It's ALL About Connections!
Connecting over Platforms
Happy Father’s Day.
To all the parents and would be parents, let me quote my favourite poet Kahlil Gibran on Children-
Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself
They come through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you
You may give them your love but not your thoughts
For they have their own thoughts
You may house their bodies but not their souls
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams
You may strive to be like them
But seek not to make them like you
For life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday
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I am also reaching out to experts who can contribute to Digital Street Regional Consultation - Into the jungle- Nature circuit hosted by IFHE Bengaluru- 1-2-3 July 2022. Would be glad to send you an invite if you would like to contribute or if you could recommend an expert. Please scroll down to the Opportunities section for more info.
See you in Bengaluru soon.
DTW
During the Week, Microsoft announced the retirement of Internet Explorer after nearly 27 years. For more than two decades , IE was our gateway to Internet and was also the centre of US government 1998 anti-trust case against Microsoft accusing it of making it - “…. unreasonably difficult for consumers to uninstall Internet Explorer and use a competing browser”.
They were the glory days of Internet Explorer. Of course, later on “it was a good tool to download other browsers”
RIP IE.
Internet Explorer mediated our relationship with the online world and was in fact one of the earliest platforms available for free! Anyways, I went through school, college and even early part of my academic career in pre-platform era and hence most of our life was lived outside digital platforms.
I have written about platforms and relationships in an earlier newsletter during the lockdown in 2002 where I examined our relationship with platforms through two lenses - First, ability of platforms to strengthen the connection via other and/or off-line interactions especially use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Second, separation/aggregation of different facets/relationships of our lives.
We are seeing use of relationship platforms in creating offline interactions usually via cross-platform integration.Though it sounds strange and sad at the same time , AI may show more warmth than some of the counsellors might manage in such difficult and overwhelming circumstances. There is an interesting use case in Replika which is projected as “your personal companion for mental wellness”
Talking about mental wellness, Ill- effects of social media platforms on users’ mental health and loneliness can be summarised in one expression- FOMO. According to a University of Pennsylvania study there is a clear causal link between less social media use and improvements in loneliness and depression.
It is ironic, but perhaps not surprising, that reducing social media, which promised to help us connect with others, actually helps people feel less lonely and depressed.”
Imagine the number of ways in which your relationship with social media platforms intermediated by a smartphone can create anxiety and push you into a difficult space. There might be a slightly higher likelihood that depressed and/or lonely people might be on social media more than normal and that’s going to push them further down onto negative emotions or experiences. Of course, blaming just social media platforms might be too simplistic but situation might get out of control when combined with multiple other variables like living by oneself especially far from family and friends coupled with a lack of meaningful community thus leading to the loneliness epidemic.
On the positive side, Social Media platforms have helped many of us reach out to the loved ones from distant past or distance and have brought people together around common causes. They have been instrumental in helping disadvantaged groups live a shared life with similar people across the entire globe. For example, Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star known for Juno, Whip It, and Umbrella Academy came out as trans and used Instagram to share this news with millions of fans and well wishers. Platforms have been instrumental in creating a safe space mostly though anonymity and closed groups thereby making it easier for people to find love in all its form and shape.
Platforms especially social media may cause lot of anxiety for people who may already be suffering one or more mental health challenges including loneliness and may end up exacerbating them. But on the another hand, they have been found extremely useful for people to reach out to the common interest groups without fear and take action. I have often spoken about mental toughness and resilience as an important determinant of individual and societal success. Being in relationship helps us develop empathy and respect for others. Feeling gratitude and spirit of giving would help us tide over major and minor challenges that life throws at us. As always, glad to have you in my life and thankful for your love.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I joined my colleagues and members of Alumni Relations Cell, IBS Hyderabad in welcoming our illustrious alumni for SUMMIT 2022.
Over a nostalgic evening, I could catch up with students from multiple batches going all the way to MBA1997. It was such a pleasure to see my students doing well in career and life. Of course, some of them have started families and it was lovely to catch up with the young ones. (Also, reminds you that one is getting old !). Kudos to the volunteers from ARC mentored by Prof Mahesh Soma for putting up an exciting evening.
We were joined by Mr. Subramanyam Yadavalli, CEO, Apollo Hospitals who shared his words of wisdom with the alumni and was kind enough to pose for pictures.
One of the highlight of the evening to see the past and current leadership team of ARC in action. The current Alumni Relations Cell, IBS Hyderabad team had been working very hard over last few weeks and did a fantastic job of conducting panel discussion Conflux 2022- DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION-Current State & Future Direction organised at ICFAI Foundation For Higher Education on 17th June 2022. I am sure student participants would have benefited from wonderful insights by Komal Sinha MBA2006, Sangam Dubey MBA2010, Phani Bhushan MBA2012 and Nirvik Mitter MBA2013.
It was an awesome feeling to finally catch up in person with past presidents of ARC from 2019 onwards when Anusha finally broke the barrier and became the first woman to lead the Alumni Relations Cell, IBS Hyderabad team.
From left to right- Sweekriti Karan Bansal, MBA2023 ; Pridhi Gupta , MBA2021; Anusha Jha, MBA2020.
This picture represents a major milestone in breaking the gender stereotype in business education and corporate world. Of course , Nisha Kalantri, MBA2022 was missed and I had to “step up” to be a “placeholder” for her place in the picture.
Stay Blessed. #ItsAllAboutConnections
I Love You
Shailendra
OTM
Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available with Centre of Excellence for Digital Transformation, where we are reaching out to experts who can contribute to Digital Street Regional Consultation - Into the jungle- Nature circuit hosted by IFHE Bengaluru- 1-2-3 July 2022.
Digital Street aims to develop a framework for facilitating digital transformation of street vendors.
The Centre of Excellence for Digital Transformation (CEDT) at IFHE, Hyderabad is proposing to work on a project titled “Digital Street” in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). This action research project focusing on digital transformation of street vendors in the tourism industry is proposed to be conducted between May 1, 2022, and November 30,2022. Please let us know if you would like to contribute to the project.
We propose to hold more 3-day regional consultations and one national consultation in association with FES India office in multiple tourism circuits:
Kolkata to Shantiniketan - Heritage circuit hosted by IBS Kolkata- 22-23-24 July 2022
Golden Triangle- Historical circuit hosted by ICFAI University, Jaipur 5- 6-7 August 2022
Char Dham- Religious circuit hosted by ICFAI University, Dehradun- 29-30-31 August 2022
National Consultation on “Digital Transformation of Street Vendors”, IFHE Hyderabad, 11-12 Nov 2022
PLEASE let me know if you would like to contribute.
The likely participants may have experience in digital transformation, informal sector, travel technologies, tourism, street vendor issues amongst others. They may come from government, academics, consulting, corporate, policy making, start ups, non-profit and advocacy groups. I would also request you to also recommend experts and stakeholders for the project.
Please reply to this message with a copy to your recommended guests OR alternatively, fill in the Google Form to help us to contact them directly.