Serendipity and Learning

Overall, what am I seeing as the trend in this year from where I see it? The big thing which I see is the reduction of age. Let me explain. Earlier, why, even 10 years ago, an average manager was in his or her early 30s, the average director at about 40 and so on it went... What I see now, is a far younger corporate India. People in their early 30s are handling entire businesses, people in their 20s are handling functions and people in their 40s are consultants (heh - that last one is a joke). And I also see average CEO age come down - mostly due to the startup rage I suppose, but then again why not. The second trend which I see as more pronounced is that many of these new companies - the hires are top class. In terms of their skills, confidence and sheer technical (or business) ability - they are second to none. What does this mean? It means a few things. If you are on the older side, you have to shape up to match these whizkids. If you are a consultant, you better add value....

It has been a great year of learning... Learning from about 15 different companies...Different cultures..working styles...levels of leadership and maturity...business...challenges...people... Putting myself into, no, out of my own comfort zone and working in very diverse environments - from students to startups to established global tech firms to large format workshops to introducing new concepts into the market... What did I learn? The biggest learning for me has been the learning of how to design better. This is no small learning because I am used to a typical school of designing learning interactions - so to be able to throw what I have learnt out of the window (well, not really) and learn another way of looking into it, has been, both, difficult and interesting. Difficult because I really have to activate Type 2 thinking and interesting because once you go that path, I need to still have my divergent thinking hat ON. Having worked with different people, firms as a consulta...

These are the best books I read this year - they may well have been published in 1900...but these are what I read and enjoyed... A Stroke of Insight - worth reading if you want to understand a little more on how the brain functions The Second machine age - has a very pertinent take on the age of machines - and it makes you think. I plan to read the sequel to this in the coming year. The Leadership moment - 9 stories on leadership - not your usual leadership stories and that makes it a rivetting read Alan Mullaly and the fight to save Americas Icon - has some good insights on corporate culture in the  fight to turnaround Ford The Box - is a fabulous story of the Container - yes, something as simple as a container and it is such a great story to read A man called Ove - a fictional bittersweet story about an old man from a different generation... Call of the wild - an old classic about a dog, but a heartwarming read Wonder - its a childrens book, but my, does it make ...

It is a pleasure to see a business try out a new model. Few weeks ago I had written about how new media is still playing by old rules . It is here that The Ken is breaking new ground. It is a purely subscription model - and it prides you on getting you hard to get, well researched information. And that means real work - more than writing marketing puff pieces or opinion pieces written in a cab ride. And it is not a ton of content - it is limited content - I think its about 5 articles a week, but each of them makes you think. This is a true digital adaption - a new form of journalism that is not ad dependent (as traditional media is), but depends on discerning users. So, yes, a fan of them - almost every article has been hitting the right notes for my kind of interest, but goes on to show that even in a crowded space, there is space for differentiation.