Corporate world has undoubtedly contributed to the evolving and
growth of society and culture in many ways. Corporate work
environment including new thinking on working, leading and
managing, theories of OB, HR functions etc, all impact the
working world as well as other spheres of life too like our
educational institutes, our social behaviour in personal life.
India as an example of it, and has been a great beneficiary of
it in many ways. Our education system, social conduct, concepts
of egalitarianism have positively evolved in with corporate
world owing to its western influence that came with
multinational in India. I am not discounting the cons as we talk
about the pros. This is expected as the corporate India has
mainly evolved as a hub and market both through Western world
centered Organisations.
To fit in the corporate India, aspirants not only from
metropolitans but also from B & C towns and villages too work
really hard at their studies to join best of the colleges and
companies that are mainly located in metro cities of India even
today. As the majority of us who aspire to join the white collar
workforce, work our way through competitive exams and then job
interviews and learn the ropes, there is a good amount of
cultural awakening or culture shock (depends on how you look at
it!) that happens when we join these big colleges and
multinational workplaces.
I am not going to put a strictly technical OB lens to it but
here are few examples of it. When I came to Delhi from small
town India, I thought my intellect, competence and conduct based
on my environment that has got me till here will be appreciated
and will be enough. But speaking in Hinglish (compared to my
pure Hindi from the heartland) or pure play English was the only
way to be understood or fit in. My immense love for Hindi or
Urdu was a matter of amusement for my peers in college. Social
acceptance required certain changes to the choice of attire,
mannerisms, social chat, cultural interests etc. Suddenly the
taboo unhealthy habits were necessities to look extra cool.
There are things that one would do with ease to mesh culturally
in their new environment. There are other things that would pose
a moral or ethical dilemma. Your conscience would ask you, does
it feel right to cross this line? How important is to for me to
be accepted in exchange of a personal behaviour, habit, thought
or value? Some may think picking up alcohol or smoke as a habit
will help me network and belong better, for others it may be a
no no. For some the way they dress or spoke (language or accent)
is fine with them, for others change seems like a necessity that
they’ve got to change. For some, office politics is an easy game
to play while others may find it extremely manipulative and
discomforting. People fall on different levels of comfort on
this spectrum of morality ranging from rigidity to flexibility.
How many of you can relate to that?
Turns out, when you join the corporate world, your first job to
your second to your third and so forth, this phenomenon gets
amplified further. In what culture is your country
headquartered, what are its values, what are accepted norms what
is frowned upon all impacts you consciously and subconsciously.
Many get swayed by the perks companies have to offer and
unknowingly trade their fundamental values for those. If those
fundamental values are not your own, but imposed by those around
you it gets so much easier to lose them of course. This is why
ancient wisdom of almost all cultures places such deep emphasis
on being very cautious about the company we keep, who our
friends are, what our circle is like. As it said ‘if you are
wisest/smartest/most capable person in the room all the time,
then you are in the wrong room’. The company you keep should
inspire you to be better, do better, have a growth mindset – not
pull you down to their level.
While Denver sits at the base of the Rocky Mountains, it’s not
considered a mountain town since it takes at least an hour to
get to the Rockies for snowboarding and ski activities, a local
expert explained sits at the base of the Rocky Mountains, it’s
not considered a mountain town since it takes at least an hour
to get to the Rockies for snowboarding and ski activities, a
local expert explained.
I am not here to lecture you on what is morally right and wrong.
I am neither going to define a line for you on what’s acceptable
or not. Everyone has their own individuality and what’s right
and wrong for them personally. And we need to be flexible; we
need both roots and wings as human beings; wings to become what
we are capable of, roots to remind us where we’re from.
With that, for those who can find a middle ground in the
corporate world between flexing their work style but staying
connected to their roots have a higher chance of running the
career marathon with better mental health and being able to make
right life and career choices on the way. What I mean by that
is:
Life is not as simple as we know by this stage in our life
having gone through our journeys and having crossed our own
mountains. I wish I could give you a toolkit to make it
absolutely simple, black and white. But I’d be fibbing like a
quack if I shared anything with a guarantee. What I can give you
are some of my handy tips that have come from various
conversations with those successful with life experience, those
who’ve made their own mistakes, learnt their own lessons with
you:
The world can either make you ashamed of your roots and legacy
and bring you to your knees. Take it from me, it will try its
best. But you can decide whether to make it your embarrassment
or your medal of strength. For those who want to play the game
of life as a marathon, who have the discipline and rigour that
comes with playing sports will play this long game with their
feet firmly rooted in the ground as they flap their wings to
fly.
