Being your own Limit- Rebrand and Take risks

People don't understand that when I grew up, I was never the most talented. I was never the biggest. I was never the fastest. I certainly was never the strongest. The only thing I had was my work ethic, and that's been what has gotten me this far.

Tiger Woods

I am still amused when I hear Rihanna soulfully sing “Shine like a Diamond”! Those words should and must inspire everyone trying to outshine or stand apart from the crowd. However, only a handful of us on mother earth are able to traverse and surmount all the hurdles, boulders in the path!

Some wise men rightly said that “collect stones which people throw at you and use them as your stepping stones”. It is a very common Phenomenon for mortals (me included) to plateau out or get type-casted and stereotyped with specific work. Earlier I always used to feel that typecasting or stereotyping was limited to other professions. But, more and more I see it is becoming part of work culture across industries.

Heard protagonists in Bollywood movies complain about their image makeovers. Complains about getting similar roles all the time, no new work or opportunity to showcase latent skills are abundant in gossip forums and Page-2 discussions. There is unfortunately no paradigm shift in large corporations either. Being multi-skilled (master of some and possessor of many) and multi-dexterous were supposed to be Unique Selling Propositions, however the reality is bitter!

All along my career and more recently have heard words like “You are IT & Operations”, “You are IT” and so on:) IT stands for some people, I guess as some errand work related to fixing wires and websites! Guess at times coming from Indian sub-continent adds you to that de-facto IT list already:)

Source: http://www.operationsmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/what-is-operations-managment-about-300x225.jpg

Some of these words were spoken in jiffy inadvertently, some in condescending tones and some out of fear of a better competition:) I am pretty sure many others would have encountered similar stereotypes/typecasting whilst articulating, challenging or providing inputs/thoughts on various forums. Question arises how do you deal with it?

Carving your own path in a “matrix” organization mumbo-jumbo is always a challenge. Being not part of the 2% category of top IQ in the world (MENSA or no MENSA, I am yet to take the MENSA though!) should not be an obstacle, rather an opportunity to persevere, work hard for “shining like a diamond”.

Presumably there is no easy way out. However, following postulates may help in circumventing or overhauling; rebranding and even reaching your goals (mine too!) 

Source: http://onyxdigital.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Pillars-of-a-brand.jpg

• ·         Taking Initiative to showcase your skills at appropriate platforms. Go out of your comfort zone
• ·         Converting adversity into opportunity with perseverance and remaining positive
• ·         Invest time and energy in reviewing, revising your skills (soft and hard). A personal SWOT analysis helps.
• ·         Researching your desired role and position. Working towards it. Not limiting them to appraisal targets and some development discussions
• ·         Rebrand, reposition yourself through work done, impact made and/or latent skills
• ·         Amplify; broadcast your achievements on career forums like LinkedIn, Xing etc.
• ·         Being patient, staying humble, empathetic and accepting criticism whilst not being timid
• ·         Lastly, be confident of your own journey while avoiding the pitfalls of office politics, gossip and pseudo “changes”

Punching below your own weight, making compromises does not work in long term. Risk and rewards have an inverse relationship. Taking a higher aim is worth the risk, while preparing and accepting the challenges. Beyond verbiage take that plunge which you always wanted too. It can be a hard decision for many, considering responsibilities and so on. But, remember it is just one life to live the way you want:)