I am not a big fan of the GPS and I thought it was silly to have a machine tell me when to turn right or left when I know where north, east, west, and south are. I grew up in an era before computers and I firmly believe in the old-fashioned mental calisthenics. I believe that if I use GPS long enough, my mind would stop using its inborn compass and the synaptic function of my brain will all the more lose its flexibility along with the loss of brain exercise.
A few years ago, my daughter and I drove to Montreal from Toronto to check out McGill University where she got acceptance for college. As I entered Montreal, all the street signs turned French and I probably panicked because I started “arguing” with the GPS. I found it too slow in giving me direction and rerouting in detour areas that I had to blindly turn right and left not knowing where I’m heading. I was thinking, “if I had only relied on my google map and my own sense of direction, it would have been better.”
In the process of going around and around and engaging my good old instinct, I learned two or three different ways to get to my destination. I turned off the GPS and continued on with my own mental compass. Lesson learned: It is hard to follow your own instinct when there is the little machine telling you what to do. The GPS can continually reroute you for as long as you are going, but it could not learn from your mistake so you do not go the same way the next time.
This particular experience reminds me of my experience in recruitment where there is constant struggle between selection by scoring and selection by intuition. Selection by scoring is a process whereby selection factor or component run along a scale and is scored by value previously assigned. Decision is made based on the total score achieved. Selection by intuition is getting a feel of how a candidate will fit in based on the dynamics of personality that come out in the selection process, either through interviews or role-plays. Read more about this on a previous blog
What’s your opinion on this? Write your comments below.
