Cut to the Chase with Indranil Chakraborty founder, StoryWorks

With 21+ years of experience in the corporate world including working at Unilever as Global Brand Director, Indranil Chakraborty decided to strike out on his own in 2013. He moved to Goa and founded StoryWorks, the first Indian company that focuses exclusively on business storytelling. In this conversation, among other things, he tells us that a big driver for entrepreneurs is not having a boss!

http://bit.ly/indranil 

Cutting to the Chase with rock band, Indian Ocean

Super-cool, ultra-alt and ubër-indie music band Indian Ocean has always made songs in which a flute sounds as at-home as a fully amped electric guitar. They gave birth to an all-new sound that went onto create progenies for generations after. Advaita, most famously.
You’ll find them at the helm of cutting-edge concepts often – both in the worlds of music and activism – and today, you’ll find them in their groove, on Cut to the Chase.

http://bit.ly/indianocean_music

Cut to the Chase with Ste Drayton, Chief Digital Officer, Watch me Think and former Head of Online, WWF

This week in Cut to the Chase we chat with Ste Drayton, Chief Digital Officer at Watch Me Think, a UK-based start-up. Ste was earlier with WWF’s global HQ in Switzerland, where he worked for 14 years, leaving in 2011 when Head of Online.

If you have aspirations of employment or entrepreneurship in the digital space, this interview is for you. http://bit.ly/stedrayton

Cut to the Chase with Award Winning Filmmaker, Dibakar Banerjee

This week in Cut to the Chase we have a very special treat for Bollywood fans - a career counselling tête-à-tête with filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee.

Two times winner of the National Award for his movies, Khosla ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! his advice for aspiring filmmakers - “It is my belief that to become a good filmmaker, you have to be a good reader, you have to be a good traveller, you have to be into food, you have to be into music, you have to be into people, you have to be a good watcher, you have to be a good listener.” and for youth in India at large, "And my absolute informal education advice would be to travel. Young people in India do not travel much and they should. I want to say that to young people today – Travel, travel, travel.” 

Much like his movies, Dibakar Banerjee's interview is thought provoking and inspiring. Read on… and share - http://bit.ly/dibakarbanerjee

Cut to the Chase with Amit Chaudhuri, Award-winning Writer and Professor of Contemporary Literature

In Cut to the Chase, our weekly interview series with professionals about how youngsters aspiring for that profession can better prepare for it and the promise that profession holds, this week we chat with Amit Chaudhuri, a multiple award-winning writer (that includes the Sahitya Akademi award) and a well-known favourite on the critics’ choice circuit (he often sits on Man Booker panels), Amit has been acclaimed by the likes of Guardian, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, and The Boston Globe, among several others. He is also Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia and a proficient musician in the Indian classical tradition. http://bit.ly/amitchaudhuri

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Why do adolescents love taking risks? Understanding the Adolescent Brain

Adolescence, which starts at the onset of puberty and is now considered to go on till mid 20s, is usually considered a potentially troublesome age. Research bears this out - reckless driving, social media indiscretion, dangerous YOLO dares, crime, binge drinking, unintended pregnancies, attempted suicides and drug abuse incidence can all happen at this age. Everyone concerned is happy if the adolescent makes it through unscathed!

No doubt adolescence is a period of vulnerability but it is also a period of great opportunity and celebration. After infancy it is the second period of heightened brain plasticity. Psychology tells us that sensation seeking, high risk taking and penchant for novelty - hallmarks of this age, can be channeled into challenging the status quo and bring forth hyper innovation. And neuroscience is telling us that the way the brain remodels during adolescence – decrease in grey matter because of synaptic pruning and increase in white matter due to myelination changes the generalist, soak-it-all-in pre-puberty brain into a brain capable of becoming a super specialist, be it sports, music, art or academics.

In our new series, for the next few weeks, we will be explaining with simple visuals, how to make the most of the adolescent brain. We start with understanding why an adolescent cannot resist taking risks.