Ashok Kumar finished law school in 2004, but his first substantial in-house role came four years later. Between those points sat an uncertain attempt at the civil services, a move from Tamil Nadu to Delhi, and the uncomfortable knowledge that many of his peers already had a head start. His response was practical: learn faster, accept demanding work, and stop treating a delayed beginning as a permanent disadvantage.
The story began in Salem, where his father practised law and hoped his son would become a doctor with a clinic near home. Kumar had imagined engineering, an MBA, and corporate life. Law arrived almost by persuasion. His father took him to Chennai, introduced him to lawyers, and showed him the High Court. Kumar eventually joined Government Law College, Chennai, and later considered company secretaryship. His father suggested the other "CS", the civil services.
That attempt did not work out. Kumar has no romantic version of it; he says his preparation was half-hearted. Yet the years were not empty. In Delhi, he began spending time in law offices and moved closer to professional practice. In 2008, Hathway Cables hired him into a small legal setup handling disputes before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. A young lawyer who had wanted corporate work suddenly found himself briefing matters involving broadcasters, cable operators, the High Court and, at times, the Supreme Court.
There is a useful lesson here for anyone who thinks a career must follow the neat sequence printed in a placement brochure. Detours hurt mainly when we refuse to extract anything from them. Kumar's civil-services years sharpened his interest in advocacy, public affairs and India's growth. His first job then gave him intensive litigation exposure, even though he had not planned to become a litigator.
He kept choosing assignments that added a missing layer. A telecom venture taught him contracting and the pace of a new business. At Moser Baer, he worked on solar and EPC matters during the early renewable-energy wave. At ABB, he moved from contracts and claims into project lawyering, management and integrity work. He also helped create a contract-management function that brought engineers and lawyers closer together. Later, moving from a comfortable role in Bengaluru to lead group litigation at JSW in Mumbai forced him to test himself again.
The physical detail matters: the move also affected his wife, then working as a project scientist at the Indian Institute of Science. Career decisions involve families, cities, late nights and the small fear that a new role may expose what you do not know. Kumar credits his wife's support and admits that the JSW assignment required him to shift gears.
His pattern was simple. Each time competence began turning into comfort, he asked, "What next?" That question later took him through ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel and to UltraTech Cement. The job titles are impressive, but the better lesson sits earlier, in the years when he felt behind and decided to catch up through the work itself.
Catching up did not mean changing jobs at random. Each move answered a specific gap: court exposure, contract drafting, projects, team leadership, large litigation or business responsibility. That is a useful test before accepting a new title. Name the capability the role will add, the people from whom it can be learned and the kind of decision you will own. If none of those changes, a higher salary may still be worthwhile, but it should not be confused with professional growth.
I prefer this account to the usual advice about having a perfect five-year plan. Careers are built with imperfect information. A failed examination, an accidental first role, or a late start can still become useful material if the next choice adds skill, responsibility or perspective. Kumar's career suggests that momentum does not require a flawless beginning. It requires an honest reading of the gap and the appetite to close it.