In DigitalIndia; Student will get All CBSE Books online without any charge

There is a big news for the more than 14 lacs students of class 10th and 12th lakh, as they are going to get their books without any charge. Some of the books are already available and now with the #DigitalIndia mission all books will now be available in coming days.

As per theAccording to Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani, NCERT has already made some of its books available online through its mobile app and e-books, and will look to add CBSE books, videos and other learning material. and All CBSE textbooks and other learning material will be made available online by the NCERT.

“We made NCERT books available online for free through e-books and mobile applications a month-and-a-half ago. We are similarly going to make CBSE books available online along with additional learning material and videos as part of our good governance efforts,” Irani said at the inauguration of a new building of the school in Khichripur.

This is a really big decision as digitalizations in the education field is really important as this may impact large number of people In rural India.

Government is also taking more people online with the partnership of state owned BSNL with Facebook to offer free WiFi

How you can get these Books ?

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) currently offers copyrighted textbooks online for classes I to XII in Hindi, English and Urdu.

• The online textbooks can be accessed from here
• After that you need to select Class and Subject
• The Title list is populated after selection of class and subject
• When Title is selected the respective books is made available.

Digital India For Education

There are many updates in the field of education. These includes

• HRD ministry has set up National Institutional Ranking Framework all educational institutes and universities will get rankings by April 2016
• Government launches GIAN a government project to boost the higher education in India
• In the month of November, Smriti Irani had announced  ‘e-Pathshala’ program. Besides desktop, these books would be now available on mobile based apps as well.
• Khan Academy has also launched their India-centric website in Hindi, and made the content available in Hindi.

Source | http://www.bumblebeehub.com/2015/12/in-digitalindia-student-will-get-all-cbse-books-online-without-any-charge/

Is Your Company Encouraging Employees to Share What They Know?

Many of the things we need to know to be successful – to innovate, collaborate, solve problems, and identify new opportunities – aren’t learned simply through schooling, training, or personal experience. Especially for today’s knowledge-based work, much of what we need to know we learn from others’ experiences, through what’s called vicarious learning.

Organizations know this learning is important, which is why they invest significant resources in handbooks, protocols, formal mentoring programs, and knowledge management systems to share employees’ experiences. Yet analyst estimates suggest that the companies in the Fortune 500 still lose a combined$31.5 billion per year from employees failing to share knowledge effectively. By trying to recreate the wheel, repeating others’ mistakes, or wasting time searching for specialized information or expertise, employees incurproductivity costs and opportunity costs for the organization. Because while formal systems might help communicate established best practices (the what), they often don’t explain how an individual should apply them to their own work. As a manager for Bain & Co. summarized in Nancy Dixon’s book Common Knowledge, this approach to knowledge management offers only “a picture of a cake without giving out the recipe.”

As a result, employees rely on informal learning practices, such as shadowing or observing senior colleagues to “watch and learn” what they need to know. For instance, in a study of mobile phone manufacturing lines in China, Harvard Business School’s Ethan Bernstein discovered that line workers often showed“tips and tricks” that others could copy in order to assemble phones more effectively than could be done using the official methods. (They were especially more likely to share these informal lessons when they weren’t worried about over-scrutiny from managers.)

While this informal (and intuitive) approach can be effective, it is no longer reasonable to expect employees to simply “watch and learn” in many workplaces. Organizations across a variety of industries are moving away from work that is easily observed and replicated to work that is more nuanced, specialized, and adaptive. More and more of today’s work is knowledge-based and done by people who are geographically dispersed. And success in this work requires being able to adapt knowledge to complex, changing environments. Yet our approach to vicarious learning has not kept pace; our ways of learning from others often assume that work is still watchable and that unobtrusively imitating others is enough.

Coactive vicarious learning

My research has explored an alternative to this “watch and learn” approach. Rather than one person shouldering the burden of absorbing knowledge by passively observing others, I posit that people can more effectively learn through collaborative, two-way interactions with others at work. Throughcoactive vicarious learning, the person learning and the person sharing knowledge work together to construct an understanding of an experience, which better equips the learner to apply it in their own work.

Instead of simply relying on visible results, interactive conversation and questioning allows the learner to understand the underlying reasons behind someone else’s actions, making it easier to adapt what’s learned to a new situation or task. For example, one study found that pharmaceutical development teams were better able to translate and learn from another team’s past experience when they invited members of the other team — the “sharers” of knowledge — to actively participate in their discussion and problem-solving (vs. a “learner” team simply identifying the “sharer” team’s knowledge and then trying to replicate it on their own).

Coactive vicarious learning breaks down the one-way nature of observational learning, so both parties — not just the observer — can benefit. The learner’s questions and reactions can lead the sharer to rethink an assumption or understand an experience in a new way. It can even prompt a role reversal, where the learner contributes unique experience or knowledge that might help the sharer learn. In studies of MBA consulting project teams, I’ve found that when individuals engage in this more reciprocal vicarious learning, sharing past experiences and expertise with each other in turn (vs. only an expert sharing with a novice), they consistently receive higher client ratings on their performance.

Putting it into practice

While many teams probably engage in some degree of interactive learning already, there are several key steps leaders can take to help institutionalize coactive vicarious learning at work, so that people don’t fall back solely on formal learning methods.

Leaders tend to place a disproportionate emphasis on tools like training materials or knowledge portals partly because they are easier to manage and control. It is less clear how to manage amorphous, interactive learning processes; you can’t simply force coworkers to interact and share experiences. However, more often than not, leaders simply need to remove obstacles that discourage people from seeking or sharing knowledge and learning vicariously. They can create a structure that allows these interactions to take place organically by focusing on three steps:

Create a designated space for vicarious learning. Our environments directly affect how we interact. So it’s important to consider how physical space (or virtual space for geographically dispersed teams) can facilitate vicarious learning. For instance, it might be more difficult to have a reciprocal, two-way sharing of experience in stuffy offices where one person is seated behind a big desk in the “more powerful” chair. Creating a common space that individuals recognize as the gathering place for sharing ideas and experiences lays the foundation for these interactions to unfold.

For example, members of air medical transport teams have to learn from each other’s experiences to know how to transport a wide range of critically ill patients. In researching how they learn, I found that a disproportionate number of informal learning interactions took place in one physical space: near the helipad door. Despite having plenty of office space, this 10×15 ft. area became the unofficial, mutually-agreed-upon space for members to share and ask about prior experiences. (This space was a frequent stop during every shift, since it was near the supply room for restocking the aircraft.) Since everyone recognized this space was “in bounds” for these conversations, team members showed they were willing to either share or learn something simply by choosing to stand there.

Similarly, in pursuit of this type of designated space, when Google was designing its new corporate campus, it set out to encourage these learning conversations by planning for lots of small kitchen spaces, because they had discovered that people liked to mingle in these areas and share ideas.

License and endorse vicarious learning. Leaders should be encouraging employees to seek and share experiences often. This gives individuals license to seek out what they need to learn, without fear that they’re being intrusive or bothersome — or that it will make them look bad. People often hesitate to ask others for help or advice because it requires admitting they don’t know something important. So instead they work in isolation, redoing something that their colleagues may have already done or making similar mistakes.

Leaders can license vicarious learning by acknowledging and rewarding instances when people engage in interactive learning and recycle (rather than reinvent) a “wheel.” For instance, managers at Siemens implemented a systemof “points” for sharing knowledge and learning vicariously, similar to an airline mileage reward program. Managers can also encourage an open-door environment that welcomes employees to seek or share information — and helps dispel the notion that such behavior is bothersome.

Plant starter seeds of vicarious learning. Beyond creating the space and license for vicarious learning, leaders can encourage greater learning by jump-starting the process. This means leading by example: proactively sharing experiences with team members and setting aside time at the beginning of meetings for people to discuss challenges and problem solve together. Even one-off efforts, such as a team breakfast or “happy hour,” can plant the seed for vicarious learning that can then grow into a more consistent practice.

Vicarious learning interactions are not a panacea for an organization’s learning challenges. But it is an effective piece of the workplace learning portfolio, alongside formal efforts like training programs, feedback sessions, and knowledge management systems, and informal practices like mentoring and “trial-and-error” exercises. All of these approaches reinforce each other and promote greater learning. In fact, sequencing vicarious learning and experiential learning strategies together has been shown to improve performance compared to experiential learning alone, across a range of different tasks.

Whatever the sequence or strategy, this type of learning is critical for many organizations, and leaders play an important role in making it more systematic, frequent, and easier to deploy. Companies are sitting on far more knowledge and expertise than they realize. Creating the conditions that enable coactive vicarious learning is a central way to bring out the best a team or organization has to offer. As Lew Platt, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP) famously lamented, “if only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times more productive.”

Source | https://hbr.org/2015/

The six systems of organizational effectiveness

The Leadership System is the central organizing system that must deliver on all functions owned by the Top Team or C-Suite

When the Leadership System functions effectively, performance improves. The Leadership System is the central organizing system that must deliver on all functions owned by the Top Team or C-Suite.

These functions include and require that leadership become cohesive, define the future (vision), set direction, create and execute strategy, ensure alignment, communicate clarity, engage stakeholders, develop talent, manage performance, build accountability, ensure succession, allocate resources, craft the culture, and deliver results.

The Leadership System is the organization’s DNA, its genetic code or distinctive brand. It sets the context that produces all outcomes, gives everything its meaning, and indicates what we are predisposed to doing and being. The effectiveness of the Leadership System determines the performance of the business.

Does your Leadership System predispose you to quality, agility, speed, stakeholder engagement, profitable growth, fulfilment, competitive advantage and strong financial performance? How can we improve business performance by establishing a healthy Leadership System?

We use our proven Whole Systems Approach to advance the Six Systems of organizational effectiveness. This approach to developing the organization, with leadership at the core, balances the development of competence and capability with consciousness and character, and transforms any enterprise into a profitable and purposeful organization. Every essential system is integrated and aligned, and every stakeholder is involved.

The Six Systems are broader in scope than functional departments and must be understood independently and interdependently as part of an integrated whole. These Six Systems set up the conditions and components necessary to create a healthy, high-performing organization.

1. Leadership: To achieve high performance or sustain results, leaders must define and refine key processes and execute them with daily discipline. They must translate vision and values into strategy and objectives, processes and practices, actions and accountabilities, execution and performance. Leaders address three questions:

1) Vision/Value. What unique value do we bring to our customers to gain competitive advantage? What do we do, for whom? Why?
2) Strategy/Approach. In what distinctive manner do we fulfil the unique needs of our customers and stakeholders? What strategy supports the vision for achieving competitive advantage?
3) Structure/Alignment. What is the designed alignment of structure and strategy, technology and people, practices and processes, leadership and culture, measurement and control? Are these elements designed and aligned to create optimal conditions for achieving the vision?

2. Communication: Everything happens in or because of a conversation, and every exchange is a potential moment of truth—a point of failure or critical link in the success chain. Strategic communication ensures that the impact of your message is consistent with your intentions, and results in understanding. What you say, the way you say it, where, when and under what circumstances it is said shape the performance culture.

When leaders maximize their contribution to daily conversations, they engage and align people around a common cause, reduce uncertainty, keep people focused, equip people for moments of truth that create an on-the-table culture, prevent excuses, learn from experience, treat mistakes as intellectual capital, and leverage the power of leadership decisions to shape beliefs and behaviours.

3. Accountability: Leaders translate vision and strategic direction into goals and objectives, actions and accountabilities. Performance accountability systems clarify what is expected of people and align consequences or rewards with actual performance. Leaders need to build discipline into their leadership process and management cycle to achieve accountability, predictability, learning, renewal and sustainability.

4. Delivery: The best organizations develop simple processes that are internally efficient, locally responsive and globally adaptable. Complexity is removed from the customer experience to enable them to engage you in ways that are both elegant and satisfying. Establishing and optimizing operational performance is an ongoing journey.

Operations need to be focused on the priority work, using the most effective techniques—aligning initiatives and operations with strategy; continuously improving operations; pursuing performance breakthroughs in key areas; using advanced change techniques in support of major initiatives; establishing a pattern of executive sponsorship for all initiatives; and building future capability and capacity.

5. Performance: The Human Performance System is designed to attract, develop and retain the most talented people. The idea is to hire the best people and help them develop their skills, talents and knowledge over time. Of course, it becomes more critical as they add abilities and know-how, that we reward them properly so they feel good about their work and choose to remain with the organization as loyal employees.

6. Measurement: A system of metrics, reviews and course corrections keeps the business on track. Organizations need concrete measures that facilitate quality control, consistent behaviours, and predictable productivity and results. Within these parameters, control is instrumental to viability and profitability. Every activity has a set of daily rituals and measures.

Leaders establish and maintain the measurement system to ensure disciplined processes. They track progress against strategy and planning; review status on operational results through clear key metrics; update the strategy regularly; and ensure action is driven by insight based on relevant, current information that is focused on achieving the vision.

This Six Systems frame helps people see how everything is integrated. Again, until the Leadership System operates effectively, all other systems are degraded. We work with leaders to ensure their Leadership System is highly effective, and we have dozens of cases that demonstrate the power of using a Whole Systems Approach.

Throughout our careers, we have partnered with CEOs and their teams across dozens of organizations and can say with confidence that successful transformation efforts were those in which the Extended Leadership Team did its work of mastering leadership and improving their individual and collective effectiveness while tending to the health of the Leadership System. These transformation efforts were not only successful, but more importantly, the success was sustained over time.

Sadly, we also witnessed transformation efforts that were less than successful and in some cases failed. These failures could be linked directly to a failure of leadership to consciously transform individually and collectively. Without a mature, highly evolved and fully functioning Leadership System, transformation efforts will not succeed.

Source | Excerpted from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015).

IndianExpress.com launches Facebook’s Instant Articles for Android

Facebook has started rolling out Instant Articles to Android users in India along with IndianExpress.com and four others publishers. 

Facebook has started rolling out Instant Articles to Android users in India along with IndianExpress.com and four others publishers.

The 3.3 million followers of The Indian Express Facebook page will now see multimedia-rich posts which has been optimised for mobile users and open in an instant even on 2G networks. Instant Articles from indianexpress.com is live for iOS users as well.

India is the third region after US and Western Europe to get Instant Articles and the first where Android users will be able to access this content. So far, Instant Articles was limited to iOS users. Facebook executives said this showed their commitment to the region and also to the fact that given the inconsistent internet infrastructure and connectivity issues in India, Instant Articles is a natural fit here. While Instant Articles is initially available to about five per cent of the users a full rollout is expected by end of the year.

“We’re excited to be working with The Indian Express to bring their great and proven journalism to people in India with Instant Articles. Instant Articles is a great fit for Indian Express’ growing digital brand and its blend of great storytelling and young/intelligent audience. We look forward to working with them to scale the product on Android,” said Andy Mitchell, director, News and Global Media Partnerships.

“Whether it be Dadri or crucial facts in the Faridabad killing, almost every alternate day, the topic of debate on Indian news TV and on dining tables across the country comes from an Indian Express news break or an essay by one of our columnists including Pratap Bhanu Mehta, P Chidambaram, Tavleen Singh, Tunku Vardarajan, Lord Meghnad Desai, Surjit Bhalla or from an Express Blog penned by the likes of Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi, Dinesh Trivedi or Raveena Tandon. Facebook’s Instant Articles has developed and refined as an excellent product and tool to have our award-winning reportage, columnists and bloggers reach even more readers, all in multimedia. We’re happy to be of the first line of partnerships Facebook has struck in India for the instant articles rollout and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Facebook,” said Anant Goenka, wholetime director & head (New Media) at The Indian Express Group.

Instant Articles leverage the technology used to display photos and videos quickly in the Facebook app, to load articles instantly, as much as 10 times faster than the standard mobile web. It is a powerful new creative tool that bring stories to life by letting users zoom into high-resolution photos and tilt to explore them in detail. Autoplay videos come alive as you scroll through the article and interactive maps show where the news happened.

The Express Group is one of India’s largest media conglomerates with a wide selection of publications and a network of offices spread across India.

Today, with 32 national editions, 13 publication centres and four language dailies that reach over 19 million people daily, the Express Group has stood for excellence in journalism for over 80 years. It has an illustrious line-up of publications like The Indian Express, The Financial Express, Loksatta, Lokprabha, Jansatta as well as various B2B magazines and events.

THE SCIENCE OF RECOGNITION : How to recognise and reward employees and why it goes beyond monetary incentives

Qualitative and quantitative studies conducted by the OC Tanner Institute in India revealed that the more frequently an employee is recognised, the higher their personal “customer satisfaction“ scores become. The clear connect is that frequent and effective recognition is highly correlated to increased tenure, innovation, productivity, trust and engagement.

We also discovered that employees, when recognised, have more drive and determination and are far more likely to be more connected to their organisation, have better work relationships, and a stronger sense of personal standing within the company.

Our research has also found that employee who receive strong recognition are up 33 per cent more likely to proactively innovate, and in turn generating 2x as many ideas per month compared to those who aren't recognised well. With regards to tenure, organisations that offer career achievement programmes retain their employees an average of two years longer than organisations that don't.

Currently, only 58 per cent of employees in India rate employee recognition positively. What could help increase that percentage? Public presentations and communication of recognition are critical elements, as this helps make the employee more visible to their leaders and peers.

Here are five top strategies for maximising your recognition investment:

1 OFFER A VARIETY OF RECOGNITION PROGRAMMES.

Create opportunities for employees to be recognised for all facets of their work. Recognise career and other meaningful milestones, above and beyond performance, daily effort, sales achievement, customer service and so on. This will help employees feel like they can develop and grow their career.

2 RECOGNISE PUBLICLY.

Involve senior leaders, peers and coworkers, and make the presentation a big deal. At the presentation, present a certificate that calls out the reason for their recognition. Many employees consider this a “badge of honour“ that they'll take home to share with family and friends, as well as include in their personal file for use when discussing future promotions.

3 INCORPORATE SYM BOLIC AWARDS WITH THE COMPANY LOGO.

Nearly 75 percent of employees in India feel that an award at work needs to include their organisations logo in order to further communicate its meaning. In fact, employees suggested that even gift cards that include the company logo are instantly more meaning

4 GIVE TANGIBLE AWARDS.

Whether it's a paper certificate, a trophyplaque, or another award, specific details about the achievement make for a more meaningful experience for employees, and provide the opportunity easily share it with others.

5 PERSONALISE AND CUSTOMISE AWARDS TO REFLECT THE EMPLOYEES' ACCOMPLISHMENT(S).

When employees think of their best recognition experiences, a majority received a tangible award. Again, this helps extend the overall appreciation experience.When employees use that luggage or look at that watch, they'll have a tangible reminder of your organisation's appreciation of his or her great work.

Source | Economic Times | 17 November 2015

'Libraries have to ask what people want to read'

A freewheeling conversation with the director of Bibliotheque Nationale de France

The changing educational, social and recreational role of the library is a hotly debated subject among planners and readers alike. On a visit to Delhi, Bruno Racine, director of Bibliotheque Nationale de France (National Library of France), explains to The Hindu how public libraries need to become more interactive spaces. France and India have signed an MoU for digitisation of old manuscripts in the National Library of France. India is working on a National Virtual Library with French support, and France will be seeking India’s assistance to decipher its collection in Sanskrit and Tamil. There is a possibility that all these will be made a part of the joint digital collection.

Excerpts from the interview with Mr. Racine:

Excluding research scholars, far fewer people are visiting libraries today. What is the French experience?

I have to say, the trend is downwards. But we have to make a distinction between those who read online and the ones who come to the reading room. The libraries have not emptied out. Students do come here; I suppose they like to work from here. They may not borrow books, but libraries offer a quiet place and a friendly environment for the young. To address the young, public libraries have to offer services that correspond to their aspirations and give them rooms where they don’t have to whisper and can work together. We have five million items online, excluding copyright material, and our experience shows that people tend to use online resources and confine their visits to the library for a specific enquiry. So, the answer to your question is, the number of books being consulted and the number of physical readers has decreased slightly because more and more people have moved online. 

What is the role of a public library as a public space today?

In France, public libraries are city libraries. There are two state-funded public libraries, one at the Centre Georges Pompidou, and the other which I head. I don’t have recent figures, but I think globally the trend is of fewer people coming to libraries. A lot depends on local factors prevailing in a city. If a city opens a new modern library with reading services, it can become popular. If you go to an opera, it is not cheap. Museums are not free. In France, the policy has been to orient the library to the public. The traditional librarian thinks that if the books are good for the public, they will come. This is not the way it happens now. Libraries have become more interactive now. Libraries have to understand what the public wants. Librarians have to ask people what they want to read. 

How does the public funding of libraries work in France?

The library is completely funded by the government. We had to raise money on our own for heritage acquisition, where the access to the public is not free. Ninety five per cent of the budget of the National Library is funded by the Ministry of Culture. This has always been the case, which is quite different from museums in France, which have millions of visitors and can rest a little less on government money. We have about one million visitors each year to the library. The digital library gets 15 million visitors and is growing very fast. The library in France is a very old institution whose origins can be traced back to the 14th century, the time around which kings built their library of books, which became a permanent institution at the beginning of the 18th century. The practice of acquiring books was established in the 16th century, structured in a very systematic way at the beginning of the 19th century. Whenever a book is printed, it could be audiovisual records too, it has to be deposited at the library as well. Until a few years ago, the publisher had to deposit four books with the library. Now we have simplified the process, as we don’t have the space. We ask for only one copy by the publisher. There is a law since 2006 that gives us the mission of archiving books. The paradox is, when they are online they are free; once they are in our collection, you require authorisation to access them. 

What kinds of readers visit your library?

We have two kinds of readers. We have a public library which youngsters, young students and college students visit, for which the fee is very nominal. I have proposed to the government to make it free. On the other hand, for the digital library, we get an annual grant for digitisation of printed material and journals, which allows us to digitise 10 million pages every year. We get six million euros a year which is quite significant. 

What brings you to India? What are your plans?

Digitisation knows no boundaries. We are interested in countries that are looking at digitisation, and we are trying to understand their priorities. We have an Indian collection which we can share. If we want to have a single digital portal, for instance, for France and India, which is what I would like to discuss, our formats have to be compatible. Exchange of information is always useful, in particular in the area of long-term preservation, which is a big issue for digitised heritage. Another area I am looking forward to is cultural cooperation, because in France, we are interested in Indian collections because of our shared history. Since we know that India is working on a national digital library, we have some material which could be of some interest, which would require expertise from India for cataloguing it. We have 2,500 miniature paintings, and paintings which are not the most beautiful in the world but interesting, and over 1,800 manuscripts in Sanskrit and Prakrit in our collection and over 1,000 manuscripts, in diverse Indian languages, which we refer to as the Indian collection. 

How should the state go about funding public libraries? What should be the terms of engagement?

There are over 2,500 public libraries in France. The majority of them are run by professional librarians. Every few years, a contract is drawn between the government and the libraries, which defines goals and measures performance. Libraries are cultural institutions and they have to conduct their policy within a clearly established framework drawn between the government and the libraries. 

Source | The Hindu | 8 November 2015

Work smart. Not hard

Hard work by itself has a halo around it. Often the pursuit of making a living supersedes the quest for expertise and excellence

Sometime ago, a friend relocated from the US to Mumbai. He had a couple of gas guzzlers in the US and driving around was second nature to him. That he could drive in India as well was a rather tall assumption he made. Indian roads and cars were quite unlike the ones he had come prepared for. Driving was an important part of his stay here. He had no choice but to learn. Every evening he used to drive around in my car. With me sitting by his side, calming his frayed nerves. 

Every move, every gear shift, would be done with complete focus. We did that for a couple of weeks. Soon he was good to drive all by himself. Driving in India is now second nature to him.

Noël Burch of Gordon Training International developed a four-stage model that explains this behaviour, or what goes into building competence in any skill. 

a. Unconscious incompetence (My friend not knowing that he didn’t know the nuances of driving in India)

b. Conscious incompetence (My friend becoming conscious of the fact that he has to work on it)

c. Conscious competence (Him consciously working on it)

d. Unconscious competence (Now that he knows, it is second nature).

Everybody would like unconscious competence. Who doesn’t want to “unconsciously stay on top of the game”?

But what we ought to think about is: when you engage in a task in an automated manner, does it really build expertise? Short answer: no. Areas we want to build expertise in requires a different approach.

In 1993, Anders Ericsson and a team of psychologists published a wonderful research paper, ‘The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance’. Here, he introduced the idea of “deliberate practice”.

Practice, he argued, has to be “deliberate” and cannot be “automised”. The hours that go into practice is the base. The “unconscious competence” zone that Burch described is where automated repetition becomes reality. And that is what we ought to avoid. Question is how.

A couple of years ago, an entrepreneur friend of mine sought help. He needed some ideas to stoke his fresh entrepreneurial journey. Offering to host a round of conversations, he got a set of disparate friends to gather every Saturday evening at his office and talk. For about 45 minutes, he would describe a particular industry that he had deconstructed from a few balance sheets, anecdotal evidence, first person accounts and the like. We’d listen, share our opinions and he’d absorb all of it in. Every week, it was a different company or industry.

As much as the conversations were rich, I was intrigued by what was happening. It turned out that he was told off by a venture capitalist for a lack of “business perspective” despite having sound technical skills.

His conversations with a few others led him to believe that deconstructing industries and organizations was one way of learning and integrating different angles.

Four industries in four weeks. That was his target. He would read up on the industry, make notes and then deconstruct balance sheets of at least two organizations in the business.

Over two quarters, his understanding of what constituted the pulse of his own business changed dramatically. All of this, of course, was in addition to nurturing his fledgling enterprise.

This is deliberate practice. He was driven to put in the extra hours. He put aside his ego—that which comes from being a successful technology professional. He dived deep to acknowledge areas beyond him. Most importantly, he stayed alive to all feedback.

Hard work by itself has a halo around it. Often the pursuit of making a living supersedes the quest for expertise and excellence. Pausing to think about what we do, pondering on how we could possibly get better, and actively be present to feedback can make the world around us a better place.

It reminds me of the time many years ago when my dad would conjure up tricks to entice me to do household work. Cleaning windows was one such.

One bright summer day, when the windows were to be cleaned, I woke up early, and armed myself with “equipment”—buckets, brushes, cloth, detergent liquid and such. At the appointed hour, dad parted the curtains and we were witnesses to dead houseflies next to the glass panes. He looked at me and asked how they got there. “It surely wasn’t me,” I remember telling him.

The flies, he said, were attracted to light. So much so that they were willing to give it all they had to get to it. So what if the glass pane came in their way the first time? They just went back, did an elaborate sortie of sorts and tried again. And again. Until their heads couldn’t take the repeated crashes. “Then they die.”

His point was simple. The flies weren’t lazy. They worked hard and long on making those sorties. But doing the same thing many times over is not the way to get to the light. “If only they could ‘think’,” he said.

For many years, as I chose to approach challenges and dilemmas with the “halo of hard practice”, he would quip “Why don’t you think about the problem?” A pause later, he’d add, “You remember the dead flies on the window sill don’t you?”

Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 1 September 2

Social Media Yet to Replace Emails Among Teenagers, Says Survey

Despite the emergence of new social media tools and various online ways to connect with people, members of the young generation are still hooked to emails and keep checking it round-the-clock no matter where they are or what they are doing, a new survey has revealed.

According to the campaign team at global software company Adobe, millennials (those born after 1980) are more frequent users of email than any other age group.

"Millennials are more likely to check work email outside of normal work hours. One-third are comfortable using emojis to communicate with a direct manager or senior executive," wrote Kristin Naragon, director of email solutions at Adobe in a blog post on Wednesday.

The Adobe team surveyed more than 400 US-based workers, 18 and older, about their use of email.

The findings challenge conventional views of email as a tired, over-saturated medium for engaging consumers.

The team found that people are practically addicted to email. "In fact, more than half of millennials check email from the bathroom," the survey revealed.

On average, survey respondents report using email six hours a day, or over 30 hours a week.

Nine of 10 respondents say they check personal email at work and work email from home.

More than one-third report having multiple personal accounts.

"Thirty-five percent say they prefer communicating with colleagues via email, putting it on par with face-to-face collaboration," Naragon noted.

Outside of work, Americans most commonly check their email while watching TV (70 percent), from bed (52 percent), on vacation (50 percent), while on the phone (43 percent), from the bathroom (42 percent) and even - most dangerously - while driving (18 percent).

Although people are using email more than ever, many also experience email fatigue.

Twenty-four percent of respondents believe they check email "way too much".

Thirty-four percent report having had to create a new email address due to an overwhelming amount of spam.

 

"Most tellingly, four out of 10 report going on self-imposed 'email detox' programmes, avoiding their inboxes for an average of five days," the findings showed.

The results suggest that marketers should re-invest in email as part of a coordinated cross-channel strategy.

"With the right planning, the right tools and the right understanding of their customers, marketers can overcome the love-hate relationship and make email the most powerful part of their campaign," the blog suggested.

 

Source | http://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/social-media-yet-to-replace-e-mails-among-teenagers-survey-1211592

 

Crack your interview (without cracking under)

Meeting prospective employers can be a nerve-wracking experience. From asking the right questions to picking a right belt, this guide can help you make the best impression.

Whether you're giving your first interview or the umpteenth one, there's always a bit of "How do I crack this one?" going on in your head. An interview is a daunting task — it's a power game that is always tilted towards the interviewers. But you can tip the balance a wee bit and create a favourable impression on the panel. Being in a city that has as many challenges as opportunities, here's some special advice for today's Mumbaikars.

Choose your kind of job

Mumbai has an amazing array of options when it comes to job roles. So even before you walk in for an interview, think about what work you want to do. Just because you are an IT grad doesn't mean that you have to be a programmer. You could work in an e-learning agency creating technical training modules. You could be a content writer, writing niche content for tech companies. Or, you could completely change your field and get into event management if that's what you really enjoy doing.

Partner at Ernst & Young, Devendra Parulekar strongly suggests that you reflect and find your strengths. "Trained interviewers practise the art of funnelling, where they start asking a broad range of questions and then explore the three-four areas you consider your strengths. So know what you're good at. If you're a fish, don't attempt to climb a tree."

Do your homework

 

Almost all companies in Mumbai have a website. Read up about the company you'd like to work in. If you want to join the finance team, find a senior in their finance department on LinkedIn. Writing to somebody in particular (john.doe@company.com) rather than to a generic email address (careers@company.com) increases your chances of getting a reply. Doing your homework on a company and its job profiles will not only help you bag an interview but will also impress your interviewers.

Plan for the silliest things

 

Which Mumbaikar hasn't faced the wrath of Mumbai traffic? Use Google Maps to plan your travel a day in advance. Consider factors like time of day, rain, festivals, transport strikes, waiting for the elevator and the possibility of a security check at the venue. If you're taking a train, allot time to freshen up at your destination. As a rule, you should be at the waiting lounge of your interview venue at least 10 minutes before time.

 

"Plan to deal with rain, wind or hot weather, because there's a chance that the interview will happen outdoors. Being prepared will help you focus on the interview," says Tristan Fernandes, a content writer who once had a job interview at an outdoor cafe.

Dress appropriately

Are you wearing shorts and chappals because it's a startup? Don't be so sure. If you get the chance, ask the person coordinating your interview what the dress code is. If you're not sure, be on the safer side by wearing formal or semiformal attire, based on your judgement.

Khushbu Merchant, a KPMG senior and corporate blogger, says, "If you're getting interviewed by an MNC, wear a suit to your interview. If you're a woman, blend it with a female touch. That makes an impression that you can stay in touch with your feminine side and still kick some a** at work."

Use an air-conditioned cab service to get to your interview to look your freshest. Avoid travelling by train during rush hour, if possible.

Answer questions carefully

When Akhil Parekh decided to settle in India after working in North America for nine years after his Masters, he realised that the interview styles in the two regions were very different. "Apart from technical skills, people here also focus on personal aspects. 'Are you married?', 'What do your parents do?', 'How much student loan do you still have to pay off?' This is the kind of stuff nobody asks you in North America. But in India, they probably do so to gauge how stable your background is."

In Mumbai, where job hopping is easy, companies want to make sure that you'll stay put for a while. Having greater personal and financial stability decreases your chances of looking for a job elsewhere anytime soon, giving your interviewers confidence in you.

Ask the right question

At the end of an interview, your interviewers may tell you to ask any questions you have. Don't say "Nothing" because that speaks very little of your thought process. If you draw a blank, at least ask where the job location is — many companies have a central hiring team that hires across the city (or country). So while your interview may be in Malad, the actual job may be based in Vikhroli.

Leave with clear next steps

Before you get up from that chair, ask your interviewers what the next steps are. Will you get a call back? How many days will they take to make a decision? Don't be too pushy and blackmailing the panel by telling them you have another offer on the table is not okay.

So, there you have it. Jobs are calling. Where's your CV?

 

Source | Mumbai Mirror | 27 August 2015

8 things you can do in Windows 10 that you couldn't do in Windows 8

Some of the features and functions Microsoft has added to its new all-encompassing operating system

Did you hear there's a new version of the Windows in town? If your Windows 8-toting friends ask you exactly what you can do with the new Windows 10 that they can't do on their own machines, here's what to tell them.

Analyse the storage space on your PC

In the pre-Windows 10 days, you needed a third-party application if you wanted to take a proper look at the layout of files and drives on your system. With Windows 10, there's a tool built-in: Type `storage' in the task bar search box.

Next, choose the storage setting and you can see exact ly wh at types of files (like mu sic, apps or video) are taking up your hard drive space.

Use a fingerprint instead of a password

T his is pa r t of t he Windows Hello biometric platform and whether or not you can make use of it depends on the make and model of computer you're using Windows 10 on. Apart from fin gerprint sensing, it supports face recognition and even iris scanning. So if computer manufacturers are prepared to build this kind of kit into their systems then Microsoft's new OS will be able to support it.

Switch to a dedicated tablet mode

Windows 8 tried to squash a tablet mode and a desktop mode into one ungainly whole, but everything is far more civilised in the new Windows 10 interface. Open up the Action Center to switch manually to tablet mode or get out of it again. In fact you may prefer using the stripped-down tablet mode even when you have a mouse and a keyboard attached.

Stream Xbox One games

Streaming games from one place to another isn't a completely original idea, but the link Microsoft has built between the Xbox One and Windows 10 machines could be the best use of the technology yet. If the kids want to use the big screen in the living room you can stream your Xbox One gaming up to your laptop or desktop upstairs (if your home network can cope).

Share WiFi passwords with your friends

The new WiFi Sense feature (in network settings) has attracted its fair share of controversy but it's an easy way of letting people use your home WiFi while they're visiting (and for you to use theirs in return). Your contacts never actually see the password but if they're linked to you and also on a Windows 10 bit of kit they can just start browsing as soon as they get through the door.

Run modern apps on the desktop

We've already mentioned some of the ways in which Microsoft is refining the tablet vs desktop experience in Windows 10. Another improvement in this new OS is the ability to run mod ern (aka Metro) apps in windowed mode as well as full-screen mode.

The apps themselves have been improved too, so they're worth a second look if you didn't like the Windows 8 versions.

Get chatty with Cortana

Cortana arrives on the desktop.

As on Windows Phone, you can ask question s about the weather or famous pop stars, get direc tions home, set reminders and more.  Besides you c a n a l so get her to turn Wi ndows s et t i n g s such as WiFi and Bluetooth on or off. Click the Cortana button on the `start' menu to get started. Set up Windows to work with iOS and Android

Microsoft has decide to embrace iOS and Android and now makes most of it s apps available for the competing mobile platforms (Cortana apps are apparently imminent) . Run t he Phone Companion app from the Start menu and you can launch a step-by-step guide to get t i n g your iPhone 6 or LG G4 working smoothly with all the data and apps you've .

Source | Economic Times | 26 August 2015