perseverance.
Have Conviction
People do not want to look up to a leader who is himself/herself not convinced of what he is talking about. Nor do they want somebody, who would speak anything with confidence. In the journey up the ladder, you need to be a confident employee who brings to the fore, relevant ideas and has the ability of sending his message across, so as to be considered suitable for the next promotion. “You do not have to be a leader to felel like one, you need to feel and behave like a leader in order to be one!”
Respect Time
Seldom would you see a CEO walking late to a conference or a MD being late for the meeting. “Time is money” and for a manager, a leader and all successful men and women “It is more than money, it is wealth”. Being late for a presentation, constantly coming late to office, running behind time for a meeting with a client all go to show sloppiness, a lack of discipline and a disorganized lifestyle. And this may very well be the ground for your application for the next promotion to be rejected. Respect time, thereby respecting yourself!
Volunteer
One of the best ways to signal that you are a keen learner and are not afraid of hard work is to volunteer for work in addition to your core job profile. However, only if you are confident in completing the task in full and to perfection, go ahead and volunteer for it. Once you start the project, see it till the end. You would be seen as someone who is courageous enough to take on additional assignments. This is the habit you need to internalize.
And then - as a famous management guru once said, “life’s battles don’t always go to the strongest or fastest man, sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can” Believe in yourself and in your abilities!
