Wednesday, December 8, 2010

On the Road with a Good Manager

I typically don't write about work topics, but given the fact that we spend the largest part of our adult life at a place where we need to be but don't necessarily want to be, which is the source of our sustenance, which provides us with the means to go for things we want and in the process also takes the blame for being the limiting factor (while we know fully well that pure focus on want puts sustenance itself at risk), it does deserve a mention from time to time.

The good manager is not a lumbering truck in front of you on a one-lane road, forcing you to try passing at inopportune moments and risking head-on collision disaster scenarios; nor is he/she the Ferrari zooming past you on the highway, either leaving you feeling alone/unguided (and not knowing which, if any, exit to take) or inviting you to risk speeds that you never attempted before.

The good manager is the blind spot detector that warns you when there is a vehicle beside you and you don't see it, the lane detector that warns you when you start veering off your lane, the sleep detector that warns you when you start experiencing those momentary pass-outs, the highway emergency patrol that nudges you back on the road when you start spending too much time on the shoulder, the shoulder itself when needed, and the cop that sometimes pulls you over and gives you a speeding or aggressive driving ticket. If you are brash, still want to drive rash, your need for speed un'curb'ed and penchant for danger unabated, please feel free to crash and burn.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

What brought this on? You have a tiff with your manager?

Blink Freud said...

On the contrary actually. By the way, who are you? Ashish?

Puja said...

I love this article...

The lumbering truck is what most people have in corporates and the "detector" is a manager everyone aspires to have.
...
Doesn't apply to Third world countries though as there is no lane driving! (read India):)

Blink Freud said...

The lumbering trucks in India are actually headed towards you instead of moving in the same direction as you :-). There are more detractors then detectors, and the lack of lanes basically means there is always someone else ready to push you to the side as they try to get ahead.

JB said...

Shut up and get back to work or you will find yourself driving that car to the unemployment line..

Your Manager,
Jennifer

Unknown said...

noir_desir = Hameer