In today’s world of increased longevity, the
career span for a typical talented executive has significantly extended. As a
result, the new generation could be expected to have a long career span of five
decades, from 25 to 75 years of age. Compared to the current and older generations
who coasted along the career paths (retiring at a ripe young age of 55 or 58
years!), the new generation has the aggression and aspiration to shape their
careers in an accelerated manner (without resting till they reach the young
ripe age of 70 or 75 years!), and that too more by design than by default. This
new trend is, in turn, shaped by the new generation’s quest (and the parental pressures)
for joining elite institutions and premium courses to leverage into companies
and careers of potential high net-worth in future. This has led to a phenomenon
of rapid and early career burnout in most other cases, leading people short of
the opportunities of a career marathon.
With a bit of philosophical reasoning,
external awareness and candid introspection, one would surmise that in life,
the law of averages would eventually work out, coincidentally again in most
cases. There are, in fact, four laws that govern career life, understanding of which
would provide an appropriate perspective to appreciating the long term
realities of career life. Once these realities are appreciated, it would be
possible to look at a more orderly and structured progression of career life. Hinduism
prescribes four stages of life to a typical male. Shakespeare has formulated 7 stages of life in
his play “As you like it”. This blog post hypothesizes four stages of life for
career aspirants so that the new generation can face the corporate life with
equality and stability. But, first the four laws of organizational life need to
be appreciated.
The four pyramidal laws
The first law of organizations is the Law of
Pyramids. Whatever the nomenclature and color given to the structural
dispensations of organizations, the enduring law is that any organization is a
pyramid in terms of departments and people. In fact, the typical organization tends
to be several pyramids within a master pyramid. Each time, one reaches the apex
of a pyramid (read, department) he or she will find that that place is, in
fact, the bottom of another pyramid. The second law of organizations is the Law
of Slippery Walls. Like pyramids which offer no easy steps or holds to climb,
organizational pyramids also offer no easy way to climb to the top. The path is
steep and slippery, almost inevitably.
The third organizational law is the Law of
Multiple Climbers. This law teaches that even if one is fortuitous to be alone
on the climb on one’s side of the wall, there would inevitably many climbers
from the other sides of the pyramid (read, sections, departments or businesses
in place of walls, depending upon which level of pyramid one is trying to perch
oneself onto!). The fourth organizational law is the Law of Spiked Chair. This law, which is the most profound of the
four laws, can only be experienced and not taught. It states that if one is
able to climb up the pyramid with one’s diligence and persistence, and fair amount
of luck, one will find the apex far too sharp and spiked to afford any chance
of comfortable stay. Unfortunately, there would be no honorable climb-down
either.
Whoever reaches the apex of the ultimate pyramid
would, no doubt, wonder why at all he or she has aspired for, and worked
towards, reaching the apex of the organizational pyramid. However, like
everyone despairs about life looking at others’ travails (be it studies, jobs
or marriage) but goes through exactly the same rigmarole, members of organizations
go through the motions of multiple pyramid climbing with great zeal and
application. Those who understand the four laws in a philosophical perspective
would, however, be in a state of equanimity to understand and pass through structured
career phasing.
Four phases of life
Hinduism classifies one’s life in terms of
four phases or stages, each being called “ashrama”. The first stage is the “brahmacharya”
or the “student” stage. The second stage is the “grihastha” or the “householder”
stage. The third stage is the “vanaprastha”
or the “hermit” stage. The third and final stage is the “sanyasa” or the
“ascetic” stage. Without going into the full
details of what each stage is expected to involve in a classic Hindu way, it
would be sufficient for this blog post to understand the basic purposes of each
of the four stages of life.
The student stage is a period of formal
education. It lasts until the age of 25, during which, the young male seeks to
attain, under a famed guru, both spiritual and practical knowledge. During this
period, he is prepared for his future profession, as well as for his family.
This is a phase wherein the greatest dedication and application is expected of
the young learner.
The second period of householder begins
when a man gets married, and undertakes the responsibility for earning a living
and supporting his family. At this stage, Hinduism supports the pursuit of wealth
as a necessity, and indulgence under certain defined social and cosmic norms.
This ashrama lasts until around the age of 50. However, given the rigours of
the subsequent two stages, the second stage virtually lasts a lifetime these
days!
The
third stage of a man begins when his duty as a householder comes to an end: his
children are grown up, and have established lives of their own. At this age, he
should renounce all pleasures, retire from his social and professional life,
leave his home, and go to live in a forest hut, spending his time in prayers. This
kind of life is indeed very harsh. No wonder, this third ashrama is now nearly
obsolete.
In the fourth and final stage, a man is
supposed to be totally devoted to God. He is a “sanyasi”, he has no home, no
other attachment; he has renounced all desires, fears and hopes, duties and
responsibilities. He is virtually merged with God, all his worldly ties are
broken, and his sole concern becomes attaining moksha, or release from the
circle of birth and death. (Suffice it to say, very few can go up to this stage
of becoming a complete ascetic.)
Four career ashramas
Given that the career span of the talented new
generation is tending to be five decades long, one may hypothesize four
distinct phases, which have similar intentions and applications as in
progression of life. In the first phase, or the first decade of the career
(say, age, 25 to 35 years) which may be called the development phase the
incumbent must, irrespective of prior education and background, be focused on learning.
The first phase represents the golden phase to master the products, processes,
domains and businesses of a corporation. The more one learns, and applies the
knowledge as one learns, the stronger will be the foundations of one’s career. And
the stronger the foundation, the bigger and taller can be the superstructure.
It is also important to secure the right guru or mentor during the learning
phase.
The second phase, which corresponds to the
householder phase, is the real career building phase. This phase or the second
decade and half of the career (say, 35 to 50 years) represents the period of
bounty to generate wealth for the corporation, and also simultaneously
stabilize professional and personal life balance by providing peace and
prosperity to the family. This is the phase when the aspirant needs to bring
out all his energy and enthusiasm to lead and manage teams, climb up the
slippery pyramids and reach to positions of substance. At the end of the phase,
the career aspirant would have typically arrived.
The third phase, which corresponds to the
hermit phase, is the stage when one brings one’s experience and wisdom to
become a leader, who is expected to lead from the top. This stage, corresponding
to 50 to 65 years of age, is one where the incumbent starts becoming increasingly
lonely, with both his competitor groups and partner groups becoming thinner. As
a hermit discovers truth through prayers, the leader in this phase discovers
the larger purpose of leading an organization, which is beyond professional
growth or personal riches. The truth as one would understand in this phase is
to satisfy multiple stakeholders and craft an executable vision.
The fourth phase, which corresponds to the
ascetic stage, is represented by the last 5 to 10 years of career life (say, 65
to 70 or 75 years of age). Clearly, this phase represents one of organizational
“nirvana” for a leader. This is the phase wherein highly capable leaders become
non-executive chairmen of corporations or become advisers and mentors to a wide
spectrum of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. They start looking for
leaders who would fulfill or improve upon their legacy. Those in the first
phase of learning could ideally lock themselves to mentors of the fourth phase
to establish the right “parampara”.
Journey, not the destination
As one grapples with the four pyramidal
laws, and undertakes the rollercoaster ride through the four phases, reaching
in the process the narrow and sharp apex, one understands that the journey of
organizational life is more important than the destination itself. Some, if not
all, would muse that the fortune of satisfied life tended to be more at the
bottom of the pyramid rather than at the top. If only there would be a way for
the young career aspirants to fast-track themselves through the organizational
time machine to simulate and assimilate the philosophical learning, there would
be an opportunity for them to savor the journey of corporate growth through
contributions each day, rather than waiting to occupy the sharp peak to make an
elusive impact. For most people, an incremental contribution each day, from the
very first day of a five decade career could be more rewarding than the
aspiration of creating a stunning impact at the helm, decades later.
Posted by Dr CB Rao on December 29, 2012
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