Ravi Pratap Singh

My Fun Interview With Rick Zanotti On eLearnChat

Last week I had the privilege of being invited as a guest by Rick Zanotti on his much loved and widely popular show, eLearnChat.

In the freewheeling tete-a-tete, Rick and I discussed a whole host of stuff... right from how I stumbled into the world of L&D after studying Zoology (!!!), to my experience in setting up IT Training Centers across the globe, and finally my entrepreneurial plunge with Learnnovators.

We also delved into some of the exciting e-learning solutions designed by Learnnovators in the recent past, including those in the mobile learning and gamified learning arenas.

I genuinely had a blast chatting with Rick... and am thankful to him for the opportunity!

Hope you enjoy watching the video of the interview below.

And yes, you can also listen to the audio podcast of the same HERE.

  

25 Inspiring Quotes From Mahatma Gandhi

Today, the 2nd of October, is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

Like millions of people around the globe, I too have derived tremendous inspiration from Gandhi's life and teachings. It's a measure of the man's greatness and foresightedness that nearly seven decades after his death, his words are even more relevant today than they were back then. If only we pay more heed to the Mahatma's words, the world would be a far more peaceful and compassionate place to live in.

On this special day, I thought it would be a great idea to share 25 of my most favourite Gandhi quotes with you... hope you find them as inspirational as I do! 

1. "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

2. "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

3. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

4. "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

5. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

6. "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."

7. "Whatever you do will be insignificant. But it is very important that you do it.”

8. “Nobody can hurt you without your permission.”

9. “Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world but being able to remake ourselves.”

10. "What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror refection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”

11. "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

12. "In a gentle way, you can shake the world."

13. "There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."

14. "You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy my body, but you will never imprison my mind."

15. "Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men."

16. "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth."

17. "An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."

18. “The future depends on what you do today.”

19. "No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive."

20. “It is my conviction that nothing enduring can be built on violence.”

21. "An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propogation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it."

22. "My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.

23. "In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place."

24. "Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good."

25. "I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill."

And finally, one bonus quote from the great man which embodies everything he stood for...

26. "My life is my message."

Which quotes from the above do you particularly like? Do you have any other favourite(s) which I missed out on? Would be awesome if you could share them here.

Gandhi's life and words had inspired me to write another post a few years ago... please check it out HERE... hope you enjoy it!

 

Life Lessons From Dad

Early last month I had an appointment to meet Rahul Kapoor at his office in Bangalore. For the uninitiated, "Rahul is an Indian Motivational Speaker who lives with a vision and purpose to help people across the world to ignite their inner powers and achieve results that matter." (italicized text sourced from HERE)

I hadn't met Rahul before, but going by his impressive credentials and formidable achievements, I was expecting him to be an ultra-energetic, sharp-witted, high-octane personality. I found him to be all of these, and more! He also came across as an extremely perceptive and a remarkably genuine human being.

A few days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a package from Rahul... it contained two motivational books authored by him. I could finally make time to read one of them yesterday... and boy, was I impressed...!!!

Titled "Dad and I", the book is highly engrossing and simply unputdownable! In it, Rahul shares short stories from his life and tells us how his dad helped him derive a powerful message from each one of the incidents. Succinctly written in simple language, the stories are inspirational, and deliver profound nuggets of wisdom without ever being preachy. Moreover, the easy-on-the-eyes font (type and size) and the length of the book (just 85 pages) make the read even more of a breeze!

Though the book is supposedly meant for teens, I personally enjoyed it thoroughly and gained valuable insights from it. It's now with my 13-year old son who, I'm certain, will benefit from it immensely!

Heartfelt thanks, Rahul.. to you and to your dad... for the priceless life lessons!

 

Thankful, Honoured & Humbled...!!!

I made countless resolutions over the past 15 months to write at least one blog post every month... and guess what, I successfully managed to break every single one of them! 

Of course, I have a host of excuses to justify my action (or rather, inaction!)... but then those excuses are so frivolous that I can't buy them myself. As the old adage goes, "If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse".

So here I am... FINDING A WAY... and finally putting fingers to keyboard... for my first post since June last year!

And what better way to make my comeback on blogosphere than by sharing a couple of exhilarating news from the past few weeks.

First, I was featured in The 2017 Corporate eLearning Movers And Shakers List by the indomitable Bob Little of Bob Little Press & PR.

Soon after, I was named among the 25 eLearning and L&D Thought Leaders to Watch in 2017 by Christie Wroten of Trivantis.

I feel immensely THANKFUL, HONOURED and HUMBLED to be on these elite lists along with some of my L&D heroes. But I must acknowledge that these recognitions do not belong to me exclusively... instead, they are a reflection of the tremendous work being put in by my terrific team at Learnnovators. So my heartiest congratulations to each one of them!

Needless to add, these plaudits serve as massive incentives for me (and my team) to strive harder and set our sights on greater summits to conquer in the days and years ahead!

I hope they also spur me to find "ways" rather than "excuses" to write more often... :-)

 

15 Inspiring Quotes From Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is no more... but his legend will live on... forever!

Ali threw knock-out punches not only inside the ring, but outside it as well. Never short of words, here are 15 of the icon's most profound and inspiring quotes:

1. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. You can't hit what your eyes don't see."

2. "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."

3. "Don’t count the days; make the days count."

4. “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it."

5. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

6. "Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."

7. "The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

8. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

9. “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”

10. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”

11. "A man who has no imagination has no wings."

12. "I don't count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they're the only ones that count. That's what makes you a champion."

13. “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

14. "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

15. “Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right.”

Thanks for everything, Champion... you will always remain 'The Greatest'!

RIP.

 

20 Awesome Quotes From Jay Cross

The news of Jay Cross's passing away on 6th November came as a bolt from the blue to his scores of admirers. Jay has been an icon and a huge source of inspiration to most of us in the learning community.

We, at Learnnovators, were fortunate to interview him a couple of months ago for our "Crytsal Balling With Learnnovators" series. True to form, Jay was brutally honest with his answers and didn't mince words while expressing his views on the state of L&D and its practitioners. No wonder then that his interview turned out to be one of the very best of the series!

I am giving below 20 awesome quotes from Jay's interview:

“It’s not so much that the future is informal learning. That’s always been the primary way people learn to do their jobs.”

“If an organization is not addressing informal learning, it’s leaving a tremendous amount of learning to chance. Is that okay? Not any longer. This is a knowledge economy.”

“My role was to point out to organizations that they were investing in the wrong place: formal learning.”

“Schooling, the model that most people support because they were brainwashed into it, is not the most effective way to learn.”

“Learning & development professionals often push what they can control.”

“The informal realm is scary because it empowers the learner. That’s a loss of control for training departments and it makes them uncomfortable.”
 
“…formal and informal learning are not separate things: they are points along a continuum. All learning is part formal and part informal. The issue is how much of each.”

“Lots of L&D people have been beguiled by the notion of ROI. Most of what’s written about the concept is nonsense.”

“I’ve given up hope that L&D can pull this off on its own. They don’t have and will never have the resources to touch everyone in the organization.”

“I’ve said for years that in our fast paced world, learning is the work.”

“Senior management needs to recognize that learning is the vital variable. It’s not L&D’s job, it’s the whole organization’s.”

“Learning is viewed as a cost that creates no value. Well, we’ve advanced since the Venetians invented bookkeeping but narrow-minded managers are still slaves to that way of looking at the world.”

“I have to admit that I like pushing people’s buttons to get them to think about what’s really going on.”

“I find myself shouting that the “Emperor has no clothes.” Somebody’s got to look at things with innocent eyes and point out what’s really happening.”

“Millions of knowledge workers and their managers have been told they are responsible for their own learning but have no more idea what to do than the dog who got on the bus (Now WTF do I do?).”

“L&D only reaches a small sliver of the workforce and their approach is episodic. It doesn’t do much to improve the organization.”

“People learn most from experience, not courses.”

“Learning is ultimately the responsibility of the learner.”

“The world is changing so fast that staying in one’s comfort zone is not an option.”

“…I’d like to do for learning what Luther did for religion: make the sacred knowledge transparent. Bring things out in the open.”

Thanks for all the inspiration, Jay... you will be sorely missed. RIP.

 

15 Quotes To Inspire Employee Engagement

“When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.”

The above quote by Betty Bender aptly sums up what we, at Learnnovators, unrelentlessly strive to make our workplace into… a home away from home for our employees. A place where our team members are respected, valued, empowered, recognized, motivated… and engaged!

Today’s forward-thinking organizations are no longer content with keeping their employees “satisfied”… instead, they are spending more and more time designing innovative methods to keep their employees “engaged”.

So what exactly is Employee Engagement?

Since William Kahn provided the first formal definition of Employee Engagement in 1990, there have been scores of definitions doing the rounds. But my personal favorite is the one by Kevin Kruse, who defines Employee Engagement as “The emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.”

Kevin further adds that “This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals.”

It is no surprise then that engaged employees display higher levels of INVOLVEMENT and COMMITMENT to the organization’s goals and values, are more MOTIVATED to contribute to the organization’s success, thereby leading to improved PERFORMANCE and PRODUCTIVITY.

I am glad to share 15 quotes on Employee Engagement that inspire us, at Learnnovators, in our quest for creating A GREAT PLACE FOR GREAT PEOPLE TO DO GREAT WORK! Here they are…

1. “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.” ~ Doug Conant

2. “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.” ~ Stephen R. Covey

3. “Employees engage with employers and brands when they’re treated as humans worthy of respect.” ~ Meghan Biro

4. “Highly engaged employees make the customer experience. Disengaged employees break it.” ~ Timothy R. Clark

5. “Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.” ~ Zig Ziglar

6. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” ~ Simon Sinek

7. “Your number one customers are your people. Look after employees first and then customers last.” ~ Ian Hutchinson

8. “The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.” ~ Tom Peters

9. “Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” ~ Mary Kay Ash

10. “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” ~ Anne M. Mulcahy

11. “Engaged employees are in the game for the sake of the game; they believe in the cause of the organization.” ~ Paul Marciano, PhD

12. “Paychecks can’t buy passion.” ~ Brad Federman

13. “The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel.” ~ Sybil F. Stershic

14. “People want to know they matter and they want to be treated as people. That’s the new talent contract.” ~ Pamela Stroko

15. “Engaged employees stay for what they give (they like their work); disengaged employees stay for what they get (favorable job conditions, growth opportunities, job security).” ~ Blessing White’s The State of Employee Engagement 2008

Which of the above quotes do you particularly like? Do you have your own favorites? What is your take on Employee Engagement? Would be delighted to hear your thoughts…

 

Do You ENJOY Or ENDURE Your Job?

Have you ever had colleagues or friends who consistently put in 12-15 hours of work a day for weeks on end and still not exhibit the faintest signs of mental or physical fatigue? On the other hand, you may also be acquainted with people who behave like zombies after a couple of extra-long working days. The interesting part about this contrasting behaviour, you may have noticed, is that the "fatigue factor" has nothing to do with the age of the concerned person.

Then what's it that makes the former type of people behave like superheroes? Do these guys gulp down some magic potion with breakfast every morning? Do they suffer from a genetic disorder? Or are they just visitors from a different planet?

Fortunately, none of the above.

The answer is fairly simple. The "superheroes" ENJOY their jobs, while the latter ENDURE them!

Do YOU enjoy or endure your job???

 

Stubborn on Vision, Flexible on Details

Every entrepreneurial journey begins with a VISION. But as the entrepreneur treads farther and farther away from the familiar environs of his pre-entrepreneurial comfort zones and heads deeper and deeper into the uncertainty-riddled paths of the business world, he finds himself being slowly but surely engulfed in the kinds of pressures that he never even knew existed. At this point, the original vision of a majority of entrepreneurs starts to fade... and before long, darkness takes over!

This 'loss of vision' occurs primarily because most entrepreneurs don't have the guts to stomach short-term losses even when they believe that these losses could potentially lead to long-term gains. They find it easier to cop-out rather than persist with their vision.

This is where Jeff Bezos's philosophy of being "stubborn on vision, but flexible on details" is truly inspirational. The Founder & CEO of Amazon has time and again demonstrated his ability to stand by hugely risky decisions and take on short-term losses because he firmly believed that those decisions would eventually bring long-term gains for his organization. Amazon Web Services and Amazon Kindle are two good cases of Bezos taking on immense pressure from investors and analysts for years on end, but still remaining stubborn on his vision and not giving up until he made enormous successes of these initiatives.

The key, as you can see, is for an entrepreneur to be able to handle the short-term pressures without compromising on the long-term vision... be flexible on the details, if needed, yet stay true to the ultimate vision. 

Bezos makes it seem all too simple, but believe me, it most certainly isn't.

 

POSITIONAL POWER and PERSONAL POWER

"...if you want to test a man’s character, give him power."

When he uttered those profound words, I guess Abraham Lincoln was hinting at a person's Positional Power, which can be given as well as snatched. As the name suggests, Positional Power is the authority which comes from the 'office' or 'position' to which the leader is appointed or elected. Since it is derived from external sources, this type of power is not permanent, and can quickly evaporate with the loss of the leader's office or position. Politics and military are lines of work where Positional Power plays a significant role in getting a job or task executed.

Personal Power on the other hand comes from within an individual… it is the authority which is derived from the personal traits of the leader - like character, knowledge, skill, eloquence and charisma. Since these attributes are internal to the person, this type of power cannot be taken away by extraneous factors like the leader's position or job title. Sports persons and movie stars fall under the category of people who wield an enormous degree of Personal Power over their followers.

Neither type of power is “better” than the other… an effective leader uses both Positional Power and Personal Power judiciously and wisely to acquire and influence followers as well as earn their respect, admiration and loyalty.

Positional Power is used in situations where the leader does not want to encourage a discussion with the followers to arrive at a decision… they are simply “told” what needs to be done. No questions asked! On the other hand, there are also situations where followers have to be “sold” an idea… here the leader uses the charm of his/her Personal Power to accomplish the goal.

It's not surprising, then, that most successful leaders have the decisiveness of an army general as well as the magnetism of a rockstar!