Friday, February 06, 2009

It's been that kinda week...

And I am back. I've been away for too long... far too long!

What's brought me back is - a memorable past 2 days in office. Thursday was one of the bestest days I've had in sometime, which left me feeling very proud & accomplished.

Delivered a well received presentation in the morning.
During which my boss had to hold fort & weather out a real storm that promised to bring our house down - got into it & resolved it in the afternoon.

Just as I was reaching for my cuppa post all the action, was pulled into an immediate critical project review with the AAI-K CMK head! Had 2 answers for her 1 question - gave her a good shot of confidence that the ship was well under control! Walked out of that review with some great ideas on how to make the project bigger & a heap of praise for my + my team's effort :).

As if this wasn't enough (well, praise is always welcome!), had a heart-to-heart with my global boss at night... the conversation was at a level that I didn't quite expect it to be! We had a strategy level discussion where he asked for my thoughts/ideas on how to step change the impact our team could make - it was very encouraging & reassuring to hear from him that he valued my inputs!

And to cap the week off - Today I won an appreciation award from my GM for a project I had done a few months ago.

But, it's also been an emotionally testing week. Nothing to do with me or my work or Niki. A junior of mine is going thru an excruciating & nerve wracking time at work. The guy is fighting. Fighting for his dream. All I can do is watch from the sidelines, give him some tips & spirit on how to fight. It feels gladiatorial... To God I pray that there be glory at the end.

Hope is underappreciated - it's been history's biggest progress & achievement catalyst. And all too often, we make the mistake of taking hope away from people. Hope they can win... hope that their dream is achievable. Nothing is more paralyzing... and it's plain wrong.

As I see those around me & look back at how far I've come in the last 2 months, I've begun to see Venkat (my manager & mentor) in a new light. I can capture what he's done for me in one sentence - He's groomed me as a father would a son. If he asks me to run thru a wall now, I will.

It's been that kinda week...