Compounding – a very common word in the world of finance and investment. It says that if you invest even a minor sum for a long period, it gives you a phenomenal result. Warren Buffet's wealth started growing in billions after he reached, maybe, 55 years of age, when he got his first billion. No one doubts the benefits of compounding.
A lesser return is earned if we keep changing stocks every 3rd month or so. Stephen Covey in his books has also said that in everything, including business, the farming law is applicable – Choose your field, till it fully, take good seed, plant it, water it, look after the field, keep on clearing weeds for a considerable period, keep it safe from pests and thieves, and then at the end, cut the harvest. Continue the cycle for years.
The same story is applicable to the birth of a child. I mean, it is an analogy. Please don’t go into specific details and say, they are different.
I would like all of us to see if the same theory of compounding can also govern in another important part of our life – Career. We have already seen that it works in the case of money, another very important aspect of our life.
Let us first take the case of our career. When we join a company, we are planning our career growth. Most of the time, it is related to the money that we earn here and the facilities given. There is no emotion involved, no attachment. We work, as we claim, in a professional manner. We are not ready to go beyond our roles and responsibilities as it does not result in an increment, a bonus, or any other gain. (I have also written about learning in the last two weeks on the same platform. People interested may read that also if they want.) We are ready to leave the organization as per the time allowed in the company policy as if it is just a natural career path. Nothing wrong is felt. We feel it is a give-and-take situation. We worked, we got paid for that. So, we can move when someone else pays higher than what we are earning. Very rarely do people see if their leaving will affect any of the company’s projects. The logic is – if you keep on completing everything, you can never leave. All right - from the perspective of an individual.
The organization may not agree to this way of thinking, and mostly they are not. HR is not very happy with this continuous movement. There is a lot of cost involved even if one person leaves a company, but let us not get into that right now.
Let us take a pause here.
Who reaches the top positions in all companies, irrespective of their size, type, and sectors? Except for very small companies run by a business family, who prefer CEOs from family, all other companies pick up the senior positions from their workforce only. Even in a mega company like Jio or Adani, there is immense potential for growth. No talented person is usually left out of the race for the top.
If an employee of the company is intelligent, sincere, hardworking, and produces results, is there any chance that he will not go up the ladder? Maybe his chances are the same as the person who left for another company for a higher package. The short-term gains may be better for the person, who is hopping jobs. I am sure that a person, who remains in the same company also reaches the top, of course, if their performances are good.
When someone remains in a company for a very long time, the company looks up to that person as a loyal employee and rewards them accordingly. Mind you, if you are not performance-oriented, you will not be rewarded for a long time in another company as well.
Remaining in the same company has its own rewards if we can apply the farming law sincerely. We choose the organization carefully, learn everything about it (past, present, future), consider ourselves as a healthy seed, keep track of our performance, work sincerely, keep away from negative people and associations, and produce the desired result.
Will it work? Do you still need to do job hopping? Maybe remaining in the same company can give you better results. Who knows? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
Image by Marcus