Instagram Inspiration Episode 6 - Sonakshi Agarwal

John C. Maxwell said, success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. Hi everyone, good morning, afternoon, good evening from wherever in the world you are joining for this special episode of Instagram Inspiration number 6 with one of my dear friend an ex-colleague, Sonakshi Agrawal. She's been a great help to me and to a lot of, a lot of the friends and a lot of the colleagues at TCS. And I thought it would be a great opportunity to hear her story and to learn something. Welcome, Sonakshi. Welcome to the show.

Thank you, Haritosh Srivastav. Thanks for this honor. It is really great to be here with you.

Thank you. How this will go is— hey, Parnita— how this will go is I'll be more of an interviewer asking you a few questions, and we'll walk through that. Audience, if you have any questions, you can type in in the comment box. We'll see if we can take probably couple of questions towards the end. Good to see you, Parnita, as well. So let's walk through your journey. Journey? How, how did you start your career and from where you belong to and things like that? I'll give you probably a couple of minutes to walk us through.

Sure. So, uh, I, uh, I belong to Bareilly, uh, which is, uh, a district. Probably people know Bareilly because of Priyanka Chopra, so that's her hometown as well. But yeah, I come from Bareilly and I happened to join TCS in 2008. Of course, that was the first company visiting us for the campus recruitment, and then I got selected. Luckily, I started my journey with Ahmedabad. So ours was the first batch there at Alpi Center for Ahmedabad. I moved to Chennai, then after, then after I moved to Lucknow branch, and then I joined Noida. So it has been visiting a lot of places through TCS, and of course around last 8 years has been with you in a common account that we have been working for. And from there, uh, we know that we have spent time together at US also for around 2 years to 2 and a half years. Yeah, so it has been a very good journey. Uh, I've learned a lot. I've got real good mentors in the way. I've got all good managers through which, uh, through whom I have got to learn a lot of things. So yes, overall nice.

Yeah, we'll talk about some of the learnings now. And I believe it was year 2008 when you started your journey. Yes. Okay, cool. So it's about 12 years, close to 12 years now.

Yeah.

And, uh, so let's, uh, we all talk about successes and what all we have achieved, and I, and I think the audiences are generally more interested about failures and mistakes that, you know, people do, because we all need to learn from each other. So would you walk us through a couple of failures that you had in your career and how did you cope up with that?

Uh, yes, I think, uh, some failures are related to some of the decisions, uh, that we take. And, uh, what I feel and believe in, that if we, we are sure that whatever we are doing, we are doing it, uh, full consciously, and then we don't need to regret about it. First of all, definitely, either, as they say, either you learn from a decision or you'll succeed. So I think all of the failures do teach us something. So it is not about to hold yourself back. But yes, there have been various things. So, uh, while, uh, I was in Chennai, I was striving to be in North, and I didn't happen to be, uh, joining any project there for some time. And when I saw my colleagues were already learning, they were already part of digital labs, innovation labs there, I mean whatever new things were there. So there was Ignite group, people were learning a lot of things. But yes, that was, that was a moment where you feel that, okay, you are lagging from people because of which, you know, there are certain temporary failures that anybody can have. But I don't think that should hold us back. Rather, we should get going with it. Maybe because, you know, recently, uh, the, uh, CIO of Lilly, Aarti Shah, had visited our campus in Noida and she said that of a career is because a career is not measured like in 3, 2, 4, 5, 6 years. Rather, it is measured after 20, 25 years. So you look back and then you see what you achieved or not. So yes, that was one of it. And then even during the projects, uh, there, there used to be failures when the technology was new. I moved to Lucknow and then I didn't used to know a lot of things. Uh, I had my ILP in Java rather. I I was working in UI designing, HTML, CSS, everything was very new. Web designing, UI designing, UX coding, everything. Uh, there have been various failures there also, but thing was to get going, uh, to read, to put in extra efforts. I believe time didn't used to be a limit that, okay, this time I have to put— if I have to learn something, then we have to learn something. So, uh, there have been things wherein things didn't go well as they were going for the Dikili. Then when I decided to move to Noida because of some personal reasons, again that was a time when it was close to some 4 years of the career. But again, because there was a transit and it was, you know, March time, so it was not a good time to take that decision. Again, there are things that we see Even it has repercussions sometimes on your, uh, professional growth as well. So I would say the first, uh, promotion for the career was even due that time. So maybe a quarter here or there shouldn't matter. It did matter that time, but now if I look back, yes, I feel that going ahead is important because that time probably it was important more to take care of the personal stuff, of a personal life, to be concentrating there. And now if I look back, I don't even feel that, okay, it was, it was just a part of it, you know. And then I would say the first break as a, as a leader that I got in TCS was around when I was 4 and a half years experience, and I was given the responsibility of a portfolio of around 20 folks. I had no clue how to get around it. I was just a senior developer till then. And you know, I, I remember that I didn't used to work. I was not able to do anything there. When I used to go and visit people, I used to ask maybe the PMO team or any person that how to create a new one, or whatever terminologies or whatever tasks that a project manager or project lead supposed to do in TCF. Nobody used to help, and people used to, no, you just look at us, oh, who, who are you? I mean, why are you even here? So that was definitely a failure wherein you feel that where to go, whom to ask, and then there comes a self-respect. No, now we don't have to ask anyone, we'll study. So everything was available, but just going through those things and falling, raising. And then failures are not just restricted to a professional life. I think in personal lives also we have a lot of things, because I believe that there are no two separate lives that we have. It is a single life. So professional and personal are just different fronts that we face in our life. It's not a different life. So yeah, they keep coming, but, but I think Yeah, the core is to get going. That's it.

I think, I think, yeah, I, I could get 2-3 core messages out of these stories. One is, and that I also used to do whenever I do the evaluation for any, any one of my subordinates, that no, you don't need to look at career as a very short time frame of 6 months or a year. You have to look at the long term. And the second part is about, no, Failing to learn is learning to fail. So if you don't keep on learning, don't keep on growing and improving, you are sure shot that you'll become a failure. And you also touched upon something that I wanted to touch, but I think I can skip now, is about work-life balance. And especially being a women leader, uh, there are a lot of things that I know women leaders go through, but I think you already covered it. It's not a This or this, it's a different, uh, you said different sides of the same coin, and, and at times something takes priority over others. So now let's talk about young professionals. Now you have been managing teams for a while now. What are some of the tips, like 2-3 tips that you give to any young professional who's about to join corporate, who is still studying and is looking up to the leaders? That now what could be those 2-3 tips that they can help, that they can use to help in their career?

I think, uh, first thing is, uh, perseverance and dedication. Because in this digital era, I feel that the responses are so, so prompt and quick. Because if I talk about my childhood, probably we used to have a lot of outdoor games, but the generation today, they they are not that much into it. And how, you know, if we look at it, it is impacting their psychology. Because if, if I'm playing a game, either I'm getting the instantaneous results for it— if I'm not able to move ahead, maybe I'll pay something, I'll just get rid of something, and I'll earn more coins, and I'll get another life, and then I'll get going. But this is not the real life works. And because of that, we see that there are so many suicidal cases, even if the people are not making, uh, able to make up to the percentage that they are expecting in their exams, people are taking some extreme steps which I don't think should be happening. But I think that is because our psychology— Facebook, you know, how it is impacting adversely the young generation especially. How many likes am I getting? If my friend is getting 110— and this is, this is worldwide, uh, you know, studies that show it, statistical data is there to support all these facts, that if I'm— oh, my friend is getting 100 likes My photograph just did not get up to 50 likes. People will get so demotivated even by that. I mean, this didn't even used to stand in our dictionary of demotivation. And then because of that, we don't realize that we are not putting in complete dedication in our efforts. So, you know, we tend to find out reasons to satisfy our self-guilt because we didn't put sufficient efforts, we didn't do, uh, inappro— like, appropriate efforts there. Our dedication was lacking something, and hence We tend to maybe blame someone or think that, oh, I am the only person, you know, who is just going through all these things. It's not the same. It's not that. I think a dedication, a good dedication will help. Uh, second thing I would say is a feeling of gratitude. If I quote it in Hindi, maybe, uh, uh, shukrana, like we say that. So it is very important to count on our blessings. So, you know, uh, this is again a proven, uh, fact that if you are not thankful enough, or if you are not gratifying the things that you get in life, you will stop getting the things. Because even God will think, right, that this person is never happy whatsoever he or she gets, so better give it to someone who will be happy. So very, very important. If we are getting our salaries even during this COVID situation, we should be thankful. Every morning that we get up, if all my organs are working fine, I can breathe the fresh air, I can walk on my, uh, you know, legs, everything. I should be grateful for it, I should be thankful for it. So, uh, there is that, you know, there is a, uh, related topic to it which I think will take long time. I don't want to take it here, but yes, there is a topic related which helps us understanding the power of gratitude a lot, which is called the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. So that is there. Uh, two more things that I would concentrate on, probably which I've been— even I follow for my life, and I would ask the same, maybe to the young generation, is letting go of uncontrollables. So there are two aspects in life. One is the things that we can control, one is other— other thing is which we cannot control. Now, we'll not let go of the things that are uncontrollable. Why COVID is not improving, we can't do anything about it. But what we can do is we can keep ourselves engaged, we can do things that are creative. So if we will not let go of things that are uncontrollable, we'll probably never be happy. And now again, related to this happiness is that finding happiness in every little thing. Every little thing. Maybe I baked a cake for the first time today, I'll be really happy. Because there's nothing big that's gonna happen in our lifetime to be happy about. It's every little thing in our life. Maybe spending time with our family members is a cause for happiness.

Thank you. I mean Perceive— sorry, perseverance, gratitude, letting go of things, and finding happiness in small things. I think you very well articulated some of the things that anyone— and I think this is regardless of age, sex, caste, creed, or anything— these are the universal principles that anyone can apply to be, you know, feeling more purposeful and feeling more satisfied in life. Now let's talk about, since you raised corona thing, how are you coping up with corona?

Okay, um, so, uh, yes, I think everybody— so as there are so many memes, you know, that I think the MasterChef line is this long after the corona ends. So I think everybody is doing that, of course, you know, satisfying your taste buds by trying out so many recipes. So just trying out on recipes and, uh, self, uh, I think an introspection of what we are good at and what do we really want. So there are so many things, you know, we can follow. I did follow a Johari Window approach just to determine a relationship with us. Then I recently— even you had posted in your status the, uh, thing which we follow, of course. So we need to know. So I think all of us do have something good in us for sure, because I believe that God has a bucket of 100 qualities and he gives everybody some 10 qualities. Now it is about— somebody might feel that I don't have any quality. No, it's never like that. And somebody might feel I have over. It is just our self-confidence level and an introspection that we perform so as to determine that What best do we have in us? So I think we should determine that best in this time. And I'm doing the same, that okay, if I'm good at something, let me explore. Maybe it'll not go well, but why not do it? Why not be positive? And Newton's law of— third law, which is everything has an equal and opposite reaction. So same thing, if you'll, if you'll be positive, you will attract positiveness. If you'll be negative, you'll attract negativeness. So I think attracting positiveness through anything, you know, being energetic, laughing, maybe anything, doing anything which, which, which, which keeps you positive, which you enjoy, will keep you positive.

Yeah, I think it's so interesting because I started this series only to spread positivity. That was the only aim. And I think through all these, uh, 6 episodes that we have so far, that this is something the passion, the The gratitude, the finding your ikigai and things like those, this is all about positivity, staying positive. We all know what is happening in the world, but yeah, we don't need to look at news channel every 5 minutes to find out the world will not change.

We don't at all, actually. So as they say, you know, if you are feeling distressed by something, just keep it away from you. Yep, keep it away, just be away. Yeah, actually it, and it does impact a lot. I think I do believe a lot in the science of energy and vibes. It is everywhere because the kind of vibes and the kind of energies that we get actually builds or it impacts positively or negatively our own personalities. So whatever we feel, you know, passionate about, whatever we feel happy about, we should just do that. So 9 hours is office, I understand, for us at least who are working from home, but rest of it there will be something for sure which makes us happy. I was doing that thing.

Good. So, uh, we are reaching towards the end of the session. So audience, if you have any questions, please putting in the comment. And till then, I'll post my last question is, what are your future plans? Not in terms of what happens after COVID, but in terms of the career, in terms of the personal space. What are your future plans long term?

Uh, firstly, to be happy. All the time to be energetic. That's, I think, the code. So yeah, and then probably doing something creative and, uh, you know, mindful, which I enjoy doing. So I've been doing mentoring, uh, for my team for long. Probably doing it, extending it maybe a little bit more, uh, if there are people, if, if there's somebody who can, who, who can be, you know, helped through that. Uh, I have done, uh, I have done social work in the past, uh, through TCS, probably engaging more into some social activities because there had been a pause, uh, this while. And then career-wise, of course, as it goes. So of course taking up more challenging opportunities because challenges excite me big time. So I, I really can't be in the same space all the time if it's, it's in here. And I say like, you know, the apple pie concept. So the pie of the apple which is, you know, matured enough and in which you've gained a lot of confidence and you are very much through, should we— we should move out of that. We should move that out of our life so that we create more new space to learn and get something new, challenging. So I think 25% take out, take something new, 75% maybe we keep doing something same, then next 25%. So that way, after, you know, 4, uh, 4 parts of it, we'll realize that we have 100% new things, you know.

Okay, we did get one question, so Okay, thank you, Kashyap. So very intriguing question. Kashyap is asking, uh, what do you think about creativity? How— how— I believe what he asking is how can we inculcate the culture of creativity and learn more about creativity?

Uh, firstly, I think creativity is not something, uh, designing an art piece, but creativity is something which we do passionately because for sure it will give us such outputs and fruits which will be definitely different from the usual thing that we see. So creativity can mean anything and it can be as simple as decorating your office desk. So it can be anything that we are passionate of. It can be any work or something. And anybody, as I said earlier, that self-introspection can help us determine our own creativity. Which we feel happy about doing things.

Yeah, I think he has a follow-up question, uh, whether it— the creativity comes with hard work or with passion. I'll let you answer that.

I think, uh, for sure it, it is initiated by passion, but it gets going with hard work. So both of the things are important.

Agree, totally agree. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you, you can't just take away hard work and get something, something to the end result. So yeah, passion is the one who, which initiates. And if you people have watched the last episode where I had Sawan coming and he said there are 3 things to be successful, and one, and one is hard work, another is talent, but there has to be a passion. So hard work plus passion, or talent plus passion leads to the success. So great, great answer, Sonakshi. I think now we have come to the end finally, and it has been a great honor and pleasure to have you, and we surely learned a lot about you. Uh, so yeah, let's, let's continue to be in touch. Let's spread positivity, and thank you so much.

Sure. Thank you, Haritosh. Thanks a lot. Thank you all the audience.

All right, so I, I'm gonna end the session by, as I do every time, let's keep learning, keep growing, and keep going out of our comfort zone. Let's help each other. And when I say help, it's not always about money. It could just be a 5-minute talk to someone who needs to have a discussion. It could also be helping a pet who's not being fed So I hope we all will learn with each other, we always spread more positivity. So wish you all a happy weekend, a good week, work week ahead, and take care of yourself. This is Haritosh Srivastav. I'll be back with the next episode of Instagram Inspiration.