The other day, on TV, I saw an old woman who was telling a
story about voodoo and black magic. In the story, an evil Witch would stab pins on
the voodoo doll of a woman and make her do things that she did not want to,
making her unhappy.
Voodoo may be one way of controlling others
life. In today’s scenario, our lives are controlled by so many things
or people. One major is the boss and work sheets.
In the corporate world, there may not be dolls
and pins, but there are work sheets, KRAs and appraisals by which the evil
manager makes one’s life miserable. These %age achievements of targets (similar
to pinches on the doll) make some weak and some tough (skinned). And then, there are a 3rd category of people who break these hackles, free themselves of
the daily drill and become entrepreneurs.
I have read about entrepreneurs who were unhappy at their
jobs. They did not find it interesting, exciting or satisfying enough to
continue with what they were working on/for. They jumped the chasm, took the
risk and became their own boss.
Once upon a time, a young man entered the shining building
called corporate office. It was made of glass and was sparkling clean. He had a
job there. He loved going there daily. He
thought he was a part of something big.
Little did he realize that it was all a bubble that would
burst soon.
The young man was passionate and always came up with
creative ideas. He felt dejected when none of them were considered. The stab became worse when the same idea, when
presented by an external agency, got approved immediately. He felt dejected. Earlier he had idealized his boss, wondering
how he knew so much, only to realize later that it was all 'google gyaan'.
He was made to work on things that didn't have meanings. He was
asked to make multiple reports, format paragraphs, do spell checks. The Boss would
not even read the documents he presented as the fonts were is Ariel and not
Calibri or there was more margin space.
The boss rejected all ppts as he wanted the images in the ppt to be
14.5% happier.
One night the young man had a dream where he was drowning in
spreadsheets and his boss was a zombie who wanted to eat his brain. He jolted
and woke up to realize what he really wanted to do. He did
not want to format ppts, write pitches, or just keep adding keywords. The next day, he put down his papers and broke
the voodoo charm. He took the risk, and went ahead to set up his own firm. With his creativity and intellect, he is now following his dreams, Happily. Ever after.
