Unfamiliar with the city and location where I was to speak, I added the address to the GPS before leaving home. Arriving in the conference city hours later, I turn it on and dutifully followed the route that chirped at me from the device. “That’s odd,” I thought as the directed turn took me away from the city towards the foothills and into a neighborhood. “Maybe it’s a retreat location,” I mulled as I followed that voice up a winding, steep hill.
But when instructed to turn onto a dirt road 15 minutes later, I knew the GPS was wrong. I double checked the address (correct), then retraced my steps, rebooted the GPS, and started again from the town center. A half hour after beginning my location hunt, I pulled into the hotel parking lot, less than two miles from where I first turned on the gadget.
Luckily that GPS misdirection became readily apparent, requiring a simple reboot to get me back on track. But that’s typically not the case at work when professional misdirection can (continue reading →)
