THERE ARE NO GOOGLE MAPS FOR LIFE

 



“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think.”

A.A. Milne

The Google Maps – the live directions – have made driving, searching, finding and reaching easy… na?

It seems, we all have put ourselves on an autopilot mode… Just tell “Google dear, take me here, and take me there… Alexa darling, play this for me, and that for me… and, now, with mind-blowing AI at our fingertips, we do not have to think at all…

Are we thinking: Just some years ago, when there were no calculators or computers – how complicated our life was…Na?

No pun intended, perhaps?  I think, the technology has to only help us do things faster, while it should not rob us of our powers – to think fresh, take risks, be curious, find alternatives, learn from our mistakes, trust self and trust people around, teamwork, and above all, to stay alert, agile and young…

As the old saying goes about money, even technology should be a great servant – never a bad master…

Are we becoming more and more enslaved to machines?

Well, this post is not chiefly about technology. Instead, it’s chiefly about - what, in management lingo, they call – ‘Micro management’.

I used to love the phrase – ‘Attention to detail’. So, slowly, I would end up doing things myself. Also, I thought it was being leading from the front, leading by example, and even thought it was passion for excellence…

But, along this journey, I realized, that such an overinvolvement in every task in hand – top to bottom – stemmed from several factors: foremost was my own insecurity… fear, lack of trust not only in myself, but in my team…  

As a parent, as a husband, as a teacher, as an entrepreneur – and whatever I am, I should not poke my nose in every small detail. I must learn to delegate work to smart people around me, have faith in their abilities to perform, provide them a secure atmosphere to perform… and, along all this, put systems in place to make them accountable…




About forty-five years ago, as a young man struggling to find my place in this big city, I had found on the footpaths of this city an old essay by Elbert Hubbard  - “A Message to Garcia’. It’s an inspiring essay about personal initiative, trust, leadership, delegation, execution, imagination and risk-taking. But, the author, more than hundred years ago, hadn’t coined the catchphrase - ‘Micro Management’ – anywhere in his essay… He was a wiseman, not a Management Guru, you see…

So, the young soldier in the story, Andrew S. Rowan, was called in and assigned the secret mission – to carry the confidential and crucial President’s message to General Garcia into the a faraway, dangerous warzone…

And, the young soldier just did! Yes, he did it… not asking a thousand questions… and, of course, not asking Lord Google or Goddess Alexa!

I smile every time some parents (particularly mothers) of my students try to ‘micro manage’ things for their young kids… I am not talking about the helicopter mothers… Let’s leave them alone!

I am talking about, doing every little thing, which young kids can and will do easily – but, the smothering love undermines this strength and robs it from the young ones… Yes, I say, such a micro-management is a sure recipe for low self-esteem…

Well, already Google, Alexa, AI and their fraternity have robbed our young kids of what young soldier, Andrew S. Rowan, possessed. So, I tell the parents of my young students – “For God’s sake, don’t rob your bachhas of  whatever little is left.”



There are no Google Maps for this journey called – LIFE. So, dear parents, tell your young kids more about ‘what to do’ and less about ‘how to do’… Trust, they will find out, and do it well…

I hope, you won’t ask, Alexa or Google, “Does he (this simple teacher) make any sense?”

 

GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic’s: 1. Pixels/Ron Lach  2. Alimurat Ural

Video: TheDoughsVideos 1

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...