The other side of starting your career in a small firm, be it a start-up, an agency, or even the service industry, is the opportunity that you get to do everything. Such companies put the onus on the business owners to run their respective businesses as their own. While on the one hand, they are made completely accountable for their deliverables, on the other, they are given the freedom to manage their clients, resources, finances, and the like. Having direct control means not having to go through the red tape and navigate complex organizational hierarchies to get things done. Also, you literally have your skin in the game. And such leaders whose necks are on the line, will not hesitate in passing the buck (albeit in a good way) to their teams. Such teams who get all sorts of responsibilities delegated to them, more often than not, emerge as strong leaders (or even individual contributors) themselves. They have a well-rounded understanding of their business. They are good at getting things done even when they have dependencies outside of their circle of scope. They do not have access to a limitless budget and are therefore cost-conscious. This promotes the generation of ideas to improve productivity and process efficiency thus making workflows lean & agile. Over time, they tend to become resilient, adaptable, and non-hesitant in going that extra mile or putting in those much-needed extra hours whenever the business demands. Most importantly, they are able to connect the dots between what they do, customer satisfaction, and the financial performance of their company.

Big brands can derive a lot of value from such individuals. Especially because, in the magnanimity of huge set-ups, individual teams tend to work in silos and seem to be disconnected from the larger purpose. Their goals are limited to their individual roles & responsibilities and they are unable to join the dots between what they do and how it impacts the end product/customer. Collaboration between teams in such companies is a daunting task with invisible but impenetrable walls between individual teams. Coupled with harrowing organizational politics, and cut-throat competition between peers, it is easy to get lost in this exceedingly complex web of the corporate world. Adding to all this is the cushioning that large companies provide to absorb certain shocks the jolts of which could in the long run be good for your career growth. It is therefore worth speculating whether a soft landing in a big company is actually good for you or you start small, hit hard, and make it big for yourself.