Learning triggers, humanise learning & the goodness of sadness

From this issue I am changing the format to be close to the a newsletter I used to run on https://abhijitbhaduri.substack.com I am merging both. Let me know if you like this format of curated and illustrated content.

There is a connection between learning triggers, how learning must be humanised to be relevant & why being happy may actually take you away from realising your potential. Plus the business of Influencers is growing massively as brands lose connect with their consumers. Here is a quote that summarises the shift

"Influence marketing is far more personal & tailored since that is what audiences demand. Less about megaphone style amplification &more about connection + conversation. I think this is going to be more & more about intimate relationships."

Four things needed for us to learn

Being a Governing Council Member (GCM) of a B-School helps me stay in touch with and (hopefully, influence) learn from what is happening beyond the corporate world. MICA is a B-School that aims to put design, creative communication (check out the audio novels they produce), digital skills along with all the skills that traditional business education provides. The convocation of THREE batches of students was scheduled on 2nd April 2022. Don't miss the colour coordinated dress code of the GCM.

Only at MICA, the GC members create intricate origami. If you want to know which of GC members created the origami birds, click this link.

The President Dr Shailendra Raj Mehta spoke about the four factors that are mentioned in the Mahabharata (in bold) that determine how we learn. (the explanations are my own)

1. The Learner - the level of curiosity, the openness to learn and persist
2. The Teacher - The teacher transfers content and motivates us to learn
3. The Peers - The peers help us to understand the ideas through multiple lenses
4. Time (because somethings make sense much later when we connect the dots)

In view of the four, evaluating the effectiveness of a workshop can be misleading. Some bits of what we have learned will make sense only after some time.

How should businesses evaluate the effectiveness of workshops and upskilling programs? Do leave your comments.

Humanise knowledge through conversations

As organisations move from hierarchies to networks, there is a growing need to upskill the workforce ie employees plus the freelancers. There are multiple sources of information that we can have.

From YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn to books and magazines and of course the learning experience systems and even the intranet of the organisation. All knowledge sources are frozen until we build in time to humanise the knowledge.

That means allowing time for people to chat and discuss the ideas with the peers. Think about prototypes and opportunities to implement what they have thought about. The problem is that over years we have taken away all "human connections" time from the day. That helps build efficiency but kills innovation. Building time to build resources, ideas and experiences can be the big competitive advantage the businesses can build.

<Read more>

What have you found to be effective in adding to your knowledge and skills? Do you think humanising the knowledge is an impractical idea in a fast paced, ever changing environment?

The goodness of "sadness"

There is a whole lot of research done on how to be happy. Getting too obsessed with happiness may make it harder for you to reach your full potential. All risks by definition will come with the probability of failure. If the ideas about failing make you apprehensive about taking a new job or even starting your own venture, you will avoid that discomfort. You will never know whether you would have thrived in that new environment.

Why should not want to be happy ALL THE TIME?

Slight unhappiness is a good thing because it helps you solve things. You begin to get conscious about the issue and focus on how to avoid the irritant before it blows up. What comes in the way is how people will feel about failure - not the consequence of failure itself. <read this>

The source of fear in many cases centres on how they will?feel?about having failed, not about the consequences of the failure itself.

Amazon uses the imagery of a decision being a doorway. Some decisions are one way doors - you cannot go back once you go down that path. Very few decisions are one way doors. People change jobs and relationships that stifle them. That makes it a two-way door.

What are some two-way doors that you once viewed as a one-way door? How did you find your way back from that choice? Did it make you happier once you reversed an old choice. Leave your response in the comments section. Or email them to me at [email protected]

Here is a podcast on How to Build a Happy Life

Influencers - how and why do you need to work with them

Lipstick King (an influencer in China) and Vyi sold goods worth more than $3 billion in ONE DAY. This is more than what Amazon sells in a day. It is not surprising that 75% of brand will use influencers to grab a share of the $16 billion of being spend this year. Millennials and Gen Z trust influencers. So the brands find it easy to work with them.

Read about the big bucks the influencers impact

Read why: Content creation is one big reason for brands to follow influencers