This post is a result of absolute irritation and anger because of the
current immaturity by new-age “entrepreneurs” on professional social
network(s), primarily LinkedIn.
With start-up boom the universe is blessed with some amazing individuals
who are there to solve everything on this planet. Take a chill-pill guys, terms
/ self-proclaims used and made by you is not used even by industry celebrities
and most successful individuals. Pardon my aggression; the tonality is because
of the random use of words that actually has made “important” titles look
mediocre.
Mentor:
Every 10th person on LinkedIn seems to be a mentor. Chief, whom have you
mentored? It is a serious term and claiming it makes it look like you are
responsible for most of the wonderful things on earth. Most of these
individuals are first generation entrepreneurs who have got some seed funding
and has a failed start-up in his kitty. (Intentionally using “his” as a
pronoun, as it is rare to find a female professional using this term or any of
the terms below). Grow-up guys you are belittling real mentors who have
dedicated their lives to bring a positive change to humanity as a whole.
Investor:
Give me a break folks; Oh yes I have a business model that needs 50
million dollar funding and I am serious, do you have it? then contact me, I can
get an 8X in 6 years. I have seen and known serious investors just being subtle
about their portfolio and not making noise at all. If you are an investor or an
aspiring investor follow them friends, and until and unless you don’t have
atleast one start-up where you have a profitable exit please refrain from using
it. Investors are not people who put money and do nothing about. They are
called financers (no offence to financers, I am a fan of them as they are probably
the only people who have an absolutely clear business focus). An investor helps
in strategic planning, getting further series of investments or even takes a
business to an IPO. Do you have it in you? If no, then cut the term dude.
Visionary:
Do you have a vision for the next 3 years? Blunt honest answer – “No”.
90% of people struggle to lead a common man’s life and you talk about being a
visionary. Hey Chief, Steve Jobs, Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, Bill Gates,
Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and few others were visionary leaders. If you
are out there to change the world then please feel free to use this term or
else be happy with whatever you are good at and make way for the real
visionaries..
Expert:
This is the most commonly used adjective by many of them and the
funniest thing I see is these are people who have experience ranging from 3-5
years. I am not questioning anybody’s ability here but the question is who has
bestowed this tag on them?. I have been fortunate to work under the leadership
of amazing professionals who very often say “there is a lot to learn” and never
ever they claim themselves to be an “expert”. Guys using expert in your title
line makes you look like an amateur kindly have a clear self-assessment done
and claim what you deserve and not what you desire.
The agony I am in is the fact that all the above mentioned terms
once upon a time were awarded or bestowed by co-workers / society and was never
self-proclaimed. And as a matter of fact it should be that way. I would like to
state examples of experts, visionaries, mentors and investors with whom I been
fortunate to work with; Manoj Aravindakshan, Ketan Raiyani, Shankar Gupta, Harpal Singh, Hemendra Aran, Dr. Mukesh Batra, Mr. Soundararajan Gopalan, Dr. Satosh Bagwe, Rajgopal Nidamboor,Vipin Singh, Rajgopal Ayyar, Ram Giri, Ashwin Hegde, Sujit Janardanan, Mahesh Murthy (I have not worked with Mr.
Murthy but I follow him and look upto him as a mentor and guide) and few others.
The interesting part is, none of them use any of the above mentioned terms and
if they have used it they have atleast 1 success case-study as a testimony
to it. They are people with unmatched expertise, knowledge and intelligence and
they are happy doing what they are best at - Work towards a better tomorrow
without making any "noise".
The intent of this post is not to offend anybody but yes, it is
definitely to express anger because of self-proclaimed tags and public display
of immaturity.
Thanks for reading.
