Anisha Expresses

Entering the corporate world can feel like stepping into a completely different universe—one governed by unspoken rules, constant deadlines, and complex relationships. When I began my corporate career, I believed that hard work and technical/soft skills alone would guarantee success. However, experience soon taught me that surviving in a corporate environment requires much more than that. Through trial and error, I made several mistakes that challenged my assumptions, tested my resilience, and ultimately shaped my professional growth. In this write-up, I will reflect on three key mistakes I made during my corporate journey—mistakes that taught me valuable lessons about communication, adaptability, and self-awareness.

1. Focusing only on hard work and not visibility

When I first started working in corporate as a fresher, I believed that my work would speak for itself. I was wrong. Speaking out loud about the work you have made to stabilise a project, establish a process, or make something successful is sometimes essential. You can’t succeed in the corporate world with only hard work. To be noticed you must demonstrate the effort and hard work you have put in. This is not to say that you have to do nothing except show off. Because you would become an expert at bragging if you did that. In addition to making sure you are truly competent at what you do, you should talk about it after receiving praise or success in meetings, etc. This will highlight your efforts and foster a sense of trust and belonging among your peers and seniors. 

Striving for visibility and fighting for it are two very different things. It is necessary to strive for visibility, but fighting for it quickly turns into a habit. Knowing why you want to be visible is crucial. It should never be for the sake of your name, but rather for the efforts you have made. 

2. Avoiding delegation after becoming a leader

I also took on the roles of manager and team leader in my career. After you reach a certain position where team mentoring, work monitoring, and performance evaluation are critical for future development, I discovered that delegation is crucial. As a leader, you occasionally run out of time to do tasks that can be simply assigned to a team member. Making your team work on a task you are accountable for is not what delegation implies. It entails assigning portions of your task that the team can complete in a way that makes information gathering easier for the team leader and gives team members a glimpse of what the work will look like in the future.

By delegating, a leader fosters team members’ growth in addition to their own. This does not imply that a leader may delegate every task that comes their way. Calling oneself a manager or team lead is meaningless if the leader does not understand what can and cannot be assigned to the team. However, it is crucial that the leader assigns or delegates responsibilities in a way that does not encourage bias or favouritism among the team members. Favouritism-driven delegation gone wrong can lead to a nasty competitive atmosphere among team members, which in turn impacts teamwork. Delegation must be done equally to all team members with complete transparency.

3. Being emotional about work & colleagues

Being a highly sensitive and EQ-oriented individual, I was constantly emotionally invested in my profession and the relationships I formed there. “Colleagues are not friends,” someone told me, but I never bought into it. Some of my professional relationships had a very negative effect on my feelings, but not all of them showed that the statement was true. Since we are all fish in the same pond and are here to accomplish the same goal, it is not natural to develop unconditional emotional attachments in a corporate setting. Building solid, long-lasting relationships at work becomes challenging as a result. 

This had an impact on my job as well because I was deeply driven by emotions. I put a lot of effort into everything, and I used to become upset if my lead or peers didn’t notice me. However, I was only able to get over this emotion after gaining some professional experience and realising that you don’t always have to give it your 100%. Sometimes it’s better to focus on improving your professional skills rather than getting recognition. Additionally, as I got older, I developed the ability to manage my emotions at work and have a totally pragmatic perspective.

All of the mentioned mistakes were made, but I was able to fix them gradually. Every professional that works in a corporate environment may have unique experiences and viewpoints regarding this. But ultimately, as I fell into the sea, I was able to swim!