By Vatsala Kaul

Success is like love. Difficult to define. Different for everyone. And you're never totally content with what you get.

Of course, there are obvious symptoms of the condition-money, power, status, professional and personal wellbeing, happy relationships and subsets of these. It isn't that success is a discovery of this generation, but their expression of it is different, more flamboyant, more visible, and sought above everything else.

Success is no longer something you chance upon, or have thrust upon you. You seek success. And so, equip yourself for the search early. Says Piyush Mishra, IIM-A, "With the competitive environment that we live in, you can't really enter the race and then say, well, I'll think of the plan when I'm there. You've got to have it ready and hardwired, though, of course, it will need adjustments."

Jasmeet Chadha, MDI, Gurgaon offers a definition-"If you can utilize your talents, your intellectual and creative potential, make something of your own right from scratch, a structure you've played a pivotal role in building-in business, economy or society-that's success."

Sakshi Agarwal, JIMS, thinks success is to be able to look back and say that you've lived life to the fullest and haven't done anything to mess up anyone's life, including yours-"To have used every ounce of your skill to achieve something you're remembered by." Priya Fernandes, Mumbai Educational Institute of Management and Research, adds, "If at the end of the day, you can go to bed with a sense of having given your best and got peace of mind, I think you're successful."

BE STRAIGHT?

Once it was simply called honesty. In the professional context, it's a whole different ballgame. Says Shubhranshu Singh, from IIFT, Delhi, "In the pressure-cooker atmosphere of management schools, honesty is a word not often heard. Ethics is. Still it is not a subject and that's a casualty of the system. You can ditch your friend for a better job, because you're competing. For me, professional ethics mean being professional about the job, giving it my best. In the long run, everyone realizes that unless you're honest, you won't progress in an organized company."

While that may be easy in a company with set parameters of behaviour, it's not always so when you work with systems which may require you to be dishonest. A system that is fraught with corruption.

"I wouldn't bribe somebody," says Shubhranshu Singh, "not because I think the act of bribing will destroy my soul, but because once you make that kind of compromise externally, sooner or later, you will end up making compromises internally in the quality of what you are delivering. The means become the end."

Of course, there are those who see no two ways about it. "The system is made of human beings; if you are a leader with a set of values, you can lead the pack, make the system good," says Ramesh Kumar, Annamalai University. "What we lack is good leaders. But in any system, we can live to our own expectations."

Amartya Roy, K J Somaiya Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, is one guy who stresses on this. He says, "It really disturbs me. I wonder if I'm better off in an academic ivory tower. I've kept that door open. If I walk away, am I an escapist? If not, am I a partner in crime? With the recession, people focus on landing the job, not on ethics."

BE YOUR OWN BOSS?

Academic excellence is not passé, but a whole lot of options have mushroomed, centred on being your own boss. Says Ramprasad, ICFAI, Chennai, "The focus has shifted from being at the top in academics to doing your own thing. People are seriously looking at self-employment opportunities." Piyush Mishra agrees, "Everyone should start up on their own, at least once, even if it doesn't work out."

Self-employment is the career landscape of the future. These future managers have a lot to say on self-employment as opposed to working in a huge, well-established company-which they do want to do, to gain experience to take off on their own.

There's more! Ramprasad continues, "They want to be where they can add value, rather than struggle in a job. The focus has shifted from a job, any job, to a job in a specific area of interest or something of your own." They want to be on the untrodden path, make a difference.

Like Amartya, who says, "I'm not interested in the rewards of a management career. For me it's important to contribute to the profession and achieve something for myself as well-developing a market, opening up new doors for industry, rather than land the top job in ten years." Manish Grover, IIMC, though himself going in for a conventional job, says, "The demarcation between what's personal and professional is getting blurred now. You do what you want and try to get paid for it."

BE READY?

"Success is dynamic and continuous," says Nikhil Dhingra, IIM Bangalore. "It has stages." Setting a target, going about achieving it, and-most important-thinking about how you've done it and whether you want to go on doing it.

Jasmeet Chadha suggests a constant search, a quest for hidden talents. Sakshi's advice? "Take one day at a time, each day doing a little something you feel good about. Put every hour and minute to use."

Ashish Chand, XLRI, Jamshedpur, gives a top tip, "It's not how specialized you are, which is a mark of how successful you'll be in the future, but how flexible you are in adapting to any sudden change-one fine day you find that the regulation on which your industry was based has changed. Keep learning; keep acquiring skills. Learn 'learnability'."

"To be informed is crucial," Manish agrees. "Don't refuse learning at any time. Everyone talks about the Net; there's an information overload. You've to learn what you need to learn and what you don't."

BE A SEESAW?

What happens when career decisions and choices are made at the cost of family or other relationships? Apparently, it's only the guys who think there's no problem at all.

Says Nikhil, "There is a clear line defining roles at work and home. It's best if they're not mixed, as the constraints and objectives in each are different. One has to adjust and balance. At times you have to compromise, like when you start off, but over time it balances out."

The girls, of course, tend to assume responsibility that is, perhaps biologically and definitely traditionally, theirs. Says Priya Fernandes, "I am very ambitious, but family comes first. It's tough to reconcile the two. Many women do, but you do sacrifice something. I'd see investing time in my family as much of an opportunity as working."

Sakshi Agarwal adds, "As a woman you've to think twice before taking up a career because family is invariably going to be there. I hope I have good luck-with a supportive husband, it's not impossible."

BE RICH?

Rhetoric about the money god is redundant. You need the darned thing to live. 'How much' is a relative and subjective debate. But is it sought above everything else?

Says Piyush, "Money wouldn't figure in my top three priorities because inevitably if you're good at something, money will follow. The respect of peers is important."

Kamlesh Kumar Sharma, BIT Mesra, Ranchi, shoots, "I want to be in a consulting firm, either mine or someone else's, so I have something to give people. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in money. I want it. Who doesn't want a swanky car?" He even has one in mind. A BMW. "I want to land in a good organization so people say this guy works with so-and-so, I want status. And if you can also have a good family, a well-settled life, well, you've done the job!"

Says Sakshi, "Money is big as far as I'm comfortable and not constantly desiring something the neighbours have. Money can't buy emotional happiness, but it does give you a base from where you can live life comfortably." A very pragmatic Shubhranshu Singh, IIFT, Delhi, adds, "Money is a very important motivating factor. The caveat is that it will not be important if the work environment, or your progress would be hampered, just because you took a job for a fat salary. Which is the same thing-you don't want money today, you want it tomorrow. The environment facilitates job switching, again lubricated by money."

Ashish is vociferous about this. Says he, "Money is important to me to the extent that I should have enough not only for myself but also more if I want to make a contribution to people. Personally, I want a happy family life-if I can't roll with my kids in the grass and play with my dog, it's no use working. No use just growing old with a lot of money."