Shashi Bellamkonda - Lessons in Life: Failure, Diversity and Learning

Lessons in Life: Failure, Diversity, and Learning

Shashi Bellamkonda

I initially considered becoming a dairy technologist or a Bachelor of Commerce graduate before choosing hotel management. My parents wanted me to pursue a career that was different from the norm, but I have never regretted my decision.

There are three things I learned in life, the foundation for which was laid in my time at college:

Failure is a part of life. Everyone experiences it at some point. It is important to learn from your failures and move on.

Diversity is a strength. It allows us to learn from each other and grow as individuals.

Learning is a lifelong journey. There is always something new to learn, whether it is a new skill, a new language, or a new way of thinking.

To overcome failures:

Don't be afraid to fail. Everyone does it. Especially when you learn to fail at making hollandaise sauce or your caramel custard is flat and the dreaded consommé becomes cloudy.

Don't give up. There is never a story where there was no failure. You only hear about the successes. My way of thinking when faced with a tough problem or a failure is to think that it can only get better and remember the times I was happy or when I succeeded.

To embrace diversity:

Be open to new experiences and people. The college was a melting pot of languages, religions, and cultures, and in many ways, we were all different.

Learn about different cultures. I have not found and continue to seek such a culturally diverse atmosphere again.

If everyone thinks and feels the same way, you don't progress. I have learned to always think that I may be wrong and listen to others' views and ideas.

To always keep learning:

• Set goals for yourself.
• Read books and articles.
• Take classes.
• Talk to people who are different from you.
• Travel.

I went to college in a generation that was not online and computers were a distant possibility. While working long hours in hotels, I used my "spare" time to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Sociology, and Public Administration. Then a Diploma in Business Management. I was very interested in computers and knew that someday they would be used no matter where I worked. I took some courses and then in the "adjustment" style that I learned, I befriended the computer/tech guys and sat with them in the night after finishing my 14 to 15-hour shift in the kitchen to learn more. There was a hotel where I worked where if there was computer trouble, the GM would ask the front office to "See if the chef can handle it." This was still a hobby at that time, but years later when I was the head of the flight catering at the Bangalore airport, this knowledge would come in a critical way. The skies in India had opened up and instead of just Indian Airlines, we now were catering to 4 other airlines. Things moved so fast that there was no way for us to generate invoices for all the airlines as the software would only generate invoices for Indian Airlines. My part-time learning came in useful. I generated invoices by manually changing the code. I "adjusted"!

When I moved to the United States, my passion to keep learning helped me a lot. One example was that those days carry-out orders for the restaurant used to be faxed to us. One day the fax machine broke. So we built a website for the restaurant! I had gone to the local community college and took classes in HTML and used FrontPage.

As I kept learning, new avenues opened up and I was able to move careers and join the tech industry, first in customer support and then in technology marketing.

Learning never stops. I keep abreast of all the new tech coming and have spoken at conferences about the use of AI in sales and marketing way before ChatGPT was a household term. I am not alone in this. I have watched many of the other Madcats have great success in hotels and many other fields. By sharing this experience, I am hoping we continue to embrace diversity, overcome failures, and always be learning.

Note: This article was written by me and is lightly edited by Google’s Workspace Duet Ai for better readability by making my paragraphs shorter

Shashi Bellamkonda, the batch of 1983