Career Crafting: Eenie Meenie Miney Mo
Second in a series of articles I’m writing based on a Career Crafting program I’m running with senior school students at Vishwjayot School Kharghar. You can read the first article here.
Let’s think of your career as a game. (I know, as a teacher I should be more serious, but indulge me.)
There are two things for you to do then — (a) pick a good game and (b) win, Simple? So should you just play Eenie Meenie…?
Picking a good game has many benefits, let me illustrate that with a story that speaks of the opposite.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I am an engineer by training. It is safe to say I chose engineering for silly reasons, because my marks said I could, because my father felt I couldn’t, because everyone else was doing it, because Eenie…. These reasons might make for the start of a great movie, but a very unhappy engineering student, suffering through four years of college in which I didn’t fit(well not suffer really, but you get the idea) and at the end of it I had an offer to join a leading IT firm, but meh.
So I changed the game, I chose to work in finance, at a job where I didn't get paid for the first 6 months, I don’t blame them, I had no skills. But I did learn and soon I was the star campaigner working with an ambitious entrepreneur to raise money for his projects. I raised $$, 500 Mn or so, took a company to IPO and walked away from that game with an embarrassing amount of cash.
Why walk away? There was another game that I had been playing and realized that it was a good game, for me it seemed like the perfect game. You see while in college I helped my amazing mother start her school, and continued to teach and help out in anyway that I could, because I loved it. It is the game I continue to play, one I have made my own, that of an teacher evolving into an education entrepreneur. How this game plays out, time will tell.
So, you have a choice, now. Play Eenie Meenie Miney Moe, like I did, pick a game and stumble through it until you reach a good game, your game. Or learn from my mistakes and try and get there early.
So what makes a good game?
I was about to say it depends, but I can feel you getting ready to choke me, so let me say something else. To consider what makes a good game, we need to ask (i) what is the payoff structure of the game and (ii) can I win it?
Payoff Structure?
Each game has an underlying structure to it. Some are winner takes all, say acting for example. We hear of the Shah Rukh Khans or the Brad Pitts, I know I am dating myself with these examples, what’s a more recent one? Ranveer Singh? Anyway, the Shah Rukhs of this world win big, like really big, and we see their name plastered everywhere, but unless you make it to that level you earn a pittance. The streets of Versova, or LA are teeming with out of work actors, struggling to get by.
Some other games are more forgiving, if not as glamorous, let’s examine Chartered Accountants* (CA). Now Shah Rukh is not going to trade his life for that of a CA, however the Chartered Accountant route is far more secure for all but the top actors. Once you have your Charter then you have a safety net that is very hard to climb out of, unless you are particularly self destructive.
But does that make one game better than the other? It depends (I know, I know, I used “it depends”, but wait) on your risk appetite. If I look back and see the games I have played then I can say that life as an IT professional is quite safe, the world continues to need more of these people, however from my earlier post you will recall that, the IT world doesn’t pay the beginners too well, much less than a CA. Finance, now there the payoff is high, generally people in finance make money and the curve isn’t quite as steep as being an actor. Now finally teaching, hmmm. That’s a really bad game right? It isn't supposed to pay well, regardless of how good you are.
The Top always gets paid
But what is worth mentioning is that regardless of the game, whether it is winner take all (like entrepreneurship) or more equitable (like CA), if you rise to the top of your game, if you are in the elite 1–2%, if you win, then you get paid regardless of the game you choose. Even teachers, I know, shocking right? But just look at Byju or Roman Saini started off as teachers and certainly well off (putting it mildly) now. So really the question is not what is a good game generally, but what is a good game for you. This segues nicely into the next section.
Can I Win?
It is certainly better to be a winner in most games than just middling in the games that have the most attractive payoff structure. So this is an important question to consider.
What causes you to win? Here I posit (yes, there is that word again) that it is a combination of skill and will. Am I better than others at it? Do I love it enough to be the best at it?
Since you are smart, you can see that these two questions are linked, if you look back into your history, you might notice that you started to love something because you were good at it. But just as plausibly you might be really good at something because you loved it or felt it was your calling.
The second thing you might see is that these advantages or passions are not static, you don’t just start out being great or being in love with something. Sachin Tendulkar (or Virat for you youngins) wasn’t any better than you were as a one year old or didn't even love cricket more than you did then. But he chose to put in the work and fell in love, or fell in love and chose to put in the work, one or the other and now, he is a God, well, almost.
Going back to my story, engineering and finance are good games to play, for someone, but neither was the best game for me. If I was to ask myself the two questions, (i) Do I love teaching? (ii) am I the best at it? I would answer as follows (i) I do love teaching, I always have, an hour spent in the company of learners is an hour spent at play, for me. (ii)Now did I start off being the best, ummmm NO! But I have worked hard at it, I have read, experimented, learnt and 15 years later I can say that while I am not the Tendulkar of teaching, I am working relentlessly to get there. So for me, teaching started with passion and then developed into a competitive advantage too. Teaching, a game no one advises you to play, is turning out to be the right game for me.
Putting the Pieces together
Choose wisely now, so that you are not just carried by the breeze (or the crowd), choose wisely you can avoid the missteps of your forebears, like me, choose wisely, for even if you may decide to change your mind you have done so deliberately, and learnt. The way to choose wisely is to find a game with a payoff structure that appeals to you and one that you can win. You can see, I’m sure, that these questions give rise to our little Venn Diagram. Want to continue on in this journey, to find the game that is right for you? I’ll see you soon.
