Search Insights, Flexitarian, Multi-Gen, Creativity

“3Vs” Shaping India

In 2020, guess what was the most searched term? It was Coronavirus. People tried to make sense of the world around them by turning to Google for answers.

Trending in 2020.png

When these searches are clubbed together by country, it can offer some fascinating insights. In my weekly newsletter for LinkedIn (subscribe here) I wrote about the YIS 2020 (Year in Search 2020) report for India (Read it). More importantly, what does it mean for the workplaces.

In Jan 2018 I had written about the rise of “3Vs - video, visuals and voice”. Refresh your memory. In January 2021, I added the term “vernacular” to create the 4Vs that will shape the rise of “Pin-Code based jobs”. <Refresh your memory> Here is a screenshot

4vs.png

I was tickled pink to see Google’s Year in Search Report for 2020. They have used the term “3Vs” - something I wrote about in 2018 in my column for Business Line(read the 3Vs article). In Jan 2021, I wrote about Video, Visuals, Voice and Vernacular being the 4Vs that will drive “Pin Code based jobs.

Google has described 3 Vs as Voice, Video and Vernacular. (read the report) Here is a sketchnote of the headlines.

google.jpeg

My prediction: A multi-generation internet

Just like multiple generations in the workplace, the virtual world will also see multiple generations. Expect to see the generation gap to be even wider on the internet because Gen Z on the internet will not be the English speaking user. It will be someone who is far more tuned to the local issues and world around him or her. A billion new users will force the net to be more inclusive.

Read about how the world of work will shift

Remote work or “flexitarian”

What percentage of Indians are “non-vegetarian”? Instead of the strict distinction between vegetarians and non-vegetarians, there seems to be another emerging category of “flexitarians”. Post vaccination, will remote work become the norm? I believe the flexitarian label will better describe the workplace.

McKinsey says that the potential for remote work is highly concentrated among highly skilled, highly educated workers in a handful of industries, occupations, and geographies. Before the pandemic only 5% of people were working from home. Now “more than 20 percent of the workforce could work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as they could if working from an office.”

Read this to know if remote work will persist as the vaccines roll out <click here>

Remote work persist.jpeg

Rethink a bad decision

Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq index rose 400%, only to fall 78% from its peak by October 2002, giving up all its gains during the bubble. I was advised by a friend to invest in the stock market. I don’t understand anything about the stock market. But when my portfolio jumped up for three days in a row, I was convinced that my future lay in Wall Street. That may have been a day or so before the collapse began.

When my stock broker told me about the first day of the slide, I told him not to panic. “If the NASDAQ drops for three days in a row, buy more of the shares that I have in my portfolio.” When I knew I had taken a bad decision, why did I add more money to my depleting portfolio? I had fallen prey to the “Escalation Trap”.

Adam Grant’s podcast explains it and this sketchnote captures the essence.

Rethink a bad decision.jpeg

Listen to this episode from WorkLife with Adam Grant on Spotify. In life and work, we have a hard time changing course. When we wind up in a miserable job, a failing project, or a floundering romantic relationship, we rationalize, make excuses, and stick with our bad decisions-even when the writing's on the wall.

Have you (like me) also been a victim of the “Escalation Trap”? Stayed too long in a toxic job or a toxic relationship? Drop me an email at abhijitbhaduri@live.com or leave a comment below

Leave a comment

How to make your company innovative?

When companies craft their corporate strategy, their innovation strategy is perfectly aligned with their overall strategy. They involve of a broad range of employees — both innovators and commercialisers. They have metrics to track outcomes, financial results and cultural shifts from all this innovation activity.

Read more

So You Think You’re Not Creative

Jairam Kulkarni @Jaikulki wrote to me to share this article that lists three easy exercises you can use when you want to look for creative ideas.

Jairam Kulkarni @Jaikulki

So, You Think You’re Not Creative? Brilliant article. ⁦@AbhijitBhaduri⁩ I have a request to have a sketch note on this, please. If it’s already done, please do share. ⁦@Jaitheerth⁩ ⁦@shrikant_80⁩

Jairam.jpeg

https://hbr.org/2021/03/so-you-think-youre-not-creative

The one I use a lot is to assume a different persona. I ask myself, “How would Disney solve this problem?” or “How would Amazon have solved for this challenge?”

Thinking like Disney helps me focus on the customer relationship aspect. It makes me think of the problem I want to solve for the customer. You could argue that Amazon is also a customer obsessed company. I tend to think of them as a company that knows how to solve a problem at scale.

Reframe or rebranding the problem is another technique you can use. Ask, “What can I do to turn the employees into FANS of this organisation.” I would respond promptly to their needs and make sure I never disappoint them.

How to be creative.jpeg

In creative problem solving, the answers we get come from the questions you have asked. Asking, “How can we reduce the traffic jam at the peak office hour?” will get you one set of responses. Ask instead, “How can we discourage people from using this route between 8 and 11 every morning” and you will get a different response.

Stay curious

Abhijit Bhaduri










Abhijit Bhaduri

Abhijit Bhaduri is an advisor to organizations on talent development and leadership development. As the former GM Global L&D of Microsoft, Abhijit led their onboarding and skilling strategy especially for people managers. Forbes described him as "the most interesting generalist from India." The San Francisco Examiner described him as the "world’s foremost expert on talent and development" and among the ten most sought-after brand evangelists. He is rated among the top ten experts on learning across the world. He is a LinkedIn Top Voice with more than a million followers on social media. He teaches at the Doctoral Program for Chief Learning Officers at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to being at Microsoft, he led an advisory practice helping organizations build their leadership, talent and culture strategy. His latest book is called Career 3.0 – Six Skills You Must Have To Succeed. You can follow him on LinkedIn.com/in/AbhijitBhaduri and on Twitter @AbhijitBhaduri

https://abhijitbhaduri.com
Previous
Previous

The Science of Talent Management

Next
Next

Workplaces will become flexitarian