Universities in the west, in particular, have
pageant filled graduation ceremonies. At
these ceremonies, a guest speaker delivers a commencement address. The author, Mr. J.C. Sekar (1986, Metallurgy) presents such an address in
this section on the ‘Way Forward.’
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| Mr. J.C. Sekar (1986, Metallurgy) |
Introduction
To be candid, I had no idea what a commencement
speech was when I graduated from PSG College of Technology three decades ago.
However, thanks to the Internet, I have read or
watched and have been inspired by commencement speeches by many famous
personalities. A commencement speech is
usually made by a notable figure during the graduation ceremony. The person
giving this speech is the commencement speaker.
A famous example is the commencement speech by then Apple Inc. CEO Steve
Jobs at Stanford University in 2005.
At some point of time though, I started
wondering whether all these “feel-good” speeches were really impacting the bulk
of the graduating class or was it aimed at the elite few at the top of the
class who are perhaps eventually destined to make a big impact. How would it be
to have a commencement speech made by somebody who was perhaps not-so-famous?
What would, for example, I say, if I ever got invited to make a commencement
speech?
I decided to use this anthology being published
my class of 1986 as an opportunity to indulge in my unfulfilled desire (niraiveraatha
aasai).
So here goes…
Your journey begins
At the outset, hearty congratulations on
successfully making it through all those up’s and down’s that are an inevitable
process of any academic journey. You have now perhaps reached what may seem
like a destination at the end of a journey. But in reality, you are now at what
certainly is a starting point of a new journey.
Let me try and over the next few moments share
my perspective on what such a journey will look like and what are some of the
forces that act on you when you make this journey. I am going to ask you to use
your imagination as I describe your upcoming journey.
I would like each of you to think of yourself
as a little ball just about to embark on a journey. There are two dimensions in this journey -
one dimension will be left or right and the other dimension will be up or down.
There are many forces acting on this ball (i.e.
you). Let us start with the inevitable
that each and everyone of us face without exception. That is a pull to the right, that none of us
can really do anything about. The ball will roll at a steady pace to the right,
as often as the earth goes around the sun - that is, the march of “time”.
Let me introduce one more object now – a little
bar or line that defines what you would like to achieve. Let me call this the “success
line” or “dream Line”. This position of this line is for you to set
and for sure this is something that can be re-set over time. You can choose to
set this bar very high or adopt a step-by-step approach. The good news is that
this is your line or “your dream” and it is for you to decide where this
line should be. In other words, your definition of success is what matters.
You really should not worry too much about what
others think about the position of the line and how you would like to “alter”
this position over time.
What you certainly need to do is pay attention
to the other forces that are likely to aid your upward and downward movements.
Forces to contend with
Let us start with three terms that we
constantly keep hearing:
- Drive
- Passion
- Talent
How do we understand these in simple terms?
These are certainly three significant forces often confused for and arguably
similar.
I look at these forces as
- Internal or
- External
Passion
This is an irresistible external pull that
attracts us in a particular direction. This could be the force that
inexplicable urge to hop onto a gym first thing every morning – come rain or
shine. This could also be the urge to drop whatever you are doing and reaching
for your camera when you come across something that appeals to you.
Drive
Drive on the other hand is that internal push
that “drives” you towards achieving what you seek to achieve. In other words,
it is that upward force that takes you closer to your “success line”
even as you keep moving towards your right dragged by the force of time. This
is that endless urge to complete the Sudoku puzzle or crack that code, come
what may.
Talent
Talent is something that some of us are
fortunate to be born with or in some cased gifted with. Maybe this is genetic –
or maybe something that was dormant and discovered through some external force.
There is no denying that this is a huge asset if this is something we discover
in the course of our journey else we could end up as one who never really
leveraged his or her talent.
Impact of these three forces
Let us look at the impact of these three forces
on our journey. For sure, your upward
move towards your “success line” will be vastly accelerated if you are
able to marry your passion with your talent and your drive to be successful.
Unfortunately, not all of us enjoy this happy
marriage! An example of someone who perhaps falls in this category, to use a
sports example from the game of Cricket, is Sachin Tendulkar. There is
no denying that he is a talented cricketer. And he was certainly passionate
about the game and wanting to stay in the middle as long as he could. That did
not mean he gave up his practice sessions to keep building on his talent. And
the results show what he has achieved.
The progressive achievements during his career
reflect the constant re-setting of his “success line” to achieve
something higher with the passage of time.
Not all of us are talented though – or at least
may not discover our talents right away.
What if we were not talented, or we think we
are not talented, or are told we are not talented?
I would argue that we should not lose hope.
There are many out there who may not have the same degree of talent but have
achieved success through their sheer drive.
Drive that manifests in the form of perseverance
and hard work. A sportsperson, to
continue using Cricket as a metaphor, who I can think of, is Rahul Dravid.
For sure he may not have the same degree of talent that Sachin Tendulkar
demonstrated. However, that did not stop him from achieving great heights.
At this point, I cannot help recall a very well-known
line of one of the greatest innovators of the twentieth century, Thomas Alva
Edison who said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
I have always worried about the fact that I was
unsure about what I was really passionate about. Or coming to think of it, was
I passionate about anything at all! What if there was nothing that really
pulled me in a particular direction?
Over time, I have stopped worrying about this
and convinced myself, that one day, I would eventually discover my passion. And
even if I did not, I always had the force of “Drive” that could propel me
upward.
The most successful amongst us tend to
understand clearly what our passion is and align our drive and leverage our
talent, if it does exist. Some of us may however, have our passion completely
independent of what we may be “driving” for – and this is not a bad thing. It
only goes to show that we are multi-faceted in our approach and nurture what
perhaps is a hobby.
One way of looking at this is almost like
splitting our line of success into a “Professional” and “Personal”
lines and pursing two different paths. Reaching either line of success gives us
happiness – so nothing should hold us back from pursing our passion and at the
same time driving towards success in the professional sphere – even if these
are totally independent of each other.
And for those who may not yet have discovered
what their real passion is – despair not – one day you will. Till then keep
pressing with your drive to propel you upward.
The presence of and of the three forces of
Drive, Passion & Talent tend to give you that upward force. However the
absence of any of these does not necessarily mean that they will pull you down.
It may lead you to “drift” over time – and unless you deliberately choose to do
so, will not drag you downwards.
Luck and Health
That leads to a couple of other forces that we
cannot ignore: Luck & Health.
Luck
These are two forces that can move the ball
(i.e. you) be either upward or downward in life’s journey.
It is undeniable that for some people are where
they are because they were at the right place at the right time. This sort of luck is assigned in popular
culture to former American President Bill Clinton. His victory of a sitting President George
Bush (thanks to a third party candidate Ross Perot), his escaping serious
allegations during his campaign, shenanigans while in office (thanks to radical
opposition) allowed him to exit office as one of the most popular Presidents
the country as ever seen. Had he not
have such luck, he might well have been driven out of office; indeed, he is the
only the second American President to have been impeached by the U.S. Congress.
This can be attributed to a chance occurrence
or simply because they had that inner voice telling them where they should
go. It is great if we can “get lucky”
but it is foolish to rest on getting lucky as a strategy to get to our success
line.
Health
For obvious reasons, it is important that we
pay attention to Health – since it is something that we have control over. I have bundled Luck and Health in the same
argument with a reason. Take care of your “Health” and “Luck” will take care of
itself.
Indeed, it is gratifying to see that health
consciousness is all pervasive today in terms of what we eat, focusing on the
right amount of sleep and taking care to do exercise. Thanks to wearable technologies, we have
immediate feedback loops that help us monitor our state of well being (at least
physically speaking).
Let me take care to add, by health, I mean both
physical health and mental health.
Indeed, inspite of Rene Descarte splitting the mind and body in the
thinking of Western Culture, I would wholeheartedly ask you to hew to the
Indian mindset of yoga - which is the holistic fusion of mind and body.
The external forces
Let us now talk about two external forces. Your
“detractors” and your “influencers”.
Detractors: Detractors are those that are always and almost
certainly with an intention, pushing you down. Recognizing these detractors and
avoiding them is certainly an important skill one needs to develop – because no
matter who you are and what you are up to, there will always be detractors.
On the other hand there are going to be your
well-wishers who care for you and will provide you with the necessary impetus
that you need to move ahead. While this advice may sometimes seem unsolicited,
we need to recognize that these are people who have the right intentions of
helping you and not harming you. The least we can do to reciprocate their
intentions is to hear them out. You of course, have the option to decide whether
you would like to follow their advice or otherwise.
Influencers: It would make sense to pick up from amongst
these influencers, individuals who can coach and mentor you. A coach is one who
can provide you the advice to overcome specific shortcomings. A mentor on the
other hand is one who understands you and takes a holistic approach towards
your personal and professional development.
Sri Adi Sankara sang, “Sat Sangatvae
nissangatvam, Nissangatva Nirmohatvam,”
meaning through the association with good people comes detachment to
false ideals. Legendary business leaders
or sportsmen – whether it be General Electric’s Jack Welch (incidentally GE was
founded by the aforementioned Thomas Edison) or India’s own Sachin Tendulkar,
even in the prime of their career, depended on coaches and mentors to iron out
their imperfections and make them more effective.
On the topic of coaches it was fun to see two
coaches in the recent final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. In the men’s finals, tennis legend Roger
Federer was playing another legend Novak Djokovic. However, what caught my eye were their
respective coaches. Federer’s coach was Stephan
Edberg. And Djokovic’s coach was Boris
Becker. When I was your age, and
just graduating out of college, those two coaches were in the finals of several
majors, and they are legends as well!
These influencers can be seen as those little
booster motors that give you that extra power needed to jump.
The safety net
Let me now introduce an additional object in
this picture. A “safety net”. This net is your Family, Friends and
Professional Network. They form an
integral part of your personal and professional life. You need them in good and
bad times. In bad times, when the forces drag you down, they literally serve as
a safety net to prevent you for crashing to the ground and help you bounce
back.
Network: This could be through emotional or financial
support or through any other method that can help rescue you. In good times,
these are your well wishes who can give that extra bounce to leap forward with
speed. Growing this network over time helps you make that net even wider. At
the same time, not nurturing your network and keeping it alive will result in
weak threads giving way in the event you land on that net.
Please allow me to share with you a rule of
networking that if you learn and practice will serve you well over your
careers. In every project you are
assigned, wherever in the world you are and whatever task you are assigned -
try and make 3 friends in that assignment.
By friends, I do not mean, you worked well with these people during the
project. I mean, make a connection.
This connection should transcend the current
project work you are doing. The
connection could be about geography, sports, hobby, arts - anything that is
genuine and is of mutual interest. Let
us say you are given 1 or two assignments a year. Over a period of 10 years, you will have made
50 - 60 professional friends. And
remember, they are also progressing in their careers, just like you are. Lo and behold! Suddenly you are in a senior position after a
couple of decades, and you have connections that you can lean on (even
after the specific project is long forgotten).
Knowledge and Learning: In your journey, you also need a lens to look
at that unchartered territory that you are heading towards. This lens is
nothing but Knowledge. This is not just an in-depth knowledge of your field but
an understanding of the environment in which you are operating. We are in an
era where the pace of change and new technology will present new challenges to
overcome.
As one of my friends has written in this
anthology, education is very different from learning, and the latter is the
most important. Thus, learning and
knowledge can help us convert these challenges to opportunities. This
additional object in the picture emphasizes on the need for you to constantly
keep learning in your journey.
Summary
Today, you are at Ground Zero of what
you should see as an exciting journey into unchartered territory. It is up to you to set your target. These targets could relate to your
professional or personal sphere. And of course, these targets are moving
targets that you could change over time. It is up to you to control them – or
else somebody else will be controlling them.
There are multiple forces that could aid you in
your journey. These include Passion, Drive, Talent, Luck, Health, Family,
Networks, Influencers, Mentors & Detractors.
Navigating these unchartered regions requires
you to keep constantly learning. If you develop an understanding of the forces
and use the upward forces to your advantage and keep learning continuously,
nothing can hold you back from success or from living your dream.
From the class of 1986, my and our best wishes
as you embark on this journey.
About the author:
Mr. JC Sekar has just moved out of the
corporate world to "leap across the chasm” and pursue entrepreneurial
ambitions related and leading to a Safer, Smarter, Healthier & Sustainable
world. He lives with his family in
Singapore. At PSG he was a hosteller and graduated with a degree in metallurgical engineering.
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