The First Two Years The Ken

Most people believe that if you’re smart, work hard, and meet your goals, a promotion is guaranteed. But the truth is a lot of talented people fail to get ahead while seemingly ordinary peers blow right past them. So, how do organizations decide who gets promoted over whom?  If it’s not entirely based on performance, does it mean you have to suck up to your higher-ups? Play office politics? Be everything everywhere all at once? These were the questions, host Akshaya Chandrasekaran, was exploring in the latest episode of The First Two Years, an early careers podcast from The Ken.
If you’re starting out, probably in the 18-25 age group, this episode is a great place to start.
Do you have a career question we can help you to solve? Share a note with the host at akshaya@the-ken.com or take this form and let us know. We might have you on the show! The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff. 

Our listener Harshit has reached a plateau. He joined an early-stage startup in the EV charging space with a lot of enthusiasm. He believed in the company’s mission. But very soon things started to take a turn for the worse.
When the going got tough, the culture of feedback disappeared. His role kept changing to keep up with the changing business needs. But without feedback, he felt directionless and lost. The leadership was so busy putting out fires that they completely deprioritised feedback. His frustration only grew with time. Was he making progress? Was he adding value? He couldn’t tell. All messages requesting feedback were left on seen.
If he insisted on getting feedback in person, he got something wishy-washy. A telltale sign of not having thought enough about his work.
He did what he thought he never would - quit his job in less than a year of joining. On most days, he knows he made the right decision. But sometimes he wondered if he had to take a share in the blame as well.
Did he not know how to get people’s time and ask for feedback? Was there anything else he could have done to get people interested in his work enough to give him meaningful feedback? Should he have been more relentless in asking? Asked just one more time?
On this episode of The First Two Years, host Akshaya Chandrasekaran is joined by Balaji Ramachandran, director of growth at Meesho, and Karthik Pasupathy, head of marketing at Prudent AI. Both share surprising tips and pragmatic ways to ask for feedback that can help anyone who’s facing obstacles in doing so.
Do you have a career question we can help you to solve? Share a note with the host at akshaya@the-ken.com or take this form and let us know. We might have you on the show! The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff. 

Networking can make you feel dirty. It can feel unnatural, forced, and almost cringe to reach out to people for networking.
You know it’s important. You value what a good professional network can do to one's career. Eighty-five percent of jobs are still secured through networking, according to a 2022 LinkedIn survey. Even LinkedIn is built on the premise that professional networks can make you successful. But even the time you got past the initial awkwardness and reached out, it did not fetch you any response.
Then, are there any ways to do it in an authentic way? What kind of people should you attract to your network? On today’s show, host Akshaya Chandrasekaran invades a startup mixer to find out if people actually mix in these mixers.
Santhosh Babu, celebrated executive coach, shares a unique and important framework for creating a healthy network of people who can sail you through. Samyak Daga, Vice-President of The Carlyle Group, shares what kind of requests he approves and which ones he denies help to. Towards the end, we also touch upon less-awkward, and effective networking strategies that actually work.
Tell us what you think? You can write to Akshaya, the host, at akshaya@the-ken.com. Have a career question you want us to cover? Tell us.
The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. 
Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff. 

This episode was written, hosted, and produced by Akshaya Chandrasekaran with inputs from Snigdha Sharma. The audio engineering is by Rajiv CN. The survey is designed by Anushka Mukherjee. Podcasting is truly an ensemble act. A whole bunch of us had to come together to make this episode happen. By virtue or working together so much, we found a camaraderie. But there is also a friendly rivalry that sets us apart in unique ways. 
A work life without friends is lonely and scary. In fact, the top reason behind job satisfaction is having a work best friend. You stay at the company for longer than you normally would if you have a work friend. You go the extra mile at work if it’s your friend is headlining the project. You are less likely to call in sick at work if you have a work bestie. It’s almost like a best friend at work is a gift that keeps on giving.
Still, one of the most common pieces of career advice we have all received is never to turn your colleagues into friends. Keep it polite. Keep it impersonal. And definitely keep them at a distance. In fact, many employers actively disincentivize forming close work friendships. When do you collaborate? When do you compete? How do you set boundaries between professional and personal?
On today's episode of The First Two Years, I take you into the messiness of work friendships and why so many of us endeavor to make one despite all the complications that come with it.
Listen to Daybreak Special: The Pharmeasy Investigation Tell us what you think? You can write to Akshaya, the host, at akshaya@the-ken.com. Have a career question you want us to cover? Tell us.
The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. 
Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff. 

What’s the best way to ask for help? Many common, intuitive thinking around asking for help are often huge misconceptions and quite unproductive. Host Akshaya Chandrasekaran digs into the science of why so many of us are willing to offer help but reluctant to ask for it, learns what makes some people better at it than others, and busts lasting myths around what prevents us from unlocking the true benefits of asking for help. This episode features author and professor Wayne Baker, and co-founder and CEO of Home Lane, Srikanth Iyer.
You can listen to Daybreak's special episode here. 

If you have a career question you want us to cover? Tell us. You can email her at akshaya@the-ken.com. 

This episode was written, hosted, and produced by Akshaya Chandrasekaran with audio engineering by Rajiv CN. 

The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. 

Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff. 

Steven Rogelberg, organizational psychologist at UNC Charlotte, has some of the best advice when it comes to making meetings productive at work, especially 1:1 meetings. These are some of my favourite excerpts from Rogelberg's book Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. 

If you have a career question you want us to cover? Tell us. This episode was written and hosted by Akshaya Chandrasekaran, and produced by Anushka Mukherjee, with audio engineering by Rajiv CN. 

The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff.