Career path and confidence

There is little I know about where I want to go in life; but I think not knowing what you want is significantly different from indifference.

Careers are like vines on a wall - each one creeping along and few know where it will end up - what I do know, is that the vine will never stop growing even if I am unsure of the direction.

The biggest life lesson has been, never stop waking up with passion, interest and determination to make a difference. The Dos Equiss ad comes to mind "Stay Thirsty my friends" and I truly believe it.
People laugh at my enthusiasm and my positive almost annoying Cheshire cat-like grin that makes people think I've had it all handed to me - of course not, I worked and fought, failed and succeeded, battled and lost skirmishes, but the impact has got to be positive.

As you embark upon life remember one thing - Are you going to ever lose faith or belief?

Inspirational Truly awesome video

I think this has to be a life lesson more than a career one - but overall, positivity is crucial!
Cheers,
Shreenath

Knowledge desire and passion

There is little I know about where I want to go in life in the long term; but if I do not enjoy what I am doing tomorrow and do not truly feel enriched, I will stop and try something else!
There is much to do, too little time to wallow

(Warning - semi-rant or advice column for people on my outlook in life)

Proactive optimism and a positive attitude can only help you in life. The benefit of proactive optimism so long as you are conscious of reality is boundless. Example - applying for jobs, learning an instrument or trying out a sport - yes the odds are stacked against you having a significant impact in any area, but if you never try, there is absolutely NO hope if you having any meaningful impact - wallowing in self pity and dismay at odds can only make you a good statistician (If you can, do that - start calculations on odds of failure and write yourself a lovely little statistics book!)  - Shreenath

Networking - not-working?

Sorry for the lull - I intend to publish all my "Draft" posts from the past year!
(JAN 2009)
I have been "fortunate" to focus on a good two - three months of targeted career searching, soul-searching and communcations with smart, talented people. The act of "networking" is little more than creating continuous opportunities for symbiotic relationships to form: Think to yourself,

"If I don't speak to him / her I might miss out on an oportuntiy to help them and offer my knowledge, experiences and perhaps help them achieve their dreams and ambition"; Conversely, the same applies to your own goals and ambitions and aspirations. There is no reason to not talk; what is the worst that can happen? They will say no - not that bad an outcome now is it?

Thus, my best self-learning from the last couple of years of work is here.
More learnings and sound-bites to follow!
Shreenath

Steve Shu on Facilitation

Steve does a tremendous job of explaining facilition techniques for all the laymen here.
I couldnt have said it better myself - a good facilitator, to paraphrase my mentor, makes the client think it was his own idea rather than the "consultant" idea. It is being able to communicate effectively enough to to make the client request permission to call it their own and keep calling you back.
Great article and more to come.

What is a vacation?

This January, I have been out and about the world quite a bit and I wonder if this really is a "vacation" as much as a frenzied travel adventure; nonetheless, I enjoyed it thoroughly and heck, that makes it a vacation!
Destinations :::::: houston, san fran, tokyo, kyoto, tokyo, singapore, bombay, chennai, small-towns across south india, chennai, bombay, delhi, bombay, chennai, bombay, singapore, tokyo, san fran, houston

The better modes of travel were: Shinkasen (train tokyo to Kyoto); singapore airlines (gosh what service and the flight stewardesses are awesome!); Indigo Air (Indian Budget carrier bombay-delhi)
The crappy ones - United flight (San fran-tokyo- San Fran -- old 747-400s with no entertainment); Go Air (Smelly and dirty indian budget carrier)

Highlight of the trip --- Tokyo automatic parking!! video-to follow.

Value of an MBA

Some interesting contrasting views on the value of an MBA!
NY Times vs WSJ!!

Life in different cities!

When i consider my choices and places to live in...
I went with the job that I loved the most - I would not say that I like the place too much - to paraphase a comparison from (Bos/SF/Lon/NY) to where I live:
From a historic city with a gorgeous diverse populace in a thriving walking metro and a melting pot of cultures, to a static, money-oil-driven collection of concrete with a lack of a coherent populace and disjoint societies?


Oh well - it is not that bad but it does make you wonder!!!

MillenialsRus

Are we part of this crazy new revolution or are we just normal kids?

What is the true calling of a nation?

What is the true measure of progress and how can you call a country developed/developing when others look at our insights while we ignore the very same?

Travel ^ Travel

CareerJournal | Have Advice, Will Travel: Running A 'Virtual' Company on the Fly

Consulting life is sometime bizarre and Entirely on the road. Accenture takes this idea to the extreme!

wharton is still good - despite what the new yorker said earlier!

At Wharton, It's Downshift to Accelerate

backup of backup of...

Redundancy in life is key for me:
I am not one to take a massive risk without a fall-back or failsafe.
Here was my heirarchy for post-high school: US top tier, UK top tier, US tier 2, UK tier 2, India tier 2, India tier 3, redo!
Then it got refined after 3.5 years at UT Austin to become (for graduation)
post graduation plans (business- consulting=#1... engineering consulting #2, backup grad school #2.5(if top tier) Engineering general #3, Boring Engineering #4, backup extra sem in school #5, backup extra year out of school searching for job #6, backup grad school #7 (rank 5-15) , + back up Singapore work #8, back up India - school/work #9)

Then now, as the H-1 B visa junk starts to show up,
If for some reason, I don't get it:
best case, i work in UK at the office there,
2nd, i might go work in Bahrain,
3rd might go to some other country with same firm
4th off to some other country with different firm....
5th just go to grad school after chilling at home for a while.
6th start something entrepreneurial.
Phew... enough redundancy?
;)
I wonder if others do the same with their lives?