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| Learn from the Coca-Cola Brand Manager |
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Themba Nobanda: Coca-Cola Brand Manager
Learning does not end at university. A commitment to lifelong learning could see you getting the opportunity in a company to go from a young graduate to a global business executive entrusted with millions of shareholders’ money. After all, your true worth at work is measured by what you can do. 2. Get a mentor A mentor will impact your career (and even your life) in ways you will never imagine. My mentor would always have a much better perspective on things about work than I could have at any time. It kept my head level and inspired me. 3. Think about developing others and not just yourself This may sound weird but it’s my opinion that those who genuinely invest in coaching, helping and training others around them are the people in the business who get their results easiest. P&G is a team based environment (this goes for most companies too). As an individual on any project you have to rely on other experts to provide input, leadership, support and guidance in order to achieve results. The more experts you have working with you the less sweat you have to drip off your brow to succeed. Team members, managers, and people in other departments can help you if you share what you know. Additionally if they understand what you do it will make life easier for you and them so I recommend investing time in others as it will save you time. It will also give you more time outside the office, because you don’t have to do everything yourself. 4. Have some fun while you work it will keep you and others performing Work forms most of our lives and if you exclude sleep it’s easily 80% of your time. I recommend being a catalyst of good morale, because the morale in an organisation is in the hands of the individuals in it, NOT management. If you can’t be a catalyst of fun and general good morale in the organisation then try two things: (a) stop complaining to the person next to you, they have a challenging job and don’t need your stress (b) encourage those who are creating a fun inspiring place to work, it’s the least you can do. 5. If you already have a mentor, consider the concept of a Personal Board of Directors Not everyone is an expert at everything and so I keep a virtual team of people who provide guidance to me as I learn and grow. Each member on my board teaches me different things and brings different ideas on issues, challenges, and opportunities. I have 12 members on my board with different backgrounds, skills, ages and approaches. I believe they keep me balanced, inspired and focused. Sometimes out of trouble. 6. Get active and keep your body fit and healthy Not only has it transformed the way I feel on a day-to-day basis it helps me to clear my mind and see the bigger picture. Also I have learned that no money can buy back your health. Once it’s gone it’s gone. Someone once said to me: “In life you have to juggle five or six balls of importance constantly to keep life balanced. Career, Family, Health, Spirituality, Social Life – whatever you see as important. The one that you should worry most about is the Health ball, because it’s made of glass while the others are rubber. You can drop the others many times and pick them up again. Health drops once and that’s it.” Today, I see this person’s point. Don’t wait till you learn the hard way. It’s too dear. 7. Remember your role in society is greater than to work and get rich. Yes really! As a graduate you will have the opportunity to land jobs that will see you becoming part of the top 5% on the income scale in Africa never mind South Africa. We live in a world and particularly a country and continent where most of our population is poor and in desperate need of things we take for granted. I challenge you to make a difference to those whose lives are less privileged than yourself. So help a kid through school. Volunteer at an AIDS orphanage. Teach or mentor in the township. Push for more CSI projects (corporate social investment – not the TV show!) projects on your business. Find something that you can do to emancipate our challenged continent. YES YOU CAN! Once my best friend and I hosted 30 of our close friends at what is now our annual charity Christmas Dinner. We held a charity auction and sold random things amongst ourselves like car washes, massages, a chauffer for a day, a Sunday lunch etc. We raised EIGHT THOUSAND RAND! We donated it to the Noah Aids Orphanage. It’s not much but its just one of many ways I can make a difference in society – better still we had fun! I’m not a Bill Gates (yet), but I’m trying my part. What will you do? 8. Become a master of technology Within 5 months of sitting next to an IT pro at work helped me to learn some simple tips on my laptop that helped me save TONS of time. It’s made me realise that I don’t need more time – just more skill on the technology side. We live in a world where technology is now a part of everything we do. Being skilled at this kind of stuff is like being a wizard with a magic wand. If you master it, you can do wonders in the world with your magic. 9. Get familiar with people in your organisation, they can help you when you need it the most People do things for people they know. And more importantly people they like. If you’ve ever wondered why people don’t just respond to your emails – even if it says URGENT in caps with four exclamation marks!!!!! Here is your answer – they are BUSY! When an unfamiliar name shows up as the sender it is naturally deselected. I know I do it and I think I’m not alone, so stop and say hi in the kitchen don’t just stand there and wait your turn for the coffee machine. Make a friend. 10. Pick a day and a time once a week where you do a Random Act of Craziness with your team It’s a fun way to bond and get to know each other. My teams (and others who sat around us) knew that Friday 4 pm is ‘Song of the week’ time where we had everyone sharing a song they like. It sometimes included dancing! Once as a salesman our team would do a 4pm roll every Tuesday. It revitalised us even though we worked separately and often shocked our customers, because we did it wherever we were no matter what. It was fun sharing the stories at the end of the week! 11. And a bonus point to enrich your life holistically not just career wise: Be a part of the 2010 World Cup in some way or the other. This is a major milestone in the African renaissance and is going to leave a legacy greater than we can anticipate. It will change your life as an African for good and so I recommend you take part (however you do). Consequently you can have your story to tell about the day we impressed the world with our amazing culture and changed the way people see us. Bam! There you have it – pearls of wisdom for your first job. Don’t cast them before the swine, and if you’d like some tips on effective Job Hunting, drop us a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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