Brand “YOU” – guard it zealously

personal-branding-tips

In the corporate world there are no certainties. There is never a “sure thing”, even the best businesses fail due to circumstances beyond their control. However, there is one thing that you can control: your brand.

Let us face it. Whether we like it or not, we are constantly selling. Whether it is our agenda as a design guru, a resume, a position, even a restaurant we want to go to, we are always trying to convince others to do something that aligns with our agenda.

Great leaders do this effortlessly while others struggle. I confess, this is an area I have struggled with.  Mostly because, as people who know me will tell you, I have been known to  be blunt to the point of being obnoxious at times. Let me tell you, it doesn’t work, especially when you have a team to motivate. I have had to change. I have had to soften my pitch and listen more.

There have been many lessons along the way but the following have been critical for me establishing myself as somebody who can be trusted. Here goes:

Mean what you say, say what you mean –  Too often we are tempted to say things to mollify the other party even if we don’t mean what we say. I can think of many silver tongued individuals who always say the right things, whether they mean them or not. This is a mistake. You don’t have to be a jerk but having clarity of communication and commitment establishes you as a person of integrity and people like doing business with people like that.

Keep your commitments – Whether it is showing up for appointments on time or completing deliverables that you committed to, you have to do what you said you will if you want to be taken seriously.  There is an individual who comes to mind, who always talked big, but never delivered on time. There was always an excuse. The behavior had a direct impact on this person’s relations with his colleagues and customers and had an adverse impact on the revenue he was able to bring in to the company.

A favor is a debt – Our network defines us. It is what makes us effective. New opportunities come from it. Be a net contributor to your network rather than a leech. Any favor you ask, should always hang over you as something you have to deliver on. As my old boss Rajesh Hukku said, “…always look for ways you can help your customer, not just in what you have to sell, but in every other way…”.  Perhaps their kid is looking for math tutoring and another person in your network is a great tutor. Connecting the two of them, adds value to all three of you. Without doing too much, you would have positioned yourself favorably with your client, what you sell will need to have merit but the client is more likely to take you seriously if they feel you add value to their life.

Treat people well – People remember kindness and people remember jerks. Choose what you want to be remembered as.

Admit when you are wrong or when you don’t know – Just because you are in a leadership role, doesn’t mean that you are always right. In fact, you are probably often wrong. Don’t be afraid to admit when you are wrong or when you simply don’t know enough. It builds credibility. And a credible brand is something everyone wants to associate with.

Keep things in perspective – Salman Khan of Khan Academy said it best when talking about people being successful in their endeavors, I quote: “…(enjoy your successes) but keep them in perspective. Enjoy the successes. But when your ego starts feeling a little bit large, keep in mind the sun will supernova one day, the galaxies will collide. We are just these small little mammals on this small planet. There’s a hundred – two hundred million stars in our galaxy alone. So have peace in the little success(es) “

Agree. Disagree. Or have another viewpoint. Would love to hear your thoughts. 

LurnQ: Indian startup that’s building a personalised MOOC

Update: Some readers have asked for information about MOOCs. A (MOOC) massive open online course is an online educational resource that is available for open access via the web. MOOCs originated around 2008 within the open educational resources (or OER) movement. For more, refer to the Wikipedia link.

Online learning is undergoing a paradigm shift and this Forbes article is a pointer of the shape of things to come. Coursera, Khan Academy, Udacity, Udemy etc are growing into large public platforms and likely to give competition to universities and colleges in the years to come.  

LurnQ is an Indian startup that is building a personalised learning management solution which can aggregate and curate content from the web. The key part of LurnQ replicates an experience that everyone is familiar with – using a user’s preferences to aggregate content from the web and display it like a Facebook newsfeed (see screenshot). This is a smart strategy and takes advantage of the the benefits of recognition (rather than recall).

The LurnQ platform consists of different applications that are bundled together into a SaaS platform. The core of the platform is a repository of web content from established MOOC sources like Coursera, Udacity, Khan Academy etc. There is a learning app that displays content in multiple formats – video, slides, multimedia. And a teaching app that gives teacher the capability to put together a course.

The site has over 5000 registered users and is growing socially over 100% every month via Facebook (without ads). They also run a student ambassador program. And here’s a list of LurnQ lessons if you want to check them out.

For monetization, LurnQ is aiming Freemium. The core consumer product will remain free at all times  for learners and teachers. A premium version will be available for private or closed community deployment by individuals and organizations. Pricing details are still in the works.

For targeting growth, LurnQ plans to extend the Student Ambassador Program and drive teacher side adoption through special initiatives aimed at teachers. On the application front, they want to focus on viral features (follow lessons, users, Invite friends etc). Also possible is the route of content partnership with conferences. Mobile apps are planned at a later stage to drive on the go consumption across devices.

LurnQ looks like a refreshing idea and a spin on what others are doing in the MOOC space. The first challenge they face is getting to a threshold for their user base. The adoption of the newsfeed as a core experience is likely to help in viral growth. Though the homepage is a logged in experience and departs from the design pattern that characterises Web 2.0 user generated content platforms… this might prove an impediment to quick user acquisition.

Here’s wishing them the best in their efforts.

New generation of solutions will emerge in coming few years that will change our lives and it’s an opportunity.

Most organizations are built to solve customer / citizen’s problems or service customer needs, whether it is a non for profit or a small private business or a big enterprise. Some of them directly solve customer’s problem, some indirectly by enabling customer facing organizations through technology or raw materials.  Technology role over the period of time has been changing from organizational efficiency improvement to business enabler with a remit of solving business problems and changing user behaviors.

We are living in a complex world in which we are increasingly getting dependent on technology for everyday things. This trend is irreversible. In 2009, at the IBM impact conference in Delhi, I 1st heard about Smart Planet initiative and the concept of System of Systems. In his Keynote Neeraj Chandra, doctor get’s previous history information about the patient at real time; doctor write the prescription and the medicine get’s delivered to the  patient at his residence and so on. It’s a world where various systems from diverse set of organizations are working together seamlessly to provide a simplified experience to the citizen of this smart city. Smart Grid is another complex technology solution which is now a reality.  Organizations are now taking initiatives in building technologies for Smart Buildings, Smart Rail, Smart Water and so on.

A few years back this article in NewYork Times “The Power of the Platform at Apple” caught my attention. This article interestingly defines platform as a combination of hardware, software & services and also shares insights on how companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and others have been able to create a long term sustainable competitive differentiation for themselves. The author goes on to say that “Successful platforms aren’t confined to the technology industry. America’s interstate highway system, built by the government, could also be seen as platform. The more that people traveled it, the more opportunity it created for businesses and towns linked to its transportation network”. As technology is becoming pervasive, we will see more and more organizations investing in building platforms for multiple organizations to come together to solve citizen’s problems like the IBM Smart CityKhan Academy’s educational platforms and others.

Our world is changing at an incredible speed. Challenges such as globalization, pressure on driving efficiencies, power of the consumer, power of employees, changing world economy, individual’s dependency on technology, have driven the need for radical innovation in order to differentiate. Technology is changing faster than any other factors to a point where it is now challenging organizations current business models. Last week at Gartner’s Symposium the Keynote speakers Chris Howard, Partha Iyengar, Peter Sondergaard introduced audience to the nexus of converging forces – social, mobile, cloud and information and how it is and will continue to transform user behavior both within and outside of our organization to creating new challenges and business opportunities. Gartner’s 2012 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies chart  includes many fast maturing disruptive technologies like Social Analytics, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Mobile Payment and others, leading to significant scenarios that enterprises and governments can leverage to deliver new value and experiences to customers and citizens. Every forces in the nexus has it’s unique challenges and it brings opportunities for businesses. For example internet penetration trend and social media adoption/consumptions patterns differs from geography to geography and demography.

Entrepreneurs will leverage these new set of forces and challenges to innovate and create new solutions, services and business models. There will be a flood of solutions based on one, two or all of the forces solving point problems, but the winner will be the one who will take a holistic approach to invest in creating the platform that will enable and help participate in the ecosystem created by various enterprises, governments, other institutions and the internet.