Resolving 10 Career Dilemmas for Extraordinary Success – Mr Shivakumar at Great Lakes
Last updated on: 26th June, 2025 | Distinguished Guest Sessions | Priyanka Murali, Class of 2021 << back to blog
Published on: 12th February, 2021
The ‘Distinguished Thought Leader Series’ continues at Great Lakes Institute of Management as the students were addressed by Mr Shiv Shivakumar in a virtual session on 4th February 2021. Mr Shiv Shivakumar, Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Group addressed students on the topic ‘Resolving 10 Career Dilemmas for Extraordinary Success’. The talk covered the highlights of his latest book “The Right Choice”. Mr Shivakumar was Chairman and CEO for PepsiCo for four years before which he was associated with Nokia as CEO for India and later Emerging markets for nearly a decade. He has been a CEO for half his career and was one of the youngest CEOs in India.
Everybody wants a successful career but naturally very few can make it to the top of the corporate ladder. Whether its burnout, evolving global environments, disruptive business models or technology in flux, the leaders of tomorrow are faced with difficult choices at every turn. So how can you avoid the common pitfalls and supercharge your career? Mr Shivakumar touched on the most common of these dilemmas faced by executives, and to deliver maximum value to the audience, also tailored the talk to address obstacles facing fresh MBA graduates. Here are the highlights of the enlightening session:
Why manage your career?
The talk started with the rationale behind why it was important to take ownership of your career and actively manage it. In the past careers were managed de facto, you would join a company and a path would be laid out for you, that is not true anymore. The average age of a company has gone down from 60 years in 1960 to around 20 years today. Paradoxically, the average lifespan has increased to 80 years and careers today span 30-40 years. This means you cannot leave the fate of your careers up to the fortunes of your company.
As Mr. Shiv puts it: “A career is lived forwards but understood looking backwards.”. Hindsight is 20-20, learn from your mistakes and consistently manage your career only then can you realize your full potential.
What are the dilemmas at the start of your career?
The average career today spans 30-40 years. In that time the work you do will be a combination of paid, unpaid, and voluntary jobs. Apart from salaried work, many executives today volunteer at NGOs, sit on boards of companies or start charities. Finding meaningful work and giving back to society will enrich your life and give you a sense of purpose that will help sustain a decades-long career. So, don’t be afraid to take on additional responsibilities.
How important is money? And when do I really need it?
The most important dilemma for young MBA graduates: Is money the variable by which I measure my success or my work? All the newspapers and magazines seem to be constantly compiling lists: a list of the richest people in the world, which campuses bring in jobs with the most salary, who earns the most salary at which company etc. All our effort seems to be measured by one factor called money. But as Mr. Shiv puts it: “If you are good money will follow you. At job interviews don’t let salary be the only driving factor, pick a company where the culture and opportunities to learn is very good.”.
Getting your foot in the door and learning on the job should be your top priority at the start of your career. Money is important but more so later in life.
“Money is more important when you are around 45 and your children need to be educated and your parents need to be taken care of. But funnily enough, people change their jobs in the first 5-10 years when the difference in salary is meagre. Don’t fall into that trap, at the start of your career stick with companies where the culture is exceptional and learning is encouraged.”
Which industries are good for the future?
There are legacy industries and future-oriented industries. Anything with a lot of technology, service or platform in it are the industries of the future. And being digitally fluent will get you those jobs quickly. Legacy industries are comfortable but they are not the vibrant jobs of the future.
Which skill sets are needed for the future?
Digital, business model and revenue management are the three skillsets of the future. People skills are a given, irrespective of how many machines there are you still need to be good with people. You also need end-to-end digital skills for the future. Always ask: is every aspect of the business digitized, is there horizontal collaboration? You also need skills in the area of business models, that is where value is being created. Older business models are constantly being disrupted; example distribution model was disrupted by e-commerce model. And finally, revenue management, which today is not just about cost structures and setting a fixed selling price but looking at surge pricing, if your competition is managing revenue by the hour, then you too must be skilled at revenue management to keep at pace.
How long should I stay in a job?
Stick with a good company and build a reputation.
“Young people have what I call ‘ants in the pants’. They quickly want to leave their job thinking the grass is greener on the other side. But unless you spend 3-5 years at a company neither will you learn anything and nor will you contribute anything. Let a company’s brand value rub off on you, this will add greatly to your market value. Once you then reach senior management you become a brand in your own right and companies will seek you out.”
Should I start something on my own? How difficult is it?
Unless you are part of a family business and have someone to show you the ropes, it is best to get some industry exposure first. Learn the ins and outs of the business from the inside, build contacts, hone your skills and only when your ideas are fully fleshed out, strike out on your own.
Can I be real friends with my peers and still manage my career?
When you work in an organization never work at a relative speed. Whatever job you do or knowledge you seek, seek it at an absolute level. Try to be the best in your industry and set an absolute standard for yourself. It also becomes easy to be friends with your peers because then you are only competing with yourself. So set your own benchmark, don’t be relative.
Will the company take care of my career?
In the past, it was expected that the company, your boss, or HR will take care of your career. That is no longer the case, self-managed career and hard work are what will ultimately see you through tough times. Hard work never killed anybody. And to quote legendary golfer Arnold Palmer: “The harder I work the luckier I get.”
Mr. Shiv’s book “The Right Choice: Resolving 10 Career Dilemmas for Extraordinary Success” is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
Written by Priyanka Murali, PGPM batch of 2021, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.