Right from childhood, I have always hated the concept of being the ‘new kid on the block’; nothing about it excites me. It is not about shyness as I do not consider myself a shy person, I also do not suffer from social anxiety as people refer to me as somewhat friendly but something about meeting new people, having to introduce myself repeatedly, deciphering peoples’ first impressions about me or intentions towards me just makes me oddly uncomfortable.
I had to revisit those fears about a month ago when I made the decision to leave my old place of work (a place that I considered home) to embrace a new career opportunity. I must say it wasn’t an easy feat but as Bryan M. McGill said, “Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth”.
Joining United Capital as the product lead of the Consumer Finance business, I honestly did not know what to expect because it was a whole new experience for me. I was somewhat relieved that it was a smaller organisation than what I was used to (fewer places and people to navigate), but my ‘new kid’ fears still managed to creep in. I worried about the challenges of settling in, building new relationships, and figuring out how to be a part of a new work culture; then I met Anu a.k.a. Rele.
Rele was/is incredible. I honestly feel like she was God-sent; my personal compass to guide me through a new journey. I remember the day after I had completed the induction process and it was time to face my core duties. Reviewing my scope of work and the magnitude of deliverables pending, I was fairly flustered, but Rele was there to ease the transition into my new role by hand-holding me through the entire learning process. There was so much to learn within a limited timeframe, and I feared it might not be achievable based on our busy schedules. Despite that, I made it through my first month and recorded a few notable achievements in such a short amount of time thanks to Rele.
Her readiness to answer my never-ending questions at any given time (even at odd hours of the day), is something I do not take for granted. The icing on the cake is that she’s a really cool friend to have too. In just a month, I have learnt so much about her that makes me so in awe of the person that she is. I intend to pay her benevolence forward to as many people as possible.
