Hey folks, I'm Swati.
Welcome back to my weekly newsletter.
This newsletter is those conversations: what I'm seeing, thinking, and what I'd tell you if we were grabbing coffee.
This week's edition is about choosing your industry.
But before that:
When it comes to the next phase of your career, where are you?
I'd spent my early 20s at Bain working across more than 15 industries, from real estate, hospitals and pharmaceuticals, to education, consumer goods, and more.
I picked up bits from every engagement without going deep in any one industry.
When I left for Wharton, I spent most of those two years thinking through which ones I wanted to come back to.
I reflected on all the industries I had worked in, sectors that my friends had been working in, people I had spoken to and narrowed it down to two sectors: healthcare and education.
These two because they resonated the most with the definition of success I have for my career i.e. the ability to significantly impact lives.
Healthcare had a ceiling I couldn't work around.
In India, it runs almost entirely through doctors. Every pharma and hospital engagement I'd worked on at Bain, I was spending time on learning jargon that an MBBS-holder would skim past.
The path to the top in healthcare is gated by a medical degree in a way that very few other industries in India are gated by a single credential.
I didn't have it, nor was I going to get one.
The education sector didn't have that ceiling.
The people running the best education organizations in India come from everywhere like business, consulting, and tech.
I picked education despite not knowing what exactly I'd build here.
So I came back from Wharton and joined WhiteHat Jr as Chief of Staff to understand how an edtech operates from the inside.
Later, I left to start my own edtech company, SoftClay, before joining Masters' Union.
By the time I landed here, I knew the operators in Indian edtech, which problem statements had been tried and failed.
And one meeting would be enough to tell me whether a new edtech idea had a chance.
Five years inside one industry did more for my career than the seven years of generalist work before it.
By early 30s, the moves get slower, switching costs are heavier, and the people you're competing with for the next role have spent ten years getting good at the thing you're now thinking about trying.
Going wide first and then narrowing is how many successful people in the respective industry got there.
Most people in their late 20s think taking on another industry keeps their options open.
What it does is make sure none of those options ever fully opens up for you.
Companies change and roles evolve, but the ecosystem knowledge you build in a specific industry is the thing that compounds.
So here's what I'd do.
An example could be: "Majority of successful hospital CEOs either themselves are doctors or come from a family of doctors."
This can be a pro or a con depending on your background but it tells you what gets you success in that field.
Your current role would ideally put you in similar roles again and again. You do one good retail deal and the next one will find you automatically.
The ask is simple. "I've done two retail projects in a row. Could the next one be something else?"
I know someone who spent the first 10 years of his career in a very niche field like airlines.
He joined the industry by chance, enjoyed it and kept growing.
After 10 years, he wanted to make a switch but couldn’t because the industry was dominated by 2-3 players only.
His skills were too specific to replicate elsewhere, and he hadn't even chosen the field on purpose.
There was no option but to settle for whatever was on the table.
Hence, I always advise early career professionals to always prioritise exposure over fast career growth.
The goal of your 20s is to walk out of your experiences with one industry you've chosen and not a CV with fourteen logos and no direction.
Hit reply: which industry are you spending your 30s in, and how did you pick it?
I read every email.
Swati