The leader in you

Updated on: Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Business is aspiration in life and not just a job to make your living . A career in business impacts life and perhaps changes your life. A salesman works to make living and an aspiring business manager sells to build business . As you aspire for a business career, look within and ask yourself - do you bring that passion and challenge in you or just hope that your MBA degree will make you a good salesman and hopefully earn a decent salary.

From music selling shop to UK's fourth richest man, Richard Branson has this to say "For me business is not about wearing suits or keeping stockholders pleased. It's about being true to yourself , your ideas and focusing on the essentials."

First greatest challenge you face is to discover your own challenge and an urge to achieve it. A meaningful management programme must help you discover this and support you in setting an ambitious goal for yourself. Second, are you a self-driven person who has ability to deal with competitive life and collaborate with your closest competitor? Professional careers involve competitive choices and rationally teaming up with your rivals. "Tell me whatever I need to do to keep you, and I will do it," Indra Nooyi told her longtime colleague, and her main challenger for the CEO's job in Pepsi.

As you decide to embark on a career, learn to set standards that you want to uphold. Finally, do you have courage and conviction in you? As someone observed about Ratan Tata, "It takes courage to play with expectations and deliver it" . If your answer is yes, you have business talent with or without MBA degree and if your MBA programme can build that in you, it is the right programme for you.

(The writer is president, ISB&M )

Times of India

The leader in you

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