THE DYNAMICS OF PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: Strategies and skills to unlock your potential in your professional career

By Bhushan Chopra

SYNOPSIS 

The author shares the story of his uprising from deprivation to a successful professional. Born  in a large family in India, he faced insurmountable odds on completing his education. Driven by dignity of labour, he did not shy working on any job. It was owing to his grit, unflinching determination, and impregnable passion that he could pursue his targets. This book maps the arduous journey that the author undertook in his professional career. As a young man he had to climb many steep hills without the oxygen of outside help. Since he was not going to be content with anything but the best to realise his dreams, he went through a tortuous number of hoops. However, his focus always remained on achieving the best he could in his career. He did not give in when encountering impossible situations or when failure was staring in his face. His resolve, tenacity, resilience and unflinching determination helped him to overcome everything that life could throw at him.

His determination to pursue his dreams manifested in the diverse strategies that he adopted to combat the toxic impact of failure. His subject knowledge and expertise in his chosen field, his phenomenal appetite for new technologies, his refusal to allow any adversity to damage his self-belief, his impeccable professionalism – it all contributed to his success. He did not flinch when the chips were down, he did not let despair impair his judgement, and the clarity of his vision when undertaking new projects served him well in his career progression.

The book is full of numerous learning points for any person who is embarking on their journey to make their professional life a little bit more than merely satisfactory. There are nuggets of wisdom in every anecdote that the Author narrates. Even when he hits an impasse, he offers insights to enable improvement in the future. There is a repertoire of wisdom based on experience over decades that young professionals could glean from reading this book. What is being offered is practical, germane and relevant for a wide range of professions.

This book provides a wide variety of life’s lessons for every individual… more like unraveling the secret to the way life works. The more time readers will spend with this book, the more they will like it and learn from it. Although this is a book about the life of a finance professional, it contains much that will be of interest to even people outside this field. This book is as much an autobiography as it is a valuable window to the journey called life.

The Author believes that the book shall appeal to a wide spectrum of professionals and entrepreneurs: Chartered Accountants, Engineers, Architects and Marketing Executives to name a few. It shall be a guiding star for those who enter their professional career or enterprise and those who struggle in their profession or enterprise.

 

                                               

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Sep 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9783743877863

Book preview

Title

THE DYNAMICS OF PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Strategies and skills to unlock your potential in your professional career

BHUSHAN CHOPRA FCA

Index

Foreword

Climbing Steep Hills

Preface

Chapter 1. My Childhood and Education:

Chapter 2. My Professional Career:

Chapter 3. My African Safari:

Chapter 4. Return from the African Odyssey:

Chapter 5. Start of Professional Practice:

Chapter 6. My Jammu And Himachal Assignments:

Chapter 7. BPO  Assignments:

Chapter 8. Hydro Electric Projects

Chapter 9. My Future Planning, My Bad Investment, and My Victory:

Chapter 10. My Ordeal with Central Excise & Customs Department:

Chapter 11. My experiences with Indian Judiciary:

Chapter 12. My Experience with Bureaucracy:

Foreword

Life, they say, is the best and the toughest teacher you can ever get. It’s always wise to learn from your own experiences, but it’s far more efficient to learn from someone else’s experiences. And Kul Bhushan’s life is a series of experiences that will surely help every individual develop character.

My first meeting with Kul Bhushan was in the early-Eighties at the Punjab Anand Batteries Ltd office in Mohali. And that was the beginning of a deeply valued friendship. If you ever have to choose between ‘being trusted’ and ‘being loved’; choose the former. Being trustworthy will be the only quality people will remember you for even when you are no longer working with them, he had told me.

Those words stayed with me and their true depth dawned on me when I started meeting common acquaintances at Punjab Anand Batteries. Every single individual I met only had good words to describe Kul Bhushan. While he went on to pursue his career goals, we did keep in touch but our meetings were few and far between. Decades later, we again met as professionals when Kul Bhushan assisted us in establishing Dabur’s Jammu unit. What really struck me was that the age lines on his face and streaks of grey in his hair apart, Kul Bhushan hadn’t changed as an individual. His life and experiences, I had always felt, would serve as a guiding beacon for many youngsters starting off on their professional journey.

This book provides a wide variety of life’s lessons for every individual… more like unraveling the secret to the way life works. As I read through this book, I learnt another facet of Kul Bhushan… about the formidable journey in his professional life, a journey that took him through the peaks and troughs. His domain knowledge, the willingness to learn new things, the courage to take on new challenges and his ‘Never Say Die’ attitude stand out as his strengths that have helped him face all adversities that life threw at him.

The more time readers will spend with this book, the more they will like it and learn from it. Although this is a book about the life of a finance professional, it contains much that will be of interest to even people outside this field. This book is as much an autobiography as it is a valuable window to the journey called life.

As this book takes readers through Kul Bhushan's personal and professional experiences, they will surely reminiscence on the challenges they have faced. What we need is to nurture the art of individual productivity to overcome every hurdle and setback… and keep marching forward.

By Mr. P. D. Narang

Group Director

Dabur India Ltd.

CLIMBING STEEP HILLS

This book maps the arduous journey that Bhushan undertook in his professional career. As a young professional, he had to climb many steep hills without the oxygen of outside help. Since he was not going to be content with anything but the best to realise his dreams, he went through a tortuous number of hoops. However, his focus always remained on achieving the best he could in his career. He did not give in when encountering impossible situations or when failure was staring in his face. His resolve, tenacity, resilience and unflinching determination helped him to overcome everything that life could throw at him.

His determination to pursue his dreams manifested in the diverse strategies that he adopted to combat the toxic impact of failure. His subject knowledge and expertise in his chosen field, his phenomenal appetite for new technologies, his refusal to allow any adversity to damage his self-belief, his impeccable professionalism – it all contributed to his success. He did not flinch when the chips were down, he did not let despair impair his judgment, and the clarity of his vision when undertaking new projects served him well in his career progression.

The book is full of numerous learning points for any person who are embarking on their journey to make their professional life a little bit more than merely satisfactory. There are nuggets of wisdom in every anecdote that Bhushan narrates. Even when he hits an impasse, he offers insights to enable improvement in the future. There is a repertoire of wisdom based on experience over decades that young professionals could glean from reading this book. What is being offered is practical, germane and relevant for a wide range of professions.

What struck a chord with me was his positive attitude when things got tough. His heightened sense of alertness to new opportunities and untrodden paths epitomises his quest for diversification. He does not let the turning points in his life pass him by. Throughout his chequered career as a Chartered Accountant, he has kept his antennae up and striven to think outside the box. He reminds us that every opportunity missed is an opportunity lost. His passion for perfection helps him to welcome updates in his skills, understanding and knowledge. This kind of passion will be immensely beneficial to professionals in any field. Similarly his sense of enterprise and adapting to new challenges are attributes key to long-term success. Working outside his comfort zone and keeping his focus on his task have made a significant contribution to his success.

It is difficult to distil all the learning points in a few pages. You need to read it, devour it and then practise what you have harvested to derive lasting enjoyment.

SEHDEV BISMAL MBE

Wolverhampton (UK)

Preface

I hope my life, my experiences and my adventures will provide the less-privileged youth with practical strategies to rise out of deprivation and face the competitive world with renewed self-confidence. I believe my narrative will underscore many valuable lessons, which should inspire and guide young professionals and entrepreneurs to take the less travelled road to success.

I wish to share with my readers a real story, a story that would have scorched my life-chances if I hadn’t tenaciously clung on to my self-belief and my insatiable appetite for constant improvement.

The year was 1974. I had passed my Chartered Accountancy examination in the year 1973. I stayed for more than 3 years in Chandigarh YMCA Hostel before and after completion of my CA studies. Seven more CA students lived on our floor. Mr. Brij Mohan Varma, a CA student was two rooms away from me. Brij Mohan was the son of a former General Manager of United Commercial Bank. His brother, Mr. Krishan Gopal Varma, then a senior IAS Officer in the Government of Haryana, lived in the same area in which the YMCA was situated, Sector-11, Chandigarh. He preferred to stay away from his brother as he did not get on with him or feel comfortable with his sister-in-law. After retirement, his father settled in the holy town of Brindaban. Brij Mohan received a small monthly allowance from his father; often at irregular intervals. That was the time when pensions and salaries were small. I supported him whenever he was short of funds. Brij Mohan’s’s friend, Guru Prashad Aggarwal (GP), also a CA student, lived with his brother in Sector -11, Chandigarh. His brother was an Executive Engineer in the Haryana State Electricity Board. One freezing winter night GP knocked at BM’s door at the dead of the night. He was thrown out of the house by his brother, with whom he had had an argument. Thus GP became a resident in BM’s room, though unauthorized.  One day GP did not go to his office and also did not go to the hostel mess for food. I went to his room and found him completely beside himself, a broken man. While lying on his bed, he was staring blankly at the ceiling. He did not react to my arrival in his room. On my repeatedly asking him the reason for his despondency, he told me that he had decided to discontinue his studies. BM was also in the room. Both BM and GP did not possess adequate financial resources to support their studies. I was distressed at their plight. I narrated to them my life story. They were the first to know about my incredibly strenuous and hardships-filled past, which even none of my family members knew. Motivated by the story both repeatedly promised me that they would continue their studies. Both BM and GP qualified their CA examinations without ever failing. After qualifying, GP joined Indian Oil Corporation as Accounts Officer. BM started his practice at Chandigarh and subsequently migrated to USA, joined a Bank and rose to the position of its Chairman.

The will to succeed, the will to work and above all the dignity of labour are the essential tools in career- making of the young as well as of those not so young. The world is very competitive but, at the same time, offers enormous opportunities. I feel this book will enthuse and provoke thoughts in young professionals. To survive, every professional needs to be innovative. He/she needs to inculcate in himself/herself the spirit of entrepreneurship. Change is the law of nature. Change of environment is a vital tonic for any human being. Similarly a frequent change in line of activity keeps a professional alert, mentally agile and engaged. Those who do not change are destined to be stagnated and eventually perish.

We should neither be over- joyous on success nor too dolorous by failure. We need to be positive when faced with hostile and worst of the circumstances. We need to adopt a balanced approach and take things as they come, improve upon the past deficiencies and aspire to the best. 

Kul Bhushan Lal Chopra

K B LAL CHOPRA & CO.,

CHARTERED ACOUNTANTS,

MOHALI – 160 059.

1. My Childhood and Education:

Turning Mirrors into Windows

I was born in a large family in the year 1946 at Machhiwara in Punjab, a state in India.  We were four brothers and six sisters and I was number six in the familial pecking order. After completing his studies in Civil Engineering from the Engineering College at Roorkee in the year 1883, my grandfather joined the irrigation department and served in what we now call Eastern Uttar Pardesh in India. The British Government in India conferred upon him the title of ‘Rai Bahadur’ in recognition of his meritorious services in the field of irrigation. In that era it was quite common for prominent citizens to display their names on their residential buildings. Our double-story house at Machhiwara also had my grandfather’s name ‘Rai Bahadur Lahori Ram Chopra’ in English proudly displayed in raised plaster on the front of the house.

My father had 9 siblings, seven sisters and two brothers. My father’s brother, Ram Partap Chopra, graduated in Civil Engineering from Bombay in the year 1905. He died of dysentery while on  the threshold of his career, within a year of his marriage, when he was merely 22 years. At that time my father was studying in 8th standard at Arya High School, Ludhiana, the district head quarter town of our area. No education facility beyond primary education was available in our home town. Shattered by the tragic death of his young son, for whom he had provided the best of education; my grandfather took a momentous decision which had lasting impact on the generations that ensued.  He decided to keep my father close to him as an emotional resolution to his grief and not to let him leave Machhiwara to pursue education elsewhere. After his schooling was over, my grandfather set up for him a fabric retailing shop.

My father was a man of simple tastes. He did not possess the acumen or aptitude for running a successful business enterprise. Unsurprisingly impenetrable darkness descended on our fortunes immediately after my grandfather’s death in 1949. Our family was large but resources severely limited. As a desperate measure, my father turned to family assets to deal with the perpetual deficits that he had to encounter. Without sufficient regular income, assets, howsoever large they may be, do not last long. It proved true for him too. Soon reserves and investments started to wither away, and became depleted. Within a