Where the mind is without fear...

"...Where knowledge is free " read a poem by Tagore from my school days.?As a kid, I wondered what does a poet-free thinker has got to be fearful about!? Why does an intellectual mind need to be without fear...!??

I have great respect for leaders who speak their minds freely without fear ... Ones who are able to articulate clearly... Without any fog or clutter in their mind. I am not talking of the extremists who run propaganda or agenda politics or politicians who take advantage of gullible people who trust them and seek counsel. I am talking of the thought leaders who are able to think freely... and communicate it clearly too...

What does it mean as an individual?

I am only realising the importance of the uninhibited "free"?thinking now. Uninfluenced by anything or anyone. I am not talking about free speech. I am talking about freedom of thought. Free speech without deep free thought creates only confusion and chaos in society. Whereas, a right question, the true inquiry that you seek answers for, that's the free-thinking that frees the world of conformity... Frees one from bondage... To raise above the inferior nature of humans...even when it is just in your thoughts. It all sounds philosophical, but it is very practical too!

In retrospect, it is only with a free mind I was able to accomplish some of the best things in my life. When I was free, under no pressure to deliver and under no set of restrictions bogging me down... no one bringing down my morale... That's when I was able to best work, whether it was my research or startup or something else... That's how I was able to invent and create stuff that people know me for...?And I am extremely grateful to my Ph.D. advisors and mentors who gave me that freedom to pursue what I wanted to explore in my career and in life.

As a mentor/mentee

I think this is what great mentors do to drive somebody to greatness... To let them be free... Offer a fearless environment to let them excel and go beyond, walk that extra mile... It takes a great deal of time for them to develop that trust to leave you and let you "be". But it is definitely worth spending that time with someone you look up to. It is only the lesser minds that tend to control and that the control is only necessary for people who are not thinkers, people who are not doers. Thinkers are acutely aware of the questions/problems and are seeking the answers. Not the other way around. As a mentor, one's role should be not to keep bombarding with more and more questions but to facilitate them to seek the answer, or be a part of the answer themselves.?

A mentor-mentee relationship should be based on mutual trust and respect. Without trust, there can be no open conversation and one's mind will have lingering suspicions over other's motivations and hidden agendas. Without respect, one won't be receptive to each other's ideas and proposals leading to a "holier than thou" attitude of the mentor that would put off many. A true leader doesn't need to exert control or show who is the boss. A true leader leads by example and naturally shines, attracting respect and admiration. It is not something you can get by force or demanding a commanding presence.

So, next time when you are mentoring someone, do check if they are mature, free thinkers and someone who needs to be "free" whom you shouldn't contain in the shackles of your own fears and insecurities... But let them go beyond what you have accomplished... Not force something down their throat without "knowing" them... We can never judge what incredible things these humans are capable of... But we can only gauge and let them be, rather than telling them what to do to exert control or worse to show who is the boss. Most great people and mentors I dealt with were kind leaders... they let you walk your own path. Have your own journey of discovery.

What does it mean to your startup/organization?

If we create an organization based on fear, you cannot have a culture where knowledge flows freely... where the head is held high... Naturally, in your own startup, you will be seen as a mentor-leader by many, consciously or unconsciously they see you as a thought leader of the organization. Often, it is not that you have all the answers, but the tendency is to act like one. People these days are propagating this kind of "faking" before making things, shamelessly, without having basic humility to admit that I don't know... let us figure it out together...as a team.

What good does it do to your startup/organization if you force yourself to be a fake mentor? Nobody likes a know-it-all anyway, and nobody likes a control freak. A combination of those two is the worst you are going to see. So, when you bring someone down to the control freak mode where one can be incredibly brutal or forceful, maybe they are not the right mentor/leader for you... It may be that they are not able to see your potential or gauge how much of a great free thinker you can be, maybe you are not a great free thinker (not everyone needs to be anyways!), or maybe it is just not a great fit somehow.

On the other hand, unless you are a guardian of free thought, a facilitator of great free minds, or the one who helps expand someone's mind to see beyond what you see, better not be a mentor to someone. Better not take the role of a leader/mentor in your startup/organization. If you are setting expectations, giving people goals, second-guessing every step, you are definitely constricting (or worse strangling) them... maybe you are going at it all wrong. Don't even think of being a guide, a mentor to even to your own kids if you can't empower them in a way to help them flourish.

Imagine in startup culture, if people don't speak up, or question your hypothesis, validate/invalidate your assumptions? If they are siloed into just doing their thing but without freely interacting with each other, it will be a disaster of the Theranos proportions. Imagine if they are fearful to express their free minds, thinking "what if I say something wrong?" Will any creative solution, or a novel application ever come out of your startup? We have to encourage people to make mistakes, learn from them, give a cushion that it is okay to fail and there is nothing to fear.

And, if you are looking for a mentor, do not spend time trying to convince a lesser mind just because you have to or because they are these flashy celebrities or you expect something from them. Identify someone who thinks big, thinks free, who empowers you to go beyond and still walk the extra mile with you.

Yours truly,

Doctor Y (Why?)

P.S. I know I promised more stories in these posts... They are coming too... They will come in their own time. I'm not going to spend time censoring them anyways... But I will get there naturally, with a free mind rather than forcefully write something to please the audience... :)