My experiences

After pretty bad incidents in my recent past (as I discussed in my last post), I have recuperated and I am gaining back my lost confidence. I am back fighting in the corporate jungle, a jungle where everything looks so polished and Sauvé from outside but once inside, gives an entirely different look.

Anyways, Management consulting is a field which commands enormous respect in corporate world. Suave and polite, a Consultant from firms like Mckinsey, Bain, BCG, PWC, E&Y with three piece suit have a charisma to impress any bigshot in client’s firm.

The typical day in consulting involves meeting CEO’s and MD’s of organizations and devising solutions to their problems. The client assumes consultant to know everything and also to have answers to any problems. The client also assumes a consultant to possesses excellent soft skills.

Now, there is other side of the coin too. There are many things that are not told about this profession. For example, the consultant is supposed to bear the whims and fancies of its clients to keep them happy. 

Next, Consulting is about relationship with the client, about portraying stories that client will buy, about decorating something that’s already in place. It is not about Content or Substance but about marketing and selling yourself.

It is especially a bad job for people who like things to be straight forward and in black & white. It’s also not advisable for those who don’t like traveling a lot. Most importantly, a consultant is supposed to “show” that he knows and understands everything, even if, he has no idea of what client in talking about.

If while working in consulting, you think something missing in your life, think again, this field might not be for you. However, even if you want to exit, you will need enough courage to leave the huge pay check that you receive and settle down with a modest pay BUT with peace of mind and life of your own.

Suddenly, while sitting one day,  it occurred to me that I have discovered a eternal truth and I thought to write it down. My thoughts were revolving around HQ or Happiness Quotient. As I coined term, let me explain what I mean by it.

Happiness Quotient (HQ) is the satisfaction or happiness a person earns from his work apart from the monetary remuneration offered by the job.

Why HQ? What is its need?

Often I feel most of us run as fast as we can behind comfort, money and power. We try our best to indulge in activities that reward us financially well. Education too, falls in this category if we are solely concerned with the financial outcome after completing the education. Is this the only reason we went to schools and colleges?

Well, let’s take an example. A person who pursued medical profession with the motivation of lucrative prospects offered by the job may earn money and comforts but will never be satisfied or happy with his work. Why? Because the sole purpose of profession is to care for patients, to enjoy seeing their heeling wounds. He who can’t relate with the enjoyment that the profession brings to him will always feel emptiness inside him.

No doubt, everybody works for money. Without money, things won’t work on this planet. But how much money do we need and how much are we ready to pay for earning that money. Have you ever wondered the cost that comes with the money? Those who understand that money comes with a cost and that their work has larger purpose than just earning money can enjoy and get meaning out of their life.

What about you? Would you like to know if you have High HQ?

If yes, then honestly ask yourself:

1)     Do you enjoy your work?

2)     Do you feel energetic every morning while going for work?

3)     Do you crib about your work?

Think about these questions and you will instantly get the answer.

Let’s assume that you don’t like to do what you do everyday. But how many of us have courage to leave it? How many of us have the courage to leave a stable life? How many of us have the courage to leave the paychecks and bear high financial insecurity? Very few, and thus we keep doing what we do every day to earn our bread. 

Very few people have the courage to abandon all the qualifications and efforts they gathered to land at a comfortable place? How can they abandon it completely and start all over?

The place where they have reached today,  gives them respect, money and security but they are emptier than ever from inside. They are highly dissatisfied and unhappy yet the material gains of their position never allows them to leave that place. The illusive sense of satisfaction that comes with money and power never leaves and that that is what is the cost of earning money.

What will you do? Continue your life like this and start all over and do what you always wanted to do. The answer isn’t easy. It’s a tough choice to make.

Nevertheless, most successful people in the world were those who left their comfort zone and moved out to pursue their dreams.

Think about it!

I shifted from Mumbai to Bangalore after my transfer was granted. I had been to Bangalore many times before and I cherish the pleasant climate of the city round the year.  

After roaming in many cities either for studies or for work, I had a desire to settle down at a place for some time. Undoubtedly, Bangalore was the best option. I like the serene nature of the place and the soft spoken people here. Few of my close friends are already staying here and that too made this place close to my heart. 

Things were going fine and I was enjoying my time until my boss called me one day and gave me shocking news. I was asked to move back to Mumbai. It seems there was a project in Mumbai and I was supposed to join the project.

There are very few people whom one respects for their knowledge and intellectual abilities; my manager was one of them. There were many things I could have learned from him but I was supposed to leave. The hangover of Mumbai was still not over, the crowded city, the busy traffic and stuffed people in the trains. All memories were still fresh in my mind. 

But I had to move. It’s money that makes people dance and I could figure that in my life. I have to move from one place to another, with or without my choice, for the requirements of the organization that ultimately pays me.

I feel it’s kind of deferred life plan. You try to get good education that can reward you financially, then you try for a good paying job and then finally, you think what actually you wanted to do with your life. You keep delaying your ambitions for accumulating wealth. And one day you look back and see emptiness behind you. You try to find one single thing you can feel proud of in your life but unfortunately you find nothing. 

Well, coming back to the matter, I decided to revolt and told my manager that I can’t move, he told that my decision could be fatal to my career, but unfortunately, i could just see a job not a career. I didn’t enjoy my work neither did I feel stimulated for the job . All I get from my job is a paycheck at the end of the month. 

But mind you, this paycheck is miraculous thing. Not only for me but for most people in the world, it can make one do what he would never like to do. It can buy you comfort and many other things that you aspire in your life. What it can’t give you are the intangibles that matters most but are cared least like respect, love, trust & satisfaction which can never be bought but can only be earned. 

I had learned one thing very well that your work can give you immense satisfaction. Every morning, if your work drives you to office rather than your paycheck, remember you are at the right place. This also translates into earning those eternal intangibles that matters most like respect and trust of your colleagues.

At the end, I wish you are the right place where your work drives you to office and if not , I hope soon you will overcome the popular adage  that says :

There is nothing like “Job Satisfaction”, either you take “Job” or “Satisfaction”.