Abhijit Bhaduri’s Blog
I write about careers in the AI Economy and about the world of work. The sketchnotes are my own.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 9
We are in the age when being able to understand emotions is going to be the common factor that successful people have. It used to be, that being sharp in analytical thinking used to be the basis of successful careers. But now problems have become so complex that the age of the lone genius is gone. It is the age of experience makers
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 8
Do goldfish have greater memories and attention spans more than humans? Hint: Goldfish, human attention spans and Netflix are connected. I remembered a quote that a teacher of mine shared when I was entering college. I shared it on LinkedIn and it unleashed a fish market! This week you will learn about Zoom etiquette with me.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 7
Abhijits Sketchnotes No 7 talks about death and life. Brooks Brothers - the 202-year-old maker of business suits, and one of the last with U.S. factories, went bankrupt. Most organizations in S&P 500, barely get past their teens. But humans are living longer. That has many implications. The professional poker players were among the first to notice the spread of corona virus. How did they do it? Besides life lessons from Poker players, we explore how to get insights and stay curious. This newsletter has the drawing of an elephant. Can you guess the reason why? And our lead story is about thinking of your mind as an Operating System. So let’s go…
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No. 6
Welcome to Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 6. My work week ended with a bang. It is good news I have to share. So hold on. In this issue, I ask if Covid-19 could be fuelling innovation and some ideas you can try. There is a new #trend in videos that has grown 600% since the lockdown - something you must know about. There is disruption that leverages the human factor - not tech. And may I ask you a sensitive question? “How are you doing with your new year resolutions?” If you struggle to build new habits, the answer may be in building Tiny Habits. You may know about habits - but what are tiny habits? That is our lead story.
‘With Me’ videos are the hot new trend
A recent big trend on YouTube are the “With Me” videos where people film themselves going about ordinary tasks like cooking, studying, cleaning, or exercising. More and more viewers are tuning into “with me” videos for company, in-depth information, even motivation.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 5
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 5 explores why FDA is recommending a videogame as a cure. What could be driving this decision. There is a a great sketch about the fear of making mistakes. Yes, there is a term for it. You can know that here and a big question - is it a curse to be a genius? Or worse still the parent of a genius? Read this compelling story
Back to the Drawing Board
This is a situation that nobody in the world has experienced before and, therefore, this is a time to make bold bets. It’s a time to start questioning the basic assumptions and begin to design a different workplace that values everything that the previous workplace norms did not allow for. Mental health has always been something that organisations have left people to worry about on their own. Perhaps this is a time to step up to the plate, prioritise employees’ holistic well-being, and question the inclusivity of the whole process. These are things which endear people to you. You build deeper connections, and that’s one of the big ways in which you build emotional resilience.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 4
Imagine that a business you built over ten years is going to go public in 2020. Then comes a pandemic that makes people wary of health and safety. That was Airbnb. They had to lay off 25% of the people. The way it was done is a model for many others to follow. They tried their level best to help people find other career options by engaging an outsourcing firm. Finding another job seems really hard for most people. You must read the shocking statistics for layoffs in India here
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 3
The most fascinating story of the week is clearly how Steve Jobs got 219 patents AFTER he died. How did that even happen? Jobs got 620 patents in his life time. And then there is a story about how trust between colleagues takes a beating when you do not meet in person. Yes Zoom does not cut it. It is efficient but does not build trust.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes: No 2
How do you learn a skill which is not yet being taught in a college & has no standard curriculum? Would you like to have job where you are highly satisfied? Of course yes… but you may be paying a price for that. Why 5GB of data storage would have been a disaster. All these in this week’s newsletter.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes - The First Issue
Tesla creates a “digital twin” of every car they sell. Data from the real car is sent to the digital twin in the Tesla office. It lets Tesla update the software in a car remotely even as it is being driven. Singapore city has a digital twin to help plan its services. Should humans have digital twins? Celebs are creating their own digital twins. Should you? But first, do you really want passionate people when you hire? And if you are a passionate person, can you monetise your uniqueness?
Engaging the audience over video
Do you hate selling your ideas through video calls? All of us now run meetings, give presentations and even sell ideas through video-conferences. People simply take whatever they would have done in person and present it through the camera. Teachers across the world are offering their classes online. That experience of learning online through videos is so bad that several students plan to defer their admission to next year when they can attend classes in person.
Time to change the work template
Most online classes are excruciatingly boring because they have the speaker continue for long stretches without involving participants. This can be done through polls, parallel chats, drawings, videos, quizzes, built in every few minutes. It is hard for the speaker to see the facial expressions of the learner. That is essential to build engagement.
Uncertain Times Need Routines
Comfort-food is a stress reliever. We throw caution to the winds and indulge in a routine that brings back memories of happy times and nostalgia. Friends and loved ones renew our faith. For some turning to religion is reassuring. Routines build a sequence that we know and have done before. Routines are necessary for mental health during times of stress and uncertainty. 5 Ideas you can use
My peer became my boss
I always believe that a transition is like the trapeze act you may have seen. When a performer releases the bar and is caught by another performer, the "catcher," who hangs by his or her knees on another trapeze. After the first performer leaves the trapeze bar and is held by the colleague, for a brief period of time the performer is in mid-air without any support. Transitions are like that in-between moment. They are scary but manageable.
Ignored by colleagues after returning from long leave
I had taken a sabbatical of 2 1/2 years due to medical reasons. I resumed work after full recovery. on my return, I am being treated differently by my coworkers and managers, who think I am still unfit. I’m not given key assignments. And whenever some crucial work comes my way, it is on sympathetic grounds. Even if they involve me in certain activities, it’s merely a formality. I feel very isolated. What should I do to ensure my career get a boost and I am treated equally at the workplace?
Genpact: Reskilling at Scale
Very often organizations launch an initiative with great fanfare. When the dust settles, people move on to their desk and carry on doing their work as usual. Genpact seems to have found a way to sustain this massive exercise. The leadership team has taken it upon themselves to celebrate learning and the people driving the agenda - the employees.The CEO of Genpact recognizes the gurus and experts in every town hall. He celebrates the guru who has done the maximum amount of skill building. The clients are told about this. The CHRO and the Chief Innovation Officer talk about Genome to the clients and the employees at every possible opportunity. The result is that skill building is not a metric tracked by the L&D team, the agenda is part of the business conversation every day.