Though the headline says it all and is self-explanatory, the behavior exhibited by many of the young ones who have just started working or are getting into working is markedly different. To many of them, it is a strongly held belief that maddeningly fast growth is a must to stay ahead in the corporate rat race and to slow down is to commit professional hara-kiri. That career is a 100-meter dash and the best strategy hence is to sprint as fast as you can. Even if the end result is there is no energy left to run further after those 100 yards or your lungs have not enough air to gasp after the crossing the non-existent finishing line.
The ramifications of this strategy is all around and visible. Switching jobs quickly and often, setting designations and not what you have learnt or honed as skills as the primary criteria for measurement of career success and finally being driven by peer comparison all the time to grow even faster. Infact, when I see some really smart and focused youngster fall into this trap, I do feel bad and one of the things I have started doing to change this is setting aside one session where ever I go as visiting faculty to talk about career as a marathon and not a 100 meter dash.
Why I keep emphasizing the analogy is simple. While both form athletics and are about running the similarities often end there. The strategy and make-up of a marathon runner is very different and their training schedule is significantly different as well. They are focused on endurance, maintaining a steady clip right through the race till the last stretch where you try to run as fast as you can to breast the tape. The longer the marathon the more energy you conserve and the more you try to maintain a consistent pace over a long stretch. Another reason why this is all the more relevant today is that we are sure to work longer years than our forefathers did starting at 21 and going all the way to 60 plus.
Let us now look at the 100 meter race runner has only one goal. Start off the blocks as powerfully as one can at the sound of the gun shot and run as fast as you can till the finishing line since even milliseconds count. It is about powerful start, burst of energy and the finishing line.
Building on the stretching career spans and the competitive landscape, which do you think is the most appropriate strategy? Let me bring in one more perspective here. In marathon there is so much you can do. Even if you lag behind at the start there are many opportunities along the way to catch up and make it up. Unfortunately in 100 meter dash there is no such flexibility. Either you are off the blocks quickest or you loose a critical advantage. And how many of us are fine with this relentless and ruthless pressure of having the best start possible. Even if we all believe we do, is it not illogical to expect all of us to have equally powerful starts?
Let us face it like athletics and running, career is to a lot of us about success, winning and the accolades. Fine. But why is it not dawning on us that despite the glamour of 100 meter dash that it is more akin to a long distance marathon.
Do think of it. You will thank yourselves in your 40s and 50s.