Inspirational Stories and rise of Social Media

I am sharing my thoughts on Rise of Social Media which i shared in the form of a comment on Sukumar's blog. Wow. Reading this blog post itself was so inspiring .

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Allow me to digress and propose a Theory. For sometime I have been pondering over the real reasons for phenomenal rise of Social Media , so called Social Media Revolution, in our Society , all over World from last few years. We can say, It is a very recent phenomena . I guess, as I read more and more blogs, I have found answer to my own question. Leaving Commercial & Economical reasons aside, i guess , People all over the world were really fad up of depressing stories like Corruption, Crime , Stock market crash ( while some of it may be real, more often it is seen that truth is far far behind and wrapped up in several layers to benefit certain sections of society ) . People want to hear stories which are authentic, real, genuine, inspiring. What other way could be better than to give publishing power to every individual on this planet. And the ability to connect people to each other via networking platforms. Combine it with the people’s ability to choose. So now people can hear real stories in the form of blogs ( hearing, passing on and sharing stories which is an age old tradition in itself across cultures ), create their own "media" and collaboratively consume it too via Networking platforms. Coming from such forums, say blogs, we know, we are listening to genuine stories from real people who have no other motive but to share their own stories and personal experiences which appeal to mankind. One may argue, why not books serve the same purpose. I understand , the main distinction why blogs are popular is the power to network . While books provide great content , blogs provide content, context and the network. Had it not been for this blog, I would not have had heard the stories which need to be told and preserved and cherished forever, not just by select few but across cultures, geographical locations. Every now and then , I visit this blog, in search of a great story and i am never disappointed any time . I usually don’t spend more than 5 min on a website, not only I stroll here , I comfortably bring my chair and sit here for long hours going through posts, comments to the extent of having conversations with great minds. You would have noticed, I am often tempted to leave my footprints here cause of the truly absorbing blog posts which I get to read.

Sukumar, once again, Thank you for sharing the story of this event you attended. Truly inspirational.
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Sukumar (subscribed) said October 9, 2011, 8:32 pm:

Thanks for the kind words Ruchi. Glad you liked our posts. This particular event was a spectacular one and very inspiring. Your theory on blogging is insightful. Good one.

Sir Ken Robinson on "Do schools kill creativity" ?

Few Learning from the video " Changing Education Paradigms"
1. Every country is reforming public education system for 2 reasons
a) economic - how do we prepare our children for new century
b) cultural - how do we preseve cultural identify in a flat , globalized world


2. Raise standards of education system ,really, we should, why should you lower them ? ( laughter)

3.Problem is Current system of education system was designed, conceived, structured for a different age ,

4. Conceived in economic circumstances of industrial revolution,before 19 century no public education systems,
public education was paid for by taxation, compulsory to everyone, free at point of delivery was a revolutionary idea,
many people objected to it , they said its not possible that street kids who are not able to read and write will not benefit from it and why should we spend time on it ? assumptions
about social structures capacity , This created we-versus them mentality.

5. Model of education system was based on economic and intellectual pillars. Driven by economic imperative of the time.

6. Real intelligence consisted in certain type of deductive reasoning & knowledge of classics what we come to think of it as academic ability

7. Consequence of that is many briliant people think they are not smart ( if they are not academic/ intellectual )



1. Modern Epidemic is fictitious , ADHD is a non real epidemic in US ?
2. Divergent Thinking is a precursor to creativity
3. Collaboration is the key to success outside schools
4. Schools still run on production line approach suited to industrial age.
5. Change is required in public education systems around the globe which nurtures creativity, natural abilities of children to suit the information age
6. Can we make our learning process so engaging which enhances aesthetic experience of the learner ?
7. Why do we still categorize students as per their age group or tenure not as per their abilities ?

Ruchi as defined by a Tag Cloud

31 Questions I ever wanted to ask a Chief Learning Officer

Leaders of past knew the right answers, Future Leaders will know how to ask the right questions.
Managers ask How, Leaders ask what and why ?
Peter Drucker

here is my list of favorite questions that i always wanted to get answers from L&D Leaders.


1. Is there someone in your team who manages informal ( social) learning formally ?
2.Do you have a Leadership Development Program which is tied to Succession Planning ? Who designed that program ? Who delivers that program ?
3. What do you value more if the focus is to develop say Collaborate Globally competency , heavy content loaded deck with case studies which is just sufficient to last for a 2 day workshop or 1 hour session which focuses on lab training to learn new tools usage of which percolates new behaviors amongst target audience .
4. Share an example of one of a good design you have seen in recent times for an LD Program.
5. What are the present tools, resources, process which support Leaders Learning from Leaders in your organization ?
6. Where is the focus on LD in your organization ? On Formal classroom training sessions or informal social learning ?
7. What are the tools & platforms which support knowledge , best practices sharing ?
Does a training calendar gets published on recurrent basis for LD Programs ?
8. How many LD sessions got cancelled last month due to less enrollments ?
9. What is the average duration of a LD workshop in your organization ?
10. Do you leverage assessment center for assessing Leadership competencies ?
11. Would you rather prefer a short duration sessions at regular intervals for Leadership Development or one several months long intervention ?
12. How is the response to Blended Learning from senior leaders in your organization ?
13.What is the ususal response from Leaders in your company to a Leadership development program ? Do they consider it gyaan or fun ?
14. What makes Leaders take interest and be curious about a program that has been designed to address specific business challenge ?
15. What is the most pressing People / Leadership problem that you face in your organization ?
16. What keeps you wake at night ?
17. What when someone performed brilliantly well on your team last time ?
18. What was your response when one of your team member had a perfect recipe for disaster ? or actually had done a blunder ?
19. How often you spend time with your team members ? formally & informally
20. Do you like to coach ?
21. Do you have Executive Coaches capabilities developed in house ? Do you plan to invest in developing these capabilities in your team for organizational success ?
22. When was the last time you had much fun on a project at work ? Describe how did it feel like ?
23. Did you enjoy going through the above questionnaire ? then , go through some more...;-)
24. Is the focus on quality of LD program or operational efficiency or something else ?
25. What gets measured for your team performance ?
26. How does a typical scorecard for your team looks like ?
27. How many dollars were wasted due to non- participation by Senior Leaders in LD programs that were designed to solve business problems.
28. Are workshops conducted in house or at outside location ?
29. Which is that one book that you like going back to often ?
30. What does success look like for your team ?
31. Do you write , tweet , share yourself online ?

Program for Online Teaching POTCERT11

Hello Friends, I am Ruchi, a HR consultant from India. More about me Twitter @rucsb
Wow. Just as i expected the program to be, I am very very happy and excited to be part of this wonderful , online, open program. I Thank Lisa M Lane and Jim Sullivan extensively for this wonderful initiative. I hope to make many friends, meet plenty of brilliant minds , educators, teachers, students, via this program . I am here to learn. And i intend to Learn as much about pedagogy as about technology. I have spent last 2 years and a half learning about Web 2.0 , emerging technologies , Social software platforms ,user generated content and as i learn more about it, i think there is no stoppage to it. I consider myself an early adopter of technology. Technology , which i can comprehend eg Web 2.0 ;-), excites me. Enrolling into this program is a deliberate attempt to learn as well as internalize to put pedagogy before technology.

I already have a blog , so i would post relevant posts with potcert11 tag.
I have setup DIGGO account for keeping track of bookmarks.
I have setup a separate Face book account for making friends with participants of this program.
I have purchased book online. "Teaching Online by Susan Ko and Steve Rosensen"
I have started aggregating content via RSS Google Reader .
My PLE for this program mainly consist of

1. POT on Facebook

2. Pedagogy First Blog

3. Diggo MCCPOT

As i was going through the introductory blogposts from other participants of this program , my confidence is just doubled that together we will Rock and make this program a success. Cheers to all of us !

One Love One World - Peace through Music

What are you waiting for !

Another favorite song of mine from A R Rehman.

Inspiring "Hum Mein Hai Hero" - Music by A .R . Rehman

A True Story

As appeared on TruthorFiction 

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a home-spun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Harvard.

“We want to see the President “the man said softly.

“He’ll be busy all day “the secretary snapped.

“We’ll wait” the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president..

“Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they’ll leave” she said to him. The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him “We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”

The president wasn’t touched….He was shocked. “Madam” he said, gruffly, “we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”

“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly ” We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly,

“Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?”

Her husband nodded. The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name: - Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading. And in this impression, we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us. Thus we tend to lose our potential good friends, employees or customers.

Thoughts on Leadership Development Program

What are the key expectations of Business Leaders , HR Leaders from participants after this program ?
Does performance gap exist in business in present situation ?
Are participants motivated to go through an extensive program ? ( Intrinsic motivation levels)
How much is peer support / Leader support available ?
What are the different forums for Leaders to bridge knowledge gaps ? Existing tools, methods, platforms, forums for knowledge sharing ?
What are the existing knowledge gaps of participants ?
Who can give us insights into the existing situation / as is situation at present ?
What are the expectations of participants from the Program ? ( In terms of knowledge building, skill & capability building )
What is the current motivation level of participants to complete this program ?
What is it that participants need to know which they do not know as present ? ( Knowledge gaps)
What are the main challenges Leaders face in their day to day operations ? ( Performance gaps)
What are the key skills participants would like to develop post completion of program ?
What are the new capabilities they would like develop as Business Leaders ?
Names of Leaders from business who have driven non linear growth successfully ?
What are the existing forums / methods for Strategic knowledge sharing ?
What are the current sources for gaining market insights, competitor information ?
Brief Profile of the organization ?
Roles and responsibilities of participants and their KRAs ?
Typical internal communications towards end customer deliverables ?
Typical customer engagements in Business .
Understand Business in depth ..( deck or presentation around same)
Understand Delivery process in depth ( deck or presentation around same)
Understand participants strengths and areas of improvement in relation to Strategic Alignment , Advanced Coaching, Customer Relationship Management
Understand challenges faced by participants in dealing with internal and external customers ?
What are the critical success factors for participants ?
What are existing tools, structure, processes in Business ( for this group of participants)
How would success look like to them ?
Key performance inhibitors ?
Assessment centre proposal with details ?
Who is the Facilitator who will facilitate X workshop ? Virtual or ILT ?
Who will facilitate Advanced Coaching session ? Content / Instruction methodology ?
4D of Execution - Content / role plays/ scenarios ? Details
Leader Broadcast ? What are the key themes ? What topics ? End goal ?
Anything else you think i should know .

Virtual Learning: Changing face of Learning

How Does Enterprise Social Networking Change the Role of Learning Professionals?
Enterprise Social networking platforms have the power not just to change the way how people do their jobs but also how jobs roles are getting evolved for professionals especially in the Learning organization.
If we talk to any learning leader today, one of the biggest opportunity is integrating technology for effective learning. Web 2.0 provides ample opportunities to do that. Learning professionals need to resort to innovative methods to complement formal learning events so that learner’s performance on the job goes up.
Generation Y is entering into the workforce who has grown up using the emerging technologies. They are the digital natives and like to embrace social media and social networking technologies with ease. People like to connect and learn from one another. According to US Dept of labor and commerce 80% of the learning happens informally, outside the classroom .Social learning or informal learning is one of the oldest forms of learning being propelled and catalyzed even more due to rising social networking platforms. I can safely say that Social learning is increasingly becoming prevalent. The role learning professionals can play in this changing context and environment is very critical and important.
I’d like to take a little more time here to start a discussion about how I expect individual job roles in the learning organization to change as social learning becomes increasingly common.
At the same time, I think that it’s really important for learning professionals to remember that despite new emerging technologies, formal learning continue to play a role in enhancing business performance. We, learning professionals, must think how we can strengthen existing learning process and embed the new Social learning process into existing learning programs, courses or curriculum as we ourselves witness a Social revolution both within and outside the organization.
Taking the larger context of formal and informal learning in a socially networked world, learning professionals have the opportunity to play a critical role: that of a community facilitator and / or community curator.
Community design is such that it puts the focus back on learners/ workers. The job of community facilitator isn’t necessarily an easy one – team will have to continuously ask the right questions and find new ways to encourage participation. As a matter of fact, learning organization most likely already has the skills and capabilities needed to serve as effective community facilitators – they just need to apply these capabilities towards a new way of thinking about learners and the learning process.
I believe the solution to existing challenges faced by learning organization lies in thinking how our role as learning professionals change with the changing demands , learning styles and preferences of our learners/workers. Facilitator’s role must evolve from being on stage to a virtual guide by side. :-)

IIM-C EPHRM Program begins !

I applied for IIM-C Executive Program in Human Resource Management . Yippie, i got selected. The competition was tough. This program is meant for working professionals . Only total of 100+ professionals were selected from the total pool of 500 + candidates . The selection was basis academic profile,statement of purpose, and achievements . Next year onwards, there will be a CAT like examination as entrance test.

The program will be delivered via Satellite technology in partnership with Hughes.
Yesterday was the first day for Orientation and technical briefing. We got a virtual tour of IIM-C campus / auditorium .

Most of the features are of live virtual classroom are same as Centra and Elluminate, so it was pretty easy to participate. Candidates were jubilant as we all were excited about being part of IIM , one of the most prestigious management schools in India/ Asia Pacific.

Thanks to proliferation to Social networking sites,we, participants decided to quickly form a Linkedin group to stay connected with each other throughout the program.
Next class is briefing session by Program Director from IIM-C. Look forward to exciting journey .