Friday, May 27, 2011

At Four, Home Alone

It's hard to believe Osama killed, Mamata brought Poribortan in WB, No Karuna shown by TN for family raj, in India high profile corrupt politicians getting charge sheeted and jailed, India winning WC, Yeddy surviving repetitive unrest in Karnataka, Anna's anti-corruption Lokpal bill movement taken India for Gandhian wave... Significant changes in societal behaviour from next wave of 2G, CWG corruption news.

It's hard to believe that my SON as well acquired the trick of staying Home Alone. Is it coercive or manipulative. Is it something expected in a nucleus family ? Or it's a fall-out of urban race. All the while Kids are Home Alone due to mistakes, not knowing or trained to leave.

Yes, My son is trained to stay at home when parents are out for serious work or task to perform. e.g. Morning Aerobics classes of wife & my football play spoils the mood of Kid in getting morning sleep. While necessary is the mother of invention, we have devised a formula for a retrospective reference plane. Kid has been trained to understand that, when parents are not at home, do things in order:
1. Wash your face, Brush your teeth (toothbursh carrying paste already), Clean the tongue
2. Change the cloth, put up shoes and close the door (double check the door for getting locked)
3. Walk to community hall where Aerobics class is going on.
Strictly No-No:
1. Crying on wake-up not finding anyone at home
2. Getting out from home without washing face, cleansing mouth & changing wear
3. Not locking the door

To my surprise it made wonder and my Son is following it religiously with few mistakes of not washing his face or cleansing his mouth. I didn't see any resistant from kid, rather he accepted the change management without any resistance. Hope, I would have the kid to accept such policy changes in my life without unwarranted hiccups.

When I bring parallels to my work life, I am finding it difficult to new changes in responsibilities, Can't I accept the challenge as my 4 year son. It might not a very transactional, but not outright mission impossible task. Is the attitude plays a role, Is the ecosystem drives energy, Is aggression genetic, fear of failure is root of the cause, perform or perish is mantra that creates fear, being complacent is an issue, or just giving up is the motto. Why a strange and new environment makes you ill equipped. When you can make strategy for others, why it creates a challenge for you. Is it that, you don't get right support and still want to perform. No clue, but daily fire fighting continues. Being find yourself nucleus and remembering a famous comic strip, "neutron and proton were walking, where neutron said you lost the electron on the way, Proton quickly replied Is it +ve or -ve"

Positive energy flows when you look for a newer assignment with a sense of negation when think of end result. It's much worse when your forte is not at core and you are on loggerhead. Can't we dictate policies, frameworks, patterns for newer ecosystem. Is it something not possible, IBM does, McKinsey does in technical & managerial offerings. Why not a lesser known brand. Can my lesser known brand be left Home Alone, I can't ride the strong wave to become International. Is my positioning needs to be changed, what's the Value seen by my customers. They still see me a Vendor or an Advisor. Former is a child , latter is a parent. How do i keep my transactional map aligned to adult-adult relationship rather child-adult.

I need to move on from Home Alone to Carry Inclusive, giving time and space for everyone to grow and still command a premium of inclusivity