A phrase that I like to live by or try to stick to is:
Whatever you do for yourself dies with you, whatever you do for others in the world
remain and is immortal.
Those people who find ways to voice and act on their values effectively,
are often folks who have reflected in advance
on what they are really trying to accomplish in a particular situation.
They've thought about the kind of meaning and impact they want their work
and their organizations and their lives to have.
Are they just trying to get the highest bonus this quarter?
Or are they trying to build a successful career and have a positive impact on their companies
and in their communities?
Having thought about the meaning of their lives in this broader way
allows them to tap into strengths they did not know they had.
It also gives them language, actual
arguments, which they can use to inspire
and persuade the folks around them to act ethically as well.
I know in the Business School a lot of people have a lot of self-interest,
but in my case I like to think that I can do things for others.
Through my involvement in different organizations, my work—
the career services office—I can make an impact on those people,
on my peers.
Giving companies and students the opportunity to meet together,
I feel like I'm making an impact on someone's career, even though there's
400 students and I might not know how each one of them
end, or if someone ends with a job or a particular
position in a particular company. I would like to think that
at least one person got something out of that event and that
their career got, I guess, changed because of that.
It's easy to get into a narrow
and short-term way of thinking
when we're busy, overworked, and goal-oriented.
But if we step back and explicitly
take time to think about the meaning we want
our academic experiences, or our career experiences,
to have in the long run,
we can find confidence and strength to act, and we can also serve as
inspirations to others.
So, during my previous job I used to teach some of the undergrad students about
electronic system design.
So, at the end of the course when these students came back to me and said, "Guarav,
thank you we really learned something new from you."
I think that was very satisfying for me. To help these students
learn something new in life.
For me, I think a lot about moving
back to Nigeria because of the impact.
There are a lot of MBA [business] students in Nigeria, but not that many, you know…
So, it's definitely going to be like a multiplier effect if I
did move back. So I do think about it.
Definitely…
I have a plan, short-term even, to move back and be of more
benefit to everyone.
I want to feel like
I've done something, I've made a difference here and it's not just
status quo, but this is taking it beyond status quo.
You're able to add on to what already existed or even create what did not exist already.
Think about times when you felt you were a positive influence on your friends,
or your colleagues, or your family.
And think about times when others were a positive influence on you.
What was the type of purpose that drove those inspirational behaviors?
Professionally, my goal is to buy or build companies,
particularly in the high-tech space — That's what I love to do
is to help create jobs and innovate, create new products that help people.
My plan—what I'm going to do with the resources that come from that, is
I'm working on a non-profit foundation to alleviate poverty around the world,
which my wife and I work together on.
I don't really care about money, or power, influence.
They help. They're good tools to get things done,
but understanding that I'm here—
what I believe is, I'm on this earth to help people and
invest in their success, and to help them to
live and to have opportunities in life.
Define your personal and
professional purpose explicitly
and broadly before conflicts arise.
Decide: what is the impact you most want to have?
This is the type of purpose you can use to strengthen your resolve
and from which you can draw language for your values scripts.
And remember to appeal to this sense of purpose
in others, as well.
Sometimes you're doing work
and you may be proud of the recognition you're getting for that work.
And then sometimes you're doing work and you may be actually proud of
the work that you're doing. And I think that…
being in the second category is so much more fulfilling and so much more impactful than
being in the first category, and really sometimes it's hard to distinguish the two.
When I look back on the world, I want to feel proud that I have done something
that has been constructive, that has been useful to people and society.
If I get home at the end of the day I want say, like,
"well, today I contributed to this in this way."
So that's... That's how I like to feel.
Once I get that feedback
that I am making a difference in someone's life it definitely make fulfilled.
Being able to say that what I do in my daily life, that I do the best I can possibly do,
that I don't compromise the values, the integrity that I've
tried to establish for myself over the years, and that I'm making an impact,
tangible impact in the lives of those around me and around the world…
really, really, drives me, and that's what's important to me.