Optionality vs Rigidity
I can’t do this work . No way !!!!
I have spent years studying in what I am good at . And Now you ask me to do something different !!
I don’t have skills to undertake job different than what I am doing . So please !!
It’s not my cup of tea . I know what I can do and what I can’t . So don’t push me !!!
I am all along in pharma industry , I can’t adjust to any other industry. I can’t and I won’t !!
I work in factory . What do I know about supply chain? . I be rather out of job if factory shuts !
I often been witness to the above statements often with great vehemnec from as diverse professions as engineering , IT , CA or Company Secratary .
In severe recessionary economic and business conditions , these people become the first casualty because they never believed in cultivating the possible options that they could espouse nor they mentally geared themeselves to develop the mindset of optionality .
They are and were pedantic - but they survived and also proposered when conditions were good with economic boom & upbeat investment mood . Now with sudden change in the gear , they can’t transform themselves becoming practical . It’s painful for them to see the people who are pragmatic and practical nosed ahead of them . For them developing multitasking skills was anathema - equivalent of corrupting their purity , keeing their mindset open towards every other profession meant denting their strong pride , keeping the distance away from other professions gave them an air of arrogance . Tacit or something vocal acknowledgment from their peer group that ‘its natural for successful people to be snobbish and bullish” .
The article by Mihir Desai on “The Trouble with Optionality” talks contrary to what I wrote above .
Mihir Says : For those who maximise their optionality , their dream destinations may come true—but for every one success , there are ten entrepreneurs, artists, and restaurateurs got trapped in their pursuit of optionality . His article stringly argues in favour of not getting tempted of making oneself optional .
I do know some of the people chosing the path of not succumbing to the temption of Optionality . These are the people who gave up their secured job to pursue music , some one quit his medical practise to become nature photographer , some one resigned from Banking job to become an actor or novelist . But in india - these are isolated cases and skewed in opposite direction what Mihir Says .
I feel Mihir’s argument is valid if one is from the first world and is backed up impeccable academic credentials from prestigious universities . For those who don’t have above, Optionality is an insurance they one must have.
In Developing world and Asian economies , sticking to one profession or one set of skills and pursuing them ruthlessly is still risky proposition . But I must say their courage is admirable !!
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