Abhijit Bhaduri’s Blog
I write about careers in the AI Economy and about the world of work. The sketchnotes are my own.
Behind the Scenes of “The Seen and the Unseen” podcast by Amit Varma
The Seen and the Unseen is India’s most downloaded podcast. Amit Varma invited me to join him for a chat. Hope you will enjoy listening to it.
Freshworks IPO and Co-Innovation
With business models being in a state of flux, the businesses have no choice but to become digital. That means breaking apart the current model and simplifying the customer’s experience. Simplification adds speed.
That Bond Has Changed Forever
The Man With A Golden Gun beat a retreat. In a year that has seen millions of deaths, he decided he will only live twice (in theatres and small screens) in 2021. I will take a bet that James Bond will appear on the small screen for more viewers than the cinema. 2020 is no time to die. 2021 is unlikely to be different. COVID-19 has been the biggest Market Shaper of all times.
The Eshna Kutty Interview
Eshna Kutty woke up one morning in September to learn that the world was looking for her. This is the video that had crashed the Net. I spoke to her to understand what made her suddenly hit the spotlight. This 'overnight sensation' has been preparing for this moment for the past ten years.
How to better engage in the new world of online learning
Online learning is going to be the way for great content to be distributed more efficiently. But it needs to be supplemented by high dosage coaching in small groups. The ability to build great content that engages the learner; facilitators who understand the new media and the corporate culture that values learning is at the heart of this new world.
Your personal brand is an insurance policy
The impact of these three forces pales in comparison to the impact of Covid-19 in the job market. Millions of people have lost their jobs. People realize that their business card can no longer borrow the brand value of their employer. Even if the employer provides outplacement services (like RiseSmart) to the impacted employee, without a strong personal brand, the person is just another resume in the pile. Without a personal brand, an individual gets lost among the 650 million people on LinkedIn.
The First Big Career Transition
It is the first taste of discretionary power one experiences very early in career. It is the first taste of responsibility for the success of others beyond one’s own self. It is the first opportunity to help and coach others to scale up and reach the desired goals. The leader’s role is to help the team achieve synergy not just remain the sum total of everyone’s results. To do that, the person managing a team must juggle three perspectives:
We Are All Digital Nomads
As work and talent became location free, the core of work experience changed. We have all become digital nomads where the employer’s workplace has become invisible. Meanwhile the parliament of Estonian created a digital nomad visa that allows “location-independent knowledge workers to live in Estonia for up to a year while working for employers or clients outside of the country, ushering in a new era of work — one where knowledge workers aren’t tied to one desk or even one continent.
Rules of the Job Game: Learn and Upskill
HINDUSTAN CLASSICAL MUSIC has ragas designated for each hour of the day. There are ragas that are sung at dawn and dusk—the twilight zones when darkness and light wrestle with each other. When the sun wins this battle, it signals a new day. When the darkness takes over, night comes. We are going through a similar twilight zone in the world of work. It can be the beginning of the end or it can be a new beginning - the choice is yours...
‘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.
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.
Airbnb Cofounder's Letter: The Better Way to Deliver Bad News to Employees
With all the layoffs happening worldwide, employers must help employees find their next opportunity. Appointing an outplacement firm to help with career transition and job placement. An outplacement firm can help with resume writing, confidence-building, interview coaching and smoothens the transition. Outplacements are the way to go. Airbnb tied up with a top notch outplacement firm RiseSmart .
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?
The talent pool - post pandemic
Whereas previously, the biggest online labor marketplaces flattened the individuality of workers, new platforms allow anyone to monetize unique skills. Gig work isn’t going anywhere—but there are now more ways to capitalize on creativity. Users can now build audiences at scale and turn their passions into livelihoods, whether that’s playing video games or producing video content. This has huge implications for entrepreneurship and what we’ll think of as a “job” in the future.
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.
Be Wary of Burnout When You WFH
Burnout is often a result of wanting to be perfect and hence taking many more hours to complete projects. People who are pessimistic are also more prone to be pulled out at work. Burnout is a real challenge in these times. What should do to avoid burnout?