Dear Friends,
I met a friend just the other day in a social function who is professional from fashion industry and from the creative side. He is too good in his creative vision and presently working for a leading brand in Mumbai which has chain of stores all over India. I respect him for his professional competence and admire his dynamic profile. He is in his thirties, young guy and very smart.
When I was in conversation with him, he told me many things about present day management style of working and also the way young professionals think about their careers. It surprised me because, it looks we still have not changed our traditional mind sets from fifties. We are in 21st century with new challenges and new lifestyles. But, we are same under our skins even after 50/60 years have passed. Our thinking and mind sets have not changed.
Why our managements don’t change their style of working and thinking? Why the managers don’t see changing world? And why our youngsters are not taught in schools and colleges about the real world out there which is completely different? When and how will they learn to face the new world that awaits for them with challenges and also opportunities?
My friend was telling me about his experience when their team went to see some colleges to hire young talent from final year. It was really shocking he said to see final year students talking. He said, we could see complete disconnect between their thinking and the fashion industry they are soon going to work with. Of course, not their fault at all.
It is the fault of our educational system. It fails all of us in the real world.
The problem comes when the young graduates enter into industry… Because they are into real world now. The commercial, professional world. They feel terribly disappointed and frustrated with their encounter with the real world.
Why is it that our colleges don’t have programs that can in the final year give them real coaching on the way professional world works? Their professional success, their professional accomplishments and achievements will come from their complete preparedness to enter the professional world.
They need to be ready cut-outs for the industry when they come out of colleges from any discipline.. Be it fashion, Interiors, Architecture, Engineering or any discipline.
Parents pay loads of money for fees, and in some colleges even hefty donations. Why is it that, the model of our education can not be improved with new perspectives to meet new challenges. Is it because most institutes are commercial minded and do not pay attention to improving the standards of our course contents? Why is our student, even the best in merit list can not have the confidence to face professional world and feels lagging behind?
Isn’t it high time we add value to our educational programs to make a student competent and capable to take up a job as professional after graduation?
Isn’t it essential to train young minds on how companies function in real world?
How management function and what are their expectations from an employee?
How the human chain from top to bottom works towards the one objective and many other goals set by management to generate profits?
How to deal with your superiors? How to deal with your in-competent colleagues and how to deal with office culture and politics?
How in-competent staff works and how sycophancy works directly or indirectly and how you can be a victim of such a bad work culture?.
What qualities are required to be successful in your professional life?
How you can work towards rewards, promotions and appreciation of your superiors and prove your value in the organization that can actually build your professional career?
How important is your communication skill, verbal and written which can make you or break you?
How to develop your inter personal communication, importance of team spirit. value of leadership quality.
These are all part of your professional success story. And that is also your personal success story.
Nothing of this is taught in the course of studies, not even in our management schools. Why? When these personal skills and knowledge about functioning of the organizations is THE most important educational area that we miss and leave our youngsters to face this professional world on their own. So is it like try the waters yourself? Get to learn all that on your own? Learn to swim by yourself with no training?
I personally see it this way. Because no one wants to pay attention to ground reality. This kind of approach is so harmful to the inexperienced young minds that some just can’t take high pressures and unfair treatments on the job and mentally collapse. I know such cases who slipped into severest form of depression and had to be treated in the hospitals.
Our educational system must make sure, youngsters are well prepared before they enter into professional world.
We only keep producing graduates without sharpening their many important personal skills. I know many youngsters can not communicate properly, present their thoughts correctly, write business letters professionally. These are all important areas of success in professional world. How can we ignore these areas which actually develop personalities.
Excellent verbal communication, excellent presentations in front of audience, great written skills, your dressing, your mannerism, your social behavior and personal skills to impress upon people are all merits to your personal success.
My friend said, many lack in these skills on the job when you are working with a company as a stand-alone profit center. These personal draw backs fails them miserably on the job and that is when frustration builds up in young professionals very fast.
Patience, staying always on learning curve, keep upgrading personal skills are all virtues which get transformed into great success stories.
Short term goals of making fast buck does not really take anyone too far.
And I strongly feel after talking to many youngsters that our schools and colleges must add all these perspectives and vision in their teaching programs to make every student ready to face all challenges posed to him/her in this competitive world. Those would be Ready-Cut-Outs for the industry and on the way to a successful professional life.
Rest is all hollow talk and a big show off which never ever translates into success. This is specially for our youngsters who are smart and intelligent but need to be on the learning curve always to stand out in the crowed. After all we work for improving our standards and add values to our life. Whatever we learn adds to our profile and that makes a difference in the success stories.
Ajay Angre
Author, Writer, Publisher
