Serendipity and Learning

There, I said it. Microlearning is useless unless it is accompanied by a macro learning. Unless Micro learning is a part of spaced repetition of a concept, it is as useless as homeopathy (i ts not me, its the data ). Imagine, learning better probing skills - one email or one podcast at a time for a long time without getting to practice, try it out, be coached on the skill? You might as well learn to fly by watching the birds fly each afternoon. Or swim by watching the fishes... Try learning a concept through mail - no not happening unless you practice. Unless microlearning is about practice - real sharpening of skill -  done after the real rubber hits the road in simulated or real conditions, it is fluff. Did you use probing skills today? Remember to use the 59AEF framework when you have that conversation! are both useless, unless they say, what part of the probing skills that you learnt last week are you going to use today? Or, use the 42 component of the 59AEF t...

Collaboration is a highly underrated skill. One of the questions that is often not asked is - what would it take to collaborate when nobody asks you to? In most workplaces, this kind of collaboration is not only encouraged, but actively discouraged. People want to work in silos. If you reach out from another 'department' or 'function', it is often seen as a nuisance and sometimes as a threat. And this happens especially in well established firms - not so much in startups - because at that point, there are fewer walls between departments if at all. And therefore collaboration within a firm is fraught with risk - unless it is there as a measurable goal (however that is). In the outside world, collaboration has its own risks - there is a risk of someone taking away your content/models/clients and so on. But if you can find the right mix of people who can trust each other without cannibalizing, you realize that 2+2 is not 4, but much much more. 

Well, not exactly. The Rubber Duck principle and the psychology is explained here . A few weeks while working with a team, I suddenly realized what was missing in the flow of a particular problem. In my mind, the program was sorted and delivered to multiple audiences with great success. However, as I explained it to this audience (a very experienced audience) and took them through this process, I realised that the explanation could do with a few more in-between steps. I had to do this process slowly because this team wanted a skill-building exercise and in doing so, my own clarity went up. And this workshop enhanced my own understanding of how I can do it in future. In short, it became better. (Yes, this one is short on details, but the idea here is to use the rubber duck principle in real life.) PS: After telling him about the rubber duck principle, the teenager has learnt this principle (confirmed its existence through a few youtube videos) and uses us as a rubber duck to ...

In the last few months, many LnD providers have changed their stripes. Many years ago, I read this article. I don't remember the context, but the time was when Indias superstar Amitabh Bachchan decided to play his age. And a writer had written - The scripts he is getting are somewhat on the lines of "There was this old man who was angry because...Meaning the script provided for Amitabh to act his age for maybe 20 minutes and then takes him into flashback mode so he can be young again. Likewise, almost learning service providers have an app. Why, because everyone else has an app and the market wants the app (or so you think). Net result is a proliferation of apps that do the same thing - or profess to do something different, but do the same thing in a different way. The true potential of Amitabhs age change was unlocked when the script writers were not bound by this limitation of having a young Amitabh in the movie. And in the same way, the true potential of learning a...

1. Approaching work like borrowing books from a library. 2. Yes, And. 3. On Small Beginnings - value them. 4. Seek and thou shall get value 5. Never be afraid to put out your ideas 6. Stretch...thats the whole point... 7. Opportunities can knock - from a small whimper to a entry through the ventilator to crashing the door. The knocks arent always visible and sometimes knock the wind out of you - but they are all opportunities. 8.Speed is essential 9. Dont take an opportunity in desperation 10.When you hear a different opportunity come your way, truly take it with that difference and run with it. For instance, when I got to work on disruption, I had to discard all my learning and start afresh... 11. If opportunities dont knock, go out and knock those doors 12. And last but not the least, each door that closes, simply means you need to look around for another door that is waiting to open...

I was talking to a long time friend of mine who is now a yoga teacher. He is the unlikeliest of yoga teachers. He runs his own factory, had no connection with spirituality or philosophy and joined yoga out of curiosity because he wanted to accompany his mom. His mom stopped, and he continued and continued.  For 12 odd years.  At the end of which he knows enough to be a teacher - somewhat, in his words. And he started teaching a few people,assisting the experts in teaching and so on and so forth. The line of yoga he is a teacher is in - is the world renowned Iyengar Yoga.  It has no certifications, no fixed hours, no syllabus and follows a rigorous method of learning. People learn for years and there is a method and an order for it.  All around, while there are others offering quick fix teachers certifications and yoga courses, this method continues to follow a time honoured tradition of building skills and expertise.  This is not about whet...

Crowdsourcing a list of books on Creativity and Innovation. These are the books, I have read - which other books come to your mind? Creativity Inc - Ed catmull Creative Confidence - Tom and David Kelley Where good ideas come from - Steven Johnson The Innovators Dilemma/Solution - Clayton Christensen Big Magic  - Elizabeth Gilbert Road to reinvention - Joseph Linkner Rework - Jason Fried Accidental Creativity - Todd Henry The Element - Ken Robinson The Creative Priority - Jerry Hirshberg The war of art - Steven Pressfield

Why would Lego want to build a Bugatti ? Because they can. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZQdlCQmzUAM" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> Build for Real, it says in the end. Lego is one of those brands that takes user engagement to a totally different level. The little one had already watched the video by the time it has reached the likes of me. Imagine the boy who is building a little car and he sees a huge, real car being built by Lego that actually runs - among other things. It catapults the imagination of the user to a level that is unachievable by others. Yes, therefore, why does Lego do it - because ONLY they can. When I build with Lego, I may build my own Bugatti (and even if I dont, it is still my Bugatti). Thats the user experience brands crave...

Through a series of coincidences I found myself at Thane Dongurli for the monsoon trek of 4 days. Organized by YHAI, this is a once a year trek and my friend told me that it is a unique trek.  Get wet gracefully... It's a monsoon trek they said.  We complied.  Imagine getting wet on the way to seeing a bunch of waterfalls... And then getting drenched in it and then getting wet on the way back and everywhere in between. Add slippery surfaces, slush, mud and forests and 4 days you get a monsoon trek.  Every waterfall is different. Some are tall, some short, some gushing, some silent, some slippery, some smooth, some strong. Waterfalls have personalities - from their names (slippery, turmeric) to their sounds to their flow. They may be visible from a long distance (like the Hivre triad) or hidden in a cove (like the ones on day 2 - out of which one is hidden so well that passers by wont see it unless they watch out for it).  Some of them are so hidden tha...

This is the age of corporate printers. Where there are uniformed print assistants, token systems and what not. The friendly neighbourhood printer (FNP) has been all but replaced by corporate printers. And it has succeeded, because the FNP is often trying to ensure that you dont print from him. Either he wont print or cant print or wont cut or cant cut or doesnt have some equipment or quotes an exorbitant amount or some other reason. Such it goes. So the corporate printer is useful to have. And work gets done very well - especially when there is no FNP. And then through a referral I visited another printer. This is the antithesis of the corporate printer. He is your FNP dream come true. As the owner, he knows his workers, his team, his customers. As he states, his job is to enable you. He doesnt say no to any challenge - and works to solve your challenge instead of the customary 'shrug, I cant do it go somewhere else'. And it was a pleasure meeting someone like this. It is no...

Sometimes, an interesting problem gets thrown at you. And such it was that I found myself face to face with a team that had an interesting problem thrown at them. And I was called to help out. I first spent time understanding their business and the nature of it, the market. That conversation was an eye opener for me - for I did not know the existence of this industry in this context at all. I spent time knowing how the industry runs, what is the driver and so on and worked on my design. As I discussed the design with the leader, the leader suggested a set of interviews with the team. These interviews made me re-think the design and go back with a much more simpler model than what was envisioned in the early stage of the requirement. (I suspect strongly the interviews were suggested as the leaders way of telling me that the design needed a change) One thing led to another and the final design turned out to be very different from what we started out with. And the program was rec...

There are days when you feel valued as a consultant... When your ideas are received, even built on... When you feel you have made an impact... When participants walk up to you and bid goodbye... When you feel a part of the team that you are working with... When you feel you have contributed value and the client too feels the same... A lot of a times, a consultant life is transactional...There are times when it is not! These are some such days!

Such a meeting can be a very expensive proposition as I discovered recently! I met someone and while I consider myself a reasonably well read person - atleast in the business domain - this meeting was something else. One thing led to another and one of us asked what books do you recommend. And over the next 20 minutes, every book that was named was new to me (bar a few). And I went home and looked up at the titles - every single one was a thought provoking one, about new ideas, new approaches and so on. So, I had to spend money to buy many of those books... Spending money on books is not a big deal. Every book increases your knowledge exponentially, so we run with it and the money spent on books is not a cost, but an investment, in yourself!

Well, what motivates me? When I work with a client, what motivates me is Am I feeling valued? If my input useful for them or is just something that is a tick in the box for them? The fact that my inputs are valued motivates me. The fact that the client is invested makes a difference. When you are asked to come in with a template approach - that is far less motivating than it is when the client comes in with an open slate and is willing to work through the challenge. Sometimes, the client is not invested in solving the problem as you are, but thats for another day. The second thing that motivates me is the Impact I am able to generate. Greater impact means greater motivation. There are assignments when both dont happen - but thats for another day, but whenever the two happen, I as a consultant feel motivated to give my 100% and more.  I also feel that they two have to ncecessarily co-exist. Developing thought I suppose...

Working with leadership teams can be difficult. For mainly 2 reasons. One, they often come with a "been there done that" attitude. I say often because it is not so prevalent. And also because it is the lesser of the evils. And it is a solvable problem for a facilitator because they see themselves as experts in their domains not yours. They get to this stage if anything you bring (rather, much of what you bring) comes without any new perspective or insight. So if you see the audience get bored, distracted - most likely this is cause number 2. (How do I know? Because I have encountered facilitators who often come back with complaints about the attitude - and most likely this is one issue). The second issue is how much is the leader involved? invested? If the program/initiative is supported by the leader and endorsed, it is a win. But it is an even greater win if the leader is invested in it - and a part of it as well - actively participating, being a part of it without bei...

A bit of traveling across India - both for work and non-work purposes has left with a question. Why are all hotel rooms the same? Possibly across the world? They all look the same - change a few colour combinations, the paintings on the wall, but they are all the same. A bed, a TV (why?), A table, A chair (or three) or a sofa...They all look the same. The lower budget ones aspire to be high budget with heavy furnitures and heavy carpeting. The higher budget ones aspire to be chic and cool. Sure there are design constraints - with air conditioning and the need to stack as many rooms as possible in a space, but somehow, they are all boring. And while booking the current one, I tried my best to look for a hotel with 'character' - no luck. Have to be stuck in a box for 2 days. Maybe  I should try a pod? Or a homestay in a city (there arent many of them right?)

This year, we decided to introduce trekking to the kids. And we took them on a short trek in the Garwhal Himalayas. It was a 2 days, 1 night trek. They were trained enough. With short 6km walks, a little stair climbing for a few weeks before the event, carrying their bags and walking. They were sensitised to carrying their own bags. We involved them in the shopping (shoes, trek wear, ponchos, plates), got them to break in the shoes through the training and they kept up their training. But then, you never know. They might get bored or fatigued or pass on the bags to the adults or complain of pain or fatigue and so on. We neednt have worried. The night before the trek, they were so excited, they could barely sleep. At the point where the trek started they were like race cars revving up their engines waiting for the green signal. They set off with the advance guide and set a blistering pace. The adults were behind all the time with the trailing guide. They enjoyed every aspect of t...

Trek guides have a difficult time. Their lives are filled with loaded questions of the "Have you stopped beating your wife" kind. No answer will be right. I have written about this earlier, on the learnings from a trek guide . The recent trek we undertook, the guide used a similar 'language'. The perfect balance between authority and free for all. The perfect balance between fear and abandon. The perfect balance between discipline and fun. He kept us on time - each time - he would give us a time and stick to it. He correctly estimated the time it would take for a bunch of people in their 40s and a bunch of energetic kids to reach the place (any place). He took a call on where we should be eating. He kept an eye on the weather and smiled each time his calls were proved right. He kept the group in sight by splitting the local guide to lead and himself bringing up the rear. And after all this, you have the laggards (us) asking him questions like, How am I do...

The story of Israel is inspiring. And this is a story by Shimon Peres, one of the founding fathers of the country, so to say. After getting a recommendation on reading this book, it waited on my shelf for its turn to arrive. The book itself is worth a read. More importantly, here are my takeaways on what it means to be a leader from this book. For one, A reader must prepare hard. Work hard. In different situations. Be Prepared for any opportunity that might cross her way. Listen; listen well; listen actively... Take risk: it is only after we see failure that we will know if we misjudged the risk. Open new possibilities Optimism and naivete are not one and the same... Make the hard decisions that leadership demands (and therein lies one of the most important tenets - as a leader you cannot escape facing and making tough decisions. If all one had to do was to take easy decisions, one does not need leaders.) Standing still is not an option, despite many successes Seek and hav...

Recently, I read Paul Allens - Idea Man. And set me thinking about how in a team when there is one 'Big' founder, the story from the other side is often more unvarnished and presents a different perspective than the dominant narrative. And thus, I started re-reading iWoz to see if there were some parallel perspectives there. For one, both Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak were the 'idea' guys. Both were avid tinkerers (and I am coming to believe that tinkering is an essential part of the learning process.), got interested in something early and pursued it with a lot of freedom. In the not so prominent founders book, you get to see a more human side of the prominent founder with all their flaws. You get glimpses of the early culture of the company at the time it was founded and so on. The founders seem to have something in common (passion for technology, hands on in technology) and a complementing skillset (one tech, one business). One of them is more 'communicat...

I received yet another invite for a timeshare on my mail. In the spam folder only, but as I looked at it, I wondered if timeshares are a good idea? Many years ago, we had considered going in for a timeshare and then we paused and said, well, we do want our vacations to be different experiences each time. And that has been a good thing because for one, we aren't bound by dates and artificial constraints from the timeshare, apart from our own. More importantly, our vacations have been different. From treks to pilgrimages to beach holidays to temple towns to laid back visits to forgotten places to home-stays to food by the roadside - each of them has been different. We have met wonderful hosts, teams, guides and cuisines along the way. A lot of "big-one-size-fits-all" is being broken up into more customisable pieces. In an age of airbnb where big hotels are more about business travel, I think we made the right choice.

Of course, it is a Pulitzer prize winning book, so it is a great book. But here is what I liked about how it ticks the boxes in terms of what I really like in a non fiction book. One, it takes a historically known something and tell you many things you did not know. In some cases takes something unknown and makes you aware. Or throws light on a new concept. The second, it brings people alive around it. Brings to light facts, personalities, their quirks, how they worked, how they researched. Third, it connects them - and Gene especially does this very well. Joins the dots beautifully in an intricate tapestry. Fourth - and this is the bonus with Gene as compared to other books in this genre - is that it is very well written. It is page turning, like a fiction book. Like a mystery; well almost. Fifth - the story is not a linear story. It goes back and forth, into new branches, characters pop up in one place vanish and show up in an another place - sometimes, across a generati...

We sat there, watching a friend in his first ever yoga class. This friend has years of experience (the yoga teachers experience is measured in decades, not hours - he said). The class was being held in a not very posh place. It was simple. The people who came to learn were not people you will find in Nike ads. One way to think about it is to say Why does someone with so much experience have to do this? Does he have to go through this grind? He deserves so much more. He should have waited and launched himself at a bigger place. The other way is to say He is trying He is brave He is working on his mission He has brought his passion alive in a small way Thats when it struck me. Beginnings are small. All beginnings by their very nature are small. Take any dream, any business. The beginnings are almost always messy, untidy and even unsure. But they are beginnings...

Now, playing Loco has had a strange effect on our lives. Loco is all about general knowledge/trivia and suddenly the kids are interested in collecting general knowledge. This is good, IMO. Unlike a TV quiz show where you are shouting answers at the screen, this is visceral. You play, you get a response and you see others who got the answer right or wrong and you can empathise or feel jealous or elated depending on whether you reach the 10th question or win or lose on the way. The second change I saw was startling. The kids are not very social in general - and take time to talk to people. But at a recent gathering, I saw them talk to people and get them to install the app so that we can get a 'life'. I found this behaviour fascinating. Conversation is difficult in general, a sales conversation even more difficult. And the zillion times we have nudged them to talk to people especially at family functions - results have been mixed. But now that talking to people got them ...

Or milkshakes in a bottle to be precise. A few years (maybe months) ago, somebody launched milkshakes in a bottle. And you could take the bottle home as a keepsake. This was a classic bottle - shaped like the old milk bottles and instantly was the talk of the town (in some circles atleast). I dont know who did this, but whoever did it had competition very quickly. Soon, everybody came to serve milkshakes in their own version of classic/keepsake glass bottles and within no time the novelty was lost. Couple of points: Glass bottles are good - better than plastic and if glass usage goes up - recycling of glass - which is currently a problem - goes up - and all that I agree. Keepsakes are good - atleast used to be good when I grew up - when every container worth keeping was kept and used in various hand-me-down avatars. Milkshakes are milkshakes - the only real differentiator is the quality of the ingredients and the skill of the person who makes the recipe. Here I assume that mi...

So, after multiple deletes and reinstates to goals and promises, we finally deleted Clash Royale. After we reached the Legendary Arena, of course - we are no wimps. We battled the algorithm, curbed our instincts and did everything. It was tough saying no to Clash Royale. The mind doesn't take stop contracts very well said my trainer. But we managed. This in in my mind is the end of Clash Royale in our devices. In the meantime, we learnt about this new app called Loco. And Loco has a simple premise. Ten quiz questions, live, 10 seconds per question and its a survival game. If you get all 10 answers right progressively, you win - real money. If you miss a step, you get eliminated. But, if you get friends to install the game and use your code - you can lives (one per game) and continue upto question 9 - at 10 - there no life. For what it is worth, we started playing and won a little bit of money (think sub-hundred). Now this is the start contract to rival CRs stop contract....

We all know what is Facebook and the many things about it, especially in the recent past. It was fascinating for me to read the story of the creation of Facebook in the book, the Facebook effect by David Kirkpatrick. Quite a few things struck me. About timing (there were quite a few social networks that fell by the wayside because technology was not good enough). About ideas (Facebook was by no means the first social network, but many things it learnt from others failures made it better). About being able to answer the deeper question (and this is really something - from the time it has started till about today -to think a bunch of college kids could think of something like this is inspiring to say the least). About being to prioritize (instead of trying to do everything - at the start, it was very focussed on a few things and getting those right and then added features). About having a clear direction (what we are, what we are not). A must read for someone who is in the busi...

We were in Goa and wanted to know of a way to get to another beach. And we asked a man, "How do we get to the beach". He looked perplexed with the question, pointed to the sea with an "obviously" gesture, drew a wide arc with his hand and said "like that". It was our turn to be puzzled. We had meant a land route and he meant a sea route. Thats when we realized that he was, after all, a fisherman and for him the obvious way from one beach to another was by water. It was as simple as that. And we course corrected and asked him, "How do we get there by road?" It was now his turn to be puzzled. He scratched his head and mumbled a few directions that we could not comprehend. We thanked him and left and finally found someone who explained the land route in a few steps. But that left us thinking about perspective. Very often, we see things only from our own perspective - land or water. And sometimes, for someone, it is the other perspec...

From Lost Moon: The Perilious Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell. After 1961, when President Kennedy outrageously promised to put Americans on the moon by 1970, the space agency knew the old way of doing business had to change. The cautious customs of the aeronautical inventor would continue to be observed, but this natural reserve would be enlivened by a new willingness to gamble. So, no ones ever tried building a 36-story rocket to accelerate a manned spacecraft to 25,000 miles per hour, fling it out of a circular Earth orbit and send it on a screaming beeline to the moon? Then its about time someone did. So, no one's ever contemplated how to build a bungalow-sized, four-legged ship so flimsy it can't even support its own weight, but so strong that it can take off and land under the moon's reduced gravity? Then maybe NASA was the place to do it. There is a thin line between arrogance and confidence, between hubris and true skill, and the engineers and...

I had no idea that the movie Apollo 13 was based on a book. So, when I got the chance, I read the book at full speed. The movie, as we all know, is one of the most inspirational movies. I am a huge fan of this movie and I have watched it more than a few times. So, I was curious to read the book. The book takes the story much deeper and there are quite a few differences between the book and the movie , including details about the American space program that are both inspiring and unique and which cannot be covered by a movie. So, if you are someone who likes to know more about the actual story, this book - Lost Moon: The Perilious Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell is a great read.  Having said that the movie makes the story into a far more narrow frame of reference than the book - and while the movie plays the leadership aspect, in the book one realises that it was a much much larger team effort than what the movie makes it out to be.  Tr...

Yes, and is an improv principle but and for me, in this current journey, it has a lesson that has held up well. As a consultant, a variety of work gets thrown at you. While there are the obvious not-my-skill or not-my-competency or not-my-interest work that comes your way and you anyway have to say no to it, the intriguing part is that the work that does indeed come to you is not packaged like a dream - not always. The work in its initial description comes fuzzily, appears different, sometimes impossible, sometimes tricky, sometimes with rocks embedded before the seashore. And this is what I have realised, as a consultant, work will rarely come in neatly packaged boxes. It will come as a bunch of pieces  - some interesting, some not, some disjointed, some sharp, some edges, some centres and it is your job as a consultant to embrace all that is thrown at you with a yes, and. So to give you a few examples, my very first assignment was a one-of-its-kind workshop (Yes, we have ...

The last year, as I embarked on my entrepreneurship journey, I ended up buying a ton of books. Being a book lover, it was easy to justify all the purchases.  All of them were important to my learning, my development and the development of a practice.  But what happened - as I observed - was that the range of books I purchased was narrow cast towards my work.  And my son asked me "You work and you read about work, why dont you read something else?" And that question prompted me to raid a few of his books...

Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath is a book on decision making. There are many books on decision making and a new book on a topic thats already written about quite a bit is not an easy task. Made to Stick by the same authors still remains my go to book when it comes to thinking of new campaigns and methods. The book starts with the four processes of decision making, the four villains that make the process go awry and then it goes on to say, how can one conquer the villains using a variety of methods and a framework that they have created... It is a lucid book, easy to read, peppered with examples. The cons is that if you read a few books on decision science, from the classic "Thinking Fast and Slow" to a few others, the examples  and stories tend to repeat...

The Indian team went to South Africa and had a tough time. This was not the first time. This has been a debate for 30 plus years now. Why doesnt the Indian team not perform well on overseas pitches? The answer is simple. There is no practice. There is no skill building. This answer is also nothing new. How does one build a new skill? By putting onself out there, trying, failing, learning, unlearning, relearning and finally bit by bit climbing the ladder of skills. So, if the team has to be play on fast bouncy pitches abroad - they need to play on fast bouncy pitches at home. And that means, when the next generation of kids grow up, they need to learn to play on fast bouncy pitches. In theory, all it means is to have every alternate match to be played on a different pitch. And you do this over a generation - even 5 years, you have a battle ready team. Cut to business. If you need to learn to handle a difficult conversation like a pro, you have to practice doing it. Simply becau...