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Binod Shankar Biography

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“Look, you should be brilliant at work. You really should. Focused, diligent, determined, collaborative, bold, visionary, purposeful, impactful. Your work must be the standard by which they judge others. But don’t get obsessed with it, even if you’re amazing. Have some humility. Be approachable. Laugh at yourself. Expect mistakes; don’t be too hard on yourself or others. Don’t be a self-righteous ass.”

“The higher you go the lonelier you become. As you progress up the career ladder, things change dramatically. You will have far fewer colleagues; it gets increasingly lonely and there is much greater responsibility. The level of fear, uncertainty, and doubt will jump and so will stress levels. Hence, all the more reason why you should be a self-starter.”

“You must want to change. That’s the starting point. You must want to be a leader and make a lasting positive impact on lives. You must want to grow the division or company. You must be able to see an incredible power that will be unleashed if you become a better people manager. That’s the start. Without this foresight and motivation, you can attend as many leadership development programs and read as many self-help books as you want but they won’t move the needle.”

“Usually, we develop our leadership style by unconsciously copying others, either parents or charismatic public figures (like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk) or (more likely) current or former bosses. It can also be a blend of the aforementioned. The reason is that most of us never formally learnt leadership or management — we simply watched and learned on the job. The problem is that many of us had and still have terrible role models.”

“Each of us is unique but we are really not that different as we think (though our ego tells us we are so special). Which means that there are a ton of common career issues and that should be a huge relief. Because then you don’t need to break your head to find solutions since someone has already been through different versions of Heaven and Hell and picked up a few valuable tips along the way.”

“Perhaps it’s time you stopped looking at work or money or reputation as the biggest source of achievement. Perhaps you can now measure your worth by how you help others and contribute to the community or how well you are growing as a person, both mentally (e.g. self-awareness and calm) and physically (eat healthier, train hard, and gain a shredded body).”

“Yes, it can be quite agonizing to walk away from what looks like a great offer. But what you must grasp is that if you proceed you could end up working in a culture that is totally out of whack with your values and that can wreck you mentally and physically. No offer is worth that price.”

“Experience alone is not enough. It isn’t automatic. You must get feedback and introspect and slowly your values get crystallized. It’s a fun journey and a wonderful place to be. Because it’s all about knowing yourself and the world around you and that knowledge is true power.”

“It’s extremely unlikely you will be magically transformed from a mediocre or average people manager to a Satya Nadella or a Ratan Tata. You will often revert to type and repeat your bad behaviors. But if you become aware of this retrogressive behavior and can reduce the frequency and severity of this you can change over time, not overnight.”