Serendipity and Learning

 Employees want to learn and they want to develop. Yes. What does that mean? They want learning opportunities.  How does one get learning opportunities? How does one develop? As an employee/human being, I learn when I stretch (not necessarily in terms of hours) myself. I learn new things through the process of failure, unlearning and relearning. And as I learn I develop. Can there be development without learning? My take - almost always not - there can be exceptions, but every project I have picked up has resulted in  a learning.  And as an employee, I need such opportunities. When I stagnate in a job/role I dont learn or develop. I might also "develop" under a bad boss, but thats not really an opportunity or something to look forward to is it not?  So, as someone heading an L&D function what do I need to do? Enable these - simply put.  Learning skills might be a pre-requisite in terms of how I grow in my job. And I might also be able to develop on bein...

Namma Yatri - is a cab hailing app in Bangalore that ensures that 100% of the money goes to the driver. Based on the ONDC platform, it is quite remarkable - that it took time for this idea to be created. It does look like the app has reached critical mass.  But what is a cab hailing app? It is a system. A system of trust.  The same system can be implemented in any city - but the only city where it fully works in India is in Mumbai.  Metered prices. Drivers can choose to go or not. No surge pricing (or sometimes it exists). All the money goes to driver. Trust that the driver will not cheat - and it works for the most part. Nearly 99%. In other cities since this 'honour' system does not exist or someone always tries to break the system, an app is needed and like the proverbial monkey with the two cats, the apps take a chunk as commission. And that led to multiple levels of mistrust - between the app and the driver, sometimes between the passenger and the driver (since drive...

I am mildly fascinated by instruction manuals. My favourite is the Lego manual that we used to fondly refer to as the "idea book". The IKEA manual is as good.  I wish that a lot of typical communication is structured as well as Ikea's instruction manuals. We struggle with our Navaratri steps every year - and I dont see why that should be the case.  We sometimes struggle with game rules - ditto.  So, yes there is much room for looking at different types of communication in a different manner. 

 Two decades or so ago, blogging was a big thing. This blog was started in 2011 - 13 years ago to this month. Blogging was great, because now suddenly everybody got a place to write and you read thinkers off the mainstream and hear their raw thoughts. Among others, Seth Godin, Marginal Revolution and several others and quite a few in India as well. And I started off a blog in 2004 and wrote it till 2014. Parallely, I started this blog in 2011 and it continues.  But over the years, as twitter appeared, blogging disappeared and it became micro blogs and slowly blogging and bloggers disappeared.  But as it happens, it has made a rather lovely comeback - initially via medium - and now via substack. And we can read entrepreneurs, writers and their thoughts on substack.  So, one patterns repeat and two, on the internet, there will always be space for good content!

When something happens, everyone is happy to latch onto it as a trend. The latest in this is a story about a particular quick commerce brand is doing very well. There are similar such conversations - and they mostly pertain to what is currently making 'news'.  Very often what is making news is not necessarily a trend. It is trending for a variety of reasons - but to scratch the surface and see what it is about - that is not something that the news will tell you.  When AI suddenly became big, everybody latched onto it - and continues to - but in the days leading up to it, there was notorious silence - simply because for a lot of people the news is the trend - but that is too late.  So, beware of gyaanis who come bearing news as trends - if the trend makes it to the news, it is already old news and you are late to the party. 

  This note made me think about my childhood.  Yes, we were children of scarcity. Anything we wanted to buy would undergo multiple layers of scrutiny before we spent money on anything. Our needs were frugal - whatever we wanted was an excess unless we really believed it would add value.  There were entire train journeys (38 hours plus), where we were completely self satisfied. Did not even have to buy as much as a banana from outside. It was very rare for us to eat outside - we went out and came back and ate mom cooked stuff. When we went for picnics, we carried everything (and more). Resources were to be conserved. And definitely nothing was to be spoken in in the open - everything was a secret unless otherwise mentioned.  Todays children are children of abundance. They get what they want (within limits) immediately or even before they want it. We eat outside when we feel like trying out something new or when we are bored with home cooking or when we travel. Food i...

 I finished reading Breath by James Nestor and The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick Mckeown. Both absolutely fantastic books that make you think about breathing. In their own way both are thought provoking and even pathbreaking. I have not come across a book that does what these two books have managed to do.  So, grab a copy and read. PS: I did feel very strongly that such a book ought to have been written someone from India who is a yoga practitioner. Thats another topic for another time. For now, I am experimenting with mouth tape.