A Lesson That Changed My Outlook on Work and Life

10 Years Ago — A Lesson That Changed My Outlook on Work and Life

This goes back almost a decade, to a time when I was working with one of the top recruiting firms in India. I was relatively new to recruitment, but passionate and driven. Within my first year, I managed to place candidates at 30 LPA salary levels with billing around 16%. Each successful placement generated ₹4.5+ lakhs in revenue for the company.

I successfully placed 2–3 Solution Architects, all of whom joined. As a result, I was given a small team to lead. In just over a year, I had overachieved my individual and team targets by more than 1.5x. I didn’t even know how to ask for incentives — I was just focused on doing good work.

The CEO was supportive. But one of her junior colleagues — unfortunately — wasn’t. She was manipulative and played office politics in ways I wasn’t prepared for. When I asked about the incentive structure, she dodged the conversation and soon began a series of tactics to undermine me. She even influenced a junior team member to speak against me, eventually taking away my team and forcing me into an individual contributor role.

The irony? I used to offer her my lunch every day before eating — she was from Tamil Nadu and loved North Indian food. That small act of kindness didn’t stop the politics that followed.

I was newly married at the time. Emotionally, it was a tough phase. I had the drive and the work ethic, but I wasn’t equipped for corporate games.

That experience taught me a valuable life lesson.

Since then, I’ve made a promise to myself:

I will not tolerate unnecessary politics.

I will not surround myself with toxic people, personally or professionally.

I will choose peace, meaningful work, and integrity every time.

I am proud of being honest, hardworking, and optimistic. These values have brought me this far, and I will continue to stand by them.