Build Genuine Relationships

One thing I have learned from my brother is the importance of investing in relationships. In both personal and professional life, you need people who encourage you, support you, and stand by you. In this note, I want to keep the focus on professional relationships.

When I say you have to invest in relationships, I do not mean you should fake it. I do not mean you should go after every person in the organization and forcefully build relationships. No. It’s not like that.

You should have a good relationship with your manager, your lead, your juniors, and your teammates. You cannot have one with everyone, but try to have one with as many of them as you can. Be someone people can talk to, trust, and rely on. Over time, if you do this genuinely, you will probably earn two or three genuine friends along the way. And that matters.

You cannot do everything alone. There will be times when you are behind a deadline and need someone to help you. There will be times when you are given a critical task and need people to support you, sometimes by pushing themselves a little harder simply because they care about you and the outcome.

Not because they are obligated to. Not because you are senior. Not because they are afraid of you. But because there is mutual respect and genuine goodwill. That is what investing in relationships means to me.

Otherwise, you end up building purely transactional relationships where everything is taken literally: “That’s not my responsibility.” “You didn’t ask me.” “It’s not in my scope.” “I finished my part.” And while those things may technically be correct, the industry does not work purely on technicalities.

Work is done by people. Sometimes you need someone to go a little beyond their responsibility. Sometimes you need someone to understand what you mean without explaining every little thing. Sometimes you need someone to say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

You cannot demand that kind of support. You earn it over time.

So invest in people. Not strategically. Not because you might need them someday. Do it genuinely.

Because when you build good relationships, you are not just building a network. You are building a support system.