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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 | Home› Articles
Have you invested in YOU?
My favorite question to folks I was interviewing both internally and externally was - “How much time have you invested in yourself in the last 2 months?”
Most of the time, I received blank looks. Some brave ones ventured with a “oh! Yes I took Christmas and New Year to be with the family” and the smart alecs piped in saying “every day is an investment…!”
The real answer after some posturing is; most hadn’t even attended a day’s training, leave alone read a book in their career area.
The answer that kept coming up was “oh! I am so busy I don’t have the time to go for training or attend that seminar.”
Clearly, investing in ourselves, reskilling or just getting a fresh perspective was not on many of our priority list.
I am no saint either… I ran down the same path. I was too busy to take time out to invest in myself. I was too busy to attend training or take time off to just read a book or meet someone in my career area.
As a consequence, I hit a wall a few years ago.
My style of management and decision making that I had developed over years of trial and error, and by role modeling had not kept up with the growth and demand that my expanded role demanded from me.
The result was that my thinking was the same, my approach to problems assumed a certain predictability that the law of diminishing returns started kicking in.
However hard I worked, my results were not changing. It was almost like banging against a wall – the wall wouldn’t give in and I was hurting myself.
Fortunately for me, my manager realized this and suggested I take a study break! My first thought was he was trying to get me out of the system the easy way!
The truth remains, I had played the game, I had played it well, and won many, but was now finding it difficult because the level of the game had changed. I needed to retool myself to play the game at a new level and be prepared to even change the game.
I took the timely offer, to do my advanced management program at INSEAD. I am glad I did this because it allowed me to step back from the daily grind in an environment that facilitated guided introspection and gave me a peer group that was doing the same.
The result: I returned to the workplace with renewed vigor, clear purpose, new perspectives and a solid network to rely on. My colleagues commented that I was approaching problems differently; I was suddenly being pulled into projects, asked to get on the investment committee… and most importantly, I was having fun and feeling good about myself.
Since that experience, I am clear I will spend at least 2 days in a year investing in myself. It could be a training program, a networking event, or a coaching conversation. I mandatorily set aside a certain amount, and time each year as investment in myself.
My suggestion to each one of us would be the same – don’t wait to run into a wall to figure out a path around it. Our workplace is competitive and changing rapidly, it is important we retool ourselves, refresh our networks and update ourselves with new perspectives.
To help you as you think through how to make that investment I am narrating a few examples of friends and colleagues who I know made the investment.
Want to move to a general management role
Currently Vice President with GE, he is doing a weekend management certification course with IIM – Lucknow through a combination of contact and on campus programs. The objective is to learn frameworks and concepts to help strengthen his decision making process which is largely intuitive and based on past experience. This is also to give him the bigger picture; and help him look beyond operations – He is now exploring finance, HR, marketing, sales etc…He would like to move from core operations to a general management role after this.
Need global perspective and a broader network
Currently CXO in an Indian retail company – he did a 2 month Advanced Management Program at Wharton. Objective - refresh concepts, build a global perspective and nurture a broader network. He already had a BE, MS and a MBA before this. BTW he paid the entire fee himself and the company only gave him paid leave and travel.
Mid career shift
Currently, a mid-level executive in an event management company - is pursuing the HR certification program at XLRI. Wants to make a move to HR, either within the company or outside.
Build domain expertise in chosen profession
The deputy editor of this magazine, Rajlakshmi Saikia, is balancing family, editorial commitments and her newly minted social media diva status to pursue the XLRI HR certification program over the weekend.
Break the glass ceiling
A senior executive balanced a sales job, family and an executive MBA from Chicago Booth. He moved from New York to Chicago with family, took a pay cut, paid for the program himself, busted weekends and is now on the Executive Council of a billion dollar size Service Company. By his own admission he wouldn’t have broken through the glass ceiling if not for this investment.
Of course there are many others who started but did not go the full route. Many of them paid the fees, attended a few classes and then just dropped out!
Here are a few tips from, the ones who made it and those who didn’t, on how to stay the course and not drop out.
1. Make sure your family is part of the decision - they need to understand & sign up to weekends away, and late night assignments. Many of them had their spouses as active partners in this pursuit. One of the participants said it took a while but once they realized that it was short term pain for long term gain they got on board.
2. Discuss at work with your manager, their manager and your HR, the reason for doing this and seek their support. Actually I was going to say just manager but one of the successful ones said that it is good to have a broader safety net as managers may change and then commitments will be forgotten.
3. Remember a commitment from family or the company is not permanent - you have to constantly make them a part of the learning else they will lose interest and forget the initial enthusiasm.
4. Write out why you are doing this on a piece of paper and stick it on your bathroom so you know ‘the WHY’ every time you are brushing, shaving or just want to know why!
No advice is ever good enough unless you have the burning desire. Each one of those I spoke with had a burning desire to get that extra learning.
If you don’t have it, don’t bother! You probably need a jolt like a redundancy or a missed promotion or a glass ceiling to get that drive.
While all my stories are around long-term courses you can even just take time off to do day long to week long courses. I have for instance signed up for a course on valuations that is for two days and now lugging Damodaran’s tome on Valuations as reminder of commitment.
Good luck and don’t forget to write your comments even if it is just a wish! Sometimes writing it may get you to do something about it!
Happy investing in yourself!
Elango R, is the Chief Human Resources Officer at MphasiS and author of the book “You Don’t Need a Godfather”. You can read his blog on www.ElangoR.com and follow him on Twitter @agastyasays
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Very nice article. Thank you for igniting a spark..Tough but not impossible !!
Elango....It reminds me of the session I had for mentors teaching in engineering college, same question that in last three months what is their investment in their career, name any two websites they follow to update them regularly. Well, the scene is changing so fast, if we don't update, we will rust.I really enjoyed reading your article and best part is that you decided to take your own example! Break a leg for further career investments. Supriya Dhongde
Worth reading, following. I loved it. Thank you High Regards. Nahid Raza
Nice Ariticle. I am too late to realize the importance of self investment and now I am on a cross road.
Beautiful article with real time inspiring examples.
Every time I read this article it accelerates my energy!
Lighting up a flash on diminishing skills - Thank you very much!
Great article...re-skilling and acquiring new tool/retool. It is like gaining a big asset. Thank you.
Thanks for making us to rethink about re skilling.
Great investing in this article. Absolutely fantastic!
By reading this article itself I feel I have invested this valuable 10 minutes in myself...... Very inspiring article.
Firstly, I appreciate the manager and then you the most, for sharing this article. Its thoroughly inspiring.
Really a very inspirational article, it made me realize how away I am from my track. Now, I will focus on where I want to be.
Thank you so much for inspiring!
Thank you so much for inspiring!
Nice Article. Thank you!
Nice Article. Thank you.
Thank you so much .. a really nice article which I have read after a long time .. a true fact. It has inspired me even more now, I am committed to invest in myself.
Yes Elango. It is true. For the past 2 months, I am investing time for me. I am seeing the world in different perspectives. I met many senior management people and many technology evangalists, many real estate owners, many government officials in different departments, legal minds, IAS officers, IPS officers, IFS officers, Central Ministers, foreign minsters, diplomats etc etc. The world is really big.
Very Good Article. Thanks for sharing.
Nice article.
I invested one and a half year (weekends) to complete an executive MBA from one of the premier institutes in India . Now I am seeing things through a different glass at my workplace .I am glad that I devoted that in doing my masters !
Thanks for this interesting article. I hope many of us start following and investing in ourselves after reading this.
Thanks for sharing a great article!
Very nice article.
Nice article!
Nice and very good article!
Fantastic article!
The tips or reasons given for the ones who started and dropped out and for those who are planning to do are really inspirational.
Good Article, I have learnt the essence of investing in myself. Thanks. Keep posting such good articles.
Good one!
Awesome!!! It is truly motivating....to be in this world of challenges and competition we have to upgrade..else you are lost!
Its motivating! Thanks!
Good article. After a long time I feel I have invested in myself.
Thought provoking article!
Nice article, thanks for publishing.
Great! Thought and thanks for sharing this with all. It would be great, if all of us get two days of time and recourses to invest in ourselves, mandatory in the organization. Every day we learn at least one new thing. Many don't have a track of what they have learned and if it really matters for their current or future role.
Nice article! Thanks Elango for the article.
Ah Yes ! I badly needed this boost right now. I have also enrolled in a program, initially with great enthusiasm, but as time went by I gradually lost interest over it. Just because the duration/validity of the course was 4 years, I never bothered to touch my books for almost 7 months since the date of my enrollment. Now this sounds encouraging enough for me to invest in myself and to continue with what I once thought was FUN! Thank you once again Elango!
Really an inspirational article!
Nice article!
Very Good article.. and this is something that i have realized myself and have enrolled in a certification which i am sure will broaden my horizons personally and professionally..Thanks a ton for sharing your experience.. Regards, Chanchal
Good article...I know that something was missing in my life. Now i have understood where i should focus.
Thanks for the great article.
Worth reading article - I felt I had invested in myself by reading this article.
Learning inclination and desire to move off the rut, inspires investing in oneself..Good Article!
Interesting...Please check if they provide it for non US residents.. Can you share the book name?
Well said. I took time-off to attend a free IQ test conducted by Church of Scientology in Dallas. You can also take the free test online if you are in US. To get your scores, however, you have to visit a local Church of Scientology where they will explain your strong and weak areas. After explaining my strong and weak areas, they recommended me to read a book and attend a 3 hour course. Initially I was reluctant then thought of giving it a try. But believe me, it was a great course and really made a lasting impression on me. Now I see the world very differently after going through the course. I read the book 3 times and each time it gives me more insights to personal development and interacting better with coworkers and family members.