What does brand 'Me' stand for?

Straight out of B-school and the painful placement process we have in the IIM's ( its awesome in a good year and really bad in a bad year!), you are mostly bothered about the company you join, the pay and mostly other random things like location, will there be right accommodation etc rather than the role ( mostly standard job descriptions don't do justice to most roles in terms what they entail unless its a straight forward role like sales manager). But in days where you are likely to shift jobs, shift companies and shift careers I think it is very important for you to personally stand for something as a professional. If you are in professional services, more so as some part of the relationship stays with you and a large portion with the company but as you grow the ratio changes. So who "You" are as a professional and stand for what determines the interaction with the client too.

So I keep thinking what is it that I might stand for in the minds of my client after 5 years of being a service professional and what is it I might want to change to become a better one.

What I am currently -

1. Analytical approach : I am fairly analytical with what I do, have consistently looked at data and can wring stuff out of data. This has been a winner for me till now but I am sure once I grow further this might need to be more of looking at analysed data and coming up with insights. The transition is important and will be key to growth I think

2. Approachability : I am sure most clients will rate me high on this aspect. Most of my clients still are in touch with me and after our professional engagement have been friends and business acquaintances. This has allowed me to build a decent network and given the nature of work I intend continuing to do, I think this is an asset which should stand in good stead.

3. Industry knowledge : Given my commerce background, I claim no or very low deep understanding of any industry ( I think if you as an engineer or a pure science graduate choose, you can get a slightly deeper understanding of atleast one industry), but I have worked in a host of industries - Auto components, Jewelery retailing, General retail, FMCG, Power equipment, Government advisory - and I have some insights in most of these industries which gives me a broad range of frameworks to work with when I am trying to grasp newer industries

4. High ethics : I still remember the orientation at IIMB which cemented my position on this - when Prof RT Krishnan said the simple test for most things is to figure out if you would be comfortable doing an activity if someone else was watching it. Positioning is different from lying I think. Use facts to strengthen your arguement and stay your position is what I follow. In the longer run, standing up for the right way pays off ( I hope, dont know for sure :) but it has not hurt me till date)

5. Organisation : When I work with a company, I have usually high affiliation with what it stands for, I might not like so things ( fairly par for course) I make it known, try to be constructive but external, you can be sure I will put my best foot forward to be what my organisation stands for.

What are areas I need to work on :

1. Time management : I still think I am poor at managing my time and that is mostly linked with my own efficiency cycle - which swings. If I could stamp out my own inefficient cycles, I think it will be better in terms of what I can do and achieve.

2. Need for sounding board : I need a sounding board at the beginning of large tasks where I can set a broad set of objectives and plan my tasks planned out, most organisations are bad in this and this leads to me needing time to get a cohesive package together - I need to figure out a way to work internally on this and get an algorithm together

3. Multi tasking - My 2 years in investment banking now has helped on this, but I can be a lot better - I still don’t use the right tools for this I think. Need to get this right