La Donna E Mobile

Giuseppe Verdi could scarcely imagine how powerfully evocative his brilliant aria from Rigoletto would remain over the ensuing centuries. La Diva, our nearly-resident aspiring singer/dancer/actress (or actor in this more gender-equitable generation) has revealed her true nature.

To think that, all this time, we thought she was simply preparing for a lifetime of public drahmah, compounded with a heavy veneer of being a teen-ager. The condition may be thought of as Grandparent's Revenge, as the children who drove us to spiritous beverages now experience the ravages of raining Cain in the hope that he will slay Abel.

We had come to expect a steady diet of eye-rolling, muttering, weeping - all the accoutrements of premature angst, young love lost forever, fatal slights by mean girls, poetry taken to extremes of deep meaning, and dreams of escape and rescue from the dreary, unsophisticated, and unfeeling realities of life among ordinary mortals.

We were gobsmacked, as a proud but generally puzzled set of folks old enough to be thought of as ancestors, when the otherworldly object of our affections outlined a nested set of really smart plans, for:

• Life
• Career Preparation in High School
• Effective Approaches to Professionally Desirable Universities
• Extra-curricular Professional Alternatives, Choices, and Opportunities
• Academic Progress in Areas of Personal and Professional Interest
• Selected Service Commitments - Paying Back and Paying Forward

Our self-teaching moment was simply this: stop selling the newest - or any - generation short. Give them a little credit for being somewhat North of half smart, for having meaningful goals, and for being committed to achievable plans - in all areas of their lives. While you're at it, apply the same consideration to the younger generations in your supply chain workforce.

Let me ask another question.  This is the approach taken by a 15-year old young woman.  Have you put as much thought into your life, career, objectives, and relationships?  Might the future appear less-frightening if you did?