Serendipity and Learning

A question that I frequently run into is "How should a start up approach LnD". In the last few months I have spoken to a few people who have the responsibility of running LnD for start ups. Here is my take (still evolving): 1. If you apply a big company framework and shrink it for a start up. This may will not work. 2. For instance, in a big company you may train some of the managers every year. In a start up, you almost definitely want to train all of them. Especially if you have the first few hundred on board. And, you might want to repeat this atleast once again or till you have confident of a 'culture'. Measure it using surveys. 3. Training ROI - In general, measure ROI as direct business output. If you do a workshop on problem solving - assign a project and measure its outcome. If you build skill in giving feedback, assess Manager scores. 4. Distinguish between Needs and Wants. Big companies will address wants, but as a startup, you are neither geared for ...

Someone I know had posted recently that creativity requires you to swear. This is something I dont believe in. Yes, creativity needs a provocation - that provocation doesnt have to be negative. It doesnt have to a jibe or a sarcastic comment or a personal insult. The same thing can be achieved by tremendous motivation, empathetic questioning and enabling the 'creator' to think better. Fear is not a motivator of creativity. Sure fear is a motivator. As is adversity. But you can achieve the same thing via passion and constraints. And yes, keep those insults away. Think Olympic athletes. Think tough love. But swearing? And insulting people around you to achieve better creativity? Well, its is a theory I dont buy. Though I admit it has its takers since many great creative artists have had a nasty temper, a strong tendency to use cusswords and throw personal insults. And many wannabes have assumed that having a nasty temper, use of cusswords and insults are the gatewa...

The better half mentioned that this has been her longest stint at home other than maternity. And it struck me - how true. We, the upper middle class of India - for all the family time that we crave - have never got so much family time at one go. Think of it - if you are a typical office goer, you spent about 5 days a week at work. With about 25-30 days vacation - most likely not taken at one go, one wouldnt have spent more than 2 weeks at home. And the other factor - as this generation, we have had help for everything. At the very least- a maid. Else a cook or a driver and so on. This time its different. There is no help, it is just us and we are at home working and doing housework. But this is a great opportunity to have those family meals, sit down and play together and do all the things you have wanted to do. We have done cooking sessions, created a game, played many board games (and lost), helped each other - of course fought with each other - but it has been a unique expe...

A few days back someone mentioned the dish Wambatu Moju on Twitter. And it led to me googling about this brinjal based Sri Lankan dish. I was sufficiently inspired to try it out, bored as we were with our regular cooking repetoire. The ingredients were there, the enthusiasm was there and it was sufficiently out of the comfort zone from a taste lens (vinegar + mustard) and it was acted upon. The end result was a "meets expectations" but nobody knows what a good Wambatu Moju tasted like (in the family I mean). Why this story? This is a typical approach of how I work. I find something. Get inspired. Try it out. Some of them are easy like Wambatu Moju. Some of them are difficult and never see light of day like the Great Leadership Digital Simulation. Some of them are in between, sufficiently inspiring upto a point of trial and error. This is creativity for me. Constantly exploring an area just outside comfort zones. Pushing boundaries physically (till the knees give up...

What is the kind of life you want to lead? This is a question I have asked myself. And in this context, I liked this article . Very often in the pursuit of our career, we forget what we want to do. Or we simply cant given the demands of a career. And what we want to do might be as simple as spend more time with children, parents. It might be getting better in an art or craft. It might be following a passion. It could be anything. He suggests a few things that resonated with me: Read books, Become a learning machine, Start a side business (not the multi level marketing kind please). But primarily, stop chasing vanity goals (material) and chase goals of self improvement (getting better at some thing - maybe one thing, maybe two things) I couldnt express it better than him, so here is the excerpt that resonated with me: B+ is finding something to aim for and going all-in on it for as long as you can. It’s not about the outcomes. Success doesn’t make you happy. Vanity goals ...

I saw this on Linkedin recently and it left me wondering. It said the future of learning is different. And had something like this. From Teacher Oriented to Learner Centred From Brick and Mortar to Virtual From SME to Collaborative From Formal Credentials to Individual Skill Inventories From Content Creation to Knowledge Curation From Push to Pull From Managers as Supervisors to Managers as Coaches From Fixed Learning to Blended Learning I looked at this list and wondered. This was true 10 years ago and heralded as the future of learning then. So, really what have we changed in Learning? Precious little if you ask me. Thats a bit harsh I know, but whats your view?

A few weeks, as the lockdown began the kids were bored. The board games were exhausted. And they wanted something to do. So I suggested, why don't we create a game? Having played a few board games (Settlers of Catan, 7 wonders and San Juan league), they understand the realm of games. This apart from the reasonably good knowledge they had of games.  I asked, what would you like to make a game on? The answer was not very forthcoming. So, we spoke what they really liked  - and pat came the answer. Cats.  We sat with a gaming mechanics card working on what game to make with cats as the centrepiece. Our building has a few stray cats - that we have seen since they were kittens. So, they are well versed with cat psychology. Ok, not psychology, but behaviour. They have observed what happens in a cat ecosystem. The following behaviours were discussed, debated, argued - we agreed that cats staked territories. They fought with each other to establish dominance. They...

If the process were gamified... Log in to the app. You reach level 1. Level 1, fail - there are no slots available If you pass Level 1 Level 2, fail - if you cant find what you want. [In some version of grocery games L1 and L2 are swapped] Level 3 - As you log in, slots are available, but just as you click checkout - the app says, sorry, the slot is no longer available or the item is no longer available. [Killing off main characters is a thing, I suppose] And then they tell you they serviced X000 orders - so that makes one feel even more miserable. "I am not good enough". Social Leaderboard Mega fail, but I dont give up. Each day I wake up, try the slot machine and go back...