Govind Iyer
Independent Director, Infosys & Director, Karmayogi Bharat, GOI
Govind Iyer delivered the inaugural address at the convention. He emphasized the role of learning, mentorship and directing one’s career along the envisioned path.
Forty years ago, in 1984, I graduated from my engineering college-NIT Trichy. I was contemplating what to do next. I enjoyed engineering, but I didn’t think I’d be a great engineer. I was very clear that I wanted to do an MBA, and I chose to work for three years before pursuing it. I felt I would learn more from the industry before applying management practices. I decided to go back to Ahmedabad to work there. In those days, it was a startup, in the way we define startups now, but with the only difference that it had to make a profit from the first year, unlike today’s startups that don’t require profits in the initial years. I worked for an air conditioning company and learned a lot from my mentors.
Double Take: IIM & Wharton
Then, I decided to apply for an MBA and was very privileged to get into IIM Calcutta. I don’t know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but the day I joined IIM Calcutta, I also got an admission into a school in the US: The Wharton School of Business in The University of Pennsylvania. IIM Calcutta has a lovely campus and I loved it. Despite my enjoying the Calcutta experience, I decided to go to the US but with a very clear plan to come back to India. India is really the place to be today in the world because of its high growth, high opportunity, and large young population. In 1991, I knew that I didn’t want to live abroad. I wanted to come back. So I single-mindedly focused on returning. We talked about purpose a little earlier, and I would encourage all of you to decide what you want to do today and stay steadfast in that pursuit. There will be many hurdles along the way, but it’s very important to stay focused on what you need versus what others expect from you.
I was very keen on doing marketing and joining Procter & Gamble. I think failure is a very good thing. It actually strengthens you a lot if you take it well and manage it well. I applied for a job in the summer between my first and second years to Procter & Gamble. They said, “No, we don’t have a summer intern position for anyone who wants to go back to India.”
I didn’t give up. I kept at it but they said, “No, we can’t do anything.” I applied to 65 companies for a summer job in the US and I didn’t get a single summer job. Four months prior, I went to an exhibition with my father in the area of dental products, which was my father’s field. I met two individuals there whom I liked, and I had their business cards. I called them up and said I was keen to do a summer internship and asked if they had an opportunity. They had never received a call from anyone from a good business school like Wharton wanting to do a summer internship with them. They said, “Sure, come over.” Within 24 hours, I had my summer internship. It was the best three months of my life, working in an environment where they had never experienced someone like me, and I had never experienced an organisation in the US.
The Amazing Phone Call
The stepping stones are what it takes to build a career, and this was a big stepping stone for me. It came from a relationship, from hard work, and from not giving up. I wanted to get an experience of working in the US. Fast forward to my final year. I wanted to come back to India, but I also wanted to work at Procter & Gamble. Sometimes in life, when you just keep thinking about it, it happens.
Twenty-four hours after the interview process started on campus, I received a phone call from Procter & Gamble on my voicemail. There used to be something called an answering machine in those days, which would capture your messages on your desk phone at home. I came back home at about 11 PM from school and saw this answering machine message saying, “Can you call us in Cincinnati at Procter & Gamble?” I called them up the next day, and they said, “We’d like to interview you for a job in India, if you’re still prepared to go back to India.” That was the starting point of my career. I got that job, came back to India, and I’ve been here now for 30-odd years, working in marketing and then in the human capital consulting world.
As you embark on your journey to find a good job, be focused on what you think you want. You may not know all your answers, but persevere through relationships and through your own determination. I referred to failure earlier. I think you will fail, and you must fail, because failure teaches you. If you fail and learn, you will be much better for it. I did very badly in my 12th exams. Literally, I cried for two days because I did so badly.
But I was very fortunate to get enrolled in NIT Trichy, and from that day onwards, I worked hard to get into mechanical engineering, which was one of the best lines to get into at that time. I worked hard to get into IIM Calcutta and then the Wharton Business School. That experience of failure taught me the importance of recognising that hard work makes a difference. In your job interview process, you may not get the first job that you want, but don’t give up. Persevere and you might get it later.
Control the Narrative
Another aspect to consider is controlling the narrative during your career. This means being in control of the situation during an interview process or when evaluating opportunities.
Many of us walk into an interview and expect to be interviewed. My philosophy has been that while you must be respectful of the interviewer, there are times when you can also guide the interview. You can make the interviewer ask you the questions you want them to ask. You can do this by ending your answers with intriguing questions. For example, if they ask why you joined IIM Lucknow, or what you want to do in marketing, give your answer and then mention something like, “My interest was also piqued because of a research paper I did with Professor XYZ.” Immediately, their next question is likely to be about that research paper. You’ve created points of interest for them to ask about.
In a 20-minute or half-hour process, you can guide them through everything you want to get across. If you leave it to the interviewer to decide what to ask, they will ask standard questions without knowing you well. By controlling the interview in a manner that is not directive, but allows the interviewer to ask you questions, you can represent yourself more effectively.
Curiosity Matters
As some of you may have heard, I worked for a company called Egon Zender, the world’s leading human capital advisory firm. We did a lot of leadership development and helped identify CEOs and board directors, as well as training many individuals in companies. As a leader there, when looking at CEOs or executives with 15-20 years of experience, I always considered how curious they were to learn more and about themselves. This is something I learned a lot from my father. He used to always ask me 20 questions and rarely gave me the chance to ask him anything. He wanted to know more about me, which encouraged me to speak up. The more you ask questions, the more curious you become. In my journey, I’ve seen that the best CEOs are those who are open to curiosity, learning, vulnerability, and admitting when they don’t know something.
If you don’t say “I don’t know,” you will think you know it, but somebody else may give you a better answer. So, it’s important to recognise the value of curiosity. Curiosity is something we all underestimate. Saying, “If I don’t seem to know the answer, they’ll think I’m not good enough,” is completely wrong. In my journey, I’ve learned that you should be strong in what you know and good at what you do, but you don’t need to know everything. You can learn from others.
Seek Mentors
Another point that has made a huge difference is the kind of culture you work in, the leaders you work with, and the mentors you have. Starting your own organisation is a fabulous idea, but if you choose to join a startup, make sure you can get some mentorship. Ensure the organisation has advisors, board members, or others you can learn from.
Why do I say that? Because it’s very important to have a foundation for growth in the first five to ten years of your life. If your foundation is strong, you can do very well. People like me went to Procter & Gamble. In those days, the word startup didn’t exist as much, especially in India. The five or six years I worked at Procter & Gamble were the best in terms of building a foundation for growth. My only request is, don’t build your house on shaky ground. Build it with a strong foundation. Whether it’s your own company, a startup, or working at a place like Citibank, Procter & Gamble, GE, or any other, make sure you can learn from a good set of mentors.
Take ownership of your career path. Ensure that you have a career path over 20 or 25 years that aligns with what you want. That can only happen if you take charge of your destiny. Many people ask me, “How did you spend 24 years doing the same thing at Egon Zender?” It’s because I did seven different things while at the same firm. I kept evolving.
You have to keep evolving yourself from day one. The day you get your first job, start thinking ahead. Ask yourself, “What’s the next role I want to do?” This doesn’t mean a promotion; it means a role of learning. What’s the kind of learning you want to get? If you join the marketing department at Unilever, that’s great. You’ll be doing marketing for the first four or five years. But what do you aspire to do in the first year? Start saying, “I want to work in the field. I want to do sales or marketing in different segments, different categories.” Take charge of your own career growth. Don’t let the company drive your career growth. The opportunities will be there only when the company can give them to you. But if you drive your career growth, they will see a certain attitude in you, a certain drive, and a certain purpose. You will come out as a much better individual and leader.
Be a Giver
As you go through your life, be a giver as well. Don’t just take from everything. Start giving early on in your life, giving yourself to others, building relationships, and helping others. Be a champion of helping others grow. You will never realise the value of that until you’re in your 60s, like I am today. The value of relationships, friendships, and carrying people along is something you only realise later.
I am someone who has been the beneficiary of a lot of people’s giving. I am truly blessed to be here today. I have three lovely boys and a wife who’s a classical dancer running her own business. We’re a small family, but a family I feel very proud of. This has all happened not just because of us, but because of all the people around us and their giving. Don’t hesitate to give because the more you give, the more you will get. Believe me, the world conspires in favour of givers. Start being a giver from day one. You’ll never regret it.
