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Career choices in India lack an authenticity in focus

Lima Sehgal

Jobs continue to remain a very serious issue, bordering on the parochial. And we pass on our parochialism as an inheritance.

With the result there is a very curious phenomenon prevalent amongst freshers today – the inability to dream. We have created straightjackets – the right marks, the right course, the right jobs, the right moves …

The journey from lecture rooms leaves one only at exit points. What about the journeys ahead?

Most of us have to make career choices without any exposure to internships, temp jobs or even obscure work exposure. There is no element of even fun in trying out some little experimentation without a label that directs it. We do not have a plan that exposes youngsters to the concept of work during schooling years. What we are churning out as the future Indian work force are well educated people, who are excellent in following directions rather than creating them. The mood is to be manager, not manic.

But rather than just having a focus on the sunrise and sunset definitions of companies, a little stargazing would not hurt.

I have often been reminded that the Indian professional does not have the luxury of experimentation. Waggling fingers point out issues about economies, population pressures, competition, shortages and rations. But let us shake this lethargy — we are not talking jobs here but exposure. We are used to paying companies for what should be free internships and paying educational institutions for giving us work certificates, so why not create an environment of free exposure available to youngsters?

We must not forget that blueprints are not maps for the future.

ISSUE 164

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine
Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

Are You Qualified?

Lima Sehgal

Yes, I have had my share of schooling. I have battled with the drip rates of leaking cisterns. I have pondered on the issues of the thirty men who took less time than fourteen men to do the same task and never needed sick leave. And the impact on my life of fathers of various nations, the Punic wars and Bentick’s reforms. And some inviolate laws of ladders leaning on walls only at right angles. And sunsets that happened only once a day, and always in the west.

Not always.

Dr. Gerald P. Carr, the American astronaut and captain of Skylab 4 said that when you go high up in space, the East and West don’t count. A spaceship takes 90 minutes to orbit Earth once in 24 hours, and so you get to see 15 sunrises and 15 sunsets in a day. I can see my science schoolteacher shaking her finger at Dr. Carr and saying, “Naughty Boy!”

The chicken and egg story has taken new dimensions. Today, you need to be educated to get an education.

I was always proud of my wonderful education till I took my 4 year old son for his admission in Nursery. There was a panel of 3 grim teachers primed for a grueling interview. My son, being smarter, fled, but I couldn’t. I won’t go into the gory details, but in a nutshell, this is what I was told.

To qualify for school, firstly my son needs to come from good stock.

I do hope that the income tax department never gets to see the school admission form. Secondly, the child needs to have educated parents. I admit, I lacked the imagination to fake a few Ph.D.s. And thirdly, I needed to have a full fledged degree in Education. This was crucial because I was required to fully educate my kid before the school did. To qualify for school entry, my kid needed to know not only reading, writing and arithmetic, but also prove that he was not a dithering idiot who had not yet learnt the ABCs of Algebra.

All this happened around the same time as when I had just started proudly sprouting a few gray hairs down my white collar.

Tom Peters, the management guru, suggests that good C.E.O.s like me should re-designate themselves as C.D.O.s or Chief Destruction Officers because ‘You essentially get paid for blowing up your business before the competition does’.

His solution is simple – “forget learning, learn forgetting.” At least, that is the one thing that I have mastered since my Kindergarten.

Why does it take nearly half our life to realize that, inspite of our education, we are quite uneducated?

Simply because the system demands the ingestion of facts and not a developmental process. Our education from birth is one of imposition and control by others. Ericsson says, “There is a conviction that a systematic regulation of functions and impulses in earliest childhood is the surest safeguard to later effective functioning in society. They implant the never-silent metronome of routine into the impressionable baby and young child to regulate his first experience with his body and with his immediate physical surroundings. Only after such mechanical socialization is he encouraged to proceed to develop into a rugged individualist. He pursues ambitions, strivings but compulsively remains within standardized careers which, as the economy becomes more and more complicated, tend to replace more general responsibilities. The specialization thus developed has led civilization to the mastery of machinery, but also to an undercurrent of boundless discontent and of individual disorientation.”

As students, we were quite familiar with the idolization of over achievers and the undue importance given to academic achievement. Going through the wringer of mass education, one is adequately qualified in the art of conformity, compromise and lack of decision making.

Because of this, in the corporate world, there is an extreme shortage of creative individuals, the majority being just opportunists drifting from one job to another. What else can happen when our educational systems churn out mass produced conformists by the millions?

Current statistics state that 90% of all white collar jobs will vanish in the next few years, as jobs are being redesigned and redefined. Are we qualified for the change?

I think we should not miss the point that Reverend C. C. Colton, the British author, made. “It is better to have wisdom without learning than learning without wisdom; just as it is better to be rich without being the possessor of a mine, than to be the possessor of a mine without being rich.”

He has a point. But do I get it?

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 101

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Courtesy Jobnet’s Directory of Placement Firms

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

The Sexual Olympiads!

Lima Sehgal

Sex I am told was invented only around two billion years ago. Before that we had to depend on the slow process of genetic instructions being carried out letter by letter and on the accumulation of random mutations.

Every new generation has improved this exchange process of DNA with great enthusiasm. That is because the new young entrants are genetically tuned to short – cuts. It is important to realize this fact so that we can stop spending good research money in analyzing why our children respond to us in monosyllables .

Abridged is the DNA revolution. (With rather pleasant consequences).

If sex was our shortcut to genetic information exchange, why can’t we invent another equally magnificent one for non-genetic exchange?

Why do we insist that learning must be so tedious? And why do we believe that developmental abilities are directly correlated to the amount of nonsense one has to wade through to get to the point?

Take this example of elementary mathematics. (Quote from Mathematics for class VI by NCERT India.) . Problem – “ In a morning walk, three persons step off together. Their steps measure 80 cm 85 cm and 90 cm, respectively. What is the minimum distance each should walk so that all can cover the distance in equal steps”. The same can be used as an exercise in grammatical mistakes but we will ignore that).This is mathematics, the same that we learnt as The Profound philosophy of the LCM and the HCF. (Kids are careful to delete it from their systems the moment the exams are over That with the other stuff that we insist is good for them)

Shakespeare would be no less sweet if Romeo got to the point faster. And apples would still fall the same whether Isaac Newton explained in one word or a whole branch of science.

Education has a point, but the ones who are getting educated rarely get to see it.

So how did this happen to us? When we were smart enough to invent sex how did we land up with such complexities that are forced down through our educational system?

Its simple once we see the motives in broad daylight instead hiding under a bushel. Even simpler if we unwrap the wraps!

Ultimately all roads led to Rome, in the olden days and in modern times they lead, home. But to be precise the purpose of all education according to the modern educational experts is aimed in attracting a mate. Just like it always was since time immemorial.

Which was never easy. Only the nature of hurdles keep changing. The caveman needed only his brute force So did the cavewoman, So probably the matter of impressing a mate could be decided nicely, by just flexing the muscle in question. Today, choosing a mate involves different parameters. Its more hi tech and global.

But then how does one make a choice? The brawn definitely counts, but when competition steps in the brain can be just as crucial . Definitely I would choose the man who is smart – The educated one . The one who knows that the big bang theory of the cosmos is not about sex …Or I would be really impressed by his control over the bull and the bears of the stock market. Or …

Knowledge becomes a major factor in choosing a mate for both men as well as women.

This is the kind of conversation one would expect between two educated like minded man and woman :

Man : Would you like me to invite you to my apartment to examine my Hypotenuse?

For those of you who belong to the under educated masses, the hypotenuse of a right triangle is the triangle’s longest side, i.e., the side opposite the right angle. The word derives from the Greek hypo- (“under”) and teinein (“to stretch”).

And the educated woman would say :Of course. As long as my catheti or cathetus if you please, remains Gegenkathete.

Reference for the under educated A leg of a right triangle (i.e., a side adjacent the right angle) is also known as a cathetus (plural: catheti). While this usage is rather rare in English, the terms Ankathete (on-cathetus) and Gegenkathete (opposite-cathetus) are in common usage, is German to denote the legs adjacent to and opposite the (non-right) angle in question, respectively.

In general, a cathetus is a line falling perpendicularly on a surface or another line. In particular, this branch of mathematical reasoning can be rather titillating.

Viva la Education!

Our education is our trade secret of impressing the opposite sex. But there are other good uses for it. A good complex educational system also keeps the competition at bay by keeping them busy and confused..

Yes, we are smart. We know that competition always comes from behind (And I am not only talking about gays!). All our educational systems are aimed at keeping our younger generation ,our virulent competitors in the sexual arena busy with a focus furtherest away from the nether regions.

The animal kingdom accepts and respects a young adult as a competitor. We on the other hand wish to control our competition by prolonging the developmental phase. We must recognize our aggressive urges for control. Zoologist Desmond Morris says “if we are to understand the nature of our aggressive urges, we must see them against the background of our animal origins.”

Ever notice how the educational demands increase with age and become overwhelming exactly during adolescence? Exactly the time when a kid becomes a competitor in the sexual arena. So it does make sense if they are preoccupied with memorising about the origin of life thru the Ordovician, Silurian , Jurassic periods while we do a HA, HA, HA on them because we know exactly how many minutes it takes with a partner in bed !

However exciting the game, to win one must look beyond the marathon and definitely beyond the line and length. Oops that’s about cricket, a different ball game altogether.

And that does not mean that I will ever go back to school again. You see now I am much more smarter than you think!

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 108

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

Job seeking professionals tend to cling to the conventional

Lima Sehgal

Today, jobseekers need to know about what can be caught rather than what can be got!

The old tendencies remain. Especially the stereotyping of education — we still talk about Sunrise Industries and courses with great futures, as an absolute. Today, it is dangerous to ask — What is the best career for me? — There are a million advisors ready to spring.

What is also getting worrisome is the fact that amongst professionals there is a tendency to cling to the conventional. The stereotyping continues, and the shoreline never extends beyond the experience or even beyond the expertise.

Perhaps, what is needed is less focus on information and more on introspection.There is a very dramatic shift in the needs of employers. Also, in what the employers label as identification signs while choosing their prospective employees. In the ambience of changing business trends, there is a shift from skills to soul-ambidextrousness.

The problem the jobseeker faces is not the lack of choices, but the choosing of the right alternative. For that, what is desperately needed is to go beyond ones’ imagination.

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue  93

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

Why is failure management not an integral part of our educational curriculum?

BEYOND GRADUATION

Lima Sehgal

Question- How many academics does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer- Five – One to write the grant proposal, one to do the mathematical modeling,one to type the research paper, one to submit the paper for publishing, and one to hire a student to do the work.

And, that, in a nutshell, is the bane of our times.

Perhaps, what is needed is our ability to differentiate between wisdom and knowledge, and the awareness that the possession of one does not necessarily mean the possession of the other.

Just like our parents did for us, we continue to stuff our children with knowledge, but to what end? Is knowledge our ticket to pass examinations, excel at interviews or impress others? Unless knowledge translates into applications, it is of no use. And to do that, one requires wisdom which unfortunately cannot be acquired by any other way except through the personal experiences of our successes and failures.

It is a wonder how we allow the existence of educational systems and institutions which merely offer information rather than educate. Education implies not only the imbibing of information, but also the development of the ability to innovate and apply. So how come failure management is not also a part of the curriculums?

A large part of creative thinking is not being afraid to fail. Charles Kettering, of General Motors, said, “an inventor is simply a person who doesn’t take his education too seriously. You see, from the time a person is six years old, until he graduates from college, he has to take three or four examinations a year. If he flunks once, he is out. But, an inventor is almost always failing. He tries and fails maybe a thousand times. If he succeeds once, then he’s in. These two things are diametrically opposite”.

Our fear of failure stems from our education which is oriented towards protecting us from experimenting with what is considered ‘unnecessary’ mistakes. We train, rather than educate. Even the way children are trained is somewhat similar to training an animal to obey commands. It is oriented towards adhering to the ways of parents. The system works. But it also creates a climate in children of a lack of faith in their innate abilities to control their lives, nature or their desires. Of course, it does result in well adjusted or even seemingly highly successful adults, with good expertise in playing the game of winning approvals. Till failure acts as a catalyst for a breakdown which leads to disillusionment and personal suffering.

We are fitting people into our educational systems rather than vice-versa, not realizing that it is this process of ‘fitting’ that causes the loss of individuality. This is because all our systems stem from standardized modules of scientific analysis and approach which we have begun to believe are the ultimate in accuracy.

Our scientific approach towards knowledge is narrow. It is called ‘Reductionism’. This kind of thinking makes the error of reducing the whole to one of its parts and then extending that partial view to encompass the whole. Such a partial view does not work simply because life is complex. Also because individual contribution cannot be simply waived off as aberration or statistical inconsistency.

Neither can we waive off what we cannot comprehend. Haruo Suda (quote Study Journal 1995, issue Daibyakurenge) – “Weather, ecology and the brain are all examples of complex systems that cannot be fully understood by mathematical analysis or simulations. Why is it that ‘simple’ science does not apply to such natural phenomena? One reason is that in such phenomena, very small changes can produce very great changes – the so-called Butterfly Effect which gets its name from the following scenario: a butterfly in the Amazon rain forest flaps its wings. That tiny reaction becomes the starting point for an infinite chain of events, eventually resulting in a change in global weather.”

The uncertainty factor is the most important one, and it is crucial to give it its rightful importance in all our educational systems, and in our lives.

Coming back to our original thought, after all, how many men does it really take to change a light bulb?

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 184

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal, Management Resources/ HR

The Great Indian Management Course

PUNCHY TANTRAS

It’s a fine sunny day in the forest, and a lion is sitting outside his cave, lying lazily in the sun. Along came a fox, out on a walk.

Fox : “Do you know the time? My watch is broken.”

Lion: “Oh, I can easily fix the watch for you.”

Fox : “Hmm. But it’s a very complicated mechanism, and your great claws might destroy it.”

Lion: “Oh no, give it to me, and it will be fixed!”

Fox : “That’s ridiculous! Any fool knows that lazy lions with big claws cannot fix complicated watches.”

Lion: “Sure they could. Give it to me and it will be fixed.”

The lion disappears into his cave, and after a while he came back with the watch which is running perfectly. The fox is impressed, and the lion continues to lie lazily in the sun, looking very pleased with himself.

Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the lazy lion in the sun.

Wolf: “Can I come and watch TV tonight with you? Mine is broken.”

Lion: “Oh, I can easily fix your TV for you.”

Wolf: “You don’t expect me to believe such rubbish, do you? There is no way that a lazy lion with big claws could fix a complicated TV.”

Lion: “No problem. Do you want to try it?”

The lion goes into his cave, and after a while comes back with a perfectly fixed TV. The wolf goes away happily and amazed.

Scene: Inside the lion’s cave.

In one corner are half a dozen small and intelligent looking rabbits who are busily doing very complicated work with very detailed instruments.

In the other corner lies a huge lion looking very pleased with himself.

Lesson

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY A SUPERVISOR IS FAMOUS, LOOK AT THE WORK OF HIS SUBORDINATES.

In the context of the working world:

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY SOMEONE UNDESERVED IS PROMOTED,LOOK AT THE WORK OF HIS SUBORDINATES.

Contributed by Madhumita Ghosh

Posted under Management Resources/ HR