Serendipity and Learning

Continuing on my insights from the design conference- followed by an L&D meetup.   What I realise is that,  pretty much everything one learns has to be learnt by doing. Almost everything I learnt has followed the same mode.  I invested time in a Theatre workshop many years ago. The entire exercise was learning by doing. Learn, fall, receive feedback, try again, fall, receive feedback and so on.  And about perhaps 10 years later I signed up for ISABS ODCP. The entire exercise of making an OD professional out of you is filled with these learning cycles. Try, receive feedback, reflect, act, rinse, repeat.  And while these are relatively short cycle learning projects, the story is the same for anything in the longer term as well.  What I learnt I learnt by doing.  (Failing, Fallling, Learning again, Seeking Feedback, Reflecting, Trying again, Failing again, Receiving mild applause, Trying again, Failing again, Working hard, Getting it right and so...

One of the things we often tell newbies in HR is to know the business. Know the customers. Look beyond HR. (Ditto for those in L&D or TA) And I heard this being repeated in the Design conference. As a designer, you need to be  aware. You need to know the business. Know the customers. Go beyond the stated problem. Dont fix what has been told to you. Investigate further. And so on. The common factor here apart from the fact that as much as you gain expertise, you cannot be a one trick pony or that you require T shaped skills. But what resonated with me more was the fact that you cannot afford to be insular and inward looking regardless in your field.

 In these days of app driven pleasures, somewhere the younger one discovered the pleasure of the crossword. I think it is serendipity because the crossword appears on the page that she tries her hand at other puzzles and one fine day, she decided to tackle the crossword. And I was called to help.  I am an old lover of the crossword. I never quite figured the cryptic crossword beyond a few clues despite my best efforts, but a typical word crossword is something I absolutely adore.  The joy of finding a word in bits and pieces, trying out a word, swapping something - it is fun - plus it increases general knowledge  and vocabulary. Though those are side benefits - the sheer joy of words is what the crossword enables.  Plus nowadays, google helps if we get a little stuck. So, there we are the two of us, pondering over, a word for the crowd with pitchforks or a sailors cry for help or a sanctuary for lions and absolutely enjoying every moment of solving the crossword...

When was the last time you did something for the first time. I did yesterday. I attended a design conference. For various reasons which included learning about a field that has held me in thrall for a long long time. And it did not disappoint. Met some folks with whom I only had telephonic conversations, some long lost contacts rejuvenated and meeting some old friends in a different setting. Design conferences are surely creative. And highly educational. And I highly recommend visiting a different conference than your profession... some problems are the same and some are different. Gives a great perspective. As an L&D professional...my takeaway...deepen your practice else AI is waiting. Rewrite the rules!

At the end of any premier event, there is a rash of posts on Linked in. And therefore,  I dread Linkedin the day after the world cup. Leadership lessons from Rohit. Coaching fundamentals by Rahul. How to hold your head under pressure despite being a star on Virat. How to work the team on the Netherlands captain. How to play in adversity on the Afghanistan wicketkeeper. How to serve like the 12th man selflessly. Pages upon pages from people who may have last bowled in kindergarten (or 7th grade). In their gully. With a plastic ball. Underam. In a 5 over match. With one bounce out. Nothing might be factually wrong, but a lot of it is hearsay. The same thing happened with Chandrayaan. Everybody who had thrown a paper plane in the air was suddenly giving gyan about the work culture at ISRO and the humility of the scientists there. (Again, nothing factually wrong there) The same thing happened a few years back with the pandemic. And still happening with AI. Now, note, I absolutely love ...

 This book has been on my mind for a while. I was a little sceptical about it - thinking that "I know the Mahabharata (as most of us do), so what new thing will I learn". The reason i share this is it is possible that this is the reason many might have to not read this book.  But as I read the book, I was pleasantly surprised. The author has drawn on the Mahabharata to create an elaborate leadership archetype - and there were many aspects I did not know about. In the story of the Mahabharata Arjuna and Bheema have been in the centre, Yudhisthira as well but the role of Nakula and Sahadeva have been minimal - almost like background figures. Duryodhana, Bheeshma, Karna and others also have a lot of space as compared to Nakula and Sahadeva. So that comes in the way of looking at 5 archetypes. And the author ties it all together as leadership archetypes.  The Mahabharata is one of the Indias foremost epics. And it is one of those stories that lend itself to so many retellings...

This is a very inspiring video - the story of Indias first autonomous boat - Matangi.  It is inspiring for many reasons. For reasons as diverse as seeing Indian taking leaps in technology that we never thought possible. For seeing an enterpreneurs commitment for 11 years to work on a "never done before" project. For seeing the passion - bringing our sailors home. And being able to see great Indian hi-tech products.  Read this in conjunction with the previous post. This meeting would have started as a dream in someones mind - so much of it vague, unknown issues, unforeseen circumstances, unproven technology, unknown enetities and like any project it would have hit so many hurdles that the team would have struggled to overcome. And all of this would have been one (or a few) persons dream.  What a joy it is to see such initiatives succeed!   

 When was the last time you sat in a meeting that had vague objectives? The speaker started. The group nodded expecting it to go "never attend boring meetings". But the leader took a different direction.  He said, the Indian space program, missile program, IT industry - many such initiatives that are big toda started with an unclear objective, but the group worked through the vague objectives, sculpted them and worked on it bit and bit and then it became an overnight success.  Behind that overnight success is a lot of effort, but everything began with that single thought, that single meeting.  And therefore, as leaders your job is think long term. Go after those vague initiatives. Sure out of them some will succeed, some will fail, but never fail to dream big.  Personally this resonated a lot with me - having been part of a few projects that started with a vague idea...

I was watching a few people play these games like Ludo and Candy Crush and I wondered exactly why people play them.  When you play Ludo IRL there is some element of strategy. And humans. And some interaction apart from the dice throw and the coin selection.  When you play Ludo online, all you do is click for the dice throw and click on which coin you want to move. The similarity ends there. There are no humans, no emotion - but yet why do people play? People play it only for a dopamine rush? And here is a theory ! And a better one .

The brilliant jerk is of many types. Sometimes it is someone who is insanely brilliant. Sometimes, it is someone who is very good at relationship building. Sometimes it is someone who just delivers.  But the effect the brilliant jerk has is always the same.  They seem to leave a trail of destruction - sometimes attrition, discontent many a time. They seem to always be insecure about "something". If could be a customer, an important project or their own skill or their prized relationship.  The area that they own gets significantly good results (often way ahead of the pack) that the leader is forced to accommodate all their shenanigans. (This is not entirely true, the leader makes a choice to accommodate.) Word spreads very quickly about the "bad" culture in the team. People do not want to work with this brilliant jerk.  Certain decisions are taken which end up being regretted.  Everyone has to watch their back.  But what intrigues me, how much companies, tea...

Recently Swiggy came up with a run collection scheme on their app. Orders above a particular amount automatically get "runs" assigned. And you score runs to be considered for some reward. The first order happened because of a necessity. But the simplicity of the game and the apparent need to "score" made me make a few more orders - I created a few "needs".  This is exactly what the app wants - but on the other hand, I have industriously tried to accumulate points on Gpay for some reward (it was a game connected to cities and a few more).  That is how addictive a game is.  (Well, I lost in the gpay game after some time because one or two of the cities seemed to beyond reach and it felt pointless. The Swiggy one, I am still in it - I lost 2 runs because the order was a rupee lesser than what the app wanted.) The trick, like all good games is to keep it at the point where it is enticing and just out of reach. Too difficult and interest drops.  Modified versio...