ACGT Life Skills

In my forthcoming workshops in April, I plan to build on the theme of 'Tinkering with Electronics' that I had started last December and introduce robotics in rural schools in India I work with. For this, earlier in January, I had ordered robotic kits from two vendors in India and purchased one here in London for evaluation. The one I bought in London was nicely packaged, with clear instructions and worked like a charm. However, it was double the cost of the Indian kits. I wrote off the first Indian kit as I was opening it because it was shoddy. As it is most students find STEM subjects daunting and using unwelcoming hardware to introduce technology would make my job significantly more challenging!

The second kit was better. During assembly, I found one component faulty and to save time I ordered that part locally in London. However, even then I could not get the kit to work. So I got in touch with the company. They arranged a Skype chat with a member of their support team, who asked me to get a multimeter and start testing the capacitors on the micro-controller board! Worse, two capacitors were shorting and this person asked me if I had a soldering iron and could I remove the solder bridge that must be shorting the capacitors. Though I am no electronics engineer I have tinkered enough so I removed the solder bridges and got the capacitors working again. However, the micro-controller board still did not work. I was told that the issue requires further investigation. This was last week and I am yet to hear from them.

I am giving a very abridged account. In reality there were delays in shipment, many emails were exchanged, assurances were given but not followed through et al. Bottom line is that in an age when Amazon has spoilt us with prompt delivery and no-fuss exchange my experience was rather unpleasant. This company is founded by alumni of the most famous technology institute in India and while my case may be an exception it left me a bit anguished that how could such a company lack quality checks and not understand the importance of customer delight. Is fostering such a spirit and mindset out-of-syllabus even in a premier technology institute?

I was reminded of the cult book ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ and felt that ‘metaphysics of quality’ and ‘gumption’ are perhaps essential dispositions which should be a part of any education.

This raised a more fundamental question: Are there any ACGT life skills that we all need to learn and hone? ACGT are of course the primary nucleobases that make the DNA and DNA is the key ingredient for life within. My question is are there any primary life skills that make up the DNA of the life we lead out in the world?

In my opinion three strands of this ‘DNA of life without’ are:

1        Self-Awareness: a deep dive within where you investigate meaning, purpose and how you can make your life joyful. Understanding the construct of your emotions and ability to rewrite the script that plays inside your head are included here.

2        Ability to take ownership of your learning: here I include curiosity, intrinsic motivation or firing up a yearning to learn, figuring out what is worth learning and then finding out ways to learn it well.

3        Ability to think independently and deeply: this includes critical, creative and the new-kid-on-the-block, computational thinking and also ability to formulate insightful questions that help you get clarity such that you can abstract and make sense of patterns to solve complex problems.

There are many other contenders for ACGT life skills like information literacy, which includes an ability to find, validate and use information in an information abundant world, or financial literacy, or empathy, or initiative… However, our investigation is about simple, primary life skills that lead to all other permutations. For example, building character is coming back in fashion in education and this includes ethics and morality. However, I believe if a person is deeply self-aware ethics and morality are not something you need to teach. They are natural ingredients needed for a life well-lived.

What we are looking for are fundamental, building-block life skills so that focus can be on imparting these well to all hues of learners. We could then rely on the property of emergence for self-directed development of other skills, competencies and dispositions, including gumption and quality mindset!

I think a discussion on ACGT life skills is much needed and would be very useful. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.

What’s the Title of Your Life Story?

Thinking of a title of your life story can be a good exercise in catharsis. You can not only look back and think of appropriate titles for different stages of your life, you can also look forward and imagine captions for chapters that lie ahead, which will make your life more joyful and meaningful. You can then strive to live a life true to the future title of your memoirs. I did this exercise. Here are the results.

I started my career with a national daily in India and after a brief stint moved to a prestigious Chamber of Commerce and subsequently worked with two privately-held companies. Then in 2001, in Singapore, I co-founded a venture providing bespoke e-learning and knowledge management solutions. I don't have a MBA and I had no experience with large corporates so this bold decision to quit a well-paying job and take an entrepreneurial plunge I caption, ‘Playing Without Pedigree’.

My son was also born in 2001 and the alternate title of this stage of my life could well be titled, ‘Chasing Clients, Changing Nappies – How to Successfully Juggle Two Start-Ups!’. After initial hiccups the e-learning venture was fairly successful and an apt sequel to ‘Playing without Pedigree’ could be, ‘Market was my Litmus’.

By the way, my other start-up is not doing too bad either and the headline here is, ‘Empower, Role Model. Then Let Him Be’. 

After about a decade of managing my e-learning company a chance visit to a remote village in the Himalayas, where I got to interact with teachers in small, rural schools and on an impulse got a few students to make short videos using my smart-phone, I got enamoured with the idea of providing 21st century life skills to under-privileged children. Gradually I got sucked in and started spending more and more of my time pondering what are the most relevant ‘horizontal’ skills like learning to self-learn and learning to think, that are essential for success in the fast changing 21st century, in addition to the conventional ‘vertical’ competencies like expertise in a particular domain.

As I started investing much of my time and resources shaping this informal, not-for-profit initiative friends would admonishingly ask, “How are you going to scale? What is the business model?” Only half in jest I would retort that I have a very unique business model. A business model that doesn’t even feature in the best-selling book ‘Business Model Generation’. It is called ‘she earns - he burns, but wisely’ and for the model to succeed you have to be married to a successful banker, who is better than you are (i.e. she can earn faster than you can burn)!

Three years back I got introduced to Isha yoga and was instantly hooked. With me doing yoga and dabbling in philanthropy based on ‘she earns he burns’ model, this chapter of my life is best described as, ‘Yogi and the Banker’. However, I have had to revise this caption as earlier this year my wife switched careers and she now works for a large mining company. The new title of my current life phase reads, ‘I Mine Within, She Mines Without’.

Straddling the worlds of for-profit, not-for-profit, job, entrepreneurship and philanthropy what I have come to realise is that the secret to joyful aliveness is living your life with absolute exuberance, no matter what your pursuit. As I move to full-time philanthropy, along with a deeper dive into yoga, the title of the next stage of my life is, ‘Ascetic in Exuberant Action’. 

An eminent educationist who knows me well, some years back prognosticated that my life may well be summed up as, “Entrepreneur at 30, Philanthropist at 50, Philospher at 70”. To whatever degree, first stage – check, second – on track and two decades and a bit hence, given the heady mix of philanthropy and yoga, the title of this part of my biopic may well be, ‘For Me, the Cave’ (who knows real or virtual)!

Thinking of apt titles for different stages of your life, past, present and future, can be a great exercise in connecting the dots, sense-making and figuring out where you want to go. Give it a shot.

It’s About Time

In their annual letter, this year Bill and Melinda Gates write about energy and time. Among other things they describe the importance of opportunity cost of time. Opportunity cost is the next best use of a resource. If instead of doing what you are doing right now what ‘other’ thing could you be doing? That ‘other’ thing is the opportunity cost of your time. The letter highlights opportunity cost of time for women, especially in South Asia and Africa, who are doing unpaid, menial chores instead of spending that time getting education, better health and pursuing income-earning opportunities.

Opportunity cost analysis of time is also very important for you. It can serve as a lens for introspecting about your life. Ponder on what you are doing vs what you could be doing different to enrich your life.

Usually when we think about time we think only of time management. How can we do more with the 24 hours we have in a day? How can we become more efficient, effective and productive? Then we come up with all kinds of strategies to make the most of our time like learning to prioritise, or as students we make a time-table and might adopt techniques like pomodoro or the wedge technique and most frequently we create 'To Do' lists. 

This view of time management I think is a micro view of time. It is important but we also need to have a macro view of time. What organisational psychologist Elliott Jacques calls ‘Time Span of Discretion’ – the longest time a person is capable of spending on a single task.

At Level-1 of Time Span of Discretion are people capable of spending just a few months on a task. At Level 2 to 4 people can invest between one to five years pursuing their intent. At Level-6 are statesmen and business leaders who have a time horizon of 20 years to accomplish what they have imagined. Level-8 are people who have a vision that will have a 100 year impact. Finally, at Level-9 are people like Gandhi and Einstein whose work has an impact for centuries because they “planted trees under whose shade they did not expect to sit”. From Mandela to Obama, Gandhi still has huge influence globally and the recent observation of gravitational waves bears testimony to Einstein’s thought experiments done a century ago.

No doubt micro aspect of time is important, especially in today’s world where technology allows you to fill otherwise dead time productively. Like the time spent commuting in buses, trains and airplanes, or simply waiting can be productively filled by reading, listening or watching something on your mobile phone. Or, in such moments simply watching your breath, as advocates of ‘living in the moment’ will tell you, is a type of meditation that makes you more conscious and aware.

However, most of us seem to be losing sense of macro aspect of time – ability to have a life pursuit with a very long time horizon, with success not guaranteed. I think reasons for this are many. In our hurry to become socially successful (more money, power, fame) we have become slaves of time. Time is money. And FOMO or Fear of Missing Out makes the ‘time is money’ phenomenon even worse. “There is money to be made in the booming e-commerce sector in India – start-up today, IPO tomorrow. Don't miss this opportunity.” This sort of peer-pressure escalated, comparative approach to life makes it extremely difficult to pause and ponder if we are making investing our time wisely.

To makes things worse we believe the way to live life is sequentially: “I will first make money, then have a family and after I retire from my active income generating pursuits I will do some socially relevant work.” Nurse Bronnie Ware, who worked for several years with terminally ill patients in the last weeks of their lives records “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” in a book with the same title. The most common regret her patients had was, “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” Male patients who missed the growing up years of their children and their partner’s companionship lamented, “I wish I hadn't worked so hard.” “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends” was another of the top five regrets. 

Learn from the words of the dying! Life is better lived in parallel. The wheels of life turn more easily and smoothly if you give time and energy to all the spokes – social success, physiological success, psychological success and spiritual success.    

Based on such an opportunity cost analysis of your time rewrite your ‘To Do’ list. Consider the importance of all the spokes of your life and whether you would like to reach a much higher level in the ladder of Time Span of Discretion.

And remember, success of your new 'To Do' list hinges on it being accompanied by a 'Stop Doing' list!

Ooch Before You Leap!

Couple of days back I met a 15 year old. He mentioned that this summer holidays, after his GCSE examinations, he would like to do a short internship in a bank or a tech company to get a feel of what life is like in these professions. He is interested in economics and technology and he figures that such an exposure will get him a better sense of what pursuit of these subjects can later lead to.

In their book ‘Decisive’ authors Chip and Dan Heath describe what this young student wants to do as ‘ooching’. Ooching is dipping your toes to test the waters before you dive in. You may have pre-conceived notions about a job or a profession – the glamour of being an actor, or the money in finance but rather than basing an important life decision on your notions it is better to test your assumptions, to the extent possible.

'Decisive' authors highlight that some colleges are making it mandatory for students to get some work experience to become eligible to apply for a course. For example, Hunter College at the City University of New York, for the undergraduate course in physical therapy, does not admit students unless they have spent at least a hundred hours observing physical therapists at work.

Ooching sounds great but I do not know how feasible it is for a 15 year old to get a summer job in a bank or a tech company. He is a minor and large corporates will have strict rules and regulations about engaging a minor even for a short, unpaid internship, plus they will probably not be very keen to take on the associated hassles of insurance and other legal and risk issues.

But today there are several other ways to ‘ooch’ what different professions feel like. A tech or a fin-tech start-up might be a more conducive place for a minor, as would be many non-profits. In fact, I personally think for a young person volunteering their skills and talent for a good cause is excellent experience.

Or, perhaps this young person could request mentoring meetings with professionals and if he can frame the right questions he can get good insights into what a day in the life of that profession feels like, what it entails to get into that profession and what it takes to succeed. To make this mentoring meetings more disciplined this young person could perhaps start a blog. Writing and editing what he learns in an interview will lead to more introspection. Each new interview will also improve quality of questions asked. The ‘Cut to the Chase’ interview series we had run last year had the same objective – to give a feel of a profession, what it takes to get into that profession, what it takes to succeed and how the profession might change few decades from now - http://timelesslifeskills.co.uk/interview/ 

This youngster could also collaborate with his friends, conceive an idea and crowd fund it. The idea could be development of an app, or a tech project for a non-profit, given that IT is an area of his interest. Or, he could do crowd-based fund raising for a charity. I know someone who, for her Diploma in Rural Management, is planning a crowd funding project to get Android Tablets for a rural school in India. While such a project might not get insights into a profession and it might even fail to raise the target amount, it will definitely give useful experience of conceiving, planning and executing an idea – great competencies to have in the 21st century.

In today’s world reputation matters. The open-source hardware movement has led to large communities forming around electronics and micro-computers. Arduino and Raspberry Pi communities are two examples. This youngster could actively participate in such communities, imagine and share innovative, problem-solving projects and guide others. This way he will gain experience, have a portfolio of projects and build an online reputation - stuff that is pretty useful for college admission. And, imagine all the fun he will have!

Or, this young person could take inspiration from Amol Bhave. 17 year old Amol, from the small town of Jabalpur in India, did MIT edX’s MOOC on Circuits & Electronics and scored 97% The follow-up course on Signals & Systems was not available as a MOOC so Amol, along with two friends, created their own online course combining videos lectures, discussion boards and elements from MIT courseware. 1100 students from around the globe enrolled, enough to impress MIT to offer him a place for the class of 2017.

Reality-testing different professions and your perception about these professions is definitely a great way to improve your decision-making about your career. And, the second decade of the 21st century offers many ways to ooch.

When Watson is Not Sherlock’s Mate - How Future Ready Are You?

 If you are of a certain age you may have learnt your English alphabet reciting – A for Apple, B for Boy, C for Cat… If you were to say this out loud to young kids today they will think you mean – Apple, the company and Game Boy, the gaming console. They might still be in sync with you about cats but only because that is a popular theme on YouTube.

Now let’s check how Future Ready you are today. For example, if to you Amazon only connotes the river in South America then on Internet Timescale you are pre-historic and the future does not augur well!

As you read the following 15 statements pause and check if you said to yourself, “Yes, that’s correct. What’s all the fuss about?” or did you exclaim, “Ah, I know the new meaning!”

1. Deep Blue is a colour.
2. Watson is Sherlock Holme’s mate.
3. Square is a figure with four equal sides and four right-angles.
4. Box is a physical container.
5. Quill is a bird’s feather, used for writing.
6. Raspberry Pi is what you eat.
7. Arm is the upper limb in your body.
8. Deep Learning is what you do when you study hard.
9. Risc is risk misspelled.
10. Oop(s) is an informal way of saying sorry.
11. Java is an Indonesian island famous for coffee.
12. Thimble is a protective cap you put on your finger while sewing.
13. Uber means a supreme example.
14. Oculus means an eye-like design.
15. Tencent is a US coin.

Now total up for how many of the above you knew the ‘new meaning’ and see your future:

• Got only upto 3 ‘new meaning’: Futurus Bleakus
• Got upto 8 ‘new meaning’: Futurus Securus
• Got upto 12 ‘new meaning’: Futurus Brightus
• Got more than 13 ‘new meaning’: Thrivus Maximus

Other way around, if for most of these words you only know the ‘new meaning’ – i.e. Square to you means a mobile payment company and you know FourSquare is not a more powerful mobile payment solution but a real-time location sharing service, BUT you haven’t a clue what I mean by ‘square is a figure with four equal sides and four right-angles’ then congratulations, you are an ultra cool digital native with no historical baggage!

In the 21st century only the curious shall thrive! So go ahead and Google to find out the ‘new meaning’ for statements where you went, “What’s the fuss about?” Chances are bright that Google will throw up the ‘new meaning’ in the first few search results, validating that if you don't know this ‘new knowledge’ you are not quite future ready!