A tween with a Nobel prize vision

"Who won the noble prize when you were my age?", asked my 12 year old son. Now, that's not something I was expecting on a late Friday evening. I was tempted to call upon the artificial intelligence of my good friend, Google, but in the interest of having a real conversation with my son I chose to fall back on my natural intelligence!

"That would be year 1986 and I don't think there were any that year", I responded with 50% confidence as I walked towards where he was seated. I noticed he was busy with his general knowledge homework, which I realized may have triggered that question. But, I was intrigued by the choice of his question. Was it to check my memory or my general knowledge?

We spent about 15-20 minutes discussing a list of noble laureates from India and their contribution in the field of science, literature, humanities etc. It was my turn to ask a question and so I did. "What would you like to win a noble prize for when you become my age?". It was an impromptu question and I was open to any answer. I expected something related to football, which is his passion. 

"I want to get it for showing that India is not small in Olympic games", he responded with profound maturity. Now, I did not expect that but certainly loved his thought and followed up by asking, "How will you do that?". I got a response, which I expected. "I don't know yet. I keep hearing that India is such a big country but cannot win a gold in Olympics. I want to make our sports people excel in their game." 

Earlier that morning I was doing some reading up on value based growth. It can make a huge difference not just to personal and business performance. If followed as company culture and by the larger society, it can provide a new vision to a nation!

Well, I could sense that in his response, which also gave me an insight into the thought process of current generation. All we, as parents, have to do is give them an opportunity. Future is bright!

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