Chandramouli Venkatesan - Catalyst: The ultimate strategies on how to win at work and in life

I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. Though I did not pursue a technical or an engineering career after that, some concepts from my graduation days have stayed with me. One such concept is how reactions are catalysed or the impact of the presence of a catalyst.

The basic concept is that the presence of a catalyst causes or accelerates a chemical reaction. In some cases, the ingredients are available, but the reaction does not happen spontaneously. It takes the catalyst to make it happen. In other words, the reaction has to be catalysed. There are many such examples around us in our daily life. E.g. automobile emissions contain carbon monoxide, which is highly dangerous. It has to be converted to carbon dioxide to make it less harmful. There is oxygen in the air, but it does not automatically react with this carbon monoxide to form carbon dioxide. It takes the catalytic converter fitted in automobiles for this reaction to occur. Another example is that of enzymes, which catalyse the digestive reactions in our body.

For a long time after my graduation, I continued to think of catalysts and catalyse as engineering terms. However, over many decades in the corporate world, I started to realize that even success at work and in life needs to be catalysedit doesnt happen by itself. Many people have the ingredients for success, but they mistakenly assume that just the presence of these will guarantee success. Unfortunately, that is not the case; it needs a catalyst, which comes in the form of specific actions and efforts.

This notion has been in my head for a long time. I have also learnt from experience that success is the result of a holistic process. It is about catalysing a lot of reactions that most of us assume happen spontaneously. I have wanted to recount and share my experiences to help other people succeed using my learning. Towards this end, a few years ago, I built a module called Tee off with Mouli (the name comes from my passion for golf) and started sharing it with the people I was working with, in sessions of about three hours each. I got a very good response and also some good feedback, which I used to further refine the module.

In the middle of 2016, I decided that I needed a break from work. I wanted to take a sabbatical. I was also keen that it should not be only about relaxation and fun but also about making significant social impact using my experience and learning. I spent time thinking about the best way of giving back to society. I had several ideas, including working with NGOs, but finally felt that none of these would give a high ROI (return on investment). I strongly believe that one must look for ROI in ones social efforts. Just because we give our time/money/knowledge does not mean it is making an impact. This does not mean that we stop giving our time/money/knowledge. My only suggestion is that each one of us try and invest it where it has the highest ROI. E.g. if you are a doctor and you want to make a social impact, perhaps the highest ROI for your social contribution is in trying to improve the health of the needy. A doctor could make an impact teaching maths to underprivileged children, but the ROI here would be lower than the ROI in healthcare. As I started thinking along these lines, it came to memy highest ROI was going to be in helping people in the corporate sector achieve even greater success in their careers and lives. Their success would catalyse social impact and, over time, create employment and, in general, create a well-rounded, values-driven society.