What I learned from Mr James Demers at Nortel – Part 2

Continuing on from last week, I am happy to share another lesson this week. This lesson helped me to grow quickly during the low-mid career space and has been helpful in guiding my path when I picked up more senior roles.

Expand into the gaps

Six months after my first review with James, I got another opportunity for a discussion with him. I had spent first eight years of my career in a public sector company, where growth has been systematic and follows a prescribed norm. While some of my friends who had started with MNCs (Multi-National Companies) have had a fast career growth. Now that I was also in an MNC, I was eager to play catch-up. I was working hard, but imagine my situation, my hiring manager had left after 3 months, a new manager came after the end of a year and I was again on the path to “proving myself” to gain the confidence to take the next step.

I raised this question with James, I asked him to help me do more. He sat across me, and though he may not have known much about my strengths, weaknesses, potential etc., he took note of my enthusiasm and ambition and shared with me a simple yet effective principle. He said “JP, look around yourself. There are many gaps, things that must be done for us to be successful, but are no one’s responsibility. Grow into these gaps, start doing some of these things, and sooner than later your role will grow to include these responsibilities. You will grow when your role grows.”

This simple rule helped me a lot in expanding my role all the way up to “Director – Business Development for India” within the 7 years that I spent with Nortel. I hope that you can find your own gaps to fill and grow into.

Stay tuned for another lesson next week.