Serendipity and Learning

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you want to learn how-to and someo

 Future of L&D only, nothing more.  What will never change for employees? (Inspired the book Same as ever - by Morgan Housel )  Employees will want to learn - to grow, to deepen expertise, to stretch, to prove a point - many "humann" reasons. Employees will want to grow - laterally, vertically, monetarily, mentally etc etc. Almost always, growth will be accompanied by learning and many a time learning will be a pre-requisite to growth.  Learning will always be required - the mode might change, but learning will be required.  Multiple modes of learning will co-exist Whatever else happens, Human intelligence will need to be sharpened. Call it soft skills or call it real skills (I love this term), this will always need to be sharpened. And then there is raw intelligence, visioning, strategising - another set of skills. Every willing to be sharpened by technological aids.  So learning, growth, human skills will always be valuable.  Now within real skills, you can break it do

 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 being opportunities for

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 drivers ask

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!