traffic light, traffic signal, stoplight

WHICH LIGHT ARE YOU?

In my 20+ years of experience, I have seen 3 kind of reactions to such news – and I will use the traffic lights to describe them…

  1. GREEN LIGHT PEOPLE (GLP) – These are the people for whom this news is just like any other news. Yes, it happens, they reason. But why worry about it till it happens to me? So, they do participate in such discussions many a times but its only at a surface level. Inside they don’t believe they are on thin ice.

    Well, the only ones who have a right to be GLP are the ones who have already secured themselves from such corrections. They may have inherited wealth/assets or may have created the same so as to ensure that they go to office because they choose to do so. They are so passionate about what they do that even if the company were not to pay them for an year or two, they will continue to bring the same passion to work and will collect their dues later. Of course, that’s a minority – in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t know any GLP.

    The majority of GLP are the ones who choose to turn a deaf ear to such noises. Maybe they are insecure about it, which they cover with feigned over-confidence. Maybe they love to live in denial and choose to do nothing till something happens. Maybe they are in a dream world or maybe plainly ignorant about the ‘age vs job’ dynamics. Maybe their time of awakening has really has not come. Whatever said and done, they are the ones who save the YLP from crashing out.

  2. YELLOW LIGHT PEOPLE (YLP) – These are people who do get affected with such news. Some of them are affected for a week, some for a month and some for a season. But, seasons change. And so do their sentiments. Bcoz they manage to distract themselves and go back to enjoying the “moh-maya” of the world. Or they derive solace from the RLP of the world.

    Some of them do start getting ulcers and digestive issues, though – bcoz even though they may have diluted the severity of the news in their conscious minds, the sub-conscious mind is too smart to neglect the signals being given by nature and it will do its best to inform you thru health ailments – but then, the pharma industry has great medicines to suppress symptoms these days. And they happily go back to the drama.

  3. RED LIGHT PEOPLE (RLP) – These are the people who do get the wake up call from such news AND DECIDE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Not only do they take out time to reflect and introspect, but they also seek mentors who have become GLP already to help them get a plan. RLP realise that by doing what they have been doing, they will only lower themselves into the pit – and once you are in a pit, if you wanna come out – you better stop digging, right?

    I call them awakened souls – they are ready to pay the price to learn how to come out of the ‘chakravyuh’.

    Age, gender, societal achievements have nothing to do with your lighting system. I know people who were RLP in their early 20s and people who are still GLPs in their 40s or 50s. I believe there is a divine intervention required for someone to wake up and become a RLP. Maybe nature has set different alarms for different people. What if, some of those alarms have been numbed or snoozed forever by some counter force?

WHICH LIGHT ARE YOU?

WHICH LIGHT WOULD YOU RATHER BE?

Which Light Are you? Read More »

WHO GOT PROMOTED ME OR MY WORK ?

Scene 1 – SAP Labs, March 2000 – I got my first promotion – from a developer to a “senior” developer. You have no idea how senior it made me feel… or, maybe you do. First promotion – just like pehla pyaar (First love). And when I saw the monetary component that it brought along, I felt like hugging my manager… (Of course I didn’t, you buggers!!)


Scene 2 – Philips, March 2005 – I got ‘another’ promotion – to a team lead. Only this time, some people didn’t seem too happy with my progress. My boss, then, had to cut through a lot of resistance (read crap) to get me my ‘well-deserved’ promotion. So what if the monetary component was not so exciting or even worth bragging about. A promotion in troubled times is like a new crush after a breakup…(mere dil mein yun hi rehna, tum pyaar pyaar banke…)


Scene 3 – Motorola, March 2010 – I got my ‘final’ promotion (No, I didn’t become the CEO, dummy!) – that was the last promotion I earned before I decided to not let ‘others’ decide my promotion and bid adieu to the job industry in 2012. This one had no monetary increment (obviously :() as it was a bad time for the company (Was it, really? I heard a lot of people at the top made a lot of money – but those must be rumours, right brethren?)

“Anyways, maybe one of you has just earned a promotion (at least that’s how they pronounce it. Whether you were born promoted, or you achieved a promotion or you had promotion thrust upon you – I’m sure Shakespeare knows!!) So, CONGRATULATIONS !!“

Here are a few thoughts that you could ponder upon –

  1. WHO got promoted – YOU or YOUR WORK : A good friend recently told me that with 15+ years of workex he recently got promoted – along with south india, he will now handle western region as well. WOW! The only missing link – there is no increment in the remuneration. Reason – his company is going through troubled times (Reminds me of the song “Bridge over troubled water” by Simon & Garfunkel.
  2. What is your BIGGEST JOY in the promotion? Is it more responsibility (read ‘more time for the office and hence less for the family and self’)? Is it more money that you will now take home? Is it that it brings you a step closer to the top? If yes, whats your vision of life at the top?
  3. Were you WANTING/EXPECTING this promotion? Or like in troubled times, it would only increase your insecurity (Of course, I didn’t get those feelings in the first 10 years of job life. But something changes after that milestone).
  4.  A JOB CHANGE is also a PROMOTION. Well, mostly so. I hope the job change did not mean changing of office location/city/country which was undesirable. You can re-read the above article with a job change perspective.
  5. FINALLY, is it time for INTROSPECTION? Before the celebrations drown the bleak inner voice, maybe its time to allot a time to reflect, to understand the long term implications of the change, to be able to access both the pros and the cons, maybe the hidden ones specially, maybe you wanna look at some seniors and ask if they are living a life that inspires you.

For me, my first promotion prompted me to seek options beyond a job; my ‘another’ promotion at Philips made me more eager to build a tunnel out of that not-so-friendly an environment; by the time my last promotion at Motorola happened, I was ready to throw in the towel because the tunnel had been built.

Things just done happen in life – they happen for a reason. They bring along messages from the universe. They have pearls of wisdom hidden in them. I just hope you are not TOO BUSY to pay heed and listen to that voice – one that knows where the ‘real and everlasting happiness’ will come from.

“ONCE AGAIN, I’M HAPPY FOR YOU. I JUST HOPE YOU WILL CHOOSE TO PROMOTE YOURSELF TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF THINKING AND BEING. GOD BLESS!!“

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