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Flexibility of Space, Form and Usage
In a Clubhouse chat called Trends and Weak Signals, I join Estelle Metayer (look for @Competia on Twitter) and her polymath guests in discussing what caught their attention. The conversation meanders and turns like the road that wraps itself around a mountain of an idea. I have built upon some ideas that triggered my imagination.
This week's chat was all about space. By changing form and usage, spaces are being reimagined. From shopping malls to kitchens and rooftops, the patterns are the same. Will flexi-form become the norm for Spaces?
Dropping footfalls not revenue
The pandemic seems to have changed retail in more ways than one. Everyone learned to order everything online. From food, groceries, medicines to clothes and jewellery, everything could be ordered online. No surprise that Amazon is biggest clothing retailer in US.
Here is the intriguing factor about retail in India that my friend shared.
Malls saw dropping footfalls and yet, several retail outlets in the shopping malls report that their revenue is almost back to pre-covid days.
Hypothesis: The mall is no longer a place to simply hangout. People go there when they definitely wish to buy something. A visit to the mall means the consumer knows what they wish to buy.
If malls are not a place to gather, which place is taking that spot? What have you observed? Malls and parking spaces are being used in innovative ways across the world. They are being used as vaccination centres, examination venues, logistics and warehouse solutions.
Is the retail space becoming more fluid in its usage or is it a deeper shift in human behavior. Can we leverage it?
Make your firm's HQ "fluid"
Having the headquarter is a concept that some firms have challenged for a while. Does a firm need to have a HQ in the world of work that we have today? Does that make a firm's leaders too far removed from the customer?
A big four consulting firm has done away with a "Head Quarter" altogether. The Managing Partner sits out of different offices and that prevents little silos and power centres that headquarters are infamous for.
Leadership teams stay more connected to the frontline when they keep themselves out of their comfort zone. Maybe we should question why a firm needs to have a HQ. Flexi-form in offices could be the next trend or is it just a weak signal?
Digital platforms are forcing this change
On digital platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, the kids are experimenting with designing clothes for different avatars. These clothes can be sold for currency. (Read this). It allows the teenagers to supplement their income. It is also a sign that the next generation maybe comfortable with identity being a fluid concept. If the future workers' identity is fluid, would the office space need to be fluid to attract that worker?
Offices can change their layouts and design by using Augmented Reality or Virtual reality and then driving the change in the physical layout of the workspace. Digital spaces are safe spaces to experiment. They are often precursors of the upcoming shift.
Prediction: Expect to see a startup creating these avatars and workplace environments for your Zoom chats. Maybe they are already there and I don't know.
Will offices and schools need more space or less?
Will office space requirement change because of the pandemic. Will offices need more space or less? Will we need offices at all if work can well be done from home.
The space needed for the office has been done with the assumption that offices are places to "work". The same has been the assumption behind the design of a classroom. It was built for a sage on stage model where one teacher 'taught' a classroom full of students. Flip the assumption on its head and suddenly the classroom and office are spaces waiting to be reimagined. Here are two ideas:
Community Building: Using the office as a place to socialise, changes how we look at how much office space we could need. Several firms are using the slump in property prices to buy up office-space in prime locations at throw-away prices. But the real opportunity lies in using offices as places for community building.
Peer-learning spaces: Allowing people to riff off another person's creation (as TikTok allowed users to do) allows many more people to become creators. Using this insight to encourage your employees to create content for subjects they do not know will incentivise them to be curious, learn by themselves and teach other colleagues.
Hypothesis: Content creators create content because social platforms allow creators to become famous (think follower count) and to make money. Ryan Kaji, made $26million dollars in 2020. He is eight years old. Letting employees gain fame and make extra money will encourage more people to reskill their peers in a creative way.
Flex-form in the design
Motorised Height Adjustable Tables allow people to stand and work. That is the power of adding flex-form to the table's design. From being able to manually increase or decrease the height of the table to the motorised version was a short stop. The next design step is to make it all wireless before humans hand it over to AI. The machines will be able to automatically adjust the height of the table based on what is good for us. Will this happen to the spaces that we use? What if shelves and flat surfaces were all designed to be flexible?
Making the kitchen counter flexible is a new trend in home design. That makes it accessible for senior citizens or the taller/ shorter family members who can use the space without having to stoop or stretch. Adding flexibility to one element ie height makes it accessible to individual family member may make the kitchen a more inclusive space.
The trend of each family member eating at different times may change the way the space at home is being designed. Design of a space is based on the assumptions we hold.
Read more: Individualisation
How do we build flexibility in design
Look at unintended consequences: Offering mid-day meals in schools can dramatically impact the literacy rates among the poor. Better nutrition is a pre-condition that impacts the ability to learn. An interesting by-product of this experiment was that it incentivised a younger sibling to be sent to join the older child. The younger child often gets a head-start in education as he/she sits there absorbing the lessons of the older sibling while waiting for the mid-day-meal.
What are the incentives: Take learning and development strategies in an organisation. When employees go for a three day offsite, the leaders believe that the employees love sitting through a day of presentations. The participants look forward to the evening when they can socialise with their colleagues. That is the incentive that made them pack their bags and go an exotic destination.
Change the motivators: Asking a YouTube star or stand up comedians to make explanatory videos may be great way to make business related content interesting. It challenges the belief that learning for adults must be deathly serious. Fun is a powerful motivator for people that is so often ignored. Design changes can include incentives when it comes to driving adoption.
Flexi-form - a trend or a weak signal?
The pandemic made us accept that most white collar jobs can be done from home. Assuming that people will want to never come back to the office may not be equally true for everyone. There is a social need that drives many people to go the workplace. Most ideas that go into designing workplaces - from how we signal hierarchy (eg bigger offices for the senior leaders) or allocating a particular floor for the executive team are obsolete. The nature of work has changed. The way we use the spaces in the office must also change.
Maybe it is time to make flexi-form design the norm.
Most of these ideas came up during the weekly Clubhouse discussion on Saturday 20th March 2021 at 6:30pm IST. Follow me @AbhijitBhaduri on Clubhouse, Twitter and LinkedIn to get notified about these conversations.
How to be more creative
How do the most creative people around the world trigger creativity? In a Clubhouse chat, I met some of the most creative people who shared their secrets.
Must Meet My Muse
In Greek mythology there was not one "Muse" but nine. Literature, art, history and science all belonged to these nine muses. The muse was said to ignite creativity. When faced with the dreaded "writer's block", the writers wait for the Muse to show up.
In Indian mythology Saraswati is the goddess of learning, music, writing etc. She is depicted as having eight arms in which she holds a bell, trident, ploughshare, conch, pestle, discus, bow and arrow. So every profession needs creativity. Without a muse there is no creation. What do the most creative people do to invite the muse?
Two Phases of Creative Work
Creative people are often envied but rarely understood. Few people believe that creativity is a muscle that can be built with very simple methods. Here are a few:
Anyone can be creative on one particular day. The real challenge is to have creativity-on-demand.
Phase 1: Ideation
This is the foundational piece of creativity when the brain gets exposed to unfamiliar worlds. The best way to do it is to expose oneself to different subjects, opinions and people from diverse backgrounds. Bill Gates took a think week even as he ran Microsoft when he spent 18 hours a day reading about books and ideas. Read about it
It is all about gathering inputs, experimenting and networking. It is about being a beginner. That means being comfortable as we wobble like a novice - unsure and awkward. Read: Wobbling is your superpower
Here are some triggers that I heard about in a Clubhouse chat*
Read speciality magazines from multiple disciplines
Four places that help you understand an unfamiliar society: hospitals, schools, cemetery, supermarket
An artist lived out of two suitcases in a different place every other day for ten years. "It made me comfortable with uncertainty."
Author Lu Ann Cahn did something new every day for a year. (She wrote about it in a book called I Dare Me)
Innovation is often about breaking constraints. Ask a 8-10 year old how to solve the problem you are grappling with. They will find a new way to do it. They do not understand constraints yet.
Figure out new ways to do routine chores. Make your morning coffee in new ways every day.
Phase 2: Execution
This is the secret element of being creative. Most people only see artists in the first phase of creativity ie ideation. In the second phase of execution, creative people are out of sight. This is the phase when one has to work undisturbed.
Develop extreme routines. Mark Twain wrote primarily while lying down in bed.
In her twenties, Virginia Woolf spent two and a half hours every morning writing, on a three-and-half-foot tall desk with an angled top that allowed her to look at her work both up-close and from afar. Read more
"When I'm running I don't have to talk to anybody and don't have to listen to anybody. This is a part of my day I can't do without." - Haruki Murakam
Walking and running seems to trigger the quiet space needed to build connections between unconnected ideas. Many creative people believe that the pace of walking or running impacts the quality of ideas that flow when they write. The writer Murakami wrote a book about it called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
You write every day and wait for the muse to show up. That needs extreme routine - not talent.
What works for me may not work for you. While unshackling your mind from familiar silos needs openness to the unfamiliar, the second phase of creativity is what turns the idea into reality. There are lots of books and articles inside each one of us. We all have our stories to tell. Don't wait.
Tell me about your tips for Phase 1 (how you learn about the unfamiliar) and Phase 2 (when you sit down to write). Do leave your comments below.
Email me AbhijitBhaduri@live.com
These ideas are mostly compiled from the conversation on Clubhouse - the drop-in audio app. Every Saturday at 7:30pm IST ie 6am PST, Estelle Metayer, Philip Sheppard and me. Join in to listen to Trends and Weak Signals*. Many guests have contributed to it.
The office was a place people went to work. The mobile drove the physical workplace into the cloud. The pandemic drove talent discovery into the cloud before blowing up the office. The workplace needs new design principles. The Metaverse could be a starting point to build the new norms.
What on earth is the metaverse? I had to look it up. Metaverse refers to a shared virtual universe - much like the imaginary cities we see in the animation movies. It does not look fake, because you are part of it. It has immense possibilities. You can create a parallel universe complete with a virtual home where you and your friends stay, play, learn, go shopping or even skydiving. You can create any setting that you wish to. They even have their own money which can be used in the malls of the metaverse.
The Metaverse is more than a massive online multiplayer game or entertainment platform, it will become an integral part of life. You can experience the best of the metaverse and all you need is a virtual reality set.
Why does it matter?
Web 1.0 means passive content consumption: In the early days of the internet, the websites had content that could only be viewed by the user. It was not a two way street. The viewer passively consumed the content. You office email system still retains the Web1.0 look and feel.
Web 2.0 meant interactivity: With Web 2.0, it became common for average web users to have social-networking profiles and personal blogs through either a low-cost web-hosting service or through a dedicated host. A comments section or tapping on a 'like button' or adding user generated content describes Web2.0. There are supporting technologies like "tagging" a photo or tweet that makes it possible to search for the photo or tweet.
Web3.0 means immersive experience: The ability to be a part of the world that is being seen on screen is the core quality of the Web3.0. The technology developments make it possible to use Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, faster chips and 5G. These will provide the creators endless possibilities. Sharing experiences and sharing creations is the big opportunity as platforms like Roblox can offer.
One company that has been at the forefront of the metaverse is Roblox. Their mission is to bring the world together through play. We enable anyone to imagine, create, and have fun with friends as they explore millions of immersive 3D experiences, all built by a global community of developers.
Roblox is powered by a global community of over two million developers who produce their own immersive multiplayer experiences each month using Roblox Studio, the desktop design tool. This brings together four elements - toys, gaming, entertainment and social media to create shared experiences.
Workplace need new design principles
Industrial Revolution has faded: Much of the workplaces we see today are designed on principles that were formed during the Industrial Revolution. Working in shifts and having someone to do the work and someone to supervise the work is a great reflection of the legacy mindset. Mass production was what built great businesses. Some businesses like movie-making or advertising were the "creative businesses" where many of the design principles were dropped. These businesses were seen to be the exceptions.
One size no longer fits all: Mass-production is based on the belief that every customer is the same. The same mass-produced car when sold in a different colour creates the illusion of difference and is "customisation". But that differentiation is easy for competitors to clone. With the rise of Market Research it was possible to find "long tail" markets. Selling low volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers describes the era of "personalisation". With social shifts coupled with economic improvement, individualisation became the way to win in the marketplace.
Read more Individualisation
Mass production norms don't apply to creative work
Creative work follows very different norms. Today when we need creativity more than ever, it is important to rethink the workplace norms. The norms that creates mass-produced goods does not enable an environment where individualised services and hand-crafted goods can be produced. Managing creators is different from managing assembly line work. We are still in the early era of individualisation. Workplaces are still working with hundred year old norms.
Only an expert can value creative work
We marvel at creative people and envy them. Organisations do not know how to measure creativity because all systems are designed for tangible output. Intangible elements like creativity need to be measured by the value created. There are millions of clones of the Mona Lisa painting, but an expert can recognise the real from the clone. The art expert values the real painting differently from any other look-alike attempt.
Metaverse norms - a starting point
Most workplaces have not yet moved to adopt the social media norm of two-way communication. Immersion in workplace content is a distant dream.
Dave Baszuki, CEO and Founder of Roblox shared eight principles that form the design principles. What makes it an interesting framework to get us started is the large number of users they have gathered. They have 32 MILLION daily active users. They spend 2.6 hours every day choosing from the 20 million digital experiences to immerse themselves in.
They believe that the metaverse allows for eight design opportunities. Roblox describes them as:
fluid identity; friends; immersive experiences; low friction; variety; anywhere; economy; civility. These eight areas can be starting points for designing future workplaces.
Be what I want to be: In the metaverse you can be whoever you want to be - a cartoon character, a soldier or make up artist... anything. The workplace must allow people to bring in their whole self. This is one of the most
Building, playing and learning with friends: As in the metaverse, being able to work, play and learn with friends teaches us different ways of thinking. Workplaces must allow for opportunities to co-create. Creative collaborative relationships make for happier workplaces.
Immersive experiences are memorable: When we sit on a roller coaster while wearing a VR headset, we find our stomach churning as the roller coaster takes a twist and turn. Shared immersive experiences can create employee engagement by making the work personal and learning experiential.
Anywhere: The creators and developers to create content, avatars, clothing and experiences on the metaverse that have global appeal. Setting up virtual offices across every continent is infinitely easier. It will allow people to understand different cultures and the context of their colleagues.
Endless variety of content: Roblox alone has 20 million experiences that can hold the users' attention for 2 hours every day. From scuba diving to shopping, astronomy and superheroes, the variety of contexts can be used for meetings and brainstorming. Work and play must overlap.
Low Friction: Imagine you are watching a film and the video buffers. When that happens frequently during the film, it spoils the experience of watching the film. Reducing friction points can dramatically improve employee experiences. That encourages them to create seamless experiences for customers.
Making money: In the metaverse, the players give their avatars fancy gear and superpower by using real money to buy these imaginary clothes and weapons. Allowing the employees to create different experiences for customers to turn each employee to be an evangelist. Customers trust brands where employees and customers work as evangelists.
Trust and Civility: Building a world that is more inclusive and equitable needs every player to respect each other. It builds psychological safety and trust when employees respect each other. Civility in the workplace regardless of differences of our ideology can make workplaces seem fair where everyone is valued.
Here is the idea in the form of a #sketchnote
In conclusion:
While all the principles of the metaverse may be hard to implement at once, it is easy to pick out a few principles to get started. Which one would you recommend to get started? Leave your views and comments below.
Read more: Metaverse explained
Wobbling is your SUPERPOWER
We dread learning because it is messy. We feel inadequate and stupid. We are embarrassed about how long it is taking us to learn a skill. This wobbling is a sign that you are getting better at the skill. This wobbling is your SUPERPOWER.
On my fifth birthday I received a bicycle. I did not know how to ride a cycle. My mother noticed my reluctance to try riding the cycle. I had seen my friends wobble and shake as they tried to balance themselves. I did not want to get hurt or feel like a wobbly fool. "There are training wheels. There is no way you will fall."
Some children in the neighbourhood asked me if they could ride my new cycle. The thought of sharing my new bike with them was unbearable. I refused. After a week of dithering, I mustered up enough courage to give it a shot only to discover that the training wheels were missing from my new cycle. The gangs of my neighbourhood had taken revenge. Without the training wheels I could not ride my cycle. Peace prevailed when I agreed to let them ride the cycle and they in turn would support me as I discovered the superpower called wobbling.
wobbling: to move unsteadily from side to side.
Wobbliness is what babies enjoy
Babies are not worried about wobbling. They fall each time they try to take a step. They graze their knees, they get hurt and they continue. But what is even more impressive is that nobody judges them for failing. Everyone seems to applaud and admire the wobbling learner. Babies know that. Yet, it is the same wobbliness that adults dread. They fear that people will laugh at them when they fall.
Skills or confidence - what is more important
Do you have an idea that you have not acted upon? Most of us have. My friend Joshua and I host a show on Clubhouse every Saturday at 6:45pm IST. It is called The Doing Show. We explore the fears that keep people from doing something. We also explore hacks and learn from each other's successes and failures. Here are some interesting things we learnt
Skills and confidence are like the two wheels of the cycle. You need both.
If you have a bachelor's degree in economics and another one in physics, can you build a rocket? Yes. Elon Musk did just that simply reading books. Other subjects are far easier.
Spending ten minutes a day learning about a topic will put you in the league of the most knowledgeable people.
But building the skill is not enough. You need to stay wobbly if you want to stay ahead. Being wobbly is a sign of a learner.
How to wobble and keep learning
Build a Private Stage: Build a "private stage" where you can practice the skill. That creates a safe space when you can build a reasonable level of proficiency. Until you get to have at least an average level of proficiency, do not seek feedback. True feedback will hurt and fake praise does not motivate.
2. Remove training wheels: Having training wheels does NOT help you learn to ride a bicycle. (Thank you to whoever removed them from my first bicycle). The training wheels give you a false sense of confidence. They prevent you from experiencing the superpower you have - wobbling.
3. Learn from a peer: In the early days of learning a skill, try to learn from a peer who may have started some time ahead of you. A senior in college can be a better teacher for the junior than an expert. To learn a skill, the teacher needs to be able to deconstruct the skill into bite size chunks to make it easy for the learner.
Stop asking, "Am I good enough" - even when you wobble
A seasoned guitarist will tell you that there are plenty of songs you can play by simply learning three chords. But every beginner who has learned these three chords does not feel confident enough to play before others. The big hurdle to overcome is the question, "Am I good enough?"
Here are some ideas I noted down during the chat on how to feel confident enough.
1.Master of 20%
Artists will tell you that only 20% of the lines in a painting convey most of the idea. So if you learn the 20% well, you can get started. Authors often leave out just enough information that lets the reader stay engaged as they figure it out. Leaving out the right amount of information engages the viewer. Try it.
2. Pursue Randomness
Try out new skills and meet people from different fields. The random connections and the new ideas from people often create the confidence for you to get started.
"The most interesting opportunities tend to emerge on edges of various types. It could be demographic edges, as with younger generations; geographic edges, such as in developing economies; or technology edges – new generations of technologies."
- John Hagel
3. Wobbling creates the skill
Fear of failure is a learnt skill. Babies are unafraid to try out everything. From learning to walk, read, talk to strangers and build life skills, they pursue a packed day. That is because they are leveraging the superpower of wobbling.
Keeping the mindset of a beginner is the right balance of being curious enough to try what they have never done before and be confident enough to wobble long enough to learn it.
As soon as the babies get better at one thing, they start learning the next one. If they are getting better at walking, they want to try to run. And they want to work at learning some languages. They want to learn how to read and draw and ... You too were fearless as a baby. You have learnt fear. Now it is time to unlearn it.
Work with a coach who can make you feel optimistic and hopeful. Your coach does not need to be the best at what he or she is coaching you to do. Roger Federer has a coach, who is certainly not the number one tennis player. The coach has to work with the person - not the problem.
The final word
Wobbling is your superpower. As long as you are comfortable trying out your superpower every day, you will keep getting better.
If you want to be a painter, start painting. Or do you want to keep collecting paintbrushes and never paint a canvas?
Join Joshua and me at 6:45pm IST next Saturday on Clubhouse and let us explore your ideas in The Doing Show. And do remember to use your SUPERPOWER - stay wobbly.
If you liked the idea, do share it with your friends and do leave me a comment.
If you have a question, please add it there and I will answer it.
Want to invite me to work with you or your organization? Email me at abhijitbhaduri@live.com
Even now when the new year is 'round the corner, I mark out all the holidays and highlight the long weekends that lie ahead. The four-day weeks are special. What if every week had a 4 day work week? In India that would mean having 12 hour work days. Would it work in India?
The work-week has no definition
The whole thing started when Debabrat Mishra (@D_Brat on twitter) invited me to a Clubhouse chat on this topic.
When we dug deeper we found that there are varying norms around the definition of a work week. Here are some interesting data points to get us started.
In France: The working week is 35 hours in all types of companies. The working day may not exceed 10 hours. Every 4.5 hours, a break is a must. (I am ready to move to France!)
In USA: Any work over 40 hours in a 168 hour period is counted as overtime. The average work week is for eight hours per day for five days a week.
In Singapore: The work week is for an 8 hour day, or 44 hours per week.
What are the norms around work weeks in other countries? Would be great if you add it in the comments.
Why we need a 12x4 week in India?
It is environment friendly. Lesser commutes mean a lower carbon footprint. And less time spent in traffic jams (in some cities). Projects will take less calendar days.
It allows mid-week break to recuperate. And maybe pursue a side-hustle. You can work on your "passion project" or hobbies. This may give people a day they can devote to building skills needed for the future. 4 days to do work that fills your stomach and three days for work that feeds your soul!
Why 12x4 week will be hard to implement in India
"We are already working 12-14 hours every day" The startups routinely work long hours. The Unicorns have no way of working lesser hours to keep pace with the growth curve. The global firms all talk about the early morning and late night calls and meetings to work across time zones. Making the 12 hour day for four days a week drew cynical laughter across many people in India.
Socialisation is a part of the workday: The work culture in India and in many Eastern cultures tends to have very fuzzy boundaries between personal and work related time. It is common practice in many countries (eg Japan, Taiwan, Korea etc) to socialise with office colleagues for long hours regularly after work. The multiple smoke-breaks and coffee-time chatter is an integral part of the day and that extends the time spent at "work".
Work is an important part of the identity: People meet many needs through work. Work becomes an important source to find meaning, self-esteem, need for affiliation, power and achievement. That is why spending time at work is important for many people especially those who have no interests outside of work. Being at work scratches many itches.
"If you work late, you are great": In a hierarchical society, leaving before the boss does is frowned upon. When asked the boss says, "I stay because the rest of the team is working." The team laughs and says, "The office time ends at 6:00pm, but my brownie points accumulate only if I continue working in the office till 8pm. It is a routine." Not having to commute because of the pandemic has meant that the employer feels entitled to take away the "me time" that the commute provided, many complain in private. The commute is therapeutic. It enables us to signal to the brain the beginning and end of the work day. Read about Fake Commutes and why people are taking them.
Choices, choices, choices
Productivity vs Innovation: Finding ways to measure productivity in qualitative terms is a precondition to being able to change the work day. If work culture, rewards and payments all incentivise quantity, it is hard to incentivise work which celebrates innovation and ideas. When the entire organisation is on a hamster wheel, it is hard to find time for employees to read, ideate, create a prototype and build in time to fail and build it all over again. Read more: Going beyond count and compare
Expertise vs Effort: I had a friend who used to swear he never studied a word, but always got top grades. The Italians call this behavior 'sprezzatura' - the art of appearing to be casual and hiding all the effort. I tried to mimic his claims and barely escaped flunking. Freelancers will tell you that clients want to see that you have put in effort. Making something sound easy may mean getting paid less. I wonder if countries that are labor-surplus value effort and the countries that are sparsely populated, celebrate expertise. What do you think?
Sumit Singla set us all thinking about designing systems with empathy. When people have responsibilities of managing child-care, elderly-care or doing a second shift as a home-maker, a 12 hour work day may be the last straw that pushes them out of the workforce. Work-Worker-Workplace is an equation that each one has to define for themselves. Work has to follow the principles of individualisation.
Read: What is individualisation?
Would you support a 12 hour work day if it leads to a four day work-week? If not, what would be your reason to not support it? Leave a comment.
Join me on Clubhouse on Monday for a weekly chat about work, careers and more. If you follow me on Clubhouse you will be notified about the login link. If you want to email me, you can reach me at abhijitbhaduri@live.com
Are hiring mistakes inevitable?
Most startup founders worry about product-market fit and ignore the biggest challenge to create a business. Talent! Why is it so hard to hire right? It is because there are too many moving parts. Mistakes are inevitable because we do not understand how to overcome the barriers.
Hire the right person - not the best person
"I want someone with the right skill (and not take unnecessary risks), experience, who will not know how to keep a secret, will be punctual and flexible. The person should be reliable. I I want the person to be well groomed. If the person lives within a five mile radius, it is better. I assume the person will have their own transport and not depend on public transport. I want the best and will not settle for anything less."
Can you guess the job for which these specs were being provided? This was for a driver my friend was looking to employ. "How would you assess for these qualities?" I enquired. My friend was unfazed and said, "I can look at the person and assess if this person is an honest person or not."
That is how hiring goes wrong.
Define the jobs to be done clearly
That is the road map for finding the right candidate. The right candidate should be able to do the job (skill), will want to do the job (motivation) over time and who will fit the work-culture of the company. Amartya Sen may be a Nobel Laureate in Economics, but may not be as good an actor as your favourite screen idol. A superhero in cricket may be a poor cricketing coach. A terrific actor may go bankrupt when they start a firm.
Qualifications and experience are often poor predictors of job performance in a world that is constantly changing. So what should you look for in hiring. Jobs may need to be decoded.
Read about how to use a Job Complexity Matrix
How to find the person-job fit
a) The personality of the candidate holds the key
Optimism, resilience, persistence, risk-taking appetite are very hard to train for. If these are vital to the job performance, then find a way to assess it before you hire.
An individual contributor who is a top performer, may make a poor People Manager. While leading a team, the person has to learn how to hire people into a team, how to set a vision for the team, how to evaluate performance and be comfortable differentiating rewards, deal with failure of a task and team morale etc. None of these are tested for an individual contributor.
b) Motivation matters
I know someone who is an outstanding cook. The person can whip up a meal that can compete with any chef. Every friend and family member is convinced that the person would make for a very successful chef, except the person himself. The person continues to be a Product Manager in a Bank.
Every job that you CAN do, is not what you WANT to do every day. Technological changes and the short shelf life of skills could mean that the job you love doing today may need a new set of skills tomorrow. The person-job fit changes over time.
Motivation, preferences and values are a major predictor of fit with the organisation's culture. Hyperbolic and (often false promises made during the hiring process) are a major reason for dropping motivation. Avoid hiring with 'shiny objects' - they will wear off very quickly. Over promising can demotivate quickly. Telling someone "Your job is very strategic," when it isn't can backfire. Quirky designations like "Galactic Viceroy of Research Excellence" (yes, that is an actual designation) can often invite quirky behaviour.
If you are using personality assessments, then please read this <click here>
(c) Strengths and derailers are role-specific :
Taking initiative and being "passionate" (another misused word) are not universally desirable or undesirable qualities. For an Air Traffic Controller, taking initiative (and skipping some items in a checklist of procedures) can lead to fatal accidents. Someone who is visibly excitable may worsen a scenario when a pilot calls to say there is a hostage crisis on board. Measuring these is best done using tests. The appropriate tests are often expensive and take time. It is easy to assess coding skills, but harder to assess if the person finds it hard to manage timelines or pays attention to details.
A strength overused is a 'derailer'. Confidence in one's ability is good to have, but being overconfident prevents the person from making promises that they cannot keep. That can erode trust very quickly. When DSK, an economist, politician, former managing director of the IMF got involved in several financial and sexual scandals, it put an end to a promising career. When someone is constantly stressed in a job, their derailers are on display frequently.
How to assess for what the role needs in YOUR organisation
a) 'Top Tier Institutes"?
There is a belief that ‘higher-ranked universities indeed score higher on general cognitive ability tests, have more international experience, better English proficiency, and higher cultural intelligence. Top universities employ better instructors, offer access to better-equipped facilities, attract better speakers and guests to campus, which in turn, should lead to better training and subsequent performance.
"The HR manager knows that a host of factors determine
employee performance: prior experience, training, interpersonal skills, personality, IQ, emotional intelligence, and work ethic. But this is also where the biases and untested selection methods crop up. better universities attract better students and provide better training, so it makes sense to use the university rank as a predictor of employee performance. This, after all, is why employers offer higher starting salaries to hires selected from prestigious schools." Do they perform better? Read this
Read: Is talent Silicon Valley's Blind Spot?
b) Spend time doing reference checks:
A previous manager may be in better position to comment on the person's work ethics and potential. The peers at the previous employer are better at describing how collaborative (or territorial) the candidate is. The team members can tell you how good a team leader the candidate is.
c) Use multiple assessment tools.
Some candidates are poor communicators and show up poorly in interviews How to hire great candidates who interview poorly
Founders often use unusual questions, puzzles and more to discover if someone believes in their vision. Brian Chesky is known to have asked people in the early days of hiring for a then unknown startup called Airbnb, "If you had a medical diagnosis that you had only a year to live, would you join us?" (Listen to the interview given below)
d) Use the truth serum!
Nellie Wartoft, an ex-recruiter told a shocked audience in a Clubhouse chat on 9 Feb 2021, that "I worked at McKinsey" was one of the most common lies she heard. The conversation generated some great insights about the kind of organisation one should look for.
Here is another view about fit with the firm
Read: The lies we tell in a job interview
What I have seen on the ground
Devote enough time and resources to hiring: According to research by Talview, "The best candidates are in the market for ten days." If hiring time is more, then you are playing in a smaller talent pool.
It is complicated and needs skill and attention: Among my clients, I have found that poor hiring is often the root cause of their problems. Startups can get killed because of a few wrong hires. In a small organisation it can lethal. In a larger organisation, not being able to improve the talent base can turn a Unicorn or even a Market Shaper into an Incumbent.
I have written about how leadership, talent and culture are the new growth drivers in my latest book Dreamers and Unicorns. <buy it here>
Thank you for reading this newsletter.
Clubhouse - Limited Only By Your Imagination
Just so you know what the fuss is all about... Clubhouse is a social media app that already has two million people swearing by it. Started by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, the Clubhouse app is barely a year old and is already a Unicorn (valued at a $1 billion). I tried it and want to recommend it to you.
One more social media app?
Your life is complicated enough already. You have to wish your friends on Facebook. You share the nation's angst on Whatsapp. You spew wisdom on Twitter. The dog's food bowl needs to be posted every evening on Instagram. You need to update your resume on LinkedIn. The painting you did over the weekend has already got twenty likes on Pinterest and could turn you into the next Picasso. Your song and dance routine on YouTube could turn you into the next Internet sensation any day now. And you are late for the CEO's meeting on Zoom. Your employer thinks you are saving on commuting time. They have signed you up for four webinars every day to tell you how to manage your work-life balance. In the middle of this, Clubhouse is taking centre-stage in this crowded space... Do you really need another social media app - and one that is audio only?
What is "drop-in audio" and why does it matter
"Drop-in audio" is like having a radio or podcast with audience participation. Anyone can start a room open to anyone (including strangers) and either keep it as a closed room for invitees or limit it to the people who follow you. Here's a quick tour of the app...
Anyone who starts a room is a Moderator. They can promote anyone else in the room as a Moderator (which allows them to invite people from the audience to speak or make others a Moderator). There is no video, no texting possible in Clubhouse - just audio. The audience can only listen unless a Moderator invites them to speak or ask a question. You can pop in and listen to any room for as long as you like. Leave quietly (no need to let the world know that your time is up). The app is simple to use. There are a variety of rooms with topics that will interest you. Experts from every field are available on tap. So try it out.
What possibilities does that open up
Audio Only Conferences: On 1st Feb 2021, Twitter and Instagram (both connect to your Clubhouse account) were buzzing with the news of Elon Musk appearing on The Good Time Show, a roughly three-week-old late-night event hosted on Clubhouse by the husband-and-wife team of Sriram Krishnan and Aarthi Ramamurthy. As soon as the room opened, it had 5000 people in it and the room reached full capacity. Then some more "spillover rooms" breached capacity. Long after the event was over, there were rooms where giddy fans were gushing about sharing a Clubhouse room with Elon Musk. (Watch the hysteria).
Getting your team on Clubhouse: I jotted down a few ideas of where my clients could potentially use the app.
Think about the organisation as the Main Club where you can create "rooms" at will. The rooms can be used for one person or for gatherings that hold up to 5000 people. <current limit of a room>. While bandwidth issues prevent many people from using video in virtual meetings, audio is lighter and more accessible. Many people share space at home with others and they hesitate to switch on a camera. For them a drop-in audio is a terrific alternative.
You could become an influencer on Clubhouse
Every social media site has its own grammar. Someone who is an influencer on one platform (say Instagram) will again need to figure out the grammar of Clubhouse to build their influence here. When a new app starts, that is the best time to engage your audience when the field is uncluttered.
It is an opportunity for organisations to engage their employees and customers using a drop-in audio platform. Journalists are using it to listen in on conversations and learn about trends. DJs are playing their tracks to entertain anyone who drops in. From Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen to Oprah, several celebrities are on the app and hold live sessions.
India has more Android users than iOS. There are lesser number of Indian business leaders and celebs right now. That also means you can jump in and make a splash if what you do captures the imagination of the audience.
Read: Why you have to communicate in 3Vs - video, visuals and voice
From Silicon Valley to Indus Valley
The app will soon be available on Android and with that the floodgates will open.
With the "Next Billion" going online now, the drop-in audio has a huge opportunity in India. Audio only apps will be a huge draw for the politicians to connect with their constituencies. Or for teachers to bring kids in rural areas into learning environments. Or for stand-up artists to make the audience laugh. The newspapers will hold clubhouse sessions with experts (I saw a bunch of rooms discussing the Indian Budget presented on 1st Feb 2021). The ability to switch languages without having to switch keyboards makes it possible to use languages and dialects that do not have written scripts to be used.
What are we waiting for? The Android version of the app.
Live reading of books will make every book an audiobook
Live reading of books could turn every book into an audio book. The books can be read out by authors, voice artists or readers and fans. What a terrific opportunity that can create deeper engagement between authors and readers. Musicians could share clips of their new tracks to see if the fans like the new work.
I am going to try out this idea of reading out from a book and am inviting you to join me. Here goes
I will be hosting a Clubhouse room on Thursday Feb 4th 2021 at 8:00pm IST to read out portions of my book Dreamers and Unicorns.
I will read out portions from the book for 5 minutes and then take questions. If you have read the book and want to join me on stage to moderate the session, let me know. I would love it if you join me. Or maybe you just want to know what is happening there. You can use this link to join joinclubhouse.com/event/PNRzWRb6
Everyone is a media house
Social media has made every person with a smartphone into a media house. Newspapers and TV channels compete every day with readers to announce the global events. YouTube and Instagram have created a parallel universe. With the wide adoption of podcasting platforms, the audio medium has exploded. The global podcasting market size was valued at USD 9.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.5% from 2020 to 2027.
Jeremiah Owyang @jeremiahowyang has listed 19 companies that are in the drop-in audio market. This is the search-engine moment that happened when Google entered the market. Audio is experiencing that now.
What will you do with this new medium? I plan to try out ideas, create content, expand my network and try to create value for myself and the people I meet in Clubhouse. Will you be there? Do leave a comment and hope to see you on 4th Feb 2021 at 8pm.
Reinventing Myself
As humans live longer, the ability to reinvent is becoming part of everyone's career. Is there a roadmap that we can follow?
Want to send this newsletter to someone? <Send this link>
Career - a journey through life
I was going through some old notebooks. I came across a drawing that was roughly like this. That is what I had drawn when I got my first job offer.
Career paths do not look like that any more. The dictionary defines the term "career" as a person's "course or progress through life. Humans are living longer. Actuaries (the people trying to figure out how long beneficiaries will live), are now projecting people entering the workforce could live 125 years. Firms are dying out sooner. Skills are becoming obsolete. Educational qualifications are no longer the insurance policy we thought they were.
Reinvention will be as relevant for people in their twenties as it will be for those in their eighties. If you retire at 80 and are physically (and mentally) agile, you will probably be itching to do something for the next 20 years.
“When people leave school it’s not going to be for 25- or 30-year careers, it’s going to be for a 50-year career.” - Olivia Mitchell Wharton School of Business
Reinvention triggers
External triggers - The triggers to reinvent can come from job loss or retirement. Events like marriage/ divorce/ childbirth or even relocations can mean drying up of opportunities in one field. Opportunities in your profession can get impacted by technology or legislation or political turmoil.
2. Internal triggers - Some people feel the need to quit when they are at the top. When you are at the pinnacle of your career, it is hard to quit. Plus there is the challenge of boredom when you hit your milestones in the first decade of your career and have another six or seven decades ahead. The CEO or VP is no longer a person a year away from retirement. Many professionals reach these levels in their thirties or even twenties. The desire to reinvent also comes when the goal is to give to others.
For many boomers, work has taken on an outsize role. It provides purpose, fulfillment and community. It creates structure and routine. - Wall Street Journal
Can you hear opportunity knocking
The triggers for reinvention vary. So does the path to reinvention.
Location-specific: The city you live in or move to can offer an opportunity for reinvention that you may not have had earlier. A small city may offer less competition for pursuing your dream than a large city. Changing your location offers a unique set of opportunities and resources to reinvent.
Adjacent skills: Someone I know moved from managing insurance in the Finance team to being part of the compensation and benefits team in HR and over time has pursued a global career in Human Resources. A strong numerical ability helped the person to reinvent himself.
Leap Skills: Dr Carl Allemby practices Emergency Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Akron General. Carl started an automotive business at the age of 19 and was a business owner and professional automotive technician for 25 years. He gave up this career to pursue a lifelong dream and graduated from medical school at the age of 47. You can learn more about him here.
Many flowers are late bloomers: A hobby or passion that you have set aside in the past may be the hottest opportunity right now. You may have put in the 10,000 hours of practice needed to enter the field.
I spent many years learning and experimenting with voicing and scripting and hosting shows for the radio (that is a photo from my college days). I ran a radio show about Bollywood movies called Movie Magic. When I wrote my first novel Mediocre But Arrogant, I turned some segments into audio clips. <listen here>. Years later, podcasting happened and I got a chance to draw upon my experience in the radio and created my own podcast. <See this> Some flowers bloom late. Do not ignore them.
Have you turned your hobby or passion into your full-time revenue stream many years later? Tell us your story by leaving a comment (or email me at abhijitbhaduri@live.com). I am always fascinated and inspired by late bloomers. I am one.
Time for Career 3.0
Career 1.0 was about working in the field one had credentials for. If you got a degree in medicine, you worked as a doctor. Career 2.0 is when the doctor decides to pursue a career as a rock musician. Credentials do not reflect the choice of careers. Career 3.0 is where someone can have multiple streams of income (at different rates) in the same day, using different skills for different buyers. Read more about Career 3.0 <read here>
Don't retire - reinvent
In some professions there is no age for retirement. The oldest serving prime minister of India was Morarji Desai (eighty-one years). The oldest member of parliament in India was Rishang Keishing who was ninety-four when he passed away in August 2017.
Retirement is at fifty-five in Sri Lanka and fifty-nine in Bangladesh. In Libya, you would have to be seventy to retire. Men and women retire at sixty-six in Australia. The retirement age in China currently is sixty for men and fifty-five for female civil servants and fifty for female workers. Vietnam and Venezuela have fifty-five as the retirement age for women and sixty for men.
People may become irrelevant at any age. They do not have to wait to reach a certain age and then retire.
Here is a chat that you will enjoy
Su-Yen Wong 黄素燕 has spoken to 24 people who have reinvented themselves from being airlines steward to movie star. From auto mechanic to doctor. From a pianist to heading a consulting firm and then being on the board and then being and entrepreneur and a teacher...
Watch the chat
Individualisation - the future
We are like everyone in some respects. We are like a handful of people in some matters. We are like no one else in some matters.
Stage 1: Mass production
Henry Ford once said, “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” The car, Model T came only in black for 12 out of 19 years. Other colours - such as green, bright red, dark blue, brown, maroon and grey - were available from the 13th year.
Economies of scale
The defining factor of mass production was efficiency. Some say, black colour dried fastest and hence was preferred in the early years. The worker's impact on the final product was invisible. Charlie Chaplin explains this best in the clip below.
Stage 2: Customisation
Human beings have two conflicting desires: If their survival is at stake, there is safety in numbers. So they fit in. Once that need is met, they want to stand apart from the masses. Customisation addresses the need to stand apart.
Demographic segments
A T-shirt size (Large, Medium, Small etc) allows you to choose a fit that matches your body type. Market Research makes it possible to divide the consumer into demographic segments. Customisation may show up in a better fitting shirt or shoe. Customisation leads to be a better fit.
Mass but appealing
Customisation can make a mass produced product feel exclusive. Tea that is labeled 'Limited edition' or 'Makaibari' or 'Orange Pekoe' makes it feel special. Products like shampoo is customised by the benefits (volume, to stop hair fall, for thinning hair etc).
In 2019, the analysis of Google search trends in India showed, "Watch times for beauty tips has doubled year on year. The top three searches are for “mehendi”, “hair style” and “make-up”.
Regional language-based search is growing. Many prefer to use voice search which is growing at a staggering 270%.
Voice is the fastest way to discover content. Google is making it easy to access information in 9 languages other than English.
Read about what Google searches revealed about the changes in India
Read about Eight Kinds of Vegetarians in India
Stage 3: Personalisation
Personalisation refers to all the aspects by which an individual does not fit into the demographic group or stereotype. When we start to look at people beyond their stereotypes and broad categories, personalisation begins.
Bengalis love eating fish. But every Bengali does not love fish (eg I don't) or football ... or whatever the stereotype is.
The baker will add the name of the birthday boy or girl on the cake to personalise it.
Experiences not products or services: We are living in the age of experiences. When people stop comparing the features of a product or service and focus on the way the product makes them feel, they are describing an experience.
In the hospitality business, personalising the product or service can make the customer feel special. When my bank wishes me on my birthday, it does not make me feel special because I know they are doing this mechanically. When a personalised response turns out to be mass-produced, it can breed distrust. What are the ways to personalise a product or the service? Here are two tips to help you personalise an interaction:
Unique context: Understand the unique context of the person. Context triggers emotions.
Exception to the rule: Put special focus on where the person does not fit the cohort
Netflix discovered that tastes in movies cut across barriers of language and geography. Korean pop singers have their fans even in remote towns of India. Personalisation is a further refinement of the journey to discover the individual.
Stage 4: Individualisation
When the product or service is tailor made for an individual and is so specific that it would not be applicable to anyone else, we are individualising the product or service or experience. Biometric identification like fingerprints, leverage the uniqueness of the individual. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. Individualisation happens at the intersection content, context and personality.
It creates a memory: Our friends, family or loved ones know what makes us unique. This is what makes a relationship special and unique. When the little one gives you a birthday card complete with spelling mistakes and stick figures, the experience of it is magical. The memory of that moment stays forever.
Individual specific: This is the holy grail of recommendation engines. Knowing the kind of movies you have watched may enable Netflix to recommend the kind of movies you are likely to enjoy. If you watched a puppy (or cat) video, Facebook will show you more of the same.
While Machine Learning and AI are great at customisation or even personalisation, individualisation is a deeply human advantage. When people trust another human being they will open up their heart. Being a good conversationalist helps people build deep bonds. That often means being a good listener - not a great story-teller. That is what gives humans an advantage. But we all know being human can be hard for human beings. The future is human.
Leave a comment and tell me if you liked the idea. I read and respond to EVERY comment.
My book Dreamers and Unicorns explains how individualisation can be used by organisations in every function from Marketing to Human Resources. Buy it here
Follow me on LinkedIn <click here>, Twitter @AbhijitBhaduri
Unionisation of Tech Talent - Is It Inevitable?
Studying labor laws and employment practices was uncool if you wanted to work in Big Tech. That is changing.
Industrial Relations has been the neglected child of Human Resources professionals. Dealing with unions (particularly in India) was always portrayed as the equivalent of joining the Bomb Diffusion squad. The history of militant trade unions made fresh entrants avoid or minimise doing a stint where they needed to deal with union office bearers. I believe, it builds skills that are hard to hone in any other assignment.
In the eighties, strikes and militant trade unions were part of the headlines every day in India. The Great Bombay Textile Strike was a textile strike called on 18 January 1982 by the mill workers of Mumbai under trade union leader Dutta Samant. The purpose of the strike was to obtain bonus and increase in wages. Nearly 250,000 workers of textile mills went on strike in Mumbai. The majority of the over 80 mills in Central Mumbai closed during and after the strike, leaving more than 150,000 workers unemployed.
Not just blue-collar jobs
The unions would bargain about improving wages, bonus payouts, benefits (such as vacation, health care, and retirement), and working conditions. They kept an eye out for unfair labor practices. They provided the checks and balances in the power equation.
Unions had class connotations. Medical Representatives took a long time to get unionised because they felt 'unions' were meant for blue-collar workers. Pilots, doctors, nurses, bank employees and many others have bodies that represent their interests.
The IT sector in India (IT, ITES, KPO, BPO) have made attempts to organise the employees under an organisation called FITE (Forum for IT Employees). Given the high mobility of employees in this sector, unhappy employees would quit the employer and join the competition.
Work-Worker-Workplace
There is an equilibrium between work-worker-workplaces that will always get maintained. When the nature of work changes (say from farms to factories), it needs a different set of workers (with different skills) and to manage them, the workplace needs new roles, rules and legislation.
Dying to get it
When tech founders created new startups like Google at the turn of the century, they seem to have built a different world. There was nothing left to be desired in an employer. Other employers in high tech competed with lavish perks and fancy offices to outdo each other. Suddenly everyone wanted to be in tech.
Google was that new employer that made everyone sit up. Everyone wanted to see the office that had slides, free food, unlimited vacations, swimming pools, masseurs, sushi on demand for starters. The stocks were creating millionaires, dead or alive.
Google's "death benefits" meant that the deceased employee's spouse or domestic partner got paid 50% of their salary for 10 years.
The world is not enough
When Google employees formed a Union, it made news. What could Googlers be unhappy about? They have all the perks, great salaries (the median Alphabet employee earned $258,708) and benefits that makes others envious.
The Alphabet Workers Union has grown to 700 members. They are addressing issues that traditional unions have rarely aimed to impact. Here are four triggers that triggered the Google employees to form unions.
Ethical uses of technology: “We believe that Google should not be in the business of war,” the letter began, before going on to explain that Google’s involvement in Project Maven would damage its brand and its trust among the public. Google was working with the US Department of Defense artificial intelligence (AI) project to study imagery and use it to improve drone strikes in the battlefield. When 3000 of your top talent says they won't work on the project, it is an ethical dilemma for the leaders. Should the employees have a say in the nature of the contracts the company has signed?
Fair treatment: A former executive, who was charged and proven guilty of sexual misconduct was given a $90 million exit package. On November 1, 2018, more than 20,000 Google employees engaged in a worldwide walkout to protest the way in which the company handled cases of sexual harassment, and other grievances.
Free speech: Google has always encouraged and empowered its employees to express their views. It was viewed as an essential part of building a culture of innovation where dissent leads to the churn behind several creative outcomes. Since August 2019, Google now explicitly discourages workers from discussing politics on Google’s thousands of internal mailing lists and forums, several of which are devoted exclusively to discussing politics and related topics.
Equitable, fair and inclusive: Timnit Gebru was a vocal critic of the company's diversity efforts, and the first Black woman to be a research scientist at Google. She was fired (the company insists that she resigned) recently when she protested saying that facial recognition algorithms were biased against dark skinned people. The LGBTQ have protested against YouTube's content moderation policies that discriminate against them.
From tangible to intangible drivers
There was a time when miners and factory workers formed unions to bargain for tangible improvements - salary, working conditions, benefits etc. Work has morphed to being intangible as it moved to the cloud. The worker is not just the human, it is the invisible algorithm and technology that together creates the product or service.
The tangible full time employee headcount is being supplemented by an increasing fleet of freelancers, gig workers, contract labor and temporary workforce providers. The business models of companies in e-commerce, food delivery etc are built on making the workers 'invisible' and intangible.
It is not surprising that the triggers for unionisation in the new workplaces will be about intangible issues like fairness, free speech, inclusion, equity etc. These are all the themes that have been pooh-poohed away because they have "no business case". What is the business case for treating employees fairly? Tech employs the most highly educated and aware people. That means they will agitate even for social, economic and political issues.
Emotions in the workplace
The business model where the CEO represented shareholders' interest alone is a thing of the past. The Google case will fast-track other tech workers to unionise. It will also push leaders into new territories like political choices and gender bias that they have skimmed, skirted and avoided in the past. Dealing with unionised employees who have PhDs needs different skills. Understanding emotions is hard for most people. Expect to see more emotions in the workplace. Leaders will have to learn to deal with it.
In B-Schools we may again see a scramble to learn about labor laws and employment practices. This time the unions will be formed by the most well-compensated PhDs. The new worker will drive these changes in the workplace. The new symbol of the Union flag may have a computer drawn on it instead of a spanner.
Read more: Check out The Activists are in the Office from my new book Dreamers and Unicorns available on Amazon and bookstores worldwide.
Read more: The Rising Power of Employees
Is greater unionisation of tech inevitable? Leave your comments and let me know what you think.
Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter @AbhijitBhaduri
Join my other newsletter at abhijitbhaduri.substack.com
Pin-Code Based Jobs - the next wave
Training, Talent and Tech and the growth of 4 Vs is creating the base for Pin-code based jobs for India. It is the moment for the Next Billion.
Ever since Taj Westend Hotel, Bangalore was established in 1887, this letterbox has stood there. That letterbox has 560001 painted on it. This Postal Index Number (PIN code) number holds the clue to the next wave of jobs in India.
Video, Visuals, Voice and Vernacular
Almost 35% of top Google searches in the past year were in non-English languages (key APAC markets). In Philippines, there is a 120% increase in searches for “hey google”, showing a rise in voice activated searches.
In the last four years vernacular content and video drive the 2.5 times rise in internet adoption in rural India. There is 90% growth in Google searches for “translate English to Hindi” (India). Mobile is the device of choice for 100% of active users to browse the internet. Visuals are being used by Dreamers and Unicorns as they try to reach this market of 400 million consumers of 'Middle India'.
Training, talent and tech
Training: With 700 million internet users makes it a market as large as Europe. According to Kantar, with a 45% growth in internet penetration in rural India 2019, it is 4x of the urban user base. The pandemic closed the schools and brought in children and housewives to start using the internet. It was a giant training program that forced people to use digital services for financial services, healthcare, grocery and education.
Talent: Startups like Jumbotail have built a marketplace platform that connects thousands of mom & pop grocery retailers -‘kirana stores’ and supermarkets, with brands and staples producers. An illiterate person can differentiate between a 1kg packet and 5kg packet if it is shown visually.
The founders of Jumbotail, Karthik & Ashish are classmates from Stanford MBA Class of 2011. Ashish is a graduate of IIT-D, and worked as a consultant in BCG. Ashish is also a professional farmer whose family has apple orchards in Himachal. Karthik served in the Indian Army and worked at eBay in US and Flipkart. These founders understand the consumer having grown up in the small towns or villages. Thanks to their global education, they can speak the language that VCs understand.
3. Technology: The top 80 million Indians live in the top 8 metros that is another 74 million Indians who live in the next 40 cities. But once you pass the 40 cities, you have consumers living in cities with less than 1-2 million population. About 400 million families have a family income of Rs 300,000 (About $4,000) and Rs 2,000,000 ($27,000 annually).
A startup like Zestmoney offers loans of Rs 20,000 to buy their first laptop. A traditional mainstream bank finds it uneconomical to do this. These Dreamers are digital born and their products use cutting edge tech combined with intuitive user interfaces. IndiaStack is a set of APIs that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise a unique digital infrastructure to solve for presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery. <Read about IndiaStack>
Pin-Code Based Jobs - the next opportunity
If you are an oil company that needs to audit the safety compliance across hundreds of petrol-pumps across India, imagine how expensive that could be. Imagine if you are a bank that wishes to expand its presence beyond the top ten cities. Imagine State Bank of India has to verify the identity of millions of customers across its 24000 branches in India. The cost of doing it by themselves would be prohibitive.
The Awign Example
The startup Awign breaks down the mandate into simpler tasks - full-time work, part-time work, internships, and makes them available on their platform. Gig workers apply on the task, get selected, get trained in the app and then go out to work in their local area (think pin-code) to complete the tasks. Any new order can be set up in three days because it is SaaS based.
Awign operates in more than 450 cities and has access to 650,000 'gig workers' (including students and housewives). These people are familiar with the pin-code. This where they have their relationships and network. The assignments generate income that improves purchasing power and creates the next billion consumers.
"Near Me" mindset will fuel the Pin-Code economy
Google trends show that searches for “shopping near me” have grown 3X in the past three years, clearly indicating that shoppers are turning to digital to find what they need, nearby. The lockdown has made us go back to our homes and hometowns. Work has moved with the employee to their home or hometown. There are entrepreneurs who are building for the unique needs of the pin-code. The next wave of jobs in India will be created as pin-code jobs.
This is not an opportunity that will interest Silicon Valley. It is the opportunity for India to build a pin-code based ecosystem for India and then for the rest of the world.
What do you say? Leave your comment to let me know what you think.
My new book Dreamers and Unicorns explains how leadership, talent and culture are the new levers of growth in the post-covid world. <Buy in India> <Buy in US>
Ref: The year in search 2020 by Google
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