Serendipity and Learning

Sometime last year, I purchased an iPad. And that was purchased outside the country. All went well until one fine day the little one somehow managed to get gravitys attention to it from the sofa. Gravity, promptly pulled it towards the center of the earth. Luckily, the fall was broken by our floor. And coincidentally, post that the 'home' button stopped working. And for good measure, the iPad refused to recognize electricity as well - it stopped getting charged. Our iPad was bricked more or less. Taking it to the US was out of question and we thought of exploring some local service options. After all, a company like Apple would have some service center somewhere in Bangalore. Turns out they do . Now, one does not expect an Apple product to fail. And in any case, most companies do not have anything called an international warranty. With the foresight that comes with experience, I had destroyed any proof of me having purchased the iPad. The chances that I will find the re...

Last week, I discussing with a friend on career moves.  And my career has been anything but linear. And when I say that I don’t mean stratospheric growth, it means that over time I have moved my career in many a direction before finding my feet. I have worked in many a function, technical, operations, support before settling down on what I think is what I want to do.  That decision has not been easy. You see, my qualifications are different – as per my qualifications I should be doing something else. As per my experience, I should be doing something else. If one combines qualification and experience it is something else (whatever that is).  There are no established rules for success - your qualifications need not hold you back at all. And the real world is all about such people. I am sure you have met such people. As much as it is great to have your interest building up your qualifications leading to your experience, it is also equally great to build...

Ever so often, be it in our work lives or in our personal lives, there are problems that need resolution. Sometimes something happens, something breaks and each time a problem strikes we are dumbstruck or blindsided and worse clueless how to go about in future. Typically, a problem breaks an 'established' routine which leaves us feeling lost as well. At this point, we typically have two choices: Fix the problem or Do something different. Most often, we go for the former (and many a time that is the right thing to do) - and try and see if there is a way that we can fix the problem. By and large that works, but sometimes, a fixed problem reappears in a different avatar. That is when most of us realize that the problem was only partially solved - or fixed. However, if one takes a different approach - take a look at every problem as an opportunity to redefine a process, there is a great chance that the problem will be resolved for good and be used as a chance to make things ...