The Hindu Business Line : `Deserve and deliver before you desire more'

GANESH Chella, CEO of Totus Consulting, drew up a powerful reality check for the students of SRM School of Management near here. For competent MBA graduates, the world is their oyster. Employers will queue up and there is good money to be made. However, he told the students, young managers needed to be deserving of opportunities. "If you get more than what you deserve then you can be under tremendous pressure."Speaking to over 350 MBA students of the school under the aegis of the BL Club on the topic `Deserve before you desire', Mr Chella said organisations today expect a lot from their highly paid employees. Earlier, there was more latitude for the students to understand their job and the environment.

However, today organisations expect their highly paid employees to perform from day one.

"But, you cannot, because you may not have the skills," emphasised Mr Chella. So, individuals need to take responsibility for themselves and develop those skills needed to perform in a critical job.

Today's dynamic job market is such that very often, young employees bargain and end up getting very high-paying jobs.

Mr Chella said that after moving rapidly and getting higher pay packets each time, these individuals would reach a level where the salary they receive may be more than what they deserve.

He recalled the days of the dotcom bust in year 2000 when the people who lost their jobs first were those not so deserving.

"During the good times, you need to be responsible for your own skills and development," said the Totus CEO.

A lot also depended on how much young managers were willing to learn from their seniors. "Today, you can Google and download information, but you can't download wisdom," he stressed.

He told the students that in their career, they need to invest a portion of their salaries in personal development. "Invest in reading, meeting professional peers, in enrolling in self-development programmes. If you stagnate, you will become undeserving of your desire for higher salaries," he warned.

Organisations today, said Mr Chella, bring up people only to a certain level. "Beyond that, the journey is entirely yours and it's up to you to take full responsibility," he said.

Today, there is no slack in organisations to train people to their optimum and there is pressure on time. In this situation, young people must show the ability to learn quickly. "Organisations want employees to embrace change, and fast," he emphasised.

Unlike the earlier generation, when people worked their entire lifetime in an organisation, today they are likely to change at least 15-20 organisations in their career. However, he cautioned the young MBA aspirant to spend time in their first job. "You need to season well like pickle and soak in all the skills and be satisfied that it has made a difference before you move on," was Mr Chella's message to the students.

Also present at the talk was Ms Jayshree Suresh, Director, SRM School of Management.

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