I think the two words 'Role Model' are over-rated.
The problem is not so much in the idea of having one as much as the risk someone runs into when they discover that their so called role model was not so model after all. Perhaps that word has come to signify almost god like status of the model to the worshipee, where cracks in the armor lead to tremendous devestation of faith.
Many a role models are and continue to be celebrities in their sphere of influence. From political leaders to star athletes to brilliant music personalities and art exemplaries these individuals have acheived fantastic heights in their space seemingly impossible for a human. Yet they did that through perseverance or hard work or mix of luck and moxie (I am thrilled to use this word moxie for the first time).
So when they realize that they too are human and err and erred big they see that they create a storm of publicity of the negative kind and depending on their journalistic connections either are quickly forgotten or berated till they cease to exist (entirely).
Examples abound on all continents in all colors and all religions - from a President of the most powerful country to a large management consulting business to a wealthy wall street house to Hollywood and the world of sports. Most recently a police inspector in India who fought corruption was deemed to be in cahoots with some nefarious characters and eliminating some other rotten characters for the money. Oh well - sometimes you use a crook to catch a crook people.
I think bottom line is that people are gullible and invest too much in one particular thing - in doing so they do that at their own peril. I know this sounds rather harsh and not very trusting but you got to count the two sides (cost benefit) of any transaction and decide for yourself. Whether buying that flat screen TV at a retail outlet or booking that airline ticket with an airline that was awarded the best in the business - you should remember CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Faith can crack even with the common man as amplified by the success of Jerry Springer on paid television - there is an audience that relates to what he shows.
I almost want to vote for a new FAITH INDEX. Screw the Dow Jones and the Standardly Poor and other mumbo jumbo like GPA, GMAT and Corruption Index.
Just define a metric like IQ that would rank a person on a scale that shows how reliable they are - the low end can be LOWLY BASTARD to the high end being AMAZING ALIEN (you think you will find this item on earth - you are smoking). Job interviews to credit worthiness to marriage material analysis all pegged to this one standard - how reliable is this bloke (or blokette)?
Match maker websites (run by some desi/IIT created algorithms) are tying the knots worldwide (talk about digitizing our relationships) so why not just crank one for identifying the true IDOL? Now that is a real gem coming from an IDLE mind.
This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...
Brilliant analysis and recommendation, if I may say so. I would certainly like to see the Reliable Bloke/Blokette index (should have a span of at least 15 years)or RB Index for short. Patent it.
ReplyDeleteha ha RBI - will get on it as soon as I am done exposing another myth called 'Equal Opportunity'... not sure equal to what and which opportunity exactly but sounds cute on TV
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