Acumen Bootcamp - 3rd Week Reflection

Part 0, 1 and 2 of Acumen virtual bootcamp series can be found here.

The sessions are really good till now. Individuals are more open to ideas and suggestions and want to demonstrate an interest in getting up to speed. I am sharing task performed by me this week.

1. Superpower: There is an article by Seth Godin: What is your superpower? When do you come alive? I have documented my superpowers below:

a. I always document best practices and professional understanding on a topic through blog. This has facilitated creation of an institutional memory bank and drawing insights while walking on the road less traveled.

b. I enjoy diverse range of literature, blogs, cinema and interacting with different social circles. As this gives me range of knowledge extended far beyond my chosen profession. I assume that investment in specialization in one area alongside a vast body of knowledge can be a powerful driver of original thought.

These superpowers has given me ability to have a good outreach to a diverse group of stakeholders and impacted leaders in designing realistic plans. I usually come alive while volunteering for a cause and building networks of like minded people.

2. Improvement Goals:I have to identify my improvement Goal: “If you could get better at ONE THING — the One Big Thing that would make the greatest difference to your happiness and effectiveness, what would that be?” My responses: a. Be a much better husband than I am. b. To not be committed for a task in hurry and once committed to a task, complete before / on time .

I know this intuitively because I haven't been trying to get better at or change for a while. And, I have heard this from family and colleagues in the feedback/reviews.

3. Reflection on article : How will you measure your life? by Clayton M. Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at at Harvard Business School.

I have thought about the metric by which my life will be judged. I am an enthusiast, not an expert. At the age of thirty four, I had realized that I am doing will be insignificant but that will define me. Curiosity and Enthusiasm are the force that didn't change with time. What is more difficult to tackle in the life ? As for me, I always ponder over dilemma rather than questions. Because, there is always financial insecurity, family dispute, and a chaos lurking around the corner. The immediate needs always have tussle with long term goals.

Acumen Bootcamp - 2nd Week Reflection

Part 0 and 1 of Acumen virtual bootcamp series can be found here. 

Creating systemic change always comes from moral leadership and self discipline. Good disciplines is a part of moral leadership that establishes structures, time management, tasks planning, and follow up on action items. I am looking for gradual change in thinking pattern, eventually decision-making, then vision and then leadership. This week started with thought experiments and acting on micro habitual changes.

1. Courageous Space: There is a concept of courageous space to be done in pilot stage inside cohort before rolling out in personal and professional space. The courageous pace gives me freedom to choose a specific issue, scrutinize a habit (self discipline and exaggeration in my case), work on the habit in acts of courage, and ideally grow into competencies in the real world. I have set following tasks for myself.

Within Person: Delay in completing tasks despite making commitments is a bad nature of mine. I will be working on this issue during the next 8 weeks.

Within Organization: Be less extrapolate while pitching for business development. This fault has crept in the sales pitch in the last few months due to my desperation for funds. I will be practicing more restraint and share real scenarios during interaction with other fellows

2. I have to read article on the concept of 'opposable minds' and how holding seemingly different or opposing concepts can open up new ideas and innovation. An optional reading was Obama midterm speech 2018 transcript

Vocational Orientation and Counseling in Skill Development

This will be the second post on skill development sector continuation of Youth Mobilization Process in Skill Development. Vocational orientation and counselling is the logical step post identification of youths in the mobilization process. This is the process in which training center match the youths’ initial vocational ideas with their skill sets, capacities, and interests.

The counseling isn't a one-size fits all solution when it comes to skill development, livelihoods and career options. Understanding the the background of young job-seeker is of utmost importance to assist them in their search for meaningful careers. This is because for entry-level vocational courses, the candidates are a mixed group consisting of school dropouts, unemployed youth, and youth from socially and economically underprivileged background. The entry level job will be the first opportunity to test their caliber and earn decent livelihoods.

Counselling helps in creating realistic aspiration and reduce the attrition rates during training and employment by helping candidates make informed choices. The mismatch between interests, aptitude and aspirations of the candidates and nature of job causes a high attrition rate for employers as well as training centers. Hence, behavioral assessment tests and counselling to objectively assess the capabilities of the candidate is important to recommend appropriate career paths.

There is a context in which job search happens and the complex web of factors influences job search and aspiring candidate. The major factors are listed below:

1. Cultural factors: The youth seeking work is not the only one seeking work, i.e., family and friends are looking for a job alongside the youth.

2. Employment issues: Many youths begin their search with defeatist mindset due to the grim unemployment statistics and local scenario.

3. Personal issues: The counseling must help candidate with an honest assessment of competencies present and what the market demands in terms of worker skills.

Types of Counseling: There five major mode of counseling as per ILO -

1. Career information –provides information on occupations; employment opportunities; labor market trends and employment scenarios; educational programs, institutions, and opportunities; career services; and job opportunities, both local and global.

2. Career education – provides career planning and decision-making; labor market information and other information related to careers and work skills.

3. Career counseling – provides one-on-one or small group help on role clarifications, career decision- making, self-assessment and self-definition, aspirations and dreams.

4. Employment counseling – provides help with setting career goals, writing resumes, interviewing skills and the like, all such activities designed to help the person define the characteristics of the career or job he/she is looking for, assess suitability for it, and identify skills gaps that can be addressed by personal development efforts;

5. Job placement – provides actual job search services intended to connect job seekers and job providers.

In more Indian context, counseling is required to navigate constraints such as family hesitation, transport, inability to pay, accommodation etc. The experiences of past trainees and their feedback shared with the larger community.The scope of counseling is quite vast as candidates require holding hand support on communication skills, presentation skills, and financial literacy. Online portal have opened a new channel for youths even in remote areas access to the information. But there is always need of last mile reach to ensure that the right people, in terms of ability, interests and expectations, participate in skill development program.

Acumen Bootcamp - 1st Week Reflection

Part 0 of Acumen virtual bootcamp series can be found here.

Task: Watch Acumen Manifesto and Behind the Manifesto. And reflect on your work and the audacious vision that you are building toward.

Acumen Manifesto reflects an attempt to explain the goals of Moral leadership, as well as the qualities inherent underlying the change makers. The story of Kenyan women was containing pearls of wisdom. It was an informal education on how inspirations come in the life, society and career.

The bootcamp is a virtual community coming from the areas of of public policy, entrepreneurship, rights based work and technology. There is a deep intellectual capabilities in understanding where things are going wrong, bleeding heart for empathy and courage in building a strategy for change. The diverse mindset present here will help me to understand how to facilitate systems change and create more inclusive social systems through the use of market forces. I am hoping to understand how each leader is providing services/products to their target community.

The perseverance for the livelihood of individual farmers and the millions who collectively rely on smallholder farmers for food security is an essential component of ours work. But they are more than consumers; they are entrepreneurs and risk takers. I am trying to use interventions to achieve a triple bottom-line: increase farm productivity and incomes gradually, help farmers adapt to climate change and mitigate them with risk of market failures. I always work to transform NGO into social enterprise, developing go-to market strategies, and strengthening the partners ecosystem. Hoping to do this with the support of community of change makers. For, where there is life there is hope.

Thoughtful Present -2!

I was gifted a copy of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig (Contributor), & Warren Buffett (Contributor) from boss today. The Intelligent Investor was first published in 1949, and is a widely acclaimed book on value investing.

The share market is in doldrums and people are exploring for the stocks and sectors that are likely to lead the next bull run. I have neither clue to lap up falling stocks nor money to check unproven models only on hope. Hence, this book is a prudent gift in the next level of personal development. I will be investing next few months in reading of 'The Intelligent Investor' accrued with Safal Niveshak blog, discussing share market with colleagues and  looking for stock tips. I hope this will give me insights on value proposition and investments. Thanks Manab for such a timely gift.