Thursday, March 31, 2011

Should you compromise leadership for benefits?

Let your career take off with a leadership position


Published Date: 2010-08-29
Leadership League, Perspective, The Himalayan Times

What will you do if given simultaneous opportunities for a leadership position with less benefits, as opposed to a less influential position with good benefits? Will you simply choose the latter because it offers handsome remuneration?

Fundamentals like financial benefits might seem attractive in the initial phase. However, as young people get swayed away by benefits and affiliation with larger firms, they unknowingly weaken their chances of achieving leadership positions in subsequent years. Listed are some reasons why you might want to let your career take off with a leadership position irrespective of the size of the firm.

Interaction with management and influencing decision makingMostly, it is the smaller firms that offer more chances of getting involved in the management and decision making as compared to well reputed ones. Candidates have a better chance of securing higher posts, which offer higher chances of access to the management and decision making level. Choosing an easy paying and a simple job in big organisations may deprive you of the chances of interacting with the higher level, thereby minimising your chances of leadership opportunities.

Multi-disciplinary job and leadership:Leadership positions require knowledge on multi-disciplinary aspects which a smaller firm might offer. Volume of transactions and human resources play a crucial role in deriving specific and concentrated job descriptions. The larger firms are more rigid in human resource specifications, while the smaller ones are not. So if you want exposure to multi-disciplined jobs, smaller firms might be your choice.

Career ascendance and leadership positions:Monetary aspect is perhaps the primary means of judging career ascendance. But one’s leadership positions, responsibilities and access to management are just as important. You might have encountered people leaving large firms to join smaller ones, even though they might offer lower benefits. What do you think is the reason for this? Probably they find the challenges and extra responsibilities more attractive than the financial
benefits.

Simply being affiliated with reputed firms that offer handsome salary and non-financial benefits does not make one’s career track record superior. It is the responsibilities and access positions that the person holds, even if they are engaged in smaller firms that determine one’s success and ultimate job satisfaction.

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