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Building A Successful Career while maintaining a strong Work-Life Balance

Unforced Errors

I like this idea of using lessons from tennis to describe mistakes we commit in our careers. That’s what Jeffrey A. Krames does when he writes about the 7 Worst Career Mistakes You Can Make. A well compiled list with mistakes all of us can relate to as we have come across them in our careers.

Building on this theme, some of the common ” unforced errors” I have seen include:

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Filed under: Careers, Sports , , ,

India- Big Market for LinkedIn

Everyone speaks of social networking and building your net image these days. I have written of LinkedIn from time to time- having joined it way back in 2005. I am not one bit surprised to see that India has emerged as the fastest growing market for LinkedIn as per their CEO, Jeff Weiner.

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Filed under: Careers , , , ,

Debate on Entrepreneurs

You must have heard this question a million times before: Are leaders born or made? Here comes another: “Are entrepreneurs born or made? “  asks Scott A. Shane, Professor of  Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western. What do you think?

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Filed under: Blogs, Careers ,

Post-Recession Career Plans

One thing is for sure. Bad times don’t last forever.  The recession that has hit people all over the world has changed the way people think.  Peter Roche, Executive Coach and Founding Partner of  The London Perret Roche Group has an interesting post ” What Do You Want To Be When The Recession Is Over?”

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Filed under: Careers, Executive Coaching , ,

Make Your Choice

“Is This The Time To Choose A Career Dream ?” asks business coach Pamela Slim in the New York Times.  She writes of a few people who have actually made good use of difficult times to choose what they really wished to do.

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Filed under: Careers, Trends , ,

Challenge yourself, Mr/Ms. Coach

It’s amazing how people all over the world share similar thoughts. The incident I refer to took place a few days ago.  A friend who was visiting from the US expressed a lot of surprise at my knowledge of the state of the US economy. She was surprised when I told her that I -living in distant Bangalore, India-read several US newspapers and journals almost every day- apart from reading many blogs of others in my profession as an executive coach.
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Filed under: Careers, Executive Coaching , ,

Chanda Kochhar

One more glass ceiling has been broken. ICICI Bank, one of India’s leading banks and financial institutions will have a 48 year old lady at the helm of affairs effective May1, 2009. Chanda Kochhar, currently Dy Managing Director and Group CFO has been appointed CEO & Managing Director .

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Filed under: Careers, People , , ,

The Informational Interview

The informational interview is a method of finding out details about a job or a project from someone who is qualified to talk about it. Steve Wilson describes what it is all about.
Marci Alboher writes in the New York Times about “Mastering the Informational Interview”.

This is yet another facet of networking. There is so much to be gained if the informational interview is well planned and structured.

I made a comment to the effect that it is tempting to rush out and do an informational interview with almost anybody. That would be a big mistake. The secret, I believe, is to first identify a list of people who are qualified to help you. From this list, you need to prune names until you zone in on a few key individuals who probably will give you the best value.

There is no substitute for preparation. The kind of questions you ask sets the tone for the meeting. You ask incisive questions, you will get the best answers. If you ask dumb questions, you are wasting your time and theirs!

Filed under: Careers , , , ,

Indians at Harvard Business School

For many a bright professional, the world over, a dream is to be admitted to the Harvard Business School. The venerable school celebrates 100 years in 2008. It’s mission: “We educate leaders who make a difference in the world”.

Guess which country sends most candidates (after the US of A of course) for the Harvard regular MBA program? That honour goes to India which sent as many as 38 students for the batch of 2009 made up of 900 students. HBS assistant director in MBA career services, Kurt Piemonte said, “Increasingly, we find Indian students want to head back to the country to pursue their careers. There is a real interest in India and the trend of returning to India to work is catching up. The number of students who have not been in the US before and want to return to India to work is rising.”

India already has a strong presence in the teaching side with 15 % of the HBS Faculty being Indians or of Indian origin.

Also, as part of its plan to globalise its curriculum, in 2005, HBS opened the India Research Center (IRC) in Mumbai, one of the six research units across the world. The research centre will help build HBS’s knowledge about the Indian economy and the corporate sector through case studies and original research work.

These are clearly positive by-products of the greater interest evinced in the Indian economy by almost everyone-including the Harvard Business School.

Filed under: Careers , , , ,

What the 2008 MBA expects

Management consultancies are the biggest draws for the batch graduating in 2008 0f India’s prestigious B-Schools, the Indian Institutes of Management, says Nielsen Campus Track-B School Survey 2007.

McKinsey & Co was rated as their “Dream Company” by 40 % of the students interviewed.

Investment banking (31%), foreign banks (24%) and software, IT consultancy and service (24%) follow as the next most popular employment destinations for students from the six IIMs across the country. In terms of the sector showing greatest promise for the future, retailing tops the list with 39% students positively inclined towards it. This is followed by private equity firms (26%) and investment banks (24%).

Compensation is an important attribute in choice of organisation. Survey respondents expected an average compensation of Rs. 19 lakhs per annum from their “Dream Company” – 30 % more than last year. Salary expectation from a local companies @ about Rs.14.2 lakhs is almost doubled to Rs.27.4 lakhs when it comes to foreign companies.

Putting a handsome package aside, 47 % expect to move out of their first job in less than 3 years in search of better career opportunities and higher compensation packages.

Filed under: Careers

Blogger: Prem Rao


Management Consultant & Executive Coach based in Bangalore, India
Alumnus of Lawrence School, Lovedale, Loyola College, Chennai & XLRI, Jamshedpur ('74)
First generation entrepreneur.
Founded People 1st Consulting in 2000.
Working with people for 34 years...and still learning!
Contact: bprao AT people1stconsulting DOT com View B P Rao's profile on LinkedIn

 

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