My Father distributed sweets in his colony when I had my Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
My father has worked in a government public sector unit his whole life. He had distributed sweets in his colony when I had my Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Advisor, Tony Blair Institute offers.I on the other hand left such high-status jobs realizing early on, that my heart lies somewhere else- in innovating products, building #community, and #careers for others.I have worked for 5 employers during my 20s, which is completely contrary to the career path my father had picked. I remember he eventually making peace with my decision-making models.Had, I continued my work as an advisor to the Government of India, I would have been leading a division by now, or had I continued my consulting career at BCG, I would be on the path to make a promising career as a partner- these paths would have almost zero uncertainty - the year and time of my promotions, designations, and salary would have been predetermined.I would have faced less risk of failing in a structured ecosystem compared to my current riskier path as an entrepreneur.As an entrepreneur, I take risks every day and today GGI has been able to impact the careers of 1000s of youngsters. The fact of the matter is I still run the risk of failing but had I failed during the initial 3 years of running my venture, I would have been silently added to another #startup founder who failed.An entrepreneur is like an artist on stage- she can give a bad performance. In fact, quite often, she does fail. But sometimes, she can give a kickass earth-shattering performance.Frankly, both options are fine. Neither is superior to the other.The thing is whenever you face a conundrum of taking important decisions in life, you face two options!Whether you want to play the artist on stage and get called out for all your hits and flops or play a safe- less risky backstage role in the world of theatre we call life!
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Author- Shatakshi Sharma, Cofounder Global Governance Initiative, Ex- BCG, Advisor, Tony Blair Institute
