In the commercial business world, MBAs from Ivy league are sometimes our role model, Business leaders whom we have only seen on TV (and probably will only on TV ever) are sometimes our role model, the highly successful start up sensation is sometimes a role model and so are the charismatic politicians promising glory days again.

We watch,follow,redistribute their moves,decisions,blurbs,thought pieces with intent to be like them , to learn from them ,to replicate some of what they do in our business and daily lives.

But what about the subtle , innocuous role models whom we see,hear,watch consciously and subconsciously every day,sometimes multiple times in a day .

Whom we did not stop to talk with , joke with,inquire more about ?

Who are unnoticied,unrewarded,unrecongnized

What about the lady in the park the other day,in her late 70s ,hunched from age , skin shriveled like used bed sheets performing a 4×400 meter in the head-wind

What about the impoverished animal care-taker in her teens, whom you met in the Old Jama Masjid slum area of Delhi on your last visit to India. Her job (the only job she will ever do , she said) taking care of strays dogs who could go rabid any day from negligence and hunger

What about your estranged parents, who in the twilight of their lives are still making an attempt to reconcile , to learn to love again ? , to learn to agree to agree

What about your son , who gave you some of his savings(and also explained why he can not give all) when you told him that you did not get the new role that you always aspired for , the bonus , the reward that you so truly deserved

So, what about them ?

Empathize with them,relate to them,hear their stories,learn from their struggles,share their pain,be part of their celebrations .

Then, be the sum of parts , of each of them

Of a granny who would never give up physiologically ,

Of a  care taker in the shittest job you have seen but with an undying mission and love for animals,

a couple ready to bury their egos and reconcile and failing and trying again ,even though they know it might be socially futile

a child who lets go of material attachment , who gives away without an expectation of your validation, without a desire of being rewarded,replenished or return.

If you are the sum of these parts , you are much more than the sum , you are a role model yourself !

— Images from Quora.com and Pinterest.com