GMAT Essays (AWA)

"The best way to give advice to other people is to find out what they want and then advise them how to attain it."
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Analysis

Giving advice based on what the individual wants is debatable. On one hand, the advice works for the individual because you adequately figured out what he wanted and told him how to attain it and he is grateful. On the other hand, you assumed or he told you he wanted something and you gave him advise pertaining to your discovery but then, the advice caused him more pain and suffering and he blames you for it. This essay will present arguments favoring the latter that giving advice based on what the individual wants and how to attain it is not the best way.

The chief reason for my view is that no human being can fully know what another human being wants unless told by the individual. Some individuals also think they know what they want but minds change all the time. For example, an individual wants to buy some stocks and comes to you for advice. You give it to him and teach him the fundamentals of stock trading. However, sometime later, his stocks are not doing well and his not interested in it anymore. His typical human nature will blame you for the advice and say he did not want it till you brought the idea along.

Another reason for my view is that what an individual wants might not be ideal especially when what he wants is illegal. For example, a friend comes up to you and says he does not like his boss so he wants to kill his boss. Here, he told you what he wants, to kill his boss. In this scenario, there will be no advice on how to attain what he wants.

In sum, I concur that finding out what people want and advising the on how to attain it is not the best way to give advice. Admittedly, if it is a simple issue like finding out if they want to go to business school, advising them on how to go about will work. However, people change their minds on what they want always. Also, when it is an illegal act they want, advising them on how to attain it would not be effective.