These were a few words which circled my mind when I moved to Canada in August 2018 to pursue my MBA at the Schulich School of Business, York University. I was excited about the experience and was prepared for the hustle. As soon as the program began, there was a lot of emphasis laid on Networking and Personal Branding by our professors, seniors, alumni and other people working in the industry.
I was fascinated by the term “Personal Brand” because I was curious to know how people build a brand for themselves and position it. Forming an impression, image or reputation for oneself is complex as it entails what that individual stands for and what matters to him/her.
So it got me thinking – What do I care about? What do I stand for? What defines me? What interests me? What makes me happy? What keeps me going? After some self-introspection and thinking about how I got to where I was, I realized that learning has been the most significant source of motivation for me. And my best source of learning had been hand-on experiences as well as from the people around me. Here are a few instances I thought of:
- After my undergraduate degree, I decided to start my career in a startup rather than a big corporation. Why did I join a start-up? Start-ups are lean and agile. I wanted to be in an environment where I can try a bunch of things, fail quickly to learn faster. Joining Zigwheels gave me the right opportunity to pursue this. The learning-focussed culture and the constant support of my peers and managers enhanced my intellect
- Why did I decide to pursue a career in product management? While working with product managers, I realized how their jobs revolved around continuous feedback from the users/clients and making improvements to the product. This cycle made them better thinkers and decision-makers. Building something tangible to solve problems and backing it up with my consistent curiosity excited me and made me choose product management as my career path.
- Learning more about business, strategy and marketing was my rationale behind pursuing an MBA. I was curious to know about the fundamental business concepts, get over my fear of being an entrepreneur and learn from the diversity in the Schulich MBA program.
This blog is called #ShareToLearn because mutual sharing of knowledge and ideas has not only helped me connect with people but also learn from their diverse perspectives. Hence, exactly a year ago in November 2019, I started sharing my thoughts, opinions and learnings with my professional network as an initiative where I try to make learning easier for myself and the people around me by asking the right question about what makes me curious. During this journey, I have learnt a lot – about product management, about emerging trends and their impact, about communication, about people, about the Canadian/North American culture and myself.
This blog not only reflects my learnings throughout my career but also features my portfolio, interests as well as my thoughts around product management and emerging technologies. It is an extension to my effort to share my learnings, ideas and curiosity and an opportunity to learn from my readers as well as get their suggestions and feedback.
If you like my concept of #ShareToLearn, please share this post and do subscribe to my blog by leaving your email address below. Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or suggestions in the comments section below 🙂
#ShareToLearn 