Leadership Point of View

RAJASEKHAR RAVISHANKAR

SECTION 6 (T/R 3.00 PM)

LEADERSHIP POINT OF VIEW

My background:

I was raised in Chennai, one of the main cities in the southern part of India. My parents ensured that I received the best education and taught me most of the important lessons in life. My dad is a Food quality consultant while my mom is a homemaker. I have a sibling, who is 6 years younger than me. From my early days, my mom taught me how to take care of myself and shower love and affection on everyone even if they show hatred towards you.  My father always counseled me to put in my best efforts towards any task regardless of what the outcome is. I will always remain indebted to my parents for giving me this life, tending to my every need since childhood and providing me much needed support during difficult times.

My purpose and values

It is my conviction that to unlock one's true potential, one must ensure that all his efforts are channelized in pursuit of his passion. Switching career paths can be a tough decision but choosing the right career is more important to prosper and progress in life. I have switched my career path 3 times in the last 6 years not because I wasn’t comfortable doing what I was doing but because I realized that I lacked the passion and can’t go on just for the heck of it. My basic philosophy in life is don’t ever work on anything that you strongly despise. What you don't realize is that a lot of your precious time and effort is wasted. You can strain every nerve on doing what you like and that is the only way to unlock your true potential and find inner peace.  Basically, the bottom line is passion and persistence are two basic commodities that help you attain your goals and help lead a fulfilling life. My life purpose is to motivate people to follow their passion to unlock true happiness. I am a key member of SWARG, NGO, where I have worked on numerous fundraising activities and providing free tuitions to help educate underprivileged children. My other life purpose is to help as many underprivileged children to pursue education through tuitions or fundraising, eventually helping them realize their passion and leading to my own self-gratification.  

Your core values

The most important values I continue to live by this date are integrity, commitment & perseverance. Let me narrate a small incident to substantiate my integrity trait: I am a financial analyst and was asked by the client to build a complex financial model within a day. Rather than patching together a shoddy model and finish my job for the day, I spoke to my client and apprised him of the need for more time for creating a better model. Initially, my client was furious but later he cooled down and agreed to give me 2 days to finish the job, which I did so with perfection and no guilt. Let me cite another experience through which my commitment and perseverance skills were brought to the fore. I was struggling to complete the CFA program, which consisted of 3 long exams and is considered one of the toughest credentials to attain in the finance domain. I completed the first 2 levels with ease but I was stuck at Level 3. I failed Level 3 three times and many people suggested that I give up and focus on other stuff. But I was determined to succeed and managed to clear the Level 3 exam in the fourth attempt. This incident demonstrates my commitment and perseverance to attain the end objective.

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