Abhijit Bhaduri’s Blog
I write about careers, skills and the world of work. The cartoons and sketches are mine.
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.
Employer brands, benchmarking and writing
If you’re a morning person, you should do your analytical work early when you’re at peak alertness; your routine tasks around lunchtime in your trough; and your creative work in the late afternoon or evening when you’re more likely to do nonlinear thinking. The reverse holds true if you are a night owl.
Can culture be benchmarked?
I was once talking to the founder of a startup who wanted to build the culture of Google in his firm. He wanted to benchmark the ‘best practices’ of Google’s culture of innovation and that is how he implemented this policy in his 50-person startup. Every employee in that tiny startup had to work on a personal project. Two months later a few employees came to the founder and asked for permission to work from home so that they could work together undisturbed on a secret project they had come up with.
Talent, mentors & 'No Rules Rules'
Can you find a virtual mentor even as you are locked up at home? That is what elite universities provide - great teachers and great mentors. Does that justify the premium they are paid? If you are NOT from an elite institute, is there any way you can compete? Yes, and it is something you can do today.
Book Review: No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
Talent Density is all about constantly culling the average performer. Think of it as the dreaded bell-curve on steroids. The Netflix culture site says, "Our version of the great workplace is a dream team in pursuit of ambitious common goals, for which we spend heavily. It is on such a team that you learn the most, perform your best work, improve the fastest, and have the most fun."
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 15
A personal brand is the degree of trust others have in your ability to do what you say. That happens when others say what you do.
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.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 14
Being a team leader very often means transitioning from being an individual contributor to a people manager’s role. That often comes with a salary bump and a career path that gets more attention everywhere. Doing well as an individual contributor has no bearing on how well the person does as a people manager.
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:
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 13
I wrote about the experience of spending a day with Gulzar Saab watching him record that translation. It was a fanboy moment for me
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 12
Layoffs are are a major reason for mental health issues. You can use the headline offered by LinkedIn to stand out in the job market. And what should you never say in the headline? When someone wants to know why you were laid off, how should you answer the question by using a statistic? And is there an Insurance Policy that covers you against a layoff?
Online learning - is it better
What if content creators was left to a team of instructional designers, academics, storytellers, animators, video and audio creators. They could create short form and long form content that is engaging and interactive. If the content has already been created and can be used by the teacher, it is infinitely better than listening to someone standing before a camera and droning on.
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 11
The New Education Policy was unveiled in India. Harvard, Princeton, Oxford etc are all moving classes online. Is that the end of college? What about Social Learning - does that work? Can writers earn enough to pursue writing as a full time career? Because there is a new world of careers brewing it is a terrific time to be alive. So let’s dive in …
Abhijit's Sketchnotes No 10
In the previous newsletter I had said that I’ll share some career hacks. The first career hack is to discover if you have a sweet tooth and if you do, then discover if you like dark chocolate. Wait… I will tell you more. At the SHRM Edge Conference last month, I learnt about the latest #pay #trends.
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.
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