Skip to main content

So, whats new

This is a question I often ask in my interviews and expect to be asked whenever either I go for an interview (or equally first time meeting with a potential client). What I answer you will know when we meet, but on the other side, very often there is no answer to this question - what's new in the OD space or tell me something new.

For me this question is important because it means you as a practitioner are thinking about new things. Second, it means, you are not content with status quo and you are trying to push the envelope. The trick here is to not fall into the usual trap of 'what is supposed to be cool'. So, pushing jargons here is a sure disaster - like digital detox, micro learning or the so called problem of millennials and attention span (guess why this is wrong).

One of the issues with 'new' is also that the learning and OD space still has a lot of old research - most of which is quite relevant and pertinent and that has become a comfort zone of sorts for people.

And if your answer to the whats new is a lame old answer, I see it as an sign of complacency and disinterest in learning. And even if that is not necessarily new in the world, but new for you, that is sufficient enough. But I would be wary of someone who doesnt have an answer to this one...

PS: Millenials also binge watch - so what is it about the movies that their attention spans are held but not by your learning experiences? And if so, who is to blame for it? Equally there are other things that hold their attention - it is not just binge watching.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

Zero to One

Zero to One by Peter Thiel is a nice read. (Yes - if I sit down to write a book review - the book has to be worth it - and usually good - so most of my book reviews are about good books.You can stop here if that's the information you seek.) Where this book scores is in contrarian thoughts and contrarian questions that make you think. It starts with a four big lessons learned from the 90s dot-com crash that is, Make incremental advances, Stay lean and flexible, Improve on the competition and Focus on product, not sales. Just as you warm up to it, he says, the opposite rules are more correct - which are: It is better to risk boldness than triviality. A bad plan is better than no plan. Competitive markets destroy profits. Sales matters just as much as products. And finally leaves with a simple definition of contrarianism - it is not to oppose the crowd (or follow a smaller or newer or older crowd) but to think for yourself. "All happy companies are different"...
Post a Comment
Read more

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anti networking year

I dont usually go out of my way to network. But over the last few years, I ensured that I spend some time creating new connections. It is a small fragment of my time that goes into it, but what I realised was that some of those networking events were not really working out. I also took time to post about the things I do (mostly on Linkedin) and here (nobody reads this - this is more of a note to myself).  It seemed to be the same set of people saying the same set of things. So, this year I have decided to step back.  Unless it is a truly unique event, I wont be going to any event - and thats how the unconference happened.  Unless it is a really significant update, I wont be posting about it.  And spend time creating and doing the things I like to do. Perhaps read more. Or write more. It is April now and I have done well so far.  Managed to read a few books. Actively working on a few creations. And then some. Lets see.  So for all I know, I might write less ...
Post a Comment
Read more