Hype and Reality

 I have lived through both- reality of change, and hype, for 65 years plus now. And I believe that I can recognise which is which, most of the time.

The internet and mobile phones synchronising communication and other technologies in a small package, were actually revolutionary, like the Wheel being invented, or 4 of them being put on a moveable frame by Ford (afford-able ones- that's a pun). 

But some of the corporate buzzwords that come and go with predictable regularity are just that- buzzwords. Nothing life-changing is going to happen, except to a few billionaires who may go bankrupt. Which is a good thing, if you see what they are doing after making those billions. 

To educate you, a smattering of buzzwords that more or less went bust or lost their pizzazz over time- Benchmarking, Globalization, Business Process Re-engineering, Agile, SaaS (not the mother-in-law, she still retains a sting), CRM, Service Quality (ha ha!), Good Governance (this is non-existent, mostly, anywhere you look), and a few more that I can't even remember.. to this you can add AI, ML, or any others you can think of.

Relevant Re-labelling

 Investor Summit= Irrelevant Summit.

Davos Meet= Devastating Meet

Incubation Centre= Geometric Illusion

Department of Justice= Department of Jokers

Watergate= Petty Crime

ICE= Not Cool

Tariff= Weapon of Mass Destruction

Trump Presidency= Beginning of the End

Valentine's Day (New) Thoughts

 Thoughts come and go, so these are  new ones, about good old Valentine's Day.. and love.

Love makes the world go around, someone has said. True, along with lesser forms of it, like goodwill. Otherwise, we would all be dead, maybe killing each other in larger numbers than we do now. 

So what exactly should we do on Valentine's Day? Try and be loving. Start with yourself. 'Like' all the good things about yourself. Then start appreciating people who deserve to be- your friends, colleagues, family or whoever is worthy of that appreciation. Bosses too, if they are deserving. 

Sending Chocolates or Roses may not be the only way to do it. Having a chai or a Misti Doi with them (you can tell I am in Kolkata? How?) might be OK too. I do try and have a lunch or dinner or coffee, with those whom I like and appreciate, whenever I can- not just on February 14th. Any day when we can do that. 

Being Human is not a slogan, or should not be. It should be an everyday feature of our lives. Be nice, and most often, it will brighten up your life, along with some others' . 

Vintage Pics of IIMB Profs

 Some vintage pics of profs. and some of us at IIM Bangalore, 1982-84.

Shyamal Roy, Prakash Apte and batchmate Sriram aka Thalaivar

Henri Fayol (Srikant Payal) , Jagadish, Tathagata Ghosh

                                                      Vish, Usha, Dash, me, Pradeep Chittoor

Bandmaster - a recent one, with a Golden Jubilee t shirt.

Ghostwriting

 If I were a ghostwriter, who could I write for? 

Based on their spoken language, most politicians could do with my services. 

Some academicians as well, because based on evidence from conferences or seminars, they don't seem to know where to stop.

Regulators from the education sector who speak as if they have changed the world. They haven't.

People who have conquered the world- not factually, but on Linkedin. I can always talk about how they did so, in the ghosted book.

Any more ideas, please let me know.

Retirement- Possibly for Good

 I have contemplated retirement, often. Of course, life does not always turn out the way you think it will. So it was that I came to work in Kolkata. But circumstances have forced me to relook at life's priorities. And it is very likely that I will soon retire from full time work. 

It gives you enormous freedom to think, and indulge.. in things that you could only dream about, and occasionally partake of. This may include some travel, some reading, some Golf, meeting people at various places, or in town, doing new things, and listening to music. Of course, family responsibilities, as they are, will be a part of it too.

I am of course, open to occasional forays into teaching if there's any demand from an institution. But mostly, not admin. positions that are devoid of student interactions.

Pune will be the base, or adda- not the Bong version, but the Marathi or Hindi one- as far as I can tell. Mumbaikars, beware. You might see more of me in the months to come!

It has been good while it lasted, through corporate jobs in Advertising and Market Research, and teaching through my Ph.D. to post-Ph.D. days, in the US first, and then in India.

Some great colleagues and students who turned into friends along the way, are my billion-dollar wealth.

Some Easy ways to Evaluate Learning in AI Age

 We talk about AI as if it's a villain. But plagiarism has been around long before AI happened. So what does a professor do now, to make out what's original learning from a student in his class?

There are many ways, I would think.  Some of these could be

-a Viva or oral test instead of an assignment which if it is take home, will almost certainly involve the use of AI.

-argumentative questions which require some justification of a stand taken on a controversial subject/situation, even in a case study

-ask for original stuff that AI cannot produce. 

-ask students to write something in class- not just in an exam, but regularly. If the class is large, it could be a group assignment.

-assign an AI analysis exercise where they get info from AI and then critique it for what it leaves out, or what students can add to it. Can be done in class.

Innovation in pedagogy/evaluation is always possible, to check a student's learning.