Comes winter and a flock of migratory birds look for suitable habitats—often risking being lost in the herd. Except that I am referring to the corporate stewards. Comes the appraisal season, and you see resumes floating, grapevines in the corridors and negotiations on the conference table. The lucky few beat the inflation, and the rest wait for another season. Another season but the very same reason—a suitable habitat.
The American psychologist Martin Seligman coined the term ‘learned helplessness’ and defined it as ‘belief that one can’t control or change a negative situation, even when the person has the ability to do so.’ Well-capable and powerful people often behave in manners that defy commonsense or, worse still, natural proclivities of humans. Employees, when surrendering their will and the power of reasoning to the important few, become emblematic of learned helplessness. Employees mistakenly assume that the managers, HR leaders or higher-ups have their best interest in mind and would persevere to not let that talent squander. Resultingly, when the reality emerges, such employees seek a new upper echelon. The names do change, but the fate doesn’t.
The cardinal mistake, which borders on naivety, is to assume that somebody else owns your career. One who’s trained to do so. Who has seen more of the world and is deeply empathetic to your aspirations. But how can it be? How can anyone be more bothered about your career than yourself, for you might just be a number on the Excel, or, worst still, a ‘resource’ that must be consumed at the altar of organisational aspirations. Shouldn’t they rather be minding their careers? No one can be privier to your innate talent, unlocked potential, and personal aspirations than yourself, and if you expect others to hold the key, then you become a mere rung on their growth ladder. Don’t be amused when you experience being used, misused or even abused, because, frankly dear, they give a damn!
Here's an invocation to own your career, or somebody else will. And when somebody else does, as in the case of animal husbandry, the result is always the same: exploitation. When Swami Vivekananda said, ‘Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man’, he meant that real education is about self-realisation. It’s about knowing what you will do and what you won’t. About your truest desires and your deepest fears. It’s not so much about knowing the worldly affairs as it is about the ‘search inside’, the real discovery of self. If education is the manifestation of perfection, employment is the amplification of that manifestation. It’s in becoming bigger than self, yielding an impact on the grander canvas, and working on yourself along the way.
When you surrender your present and future to others, especially those above, you aren’t just doing a disservice to self but also to others. You are burdening those in power to direct you instead of empowering you. You have parasitically outsourced the most crucial endowment you had, your talent, to the organisational selection mechanism, manned by those with skewed interests. It would have been far more appropriate for you to own your career and seek guidance while keeping the reins firmly in your hands. This way, you are responsible for all your riches and miseries and be a role model to the hapless others.
No one can know you any better than your self-imposed limitations or visualise your true potential any more acutely than what you choose to unfold. They are most likely paid to ‘tolerate’ you and not hone you, and their seriousness only matches yours. While you are busy working on delegated tasks, you mustn’t delegate your career. Your choices are your own, albeit informed, for you must own what befalls. So, from now onwards, don’t shy away from asking hard questions about your present predicaments and your future aspirations, on life’s longings and how to manifest those. Seek guidance, seek forgiveness, but be in control of your career choice, always.
Authored by: Dr. Pavan Soni, Founder and Innovation Evangelist, Inflexion Point Consulting