As I saw it

Originally posted on 9th July 2015: "Jai Ramji Ki." "Jai Ramji ki. Aur kaise ho?", asked the Mother Dairy milk booth concessionaire. Even as he was busy tending to customers, delivering tokens, milk packets and returning loose change, I could notice a smile come up on his face. "Badhiya hain. Zara 3 token de dijiye. Thodi jaldi main hoon." Even as I was bleary eyed around 6 in the morning today, this brief exchange between two people in my neighbourhood, surprised me, amused me and lit a spark of energy inside my weary body. One may wonder, what's so special about it? An ordinary day to day conversation between a customer and a Mother Dairy milk booth concessionaire in Delhi. So what's special? All the more so when the greeting appeared so natural and seamless for the greeter. Well, figure out for yourself. I bought my tokens and joined in the conversation. "Aur bhaijaan, sehri ho gayi?" "Haan, sehri ho gayi.", he said with a sm...

This cartoon in today’s Times of India made me sad at one level and made me laugh at another level. Just yesterday I was talking with an old associate and friend about the hypocrisy that exists in the field of HR and how rare it is to find someone who truly embodies the spirit and purpose of HR. We spoke about the lack of empathy and a transactional mindset I have seen in many so called HR professionals. They are the wrong people in the wrong place for them and yet some of them are so called thought leaders who are invited to speak in conferences and to headlight events. There are enough and more stories doing the round of their corrupt practices when it comes to assigning training engagements. I have also seen enough and more people headline L&D roles and training organisations that talk big about values but in practice I have seen a total lack of empathy in them. HR is never about weakness and an all accommodating mindset that compromises on bad behaviour. It is as much about cla...

Part 2 from a recent session on problem solving: For some reason which I simply can’t understand, corporates still don’t seem to value the potential of mind maps in business, despite the evidence to the contrary. Most haven’t heard of it or trivialise it by saying - ‘Oh isn’t it that thing with colourful lines going all over the place that some people use for creativity?’ And yet, nothing else has helped me understand or present something in such an integrated, comprehensive and systemic way with a 360 degree view of the things. Let me give you some examples from recent times. Among so many other things, I use mind maps to capture need analysis, design training sessions, participant workbooks and integrate blank pre-structured mind maps in the workbooks. My training workbooks are not portrait like but landscape like in how they open for use. In some of my sessions, I also get the participants to create their own unique, individualised workbooks by first teaching them the fundamentals o...

I came across this book in May this year when I was revising my design on Problem Solving for a new client. And then last week when I was facilitating the session at their plant, the 45 participants after understanding the essential message in the concept, collectively came up with 63 problems that could be solved by simply subtracting something from the current scenario!! There is a part two to that session which I would share soon.

Has it ever happened that you revised your take on a particular thing after a fresh, insightful, uplifting and expansive perspective emerged sometime later? It is also one of the indicators of what we call as the Growth Mindset, thanks to Carol Dweck's work titled - Mindset. If so, what were they and how many times has it happened? For me, it has happened a couple of times. Here is one such instance when I watched this TEDx talk in the morning while shaving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Z9IpTVfUg&ab_channel=TED

Kahin kisi roz bas yunhi…, chala chal raahi, tu chala chal. Mujhe bas chalna hai; waqt aur kismat ke dhaar mey bas behna hai …Musafir hoon yaaron…mujhe bas chalte jaana hai… Bas waqt ka dariya hai; chhoti si umariya hai, pal bhar ki dagaria hai…doob key, tair ke jaana hai. Ye jad aur ye taney na kabhi gehrai chhodengi na parchhai, na koi parcham gaadegi na kisi oonchai par pahunchengi…par mujhe bas behtey jaana hai, chalte jaana hai jab tak ke saans ki dor dee gayi hai. Bas uss dehleez tak jahan tak dhadkan ki anumati dee gayi hai. Phir uske baad hum sab ye rang manch chhod chalenge, ae saathi. Koi farak nahi padta inn ped darakhton ko ki kisney kitne parcham gaadey aur kisney kisko pachhad diya aur kisne kis kiley aur pahad pe fateh kari, kaun kitney pani mey thaa ya kaun dariya-dil nek-dil thaa… Mujhey bas chalte jaana hai, behtey jaana hai, ye jaantey huey ki “kal aur ayenge nagmo ki behtar kaliyan chunn ne waaley, mujhsey behtar kehne waaley, tum se behtar sunn ne waaley. Masroof z...