Pankaj Gupta, CFO, SKH Magneti Marelli, a joint venture between SKH and $23 Billion auto-component major Magneti Marelli, visited Management Development Institute in Gurgaon, India to talk to the students of the One Year Full Time MBA (NMP) as part of the Leadership Connect Series 2015.
“Expect the unexpected because life is full of surprises” – that was the advice Pankaj Gupta, CFO, SKH Magneti Marelli had for the One Year MBA (NMP) students at MDI, Gurgaon.
Pankaj Gupta, was speaking on ‘Evaluating Jobs and Managing Careers’ as part of the Leadership Connect series organised by the institute.
But careers stretch across decades, and many One Year MBA grads from MDI plan on reinventing themselves through the year-long programme and aim to enter jobs allied to their skills or explore new horizons entirely. This is where Gupta’s advice on ‘expecting the unexpected’ would come handy.
Gupta also advised students to choose their passion over ‘making others happy’ when choosing their path.
Long term happiness will come from a hunger for growth and a need to excel, which only come when you do something that makes you happy, and not if you just make money or land a lofty position that society or family expects of you, he told the students.
Gupta emphasized the importance of building and adhering to a personal value system throughout one’s career. As per him, this would ensure that the students enjoy not just success but contentment too.
Gupta also advised students to plan for their career goals in a systematic manner by “setting 3 year targets.”
He told students they should work towards these targets with discipline and check their progress as time passes. But more importantly, students should also remember to re-evaluate their goals as time passes – what is important today, may not be so important tomorrow.
Gupta used the metephor of ‘sharpening the axe’ to explain the importance of updating knowledge from time to time and was extremely appreciative of the MBA the students were pursuing at MDI, after having worked for many years in the corporate world, to sharpen their own intellect and move on to greater challenges.
Gupta ended the talk by emphasizing the importance of building and adhering to a personal value system throughout one’s career. As per him, this would ensure that the students enjoy not just success but contentment too.