Serendipity and Learning

What is the role of a teacher? And I do not mean, a teacher who stands and delivers sermons, but more like a guru who teaches a craft, inspires, motivates and takes her students forward. The role of a teacher is to let the student explore. The easiest thing for a teacher to do is to reject a student. But that is like the greats who rejected Amitabh Bachchans voice. But a real teacher will explore with a student - the path. If the student has discipline and interest, the rest will follow. Notice that I dont mention talent - because talent is but a small part. Without discipline and interest, talent is useless. And I recall this favorite clipping of mine from the Kung-Fu Panda: The role of a teacher is to not judge, but the student find her own path. And if the teacher cannot help the student, most likely, the problem is of the teacher, not the student! Evolving thought, as always...

Knowledge, experience, creativity. pic.twitter.com/VI4NWDJZRF — Cliff Pickover (@pickover) January 10, 2015 Loved this image which I found on this tweet above by Cliff Pickover. Creativity is the art of seeing what nobody else can see, given the same information/resources/parameters. Simply Brilliant. (Yes, this post is mostly for myself, because any words to describe the above picture is redundant)

I am a product of the old Indian education system. This system laid a lot of emphasis on practice. Therefore, we have practiced a ton of writing, a ton of maths (including tables) and a ton of writing in regional languages. We have practiced by recitation and by learning. Therefore, the net result of it is that today if you ask me (or most of who have learnt this way) many of our concepts are clear in our head. Like multiplication for example. And a few other things that are now 'unconscious competence'. But somewhere along the way, someone came and changed the system to what it is today - which is bit wishy washy in some ways and very good in some other ways. But interestingly, something called Kumon  (the history is worth reading) has come up - which to me, looks like the stuff we did in school - and that is repeating a concept until it is 'unconscious competence'. So, what the government and academics disposed off thinking is not good for kids has now come b...

Started reading 'Talent Masters' and it started off with an example of GE. That got me curious - not that I did not know about it, but have not read about the Crotonville (Jack Welch) center of late. I found these two pieces, one from Wharton and one from HBR . Both are good reads, but more than that, the book and the above articles point to the fact which have been my theme in the recent past that 'Driving Change cannot be outsourced'. As a leader, as a manager, you have to get into it, be a part of the change driving process. That means, you need to be seen on the floor, leading, in the class, teaching, or coaching and mentoring. Without that, it will be, whatever proverbial equivalent you can think of. The good part of it is 'students' seeing their leaders lead from the front, teaching, interacting and so  - which is obvious, but it also helps leaders 'see' the next gen leader and become more aware of their own style and get a peek into what p...