I found my Ikigai. What’s yours?

I firmly believe in chasing dreams and turning them into reality! Coming from a middle-class family with a strong inclination towards career choices in commerce and engineering, I dreamt of being the first person to board the proverbial ship exploring the unknown. After all, exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty and an inherent capability to deal with uncertainty led me to choose a career as a fledgling public relations executive.

As a new-comer in the industry, I could quench my unending desire to learn and grow intellectually by working round the clock. My job primarily involved adapting an integrated approach to public relations for a wide array of clients ranging from healthcare, technology, lifestyle, and real estate. In my next stint, I was fortunate to work with some of the best and influential people in the industry. Daily work shenanigans excited me and the passion of going to unknown lengths to serve my clients brought me immense satisfaction. Moreover, recognition like — ‘Employee of the Quarter’ and ‘Best Performer of the Month’ boosted my confidence.

While I was diligently performing daily chores I somehow got accustomed to a certain way of thinking and working. The thought of becoming an inspiring leader one day led me to push through the boundaries and propelled me to be better at my job with each passing day. The next set of questions I encountered were to be a better leader, do I just need to be good at my work? Did I have a larger purpose to life that every leader has? Will I be able to lead my team instead of merely managing? The realization that the road to leadership was still far would let me get immersed in the next task at hand.

Last year, while working on global technology giants like Dell and Alibaba Group I read a lot about industry leaders emphasizing on skilling and re-skilling to stay relevant in the fourth industrial revolution. These topics had a profound impact on me and made me reflect if I was ready for the next industry disruption. Look at how Airbnb, Uber, Netflix, Facebook, and Amazon have been able to catapult themselves into independent companies and disrupted entire industries including commercial real estate, taxi service, entertainment, social network, retail etc.

I couldn’t stop thinking about my own purpose, questioning my relevance ten years down the line and my transition to becoming a leader and not a manager. Existential frustration started to stem inside me and I found myself in a state of personal crisis!

Hoping to find my next course of action towards achieving my goals, I drowned myself in books. I was at Crossword when I unwittingly happened to come across the Japanese concept to a long and fulfilling life, Ikigai. Ikigai presents a ‘way of life’ at the intersection of passion, mission, vocation, and profession. I realized my purpose in keeping pace with the industry changes by learning to unlearn, relearn, evolve and grow each time with a focus on one-on-one mentoring. It occurred to me that in this fast-changing world if I want to keep pace with industry developments or better be ahead of it, I can’t put my personal and professional life into silos.

The agility, freedom to be creative and ‘work for yourself’ kind of attitude is what drove me to The Mavericks. Further ‘less is more’ approach seemed perfect to transition my dreams into action. With my Ikigai in place, I have got a reason to jump out of my bed each morning, stretch beyond my comfort zone and discover the Maverick inside me. As I strive to make my each day count, overcome uncertainties by imagining possibilities and become a great leader (likes of those I have worked with and will be working), joining The Mavericks will be an important chapter in my journey to a fulfilling life.