Time for a change and a fresh start

Some time ago, on this blog, I’d cribbed about an exceptionally bad day. I wasn’t enjoying work at office and my motivation levels had been going down. At the time, I had mentioned on this space that apart from the conscious efforts of turning things around my way, a part of me was also hoping for lady luck to smile on me, as she had so many times before. Well, as always, I got lucky again. I recently got the opportunity to work for a startup Private Equity fund and I’m taking it up; In fact, am quite excited about it. Private Equity has been something I’ve wanted to get into for sometime now and I’ve had a certain appeal towards startups since late IIT days so both things coming together is like fucking fantastic (I’m sorry, the phrase just stuck in my mind and it manages to convey the sentiment exactly)!

My stint with DB has been short but I think I’ve learnt more in the last 8-9 months than what I learnt in the two years of my MBA programme. For one, I learnt a lot from my boss. Driven, ambitious, demanding and yet, considerate towards his subordinates’ desires to fulfill their own ambitions, Manoj has been the perfect boss and I am glad that he was my first boss. Although I was just a young trainee trying to find my place in the bank, he gave me the feeling that he trusted my intelligence and valued my opinion, which is probably as much you can ask from a boss (apart from a hefty year-end bonus, of course :)!) as a trainee. Manoj also managed to strike a rare balance so that I feared his temper and at the same time considered him my mentor and career counselor within the company. I learnt from him how one can always manage to remain down to earth and approachable no matter how senior one becomes. My other learnings in DB were mostly organizational in nature – partly observational and partly experiential – the key one being trying to undertsand how work, responsibilities and recognition flows between people in a workplace setup. DB also introduced me to the good life – living out of hotels and serviced apartments for months, training in London, workshops in Singapore, corporate dinners and the works – Ah, the advantages of working in a huge MNC are no longer mine.

Joining Blue River brings along with it a kind of nervous excitement associated with new places and new experiences... there is the excitement of being a part of the growth story of a startup firm and there is the nervousness arising out of questions such as ‘Will I really be able to do well in the unstructured work environment of a startup? Will I be able to live up to the challenging world of Private Equity?’ But this nervousness is motivating in nature; it has an element of eagerness to it; it pushes me to put in my best and all in all, I feel good about myself at this point; I feel hopeful and on track towards my goals. At this very moment, life is beautiful :).