The Art & Science of Building a Career

Over the years I’ve come up with my own theory of how to build a career.

I think about building careers along three dimensions… let’s call them X , Y and Z.

The X dimension is the type of skills that different roles require. So finance skills vs. technology skills vs. marketing skills etc.

The Y dimension is the type of cultural environment in which those skills are used and exploited. It could be which geographic regional culture like American vs. European or it could be the type of business… like family-oriented entrepreneurial group vs. multinational environment or it could be hierarchical vs consensus driven culture etc etc

The Z dimension is the industry domain that that role belongs to …. Consumer financial services vs insurance vs healthcare vs retail etc

Every role can be defined along these three dimensions and as you go through your career you must do three or four things. One you need to make sure you really become an expert at one dimension at least – and do that early in your career. I’m a big believer that as you go through a career, you’ll always be known for one or two things that define you …. almost a safety net. So if everything else is lost, you can go back to your core.

The second rule is to change one dimension every time you move from one role to another. But don’t change two dimensions if you can avoid it and please don’t change three dimensions because that’s a disaster!!

The third is that over a period of three or four moves, change all dimensions. So if you look at role number one to role number four, you should have changed all three. And then you’re in a different culture, in a different industry, in a different domain!!

This way, you can almost chart your career as multiple potential options. So when I was working in highly change-oriented organizations like Unilever, Citibank, and then GE, every time I was asked to move jobs within the organization, it took me pretty much ten minutes to say yes or no because all I needed to do was fit it into this model. So I changed six roles in three years with Citibank. I changed four roles in six years with Pond’s and Unilever and I changed five roles in five years with GE and GE Capital in the early part of my career at GE …. I said yes in 100 % of those situations but that’s a different story I will tackle another day !!

But like most successful ‘mantras’, this one has to be a blend of art and science. The dimensions and rules are the science part of building a career… but you need equal parts of ‘art’ to build a successful career and this comes from investing in longevity, relationships and passion.

The generation that is getting into the workforce today is more impatient, more exposed, and they probably are more knowledgeable. They want everything in life… their gratification has to be instant!! When we hire people and look at resumes, we don’t care what a great job someone is doing today or yesterday, if the resume shows six jobs in ten years, they have zero chance of even being called for an interview. Zero chance! We just don’t call them because no amount of telling me why they did what they did is going to convince me that they’re going to last.

Equity gets created only when time is spent. Knowledge gets created only with time… when you combine intellect with experience. So one of the biggest things that I would tell people coming out of universities into the workforce and joining the workforce today is do not underestimate time, and do not underestimate relationships and both require equity. If someone were to ask me the one joy that I’ve got over twenty-five years of a career, I would say it’s seeing people who have worked with me, who have worked for me, and are now in probably bigger jobs than even they dreamt of . And I can look at them and say part of the reason they are who they are is because of the fact that, "we worked together. "

And the last thing I’d say is to be extremely passionate about what you do. Like Steve Jobs said do what you’re passionate about and be passionate about what you do, otherwise don’t do it. When the two match, there is no difference between work and play. I work twenty-four hours though I might not be in office… because I love what I do. I’m really passionate about what I do. And I think if people actually gravitate to doing things, whatever it is, that combine those two, then I think the chances of being hugely successful is so much better.

BPO is not a 4 letter word!

When one thinks of Business Process Outsourcing (or BPM as Genpact has called it for 5 + years now ) the tendency is to think of call centers, commoditized low value work, boring – repetitive tasks, night shifts and so on.


That picture isn’t too far from reality – but it’s a picture that was reality circa 1995 when this industry first started. Some of us who started the industry had the vision to take this picture and elevate it to a different level altogether, improving it dramatically to deliver real, measurable impact.

Cut to 15 years later – today this is a radically different industry that delivers services across a range of processes from the mundane to very complex and high value-add services. A pretty significant chunk – almost 40% – of what we do requires high skills, deep knowledge and sometimes at least 10+ years of experience to deliver high-end services like closing books of organizations, filing 10ks for US corporations, analyzing and detecting credit card & insurance fraud, warranty management and managing spares for aircrafts … there are hundreds of diverse examples.

The career paths of people in this industry tell this story …. of an upward swing in skills and certifications. People who started out making collection calls get CA or CPA certified during their tenure and switch career paths to start delivering high end financial work for global organizations. It’s fascinating to see how one individual can explore multiple career paths across industries, domains , functions and geographies… all within the same organization !!

One hears from the skeptics how there is little room for innovation in this industry. But let’s talk about what innovation really is – it’s not just designing the next Apple product, right? Most people limit innovation to product innovation. While that’s probably one of the more visible forms of innovation, it’s the not-so-visible innovation in processes or services or business models that truly lives up to its name. Ours is an extremely innovative industry when it comes to people management. Our talent retention and development practices are the most sophisticated compared to any industry anywhere in the world… for a simple reason… we are forced to do it! The war for talent is crazy… we hire 15,000 people in a year… we train 40,000 people… and we also lose 15,000 people !! In such a situation you are forced to innovate people practices that attract, retain and engage the best talent in the world. If you make a list of the best HR leaders in China or Philippines or India or South Africa or Latin America , I guarantee you they will come from this industry. The same goes for the best Lean Six Sigma or long-term client facing relationship builders, or finance people who understand finance across verticals and geographies – the diverse nature of our industry hones our talent to produce world-class leaders.

The trick however is that you have to last in this industry and build a career in order to really derive its true value.

Like, Love, Own

The Facebook ‘Like’ button modernized the way we endorse brands and now a Minneapolis-based 'social shopping' company is seeking to add icons like “want”, “love” “own” etc. to FB, taking PDA (public display of affection) of the marketing kind to a whole new level !!

Is this propagating laziness amongst consumers… who knows (and we'll probably hear enough debate on this in the coming weeks) but for the time being I wanted to share a comparatively more laborious exercise that we did at the company I work in … to tell the world what we 'like' about it... in words.

With FB clearly emerging as one of the more efficient ways to tap into the talent pool out there (we aggressively use it to recruit), we asked employees to post in less than 200 characters what they “like” about us on our official FB page...as a way to tell potential recruits what they can expect when they join us.

It worked quite well with interesting "value propositions" coming out from various employee groups. The big things that jumped out at us from the 200 posts with 1900 likes and several emails (for the social-media shy) we got were…Plenty of learning & growth opportunities; Great work culture with flexible timings, safe & secure environment, friendly & approachable leadership; Employee centric company with friendly policies, respect for and values employees, has faith in them; Unyielding integrity with a strong hold on values.

I couldn’t agree more!! But I do have a few of my own personal “likes” …Undying passion for everything we do, action-oriented-execution-driven-never-say-die attitude; risk-taking abilities, and finally our completely boundary-less approach to work. These are the things that drive and energize me every single day.

So in less than 48 hours we had pulsed our global organization of over 55,000 employees across 20 countries to be able to make meaningful conclusions with actions... that's the power of the world we live in today!

What makes an organization intelligent?

A question that I have constantly thought about is what makes individuals intelligent , humans intelligent …. “Understanding intelligence” is a quest that has driven humankind for centuries. But what about Organizational and Enterprise Intelligence ?

What makes an organization ‘intelligent’?

Organizations do two things; they run and they make decisions. It doesn’t matter what industry they’re in or what their size is… running and making decisions are fundamental to every enterprise.

The economic turbulence and resulting uncertainty in today’s environment has forced them to re-evaluate the way they do both.

They are now looking for ways to drive innovative solutions to capture opportunities when they occur, while not adding cost. They need to be smarter in today’s slow-growth phase in developed economies, while ensuring they capture the high-growth emerging markets for future success.
This combination of forces at play in this volatile environment is really forcing organizations to become smarter, find ways to grow revenue and capture new market share, while ensuring they don’t increase capacity themselves and instead build an ecosystem of partnerships.

So how does a high-performing organization differentiate itself? They build the ability to anticipate needs, have the dexterity to adapt to change and the spirit to innovate. They are effective in diverse markets and are alert to evolving stakeholder requirements. They are intelligent.

So what makes an organization intelligent? In working with a bunch of high-performing, successful organizations that have adapted themselves to today’s environment, here are 4 attributes that are common to all.

They are Globally Effective. They are able to address different markets and run equally well anywhere in the world. And they deliver better outcomes for themselves and for their customers !!

They are Connected. They pick up needs faster and use all the tools and technology available to build insights faster. They connect the dots across the enterprise and ecosystem faster and build cost effective relationships faster.

They are Innovative. They find novel ways to address both opportunity and uncertainty for competitive advantage using all the knowledge gathered through being connected.
And finally, they are Adaptive. They respond to change with agility. In fact, they thrive on change... they want change!! Because they know they outcompete with others when change is needed.

And therefore, organizations that are intelligent and are able to leverage their ecosystem of partners are the ones who dramatically improve the way they run and take smarter decisions !!

Birds of a feather... MUST NOT flock together!

Modeled on and in partnership with the famous TED conference, the INK conference brings a very eclectic group of people associated with varied walks of life like art & culture, non-profits, education etc and provides them with a terrific platform to tell their stories. Last month I had the opportunity to attend and present at the INK conference in Jaipur and meet with a fascinating bunch of people across three days… I was amazed at the richness of their stories… the amazing work they’ve done… and the ability they had to tell their stories in such an interesting manner.

One of the stories that stayed with me was of Aisha Chaudhary, a 15-year-old girl who was diagnosed with an incurable immune deficiency disorder at the age of six months, following which she underwent bone marrow transplant. In her incredibly simple and touching way, Aisha took us through her early days when she was wheelchair ridden and destined to inhale oxygen with the help of a tube clipped to her nose. Her story drew thunderous applause and a standing ovation as she told us about the 5 lessons she has learnt during this phase; 'Believe in miracles', 'Live in the moment', 'Opportunity in difficulties', 'Dare to dream' and 'Pets are the best medicines'!!

In 5 minutes one could learn much more from a brave young girl than what many would go through an entire lifetime and probably miss altogether! That really got me thinking how most of us tend to stick to and interact with people who are similar to us… do the same kind of work… and even think the same way.. limiting the potential of expanding one’s mind.

But when you walk into an event like this, not only are you faced with a bunch of issues that you probably never thought about but you also get to know people who have dealt with these issues in a very different and inspiring way. What excites and motivates them is very different from what motivates most of us. So it really makes you stop and think and walk out side your comfort zone. It makes you forget your regular problems and the standard approach one tends to take to deal with those problems.

What’s interesting is that one doesn’t attend such events with the objective of doing a business deal… but rather to pick up experiences and ways of thinking that one can bring into one’s own situations. That’s the real benefit.

During the conference, I also got the opportunity to talk about the birth, growth and evolution of Gurgaon and the human stories behind its growth that has changed millions of lives. It's a story of hope for the future for a country like India, provided we can replicate all the good things that have happened and find solutions for the problems that still exist. The only way it can happen is if the partnership between citizens, their employers and the local government further strengthens and takes it forward.

But being an optimist, I am convinced it will happen - we will find incredible ways to drive inclusive growth!!

Of Horses, Cats and...Tiger !!

I recently did a 3 part interview with Phil Fersht from Horses for Sources. Came out quite well...read and react!

A big cat for a big job: meet Tiger (Part I)

One company has done more than most (some argue any) to change the very face of Business Process Outsourcing over the last few years.

Its origins can be found in a world-class finance and accounting captive that commercialized its operations with an army of enthusiastic process geeks, schooled in the arts of LEAN and Six Sigma… and at competitive prices. “Isn’t that the GE company” asked one CFO of me, when I ran him through a potential list of F&A BPO providers candidates, “Get them in, I want to hear what they have to say”.

Indeed, the rise to prominence of Genpact has been nothing short of remarkable, as the firm has reemerged in 2011 hungrier and more acquisitive than ever. Having survived a tough recession for the BPO industry, successfully fending off larger competitors baying for its blood, Genpact has recently taken a new direction: appointing NV “Tiger” Tyagarajan to take the helm from the irrepressible Pramod Bhasin, who preached process so poetically with us last year.

Anyone close to the business has always talked about the “Pramod-Tiger” double-act for several years, with Tiger initially being the US face of the firm, and Pramod coordinating activities from India. More recently, Tiger returned to his native India, not only to reconnect with his first love, cricket, but also to take on the role of COO and ready himself to succeed Pramod, who had inexhaustibly led this firm, since its 1997 inception, to surpass $1 billion in revenue.
Tiger is now settling back into New York – a short train ride from his son’s university in Georgetown, Washington D.C., where he is now in the process of adding his personal leadership style to the Genpact machine. So the $2 billion questions today are: what will Tiger do differently? How will Genpact fare with its leadership team Stateside? How will Genpact continue to evolve its business to move beyond its mainstay finance and accounting service line?

Well, you needn’t wait any longer, as Tiger recently spent some time bringing us up to speed:

Phil Fersht (HfS Research): Good morning Tiger. Before we delve into the current business issues, let’s talk a little bit about your earlier career and about you as an individual.
NV “Tiger” Tyagarajan (Genpact): I did my undergrad in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. And while I loved the problem-solving, logic-driven approach that engineering teaches you – and I use that in many situations today – I realized I didn’t want to spend my time with machines. I want to spend my time with people.
So I did my masters at the Indian Institute of Management in India, and specialized in marketing and finance. And I loved those two years. I thought I had found my sweet spot, being able to use logic and numbers and finance while at the same time, driving change through groups of people to get to a decision or a certain point.
My first job was selling, believe it or not, cosmetics for the Indian subsidiary of U.S.-based Chesebrough-Ponds. By my seventh year with the company – which by then had been acquired by Unilever – I had sales management responsibility for the country’s largest region, which accounted for 40 percent of the company’s sales.
That was great management training, and gave me the chance to learn the ropes in managing sales teams, and in understanding consumer and business behavior. But I was getting a little tired of a single product market environment, so I decided to switch to financial services and joined Citibank’s then new retail mortgage lending business. I held six different jobs in three years at Citi. And without going into all the ugly details, I was quickly termed the “cleanup guy”, the person designated to clean up a problem, and one of the ways I did that was by attracting and building up a team of A players. But my fundamental view was that if you really want to succeed, you’ve got to surround yourself with the A players, and I’ve carried that view forward in my career.
By that time, 1994, GE Capital announced it was going to set up a financial services company in India. I read Jack Welch’s two books and fell in love with GE. I knew it was a place where I could spend my entire career, going from credit cards to aircraft engines to healthcare to NBC, without ever leaving the company. I could also at some point in time actually see myself leveraging my engineering background and feeling good about it. So I joined GE Capital – and was probably the third or fourth employee in India – as risk head of its consumer lending business.
I moved to the U.S. in 2002 as the Global Head of Operations and Six Sigma for GE’s commercial lending businesses. Then I joined Gecis, which is now Genpact, and here I am.

Phil: Tiger, we all know what an amazing job Pramod did to get Genpact to where it is today. Can we expect anything radically different under your leadership?
Tiger: With the dynamics and pace of change in our industry, all providers have to be nimble and able to change rapidly, and Genpact did that under Pramod. There will continue to be dramatic changes, but that’s par for the course for us.
A few specific changes I am focused on are:
- Significantly growing our investments in domain-led sales and account management folks who have the knowledge and expertise to bring a high degree of sector-specific thought leadership into conversations with clients in vertical industries including banking, capital markets, CPG, pharma, retail, manufacturing, insurance and healthcare
- Shifting the center of gravity of the company’s leadership so that 50 percent are located on the ground in client markets. This of course includes my running Genpact from NY

I think the next 10 years will be about the science of processes and the insights gleaned from data analytics. So we’ll build on our unique, 10+ years of deep analytical capabilities across a broad range of industries to help our clients make increasingly smarter decisions

Phil: And is your leadership style very different, or very similar, to Pramod’s?
Tiger: As we both grew up in GE, there are aspects of our leadership styles that are very similar…bias for speed and action, the passion we openly wear on our sleeves, a deep disdain for bureaucracy, etc. But there are also differences in our styles. I get my energy, ideas and passion from conversations with clients, people in the industry, my team and our broad employee base, so I spend a lot of my time on the road in the markets with them. That is core to my style, probably because of all the time I spent in sales – 22 years! I also believe that this is the best way to drive innovation. And with my years spent as a risk leader, I’m a huge believer in the 80-20 rule…in this case, pick a few things you say “yes” to, and say “no” to a whole lot of things, and then drive the “yeses” hard, and with consistency and investments.

Click here to read the full three part interview trilogy, where we talk more about Tiger’s plans for Genpact and his vision for the future of technology and BPO…

Not just nurturing...rooting for gender diversity!!

A couple of weeks back a young and upcoming leader at the mid management level in my organization did something that most people would probably hesitate doing – she wrote to the CEO, myself and a group of senior leaders in the company about a personal experience very close to her heart.

Her note referred to International Women’s Day and started off talking about all the media hype around the event, which tends to focus on the position of women today, workplace issues etc. …. with an underlying tone of the need for being treated equal. Probably like most of the others marked on the mail, I assumed this was either a congratulatory note to to applaud our gender diversity efforts or she was suggesting new ways to beef it up further.

But the note wasn’t about that. It was about sharing a very personal experience she had going back eight years and what it meant for her!! She referred to the time she was called for an interview with Genpact and how she was convinced she'd be rejected at the first level – why? Because of her 8 month baby bump! To her amazement her experience was very different… and I quote: “To my surprise, my impending motherhood did not deter the hiring team from taking me on… they were focused on the capability that I would bring to the organization! I have come to realize that in our organization, opportunities are assigned always based on capability." She then went on to describe how our flexible culture and meritocracy driven environment has played a significant role in her staying on with the company and how many people probably take this culture for granted.

Her note, while flattering to the culture we have fostered and built, also made a very important point – the fact that many women assume that pregnancy and motherhood comes in the way of building a career -- ironic since she was actually starting the journey of a long fruitful career during her pregnancy.

The question in my mind has always been how do you create and sustain an environment where you can tap the best talent available, drive a strong performance culture, allow people to dream and attain their full potential over time and yet be able to allow them to go through life’s many milestones. We're obviously doing something that's working that must be replicated sustained and encouraged everywhere in the world.

All of us in our leadership roles in organizations strive for business performance that’s admired by our stakeholders, customers, investors, employees etc. We drive hard to find a motivated workforce... but in the end it’s the fact that we can actually create an environment that makes one write what she wrote, allow her to fulfill her ambition while going through other pulls and pressures of life...is what makes everything else pale into insignificance in comparison. WWish we could all create more environments across the world like this!!!