How do you hold your own in the corporate world?

So we have recently graduated from our B-School and have joined our new workplaces post MBA! All raring to go again, awaiting to give the corporate India a passionate embrace. Suddenly, a close friend sends me these questions on mail and that get's me thinking... Here I share her questions and my reply. Hope it helps...

Q - "How do you hold your own in the corporate world? How do you find the balance between your uniqueness and imbibing the corporate culture? Most of all, how do you pretend to 'like' everything?"

Response - I truly believe that organisations mirror society. You'll find all sorts of people there. We have worked before MBA and during Summers, this exposure might have helped us form perceptions, notions and beliefs. Adding to that, each organisation has a unique culture. Some respect hierarchy more stringently than others, some crave for newness in thought and action, and there are some who are in transit, in the process of moving from one pattern to another.

It is quite easy for us to get lost in this chaos. However, I followed these simple tenets in my stint which have helped me a lot. Sharing them with you, hoping they might add some value:

• Shed the baggage of the past, but not completely. Identify what worked for you previously, see if it can work again, if you feel it can't dump the funda & move on.
• Identify as quickly as possible - "How exactly does the company make its money", "What are the things that matter most to the organisation. Talk that language. You're more likely to get better attention from people. You'll make more sense to them.
• Informal mentors - Identify people you can connect with, people who've been in the system, who can help you understand how you can get embedded in the system without losing your identity. (typically college alumni or an ex colleague, friend or an acquaintance)
• Expand your internal network as much as you can. You never know who can help you when. Be friendly, wish people good morning and generally look at things with an optimism.
• Be patient. Don't jump to conclusions. Don't judge too soon, give everything time.
• Don't wish to change the world in your first stint. Look at simple incremental changes which will help the org better existing processes rather than proposing big revamps.
• Figure out what you want to do the most, be true to yourself. Don't think any work assigned to you is small or insignificant
• Your Manager is your best friend. Make an effort to build a rapport. Share, voice, suggest, learn & initiate.
• Ignore the small talkers, gossip mongers, and the Cynics & the "NO" people (The one's who always think, act and behave in negation). Trust me every company is full of such cartoons. Avoid them, look at them and smile, they are your source of competitive advantage! :)

Most of all..... SMILE - It always works!