Serendipity and Learning

There, I said it. Microlearning is useless unless it is accompanied by a macro learning. Unless Micro learning is a part of spaced repetition of a concept, it is as useless as homeopathy (i ts not me, its the data ). Imagine, learning better probing skills - one email or one podcast at a time for a long time without getting to practice, try it out, be coached on the skill? You might as well learn to fly by watching the birds fly each afternoon. Or swim by watching the fishes... Try learning a concept through mail - no not happening unless you practice. Unless microlearning is about practice - real sharpening of skill -  done after the real rubber hits the road in simulated or real conditions, it is fluff. Did you use probing skills today? Remember to use the 59AEF framework when you have that conversation! are both useless, unless they say, what part of the probing skills that you learnt last week are you going to use today? Or, use the 42 component of the 59AEF that

Collaboration is a highly underrated skill. One of the questions that is often not asked is - what would it take to collaborate when nobody asks you to? In most workplaces, this kind of collaboration is not only encouraged, but actively discouraged. People want to work in silos. If you reach out from another 'department' or 'function', it is often seen as a nuisance and sometimes as a threat. And this happens especially in well established firms - not so much in startups - because at that point, there are fewer walls between departments if at all. And therefore collaboration within a firm is fraught with risk - unless it is there as a measurable goal (however that is). In the outside world, collaboration has its own risks - there is a risk of someone taking away your content/models/clients and so on. But if you can find the right mix of people who can trust each other without cannibalizing, you realize that 2+2 is not 4, but much much more. 

Well, not exactly. The Rubber Duck principle and the psychology is explained here . A few weeks while working with a team, I suddenly realized what was missing in the flow of a particular problem. In my mind, the program was sorted and delivered to multiple audiences with great success. However, as I explained it to this audience (a very experienced audience) and took them through this process, I realised that the explanation could do with a few more in-between steps. I had to do this process slowly because this team wanted a skill-building exercise and in doing so, my own clarity went up. And this workshop enhanced my own understanding of how I can do it in future. In short, it became better. (Yes, this one is short on details, but the idea here is to use the rubber duck principle in real life.) PS: After telling him about the rubber duck principle, the teenager has learnt this principle (confirmed its existence through a few youtube videos) and uses us as a rubber duck to

In the last few months, many LnD providers have changed their stripes. Many years ago, I read this article. I don't remember the context, but the time was when Indias superstar Amitabh Bachchan decided to play his age. And a writer had written - The scripts he is getting are somewhat on the lines of "There was this old man who was angry because...Meaning the script provided for Amitabh to act his age for maybe 20 minutes and then takes him into flashback mode so he can be young again. Likewise, almost learning service providers have an app. Why, because everyone else has an app and the market wants the app (or so you think). Net result is a proliferation of apps that do the same thing - or profess to do something different, but do the same thing in a different way. The true potential of Amitabhs age change was unlocked when the script writers were not bound by this limitation of having a young Amitabh in the movie. And in the same way, the true potential of learning a

1. Approaching work like borrowing books from a library. 2. Yes, And. 3. On Small Beginnings - value them. 4. Seek and thou shall get value 5. Never be afraid to put out your ideas 6. Stretch...thats the whole point... 7. Opportunities can knock - from a small whimper to a entry through the ventilator to crashing the door. The knocks arent always visible and sometimes knock the wind out of you - but they are all opportunities. 8.Speed is essential 9. Dont take an opportunity in desperation 10.When you hear a different opportunity come your way, truly take it with that difference and run with it. For instance, when I got to work on disruption, I had to discard all my learning and start afresh... 11. If opportunities dont knock, go out and knock those doors 12. And last but not the least, each door that closes, simply means you need to look around for another door that is waiting to open...

I was talking to a long time friend of mine who is now a yoga teacher. He is the unlikeliest of yoga teachers. He runs his own factory, had no connection with spirituality or philosophy and joined yoga out of curiosity because he wanted to accompany his mom. His mom stopped, and he continued and continued.  For 12 odd years.  At the end of which he knows enough to be a teacher - somewhat, in his words. And he started teaching a few people,assisting the experts in teaching and so on and so forth. The line of yoga he is a teacher is in - is the world renowned Iyengar Yoga.  It has no certifications, no fixed hours, no syllabus and follows a rigorous method of learning. People learn for years and there is a method and an order for it.  All around, while there are others offering quick fix teachers certifications and yoga courses, this method continues to follow a time honoured tradition of building skills and expertise.  This is not about whether it is right or wrong