Are you on song?

Many years ago, there was a sense of disquiet as I concluded a thriller from a favourite author of mine- Lawrence Sanders. The reason was that, the main protagonist, a female Sherlock Holmes, had been romancing two of her associates- a solid policeman and a flippant, frivolous, flirty & fun loving art assessor, and now has to choose, the lucky guy, that she is going to have a relationship with.
To my mind, at that point of time, I thought that the choice was a no brainer, but was surprised when, the lady zeroed in on the fun loving assessor. Her reason- he made her laugh! I was scandalized and felt sorry for the solid, no nonsense policeman, but with years of hindsight and experience, agree with our heroines reasoning- mere survival is boring, to live a life, the fun, is very important.The lady thought with her heart or maybe even her gut and not with her head.

When my young students, drop in at my cabin, at ABS, with a troubled look on their face, enquiring, which specialization, in their MBA course to select, my advise- follow your heart, always & every time.While the stakes are high, a career is in balance, I think living a life is more important.I follow this up, with, be selfish in looking at what is going to make you happy, rather than, those around you and you will do well in choosing a path for yourself.

Career Planning and Development, as I see it, has been reduced, to a cold and calculated process. A process without a heart & it is not surprising that we see increased levels of boredom, disconnect, stress and eventual burnout at the workplace.This, I attribute,to planning without a heart, where the immediate bottom line is valued more than the holistic big picture, which is to really live life.

A few days ago, a friend, told me that, my erstwhile colleague's, at Van Oord, received a hike of 25 %, in their wages. That is humongous!My head, says, look at the money,look at what you are missing out on, while my heart has never ceased to sing, after I got into academics.The world looks rosier.

As for now, my heart has won!Lucky me....................!