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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

May - 2006 - issue > Sage Speak

Make Excellence a Habit

si Team
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
si Team
Thoughts of Aristotle had created a deep impact on D R Seetharaman, Director, IP & Design Services, Synopsys India. Firmly believing in what Aristotle said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit,” Seetharaman says, “Excellence is the result of: caring more than others think is wise; risking more than others think is safe; dreaming more than others think is practical and expecting more than others think is possible.”

And he made this possible by continuously updating his knowledge base. “Normally, one needs time to grow and become a mature professional. In the current era, though there are plenty of job opportunities, one must not take decisions in a hurry.” Hasty decisions in terms of sudden career change would derail one’s focus from learning the intricacies of work and gaining experience. In the 24 years of his work life, Seetharaman made three switches, prior to settle at Synopsys India. Though he worked with various organizations, he remained largely in Design & Product development domain and maintained the consistency.

A growing professional also need to understand the concept of team work - while one is expected to excel in his or her task assignments as an individual in the team, he/she also need to contribute to the collective success of the team. An unhealthy competition within a team can adversely affect the overall output of the team. “There is a lot of difference between a soldier for himself and a battalion soldier,” says Seetharaman. Only when the whole team succeeds, the individual who has performed well would be able to get the best reward. In this age of meritocracy, where pay for performance is the norm in the industry, to reap the benefit, every employee needs to be mature enough to understand the importance of teamwork, inter-dependency and to excel in one's individual contributions.


No pain, No gain

Success never comes to anyone on a platter, one has to strive for it and that is what I learnt from my father, says Ram Pazhayannur, Associate Vice-President, Business Development, Persistent Systems. “I have seen him struggling in his career but he never gave up. He believes that if you are dedicated towards your work then one day success will knock at your doorstep,” says Pazhayannur proudly.

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