Serendipity and Learning

I was talking to my uncle recently and we happened to talk about organizations. He runs practically a lean single person operation and hence his constant focus is to prioritize and do only the things that are the most important for his customers. Anything else is de-prioritized. Unfortunately, as organizations grow larger, this focus is lost and there is a lot of pride in 'activity'. As they say in spirituality, mistaking 'activity' for 'action' is very common. 'Activity' and 'Action' are one and the same. A lot of 'activity' does not contribute anything for the 'economy'. Like NREGA. One of the major criticisms levied against NREGA is that it is a ditch digging and filling exercise and does not result in asset creation or in contribution to the economy. It is very tempting to create work where none exists - what we miss out that is all that 'work creation' if it does not result in meaningful contribution to what th...

I love cooking. Thats a bit of a lie. I love cooking, but equally detest the 'getting ready' and the 'putting away' part. But sometimes, even that is worth it. Over the last few years, I have discovered yet another joy of the internet - the hyperlink cook. Through various sites, random linking, people on twitter and posted on some of my favourite sites - I have attempted and succeeded in making various global and Indian delicacies. All vegetarian, but thats a minor detail really. There is much joy in searching for ingredients of something you want to make.Sometimes collecting all the ingredients takes a little while, but it is worth it. One day, I felt like having avial, a traditional Kerala dish and after a bit of googling and adjustment with the ingredients we had at home I had perhaps the most delicious avial I have had in recent times. Ditto with a coconut chutney that I once felt like eating. And realized that these dishes are not as complicated as they are ...

Coursera is one of those new sites that offer education on the internet - in my view, the best use of the internet is learning and sharing. For an auto-didact , the internet is perhaps the best thing to have happened. Coursera offers the kind of offers, your local university cannot dream of offering. Okay, I take that back. Surely, they can dream of offering - but the way Indian universities are structured and constrained, it is highly unlikely that something like this can come through. Until a few months ago, it was never concern that they will disrupt our well entrenched system. But here it comes. Coursera now offers signature courses - that means, for a fee, you can get a certificate from the university that offers the course. How cool is that? This is a real disruptor to the university - especially those that do not innovate and bring out something new. But the best part is that universities need not fret - they can join the others and offer a course from their area of expert...

Some years back, we were waiting at a train station in Singapore. And all of a sudden, the station erupts in a very catchy announcement tone "Train is coming, train is coming, train is coming..." The kids ears perked up - and it is such an easy to remember tune and wording that they remembered it. And the best part is that this was a safety message - for people to move away from the platform and also to let people know that the train is coming. And then my mind went to our announcements - Platform number chaar ki gaadi etc. etc. Similarly, our flight safety procedures - are said at jet speed with a series of actions - surely there are better ways of doing it. One airline for instance, has a video. And I read somewhere that there are others who do a really cool job of it. So, here is a question. How does one get cab drivers to wear seat belts? Fine or persuasion? Push or pull? They know it is good for them, but they dont wear it. Or how does one get an entire organiz...

Most of us would have faced this question at some point of time or other while we were growing up. What will you become when you grow up? And by and large, have inflicted this torture on many a child we would have met - including our own children. In his speech yesterday, Narendra Modi gave a different spin to it. I loved this riff. He said (not exactly verbatim), "You ask your child what you want to become? Doctor or Engineer?" (Implication is that we put this baggage on the childs heads right from childhood). "This is drilled into the child from 5th standard and somewhere along the way, the child does not clear 12th standard and ends up being a teacher" "The person is not satisfied because all along in his mind, the dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer, is now dissatisfied with being a teacher" "Instead of asking a child what will you become, ask the child what you will do?" ("Kya Karoge instead of Kya Banoge) Ultimately,...

This is the latest speech by Narendra Modi which was delivered yesterday at the India Today Conclave. Much analysis has been carried out on this speech, but here is a different perspective. I have written about Presentation skills - and to me this is a video that touches upon almost all aspects of presentation skills. For someone who wants to learn public speaking, presentation skills this speech is a great example. It is well worth your time, if you want to see presentation skills in action (and the bonus of a great speech). The speech is largely in Hindi, though there are parts in English as well.  Mr. Modi uses a video at the start (which is missing here) - so the speech uses other media as well - surprising the audience - since politicians arent generally given to videos. That initial video has made the audience look forward to more. The speech is extempore - which can only happen when one knows the subject thoroughly. I personally don't know how much Mr. Modi practices...

I finally managed to complete a MOOC. This is the second one I had signed up for – from Coursera. The first one I could not complete. So, what made the difference? Amidst both the MOOC’s, something happened that I fell behind by a week. But in the first instance, the deadline was a hard deadline (much before the end of the course) with no leeway. And having fallen behind once, I lost the enthusiasm to try. In the second instance, all the deadlines were a common deadline towards the end of the course – so having slipped back, it was a matter of completing 2 modules in the space of one. So, I was able to claw back in, just in the nick of time. Some more questions: Was the course good? Both the MOOC’s were good. The first one, I thought was a little more intense than the second one – and I really wish I was able to complete it. How was the content?  Both had really practical content. How much time did I have to spend? In the first one, I had to spend...