Don’t be evil. Really, Google?
Google recently launched a new feature in Gmail which shows desktop notifications when you have a new email or chat message. In their own words,
“When you enable these notifications, you’ll see a pop-up when new messages arrive so that even if you’re not looking at your Gmail, you’ll still know when someone wants to talk to you. For now, these notifications are available only if you use Google Chrome as your browser.”
‘Don’t be evil’ used to be Google’s unofficial tease-line against Microsoft. Used to be.
Is the next Facebook from India?
Its no news that India is considered as an IT super-hub. But, have we ever wondered why India is still unable to churn out a Facebook, a Google, a Twitter, an eBay, a Microsoft, a WordPress or even a mere Tumblr (which fyi is founded by a 21 year old in 2007).
The answer is fear.
Most IT professionals are buried under a comfort zone. They have scaled a certain mountain to reach to a corporate peak that guarantees a monthly paycheck, an above average comfortable lifestyle and a sense of investing time and money to hone their skills to scale more.
Now, I’m not denying the fact that there’s immense talent in our fellow IT professionals. Some of them are in-fact brimming with bright ideas. But the only thing that’s stopping them is fear. The fear of losing it all. The fear of breaking the comfort zone forever. And life goes on.
Ever wondered why there is an abundance of numerous rags to riches stories?
Cos, they had nothing to lose. Most of them started with a single penny in their pockets. They had nothing to fear.
Stop preaching, so what’s the solution?
Faith is the answer.
Having faith in ones abilities, skills and dreams is not a single days task.
There’s a thin line of difference between an ignorant who thinks he’s the next Mark Zuckerberg and a knowledgeable person who’s actually the next big thing.
Ignorance and faith is a lethal combination. It’ll lead you to disaster.
Knowledge and faith is more lethal cos it’ll lead you to success.
‘Knowledge is power’ isn’t just a cliched proverb.
Not everyone may agree, but you know what?
Even if an ignorant person claim that he doesn’t believe in the laws of gravity will fall to his death when pushed off a cliff.
The law will always work. It doesn’t matter you believe it or not.
To sum it all, start learning the laws. It’ll lead to knowledge. Knowledge will lead to self-faith. Faith & knowledge always leads to success.
What’s your Commander’s Intent?
In defense parlance, there’s a term called Commander’s intent. Whenever there’s a mission/operation to be carried out, the troops assemble and the commander address them. Yes, there’s a plan discussed. But everyone in the assembly knows that any and every plan in the world will fail on contact with enemy.
Vishwanathan Anand may address me and chalk out a plan of moves I need to carry out while playing chess. But on contact with a real Grandmaster(which is the enemy), one or two moves and I’m on my own. The plan bombs.
So what does the commander do?
He shares his intent for the mission in clear, crisp, no-frills attached language. He might just say, “By 4:30 AM, Tuesday morning, we need to capture Base21 from our enemies and hoist out tricolor”. Obviously, a plan will be discussed. But on Tuesday morning at 4:00, if the discussed plan bombs and only 2 survive; then both of them know exactly what to do. They have half and hour to capture the base and hoist the tricolor. It’s upto them to achieve it by whatever means.
Hence plans fail. But commander’s intent never.
In 1961, John F Kennedy shared his intent to his countrymen in clear words : put a man on the moon by the end of the decade and returning him safely to earth.
It includes everything: a vision, a mission, a deadline.
However doubtful it might be, but on July 21st, 1969, NASA kept his word and history was created.
I’ll complete engineering, then get an MBA degree and grab a high paying job is a plan.
I’ll be a billionaire by 35 is a commander’s intent.
Most of us waste our time planning our lives but fail miserably. Circumstances are our enemies. Very few people have ‘clarity of thought’ or a ‘commander’s intent’ in life. Do you have one?
© Copyright Tonmoy Goswami
