How Lord Vishnu is associated with Economic Activities?

In the Vedas, Vishnu is the name of a minor god, who is younger brother of Indra and is known for the three steps he took to span the world. But later, in the Puranas we see a shift in Hindu Mythology and he becomes the preserver of the world. What preserve the World? Good governance or dharma? What is good governance? Its adequate wealth generation and adequate wealth distribution.

Vishnu has always been associated with economic activities, just as Krishna as cowherd, is linked to animal husbandry, while his elder brother, Balarama, holds a plough and is linked to agriculture. As Ram, he is considered as fair and just, alluding to proper distribution and wealth. In fact, Vishnu is called down to earth every time the earth is plundered and the earth appeals to him in the form of the earth goddess, Bhu-devi who takes the form of a cow.

In fact, cow is a metaphor for making all kings Gopala or cowherds, those who ensure the earth is being ‘milked’ correctly. What is interesting is that the form of Vishnu connects him with economic activity. And this is best understood when we compare and contrast him with Shiva who became equally powerful god in Puranic times as compared to his less popular Vedic form, Rudra.

Shiva is imagined as a Hermit, linked to desolate mountains, caves and crematoriums. He is smeared with Ash. He wears animal hide. He can be seen wandering alone in the forest, trident and rattle drum in the hand. In contrast, Vishnu is linked to an ocean of milk, to butter, to rivers, to woods, to farmlands and pasturelands. He wears silk fabric, assuming the existence of farmers, spinners, weavers, dyers and washers.

He wears gold ornaments, assuming the existence of miners, smelters, smiths and jewelers. Shiva ash is made effortlessly by burning wood, dung and corpses. Vishnu sandalpaste demands effort. The aromatic stick has to be rubbed on a wet rock for a long period of time. Just comparing and contrasting ash and sandalpaste makes one realize the difference in the philosophy of Shiva and Vishnu, seen through an economic lens. Shiva is about letting go and accepting what is. Vishnu is about making efforts to enjoy the good things in life.

This though recurs when we see how they associate with milk. Shiva is linked to raw unboiled unprocessed milk. Vishnu loves butter and ghee, creation of which demands efforts. Shiva does not seek milk, Vishnu demands to be served, and even enjoys stealing butter and distributing it to all. Shiva is the bull, who cannot be domesticated and but still is vital to economy as bulls make the cows pregnant. Castrated bulls, or bullocks, can be beasts of burden but they cannot make cows pregnant. Vishnu is linked to cows, which is vital for rural economy.

Shiva sits still on the top of mountain, withdrawing from the world, outgrowing hunger. And if there is no hunger, there is no demand, or supply, or market.  The goddess tells Shiva that while outgrowing one’s own hunger is good, surely taking care of other people hunger, feeding others is also good. Thus a counter point is added to Shiva’s hermit ways. Shiva’s hermit ways challenges the hunger of man, but so does the idea of generosity that the Goddess speaks of and Vishnu embodies.

Yes, hunger sustains the market. But whose hunger? One hunger or other people’s hunger. What hunger sustains the world? The shareholder’s or the consumer’s or the employee’s. Capitalism is obsessed with shareholder wealth. Communism with employee’s wealth. Capitalism celebrates consumerism. Communism mocks it. Yet a prefect ecosystem is one where everyone’s hunger is satisfied and more importantly satiated. A satiated Vishnu feeds the world, thus creating Vaikuntha.

Lessons from Cambridge Analytica Incident

If FB users can learn one important lesson from the Cambridge Analytica Incident, where the data of nearly 50 Million Facebook users was allegedly used to manipulate the USA Elections, it is this, there’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to sharing personal data like images, posts and preferences on social networking sites.

Though these sites and apps are purportedly free because they do not charge users, it is a no brainer that they get their Return on Investment (ROI) from the mountains of personal data that can be mined with the help of algorithms to enhance user experience and sell relevant advertisements.

Gullible users willingly share their personal data with these sites without understanding the consequences. However, even knowledgeable users face a conundrum when signing up for such sites and apps. For instance, whenever a user downloads an app, it tells you all it is capable of. You have to click on the agree button if you want to avail of the services.

The Facebook app, among other things, tells you that it can directly call numbers, read phone status and identity, read your text messages, take pictures and videos, record audio, record your approximate location, precise location, modify your contacts, real call logs, read your contacts, add or modify calendar events and send emails to guests without owners knowledge, read calendar events plus confidential information, read, modify or even delete the contents of your memory card and add or remove accounts.

Smartphone and mobile apps can make one a smart and efficient employee with all the information they collect as a trade-off, similar to how websites and e-commerce sites provide better services with the help of cookies, small pieces of code that track your online behavior and predict your next move with great accuracy.

Besides, ad networks may gather the information apps collect, including your location data, and may combine it with the kind of information you provide when you register for a service or buy something online to send you targeted ads that may be relevant to someone with your preferences and in your location.

Privacy by design effectively means that privacy principles such as preventing harm, transparency, choice, etc., are built into the architecture of the product itself. Thus, businesses need to include privacy and its related principles at the time of building of the product itself and not as an afterthought. Further, given that privacy by design presumes that the user is central to the entire system, meaningful consent and the real ability to withdraw this consent is another fundamental premise.

In many cases such as Aadhaar where the case in sub judice, quasi-government bodies will consistently pressure you to sign up, failing which you will have to run to the courts to queue up for justice. So you may end up signing up for these services, either because you feel helpless to fight the state or just do not have enough time to fight the system. India desperately needs a separate Privacy Act. The Right to Privacy, as enshrined in the Constitution, does not suffice when it comes to information security.

India also lacks a comprehensive policy on data protection or online security – the Indian Information Technology Act (2008) or amended rules in 2011 are not adequate. The Electronic Frontier Foundation advocates that “tech companies can and should do more to protect users, including giving users far more control over what data is collected and how that data is used.

Globally, the European Union (EU) is the most stringent when it comes to data protection. After four years of preparation and debate, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was finally approved by the EU Parliament on 14 April 2016. The enforcement date is 25 May 2018, and companies that do not comply with this law may face heavy fines. GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) and “was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy”, according to GDPR Portal.

The positive fallout of the Facebook data compromise is that the Indian government, too, is firming up its long-term strategy to secure data of citizens, especially those using social media. As Algorithms increasingly enhance user experience and the bottom line of firms, users must not let their guard down since these very algorithms can enable unparalleled invasions of privacy.

India's Internet Language Tree

Large Digital Platforms such as Google, Microsoft, YouTube and Facebook have stepped up their efforts to engage the non-English speaking Internet user by speaking in multiple tongues for a few years now. However entertainment is still the driving force behind much of the user engagement. Now many are looking at ways to lock in the next wave of Internet users with language support for critical services, thereby increasing user stickiness and brand engagement on their platforms.

Nearly 500 Million Internet non-users are likely to go digital if Internet is provided in a language of their choice. In the next four years, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu speaking Internet users will form 30 per cent of the total Indian language Internet user base, according to a Google-KPMG report on Indian languages (2017).

Internet platforms are turning polyglots not just because they see the rising importance of tapping into a user base that exists far beyond the top tier cities, but also brands are looking to ride their services to expand the customer base or improve employee efficiencies. Cab aggregator Ola has implemented language localization across the board to an extent that around 80 percent of the drivers use the language in the vernacular format. Google recently rolled out support for a number of languages on their proprietary keyboard or G-board.

Social Media has played a key role in driving the language train. Facebook has been actively prompting users to post content in their local language for years now. YouTube is collaborating with content creators across major cities like Hyderabad and Mumbai through fan events and creative spaces in order to encourage regional content.

There are 300 regional language channels on YouTube in India with over a million subscribers mark. Almost 70% music and video streamed online, 50% of messaging service usage and 50% news consumption across the country is done in regional languages. Globally, China managed to achieve the highest number of Internet users by using Mandarin script content, so much so that Chinese is the second most popular language on the Internet after English. In contrast, Indic content accounts for barely 0.1 % of the worldwide Internet content.

The potential for brands across the spectrum, not just advertisers and entertainers is huge. At present, barely 15% ticket booking, 17% online job searching and 21% banking services consumed online is done in regional languages. This reflects the restrictions of access of such critical Internet service in Indic, which in turn is limited Internet penetration in rural India and amongst the economically weaker section. Out of 481 Million Internet users in India almost 335 Million consume online content in Indic languages.

Bengaluru based technology startup Reverie Language Technologies, which provides Language as a Service (LaaS) solutions notes that a user’s online journey starts with content consumption, followed by engagement, which is followed by transactions or conversions. When the number of transaction-users grows, businesses will start looking into providing them with relevant localized solutions to solve their pain points. With 200 Million rural users coming online this year, companies will have to take efforts to help these users navigate through the digital world.

Economics of Privacy in Digital World

Information capture sits at the heart of important parts of the digital economy. The transaction in online services is radically different from what we usually encounter. We voluntarily pay in personal data rather than cash. This unique contract creates several complications as far as privacy goes.

Our relationship with companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon is at once and sour. These services are made irresistible because of their personalized user experience. The algorithms sitting at the heart of these companies guide you to what is most likely to interest you. But the world is now waking up to the harsh fact that the same process also raises privacy concerns as it encroaches into hitherto intimate areas of our lives.

Digital exchange – personal information for free access to platforms often means that privacy comes at a cost. Customers are better off sharing information about themselves with marketers because it makes life easier. Junk email or unsolicited phone calls that are an annoyance to consumers become less so when the company can target consumers better through data analysis.

However, the potential for personal data to be abused – for discrimination, manipulation and censorship is a huge cause for concern. The new world of large server farms plus algorithms that sift through data to seek patterns can sometimes make us the victims of targeted manipulation. So why do people have to share their data with the digital behemoths? The simple answer is that they choose to do so. In some cases, the consent to collect information is presumed, and the degree of privacy the user experiences is a function of self-help; you can disable some surveillance if you can figure out how. In other cases, customers explicitly agree to privacy policies that basically define the control they don’t have.

Since Businesses value the data more, imposing onerous “opt-in” rules is a significant transaction cost. This could jeopardize the ability of digital companies to provide services, and significantly degrade user experience. The efficient solution would be to award the initial ownership of data to the business, but let users opt out if they want to.

If you sell your car, the owner of the car can’t legitimately influence your life after the conclusion of the transaction. Personal data can be used to manipulate people in ways they don’t recognize at the time of sharing their data. This is something that current systems designed to facilitate the one-time transfer of personal information to the digital company and without the individual’s subsequent information to the digital company and involvement in decision making about the use of the collected data, don’t take into account.

Traditionally, private property has been the main barrier to privacy invasion. As monitoring and recording capabilities are embedded in our surroundings, there is a need to redefine private spaces that will not be infringed. The government and businesses should start by adopting privacy-by-design principles in their data accumulation practices. Governments and Supreme courts all over the world will have to rethink their stand in order to secure citizens privacy and control over their data and the meaning of such words as “property” and “consent” in relation to personal data sharing.

7 Ways to increase Mobile Engagement

Mobile users have traditionally been surfers rather than shoppers. Mobile conversion rates are still less than half of desktop conversion rates. Though there is an opportunity for e-commerce websites to increase their online sales through mobile, barriers do exist. Mobile checkout is less convenient than it is on desktop, and a majority of mobile consumption occurs in apps rather than websites.

With the mobile first index finally arriving and voice search continuing to climb in popularity, now is the time to re-optimize mobile e-commerce strategy to improve your bottom line. There are some ways one can improve mobile conversion rates.

Prioritize Speed - Google recently announced that mobile page speed would become a ranking factor in July 2018. Page speed is essential to your user experience and bounce rate. DoubleClick even released a report that found that 53 percent of users will bounce from a mobile site that takes more than three seconds to load.

Improve Checkout ­­- One of the main reasons people avoid making purchases over mobile is because the checkout process can be quite cumbersome. Besides having to type in credit card information using public WiFi with tiny keys, navigation becomes a huge issue. Primarily, you should attempt to limit the number of clicks it takes to reach checkout. This is one of the advantages of a mobile landing page. For your home website, a checkout should contain payment information, address and so on, all on one page, and make checkout and taps-to-action as painless as possible.

Scale down content and Images - Optimize your content management system (CMS) to serve specific content for mobile users. Write shorter headlines that are more likely to attract user attention through social news feed or on a mobile search engine results page (SERP). Provide clear call-to-action (CTA) phrases that are shorter, and leverage more power words. One way to organize content on your website is by using modular design.

Optimize Messaging for Mobile - Do your research on consumer behavior and habits over mobile. Mobile devices are much more than a device for shopping or Googling information to outsmart your friend; they’re part of many people’s identity. Adjust your text ads for mobile to acquire more clicks. Provide compelling benefits with simple descriptions.

Call to action with tactile reactions - It’s imperative that you include a call to action above the fold of your mobile webpage. Provide visual responses to each completed action on your website.

Remarket with SMS and push notifications - Use mobile devices capabilities to remarket to customers through push notifications and short message service (SMS) messages. Use push notifications to advertise time limited promotions to people every so often. This can even be used to drive ads to people if they’re near your business, using location based tracking. To convert leads leverage urgency and fear of missing out (FOMO) within notifications. This could include time-sensitive promotions or buy one, get one (BOGO) free offers.

The mobile search economy continues to grow and take over search. Mobile search and advertising are fairly limited by the devices themselves. This means you need to re-optimize your strategy using different messaging and alternative marketing strategies to improve your conversion rate.

The War of the Wallets

A recent hoarding at Metro Station in Delhi took commuters by surprise. The eye popping 50% cashback offer on mobile prepaid recharge was not from a usual suspect Paytm but from American online retail Amazon. Amazon Pay the digital arm of Amazon aims to make the digital payment experience seamless for customers. By launching mobile recharges, it is extending the same convenience to everyday uses for the customer.

Though Amazon might offer a simplistic view of venturing into a segment where Paytm overwhelmingly dominates, the fight for share of Indian wallets will get bloody and dirty as incumbents fire fresh salvos. The rules of the game are changing; it won’t be just survival of the fattest. As big boys flex their bulging financial muscle, the winner would be one who offers the best deal both in terms of money and experience.

The online payment landscape in India is set for exciting times. There will be a combination of innovation and offers like never before. Though Paytm has a head start, there is a long road ahead for the leader as well as other players. With less than 5% of retail payments being digital and a massive government push towards and incentives to adopt digitization, the field is wide open.

Launched in September last year, Tez – Google UPI based digital payments app claims to have 13.5 Million active users, and has processed 250 Million transactions. Tez is a made for India product, designed specifically for Indian users and is available in seven Indian languages. Amazon has also enabled cash customers to pay for their recharges online by offering a cash load service at their doorsteps. Once a customer loads cash, they can enjoy the convenience of recharging their phone online.

It’s not only Amazon and Google who are stepping on the gas. India’s biggest smartphone maker, Samsung, too has been doing its bit to push its mobile payment service – Samsung Pay. It is the only payment platform that can be used at retail outlets by tapping the phone at existing point of sale terminals. It eliminates the need to carry physical plastic in the form of credit and debit cards. As big players penetrate deeper into the market to expand their play, the fight will get intense.

The players have their work cut for them, while discounts and freebie grab early users. The last men standing will be the wallet that customers gravitate to, even after the dust raised by freebies settles. It boils down to providing not just the best experience, but answering questions about security and conflict resolution.  

Become an Indispensable Employee

They say nobody is indispensable. Yet, companies go to great lengths to retain workers who are seen as critical for their operations. They give huge increments, offer promotions and even stock options as inducements to keep these employees from leaving. Here’s a look at some attributes that can make you indispensable at work.

Master tasks - Having a USP can make you indispensable. This doesn’t mean you monopolize that skill and put up hurdles for others who want to learn that task. But you become so good at it that no one else is entrusted with that function. Upskilling has become easier now with the launch of massive open online courses.

Mentoring - Organizations value employees who mentor and train junior colleagues. Mentoring engenders trust among teams and inspires employees to perform to their highest ability. At a broader level, it helps develop and retain talent. The idea is to become valuable by supporting and adding value to other employees. The support can even be in the form of help in everyday functions or stepping in to firefight when a teammate is in a spot.

Volunteer to do more - Your willingness to take up new tasks and challenges will send a signal to the management that you are willing to go that extra mile to add value to the organization. If the company or your division is facing a problem and you have a solution in mind, go to your boss with a rational decision making model and a detailed action plan. First identify the cause of the problem. Then think of all the potential solutions. There could be several options, each having its pros and cons, analyze the feasibility of each solution and then select the best option.

Adaptive Learning - Individuals who embrace change and are able to quickly adapt are seen as more valuable than those who cling to outdated principles and concepts that are past their expiry date. Don’t be afraid of change but welcome it. Experiment with new ideas that are meant to improve productivity and performance.

Take responsibility - This requires a pro-active approach, especially because this work is not part of your assigned duties. Find out the tasks that irk them and then look for ways to do these tasks. If you do this regularly, your boss will start relying on you more and more. Remember, the more irksome the task, the happier he will be that someone else is doing it. Once he gets used to it, he will ensure that you are retained by the company at all costs.

Demonstrate Integrity - Treat others the way you want to be treated. This ensures that one gives due respect to colleagues and customers. Honesty also encourages healthy relationships within an organization. Teams work better if their boss is honest about the objective and outcome of the project. Honesty does not extend to compromising the confidentiality of certain information. A person of integrity will maintain confidentiality if required.

Be Reliable - Be consistently reliable in everything you do. Also, make sure you don’t make false promises. Before you make a commitment, be sure that you will be able to keep it. Instead of promising too much and delivering too little, it is better to scale down the promise and then delight the boss by doing more than you committed. This way you send out the message that you don’t want to make false promises but are willing to go that extra mile to deliver.

Build ties - It is important to build good relationships, not only within your team and with the people you report to, but also with others in the organization. Relationships with clients are also be critical. In some situations, an individual’s relations with a client can make him indispensable. A company may not want to let go of someone if knows that his exit might take away a lot of business. Invest in your relationships with clients to improve your standing within the company.

World without Albert Einstein

Can you imagine living in a world without the discoveries made by Albert Einstein? Regarded as the world’s greatest scientist of all times, his theories on Energy, Gravity, Matter, Space and time paved way for significant advances in these fields. Let’s take a look at some of his theories on modern science.

Albert Einstein and NASA - In the year 1905, Albert Einstein’s theories about light, gravity, motion, mass and energy began a new era of science. These led to the big-bang theory which focuses on how the universe was born while also leading to concepts like black holes and dark energy. Many of current space science projects are built on Einstein’s famous work for NASA “Beyond Einstein” research programme.

Brownian motion – This could by far be the biggest of Einstein discoveries, where his observation of the zigzag movement of particles in suspension, helped in proving the existence of atoms as well as molecules. Einstein’s theory helped in significant statistical predictions about a motion of particles which are randomly distributed in a fluid.

The Sky is Blue – Albert Einstein finally settled the case, “Why Sky is Blue?” in 1911 after calculating the detailed formula for the scattering of light from molecules and this was proved right with an experiment.

Theory of Relativity and E=mc² - This theory helped explain that time and motion are relative to absorbers, as long as the speed of light is constant while natural laws are the same throughout the universe. Einstein proposed that gravity is a curved field which is found in the space-time continuum that is created by the existence of mass. This theory changed much in the way how scientists look at the world and also set the foundation for several modern inventions, including the nuclear bomb as well as the nuclear energy.

Einstein Refrigerator – Albert developed a refrigerator design which used Ammonia, water, butane and required no energy to work, but it is still one of the least known inventions by the scientist. Considering the energy demands, companies throughout the world might realize the importance of cooling and refrigeration without the need for consuming more energy, and develop this concept even further in the near future.

Manhattan Project – Einstein created the Manhattan project which is a research supported by the US that in 1945, led to the development of the atomic bomb. However, after learning the destruction which was caused by the atomic bomb in Japan during World War II, he started campaigning for a ban on nuclear weaponry.

Quantum theory of Light – This theory highlighted that light is a composition of small packets of energy which are called photons and have wave like properties. In this theory, Einstein also explained the process of emission of electrons from metals which are stuck by lightning. This was called the photoelectric effect and the theory later led to the invention of the modern day Television, which gave technologists a new vision to come up with devices having screens. The Quantum theory of Light became an important discovery for several branches of science and Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 for the same.

Planning Career in Job changing Market

Remember good old days. The streets were safe. Goods were cheap. Jobs were aplenty. You got promoted every few years. You had an income for life. But the world has changed. Neither your city nor your job is safe anymore. Hiring intentions are at a 12-year low in India as a Manpower Group Report. Businesses are evolving rapidly. Whatever you do now will transform in three years or your employer will get it done cheaper and faster either through technology or by a younger placement.

Dying Assets

Skills – Sticking to your current skill set is a sure shot way to becoming redundant. Are you an accountant who knows how to keep books? This single skill earlier could get you a job and keep you there for a lifetime? Just a few years back, this skill became useless if you could not use accounting software. Similarly, a single change called GST meant that your contribution to your employer dropped dramatically unless you were willing to learn new skills.

Knowledge – The knowledge that you held today and spent years in acquiring and polishing is worth far lesser if you take a single year sabbatical from continuous learning. With Internet penetration, knowledge is incredibly cheap and even the youngest patient and legal client questions and double checks the service he is getting versus the price he is paying. Similarly, companies are learning that it is noncompetitive to pay senior professionals more than their knowledge alone. A youngster with less than half the experience can acquire that knowledge at a substantially lower salary.

Labor – Work hard and you will succeed is terrible standalone advice in the current job market. For every job that requires human hours, someone somewhere is working on technology to reduce time required to do a task to make you either more productive or redundant. From manufacturing to services to knowledge work, your labor hours are being replaced by technology solutions that help your company reduce costs and increase productivity.

Technology – Massive changes in the technology that you used 2-3 years back forced you to head back to the classroom to upgrade or become irrelevant. Relying on your comfort with current technology in your job is the fastest route to losing your job to the next savvy professional who comes along. Artificial Intelligence in language/data, robotics/3D printing, Internet of Things in goods/manufacturing/labor and Internet/computing in knowledge/education are rapidly evolving technology spaces where your comfort levels in using them needs to keep pace to stay professionally relevant.

Growth Assets

Sales – The Primary difference between being merely skilled being successful lies in how you work with others. To achieve this, you require the ability to communicate and sell your ideas to others. Work on your negotiation skills to master the art of reaching agreement on common goals and process.

Learning – Stay curious and stay hungry. If your current skills and knowledge are redundant, the only thing that you will ever require is the ability to learn. This is an acquired skill. The first step is to be intensely curious. Observe children who have the steepest learning curves simply because they are constantly curious about the world around them. No learning will ever go waste and no employer will ever let go of someone who can connect the dots across business and solve problems.

Creating – You will do well to set aside at least two hours every weekend to just pause and think. Ask yourself what happened in the previous week or month, what new knowledge you acquired and how you can improve your plan for the future.

How to Survive

Be Paranoid – What could go wrong in your job? How will you find your next source of income?

Double Up – Get a second career, work a second shift, sell to a second client or acquire a second skill.

Stay fit – Investing in achieving high fitness levels increases ability and time required for learning and growth.

Stay Sharp – To stay alive and kicking in your career, keep your mind ticking by constantly challenging and feeding it.

Grow People – The way to attract and lead people is to teach them, help them solve problems and unlock their potential.

Promoting Yourself

Inherent excellence is not always enough to fetch recognition. Potential sponsors need to know about your skills, competencies, accomplishments and experiences to be encouraged to make a positive difference to your career. Being memorable equals getting picked. Self-promotion is a delicate art because if you overdo it, you come across as a braggart, and if you underplay you don’t get the accolades. There should be a line between gaining a following and becoming sickeningly self-promotional. Here are few strategies to generate more visibility -

Prepare your story – Whenever you meet any potential sponsor, seize this opportunity to promote yourself by highlighting an accomplishment or two. The trick lies in being prepared with your story and arming yourself     with data points that you can reel off at the drop of a hat.

Redefine self-promotion – Just as the objective of marketing a product is to generate awareness about its key benefits to help customers make sound decisions, think of self-promotion as a responsible communication of your talents and accomplishment to those who can leverage and benefit from this information, thus making it a win-win proposition.

Clothe it in anecdotes – Share your success story in the form of a story. Share your strategy and challenges in cracking the deal, enabling your team to learn from your experience. Engage with humility, focus on facts and ensure that those stories are relevant.

Impactful Introduction – Make your introduction audience centric and impactful by incorporating elements that differentiate and lend a recall value. For instance, something like, “I am an avid trekker, I did the Everest base camp trek last year,” is likely to stick in the minds of the audience.

Engage beyond your core work – As the organization expands, it is not easy to get noticed outside your immediate circle. Participating in forums outside core work, like knowledge sharing forums, organizational committees, corporate social responsibility initiatives, diversity etc. will help in garner visibility and connect with people beyond operational network.

Communicate with your Manager – Tracking your accomplishments and feeding your manager with regular updates is mutually beneficial – it would not only help you promote yourself, but also offer your manager data points to identify areas where you could contribute.

Engage on Social Media – Start with posting an impactful profile, portraying your expertise by engaging in discussion forums, posting articles and commenting on posts, thus creating visibility by yourself.

Reverse Promotion – When you promote others, guided by the principle of reciprocity, they promote you in return. This reverse promotion, besides enhancing your visibility and highlighting your achievements, also helps you build relationships and earn goodwill. So, be open to connecting with people, learning about and promoting, their talents and achievements.

Myths about Human Brain

The Human Brain is a power organ that controls all body functions, interprets information from the outside world and stores that information in our memory. Composed of Cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem, the brain controls our capacity for art, language, moral judgment and rational thought. But we humans have some very wrong ideas about our brain. Here are some of the myths about the common centre of the human nervous system.

Myth: We use only 10% of our brains – This is one of the most popular myths about brain. It can only be tracked down by the reverse energy theory by Harvard Psychologists William James and Boris Sidis. In 1890s, they tested the theory in the accelerated raising of a child, thereafter; James said that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim. Many of us believe that we could achieve so much more – learning new languages, musical instruments and sports – if only we applied ourselves. The myth sounds appealing because they see in terms of human potential – implying that we have huge reserves of untapped mental powers.

Myth: Brain damage is permanent – The brain can repair or compensate for certain losses, and even generate new cells. Scientists believe that the brain was unalterable, that once it was ‘broken’, it could not be fixed. However, it should be noted that the brain remains plastic throughout life, and can rewire itself in response to learning.

Myth: Doing crossword puzzles improves memory – A study led by researchers found that solving crossword puzzles initially delayed the onset of memory decline in individuals between the ages of 75 and 85, but sped the decline once a person showed signs of dementia. Today, most neurologists agree there is no harm in the activity but there is no great benefit other than making you an expert in crossword puzzles.

Myth: Being in coma is like being asleep. You wake up well rested – In real life, those emerging from coma often suffer disabilities and need rehabilitation. Scientists in 2012 found that high traffic brain regions – normally bright hubs of activity, even during sleep – are dark in coma patients while other areas inexplicably light up.

Myth: Headaches are in the brain – Headaches are thought to be caused by the tension and swelling of blood vessels of the brain. But there are no pain receptors in the brain itself. However, the meninges (covering around the brain), periosteum (covering on the bones), and the scalp have pain receptors. Headaches are actually caused by the tightening of the muscles in the neck and the head. Headaches may also be caused by an imbalance in serotonin levels. Serotonin is essential for regulating mood, sleep and blood vessel size.

Myth: The brains are biologically better suited for Math and Science, female brains are empathy – There are small anatomical differences between male and female brains. The hippocampus, involved in memory, is usually larger in women, while the amygdala, involved in emotion, is larger in men, which is quite contrary to the myth. Evidence suggests gender disparities are due to cultural expectations, not biology.

Myth: A person’s personality displays a right brain or left brain dominance – The two sides of the brain are intricately co-dependent. We often hear that one can be “right brained” or “left brained” and that those who favor the right are more creative or artistic and those who favor the left are more technical and logical. But brain scanning technology has revealed that the two hemispheres of the brain most often work together in complex processing. For example, language processing, once believed to be the provenance of the left hemisphere only, is now understood to take place in both hemispheres: the left side processes grammar and pronunciation while the right processes intonation.

The Human brain is the largest brain of all vertebrates relative to body size. It weighs about 1.5 kg. The cerebrum makes up 85% of the brain weight. Brain makes up about 2% of a person body weight. It contains about 100 Billion nerve cells. These neurons are connected by trillions of connections or synapses. It contains 1 Billion nerve fibers (axons and dendrites). At any given time, the brain can generate up to 25 watts of power. That’s enough to power a light bulb. Information can fly around your brain at 260 mph. A Human brain can have a storage capacity of anywhere between 3 terabytes and 1,000 terabytes.

Ways to stay ahead in Digital Advertising

In the last three decades, the evolution of the advertising industry has accelerated almost unimaginably. The gradual movement from Print to Audio, and then to Television, has been replaced by the leaps and bounds of the digital age. If we are going to continue to meet the industry’s needs, it’s vital that we adapt quickly to keep up. No matter how much support executives offer, though, a big part of learning is self-directed. Here are some tips:-

Be Curious – Research shows that not only are we better at learning things we are interested in, but we’re also actually more receptive to new information, regardless of subject, when we’re working on something that inspires our curiosity. With practice, we can cultivate curiosity as a habit.

Emulate – When we see something that works, whether it’s a stunning ad campaign or an innovative workflow, replication alone will yield few results. When we come across a successful campaign it behooves us to ask what problem was solved or what challenge was overcome. By bringing this curiosity to bear effective solutions, we can better understand which pieces are relevant to our work.

Learn from Mistakes – Our brains are wired to learn from the decisions of others, and the kick we get when they stumble may be an evolutionary incentive to take note of where they fell short. Understanding why a seemingly airtight presentation missed its mark can help us avoid making similar mistakes in the future and can point us to areas with high growth potential.

Stay Informed – Keeping up on developments in the industry is critical to our own growth.

Be Attentive – While the toolkits and strategies our competitors use to forge ahead are often secret, their impact on the product is visible to anyone who takes the time to look.

Experiment – It’s important to continuously experiment with new workflows and techniques. There is no need to throw out the rulebook, but adding your own flourish to a tied and true tool or including a new approach in an otherwise conventional project, can be a great learning opportunity.

Plan Learning Time – By blocking out time in our busy schedules and setting concrete benchmarks, we can make learning a more engaged and rewarding experience.

Be Proactive – If there is a question you have, asking for a training module, or even just a clarifying comment, could benefit not just you, but the whole team.

Find a Mentor – Mentors can help situate developments in a broader view of the industry, not only helping us triangulate where we are but also building a more nuanced picture of what is to come.

Know yourself – We can only become truly effective learners by focusing the same critical eye on our own work that we do on the work of others.

Using these insights to set goals for ourselves and to inform an evolving strategy of success is the only way to effectively apply the learning techniques we integrate into our lives.

Effects of Technology on Life

According to studies, the average millennial picks up the smartphone 150 times a day. This over-dependence on tech is known as technology addiction. In 2008, a study conducted at Scotland’s Dundee University found that adults over the age of 55 who grew up in a household with a black and white TV set were more likely to dream in Black and white. Younger participants, who grew up in the age of Technicolor, nearly always experienced their dreams in color. The American Psychological Association seconded these findings in 2011.

Over-usage of technology damages the brain systems connecting emotional processing, attention and decision-making. A new study links anxiety, severe depression, suicide attempts and suicide with the rise in use of smartphones, tablets and other devices.

FOMO – Fear of Missing Out is defined by The New York Times as “the blend of anxiety”, inadequacy and irritation that can flare up while skimming social media. Social Media is bombarded with pictures and posts of scrumptious dinners, raging parties and enviable travel check-ins. These activities might not be one’s idea of fun, but when one recognizes that pang, “Should I be doing something else right now?” that’s FOMO.

Phantom Vibration Syndrome – This is the perception that one’s mobile is vibrating and ringing when it is not. It is characterized as a tactile hallucination since the brain perceives a sensation that is not present. Psychologists suggested that physical sensations, such as an itch, may be misinterpreted by the brain as a vibrating phone. Majority of cell phone users report experiencing phantom vibrations, with reporting rates ranging from 27.4% to 89%.

Shortened Attention Span – The constant use of technology has shortened our attention span from 12 Minutes to 5 Minutes. Constant news feeds and videos that are 10 Minutes or less has rewired our brains. People who are online an average of 5 hours a day have trouble remembering people’s names.

Popcorn Brain – The constant stimulation from electronics makes our brain accustom to “popping”, fast paced stream of information that we find on the internet. This is why we are becoming increasingly less adept to handle the slower pace of real life. This condition is known as “Popcorn Brain”.

Technology has altered human physiology. It affects memory, attention spans and sleep cycles. This is attributed to a scientific phenomenon known as neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to alter its behavior based on new experiences. Tech addiction may be a risk factor for alcohol and other drug abuse. People who overuse technology develop similar brain chemistry and neutral patterning to those who are addicted to substances.

Brain scans of people with tech addiction disorder are similar to those of people with substance addictions of alcohol, cocaine and cannabis.

Art of Running a Marathon

“We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.” – Emil Zatopek

Recently, I ran the Jaipur City Marathon. It took me 4 Hours and 57 Minutes. My decision to run the marathon was based entirely on my lifelong dream of accomplishing such a feat. It was about realizing a dream and proving to me that I could do it. However, along the way, I realized numerous other benefits. I got into the best shape of my life. I found countless hours to reflect on my life and I have learned some valuable lessons.

Run Tall – If athlete back is collapsed a little bit then it makes it harder to breathe as easily and as freely as you might. Lengthened your back not stiff it, like an upward direction in the body. That takes the pressure off the ribs, off the diaphragm and one can breathe better.

Head Balancing – If one doesn’t balance his/her neck and spine nicely then it creates a lot of strain. One should be upright and looking forward. By this, one doesn’t feel so tight or cramped in his/her shoulders and have a greater range of arm movement too. It also helps psychologically not to be looking down at the floor when one gets to the point where legs are complaining.

Fuel Properly – One can’t complete a marathon without fueling his/her body correctly. Fuel your body properly by eating healthy.

Compete Less, Encourage More – It isn’t all about winning or losing, it’s about the experience and being in it together. Encourage all runners around you.

Feet and Arms in sync – Land your feet directly underneath body rather than shooting out in front. This reduces the braking forces and helps one run lightly. Also, move arms backwards and forwards slightly across body. When arms are used in this co-ordinated and rhythmic fashion, they are a wonderful source of power.

Knowing your Strength – One can discover their hidden strengths they never knew they had. Because strength comes from overcoming tasks which once thought were impossible to do.

Get Proper Gear – Select pair of shoes/socks wisely which doesn’t impact your knees while running on mortar road. Get used to shoes pair which you will wear on Marathon Day. Wear sweat absorb tees/shorts to avoid itching and load of sweating.

Hydration & Nutrition – Make your body properly hydrated before, during and after the race. Focus on having foods which have a low glycemic index (GI), such as oats, pasta and sweet potatoes. Get used to food one plan to eat or drink on race day during the training itself. Fats are advisable because they take about 2 hours more to burn compared to carbohydrates. Body will switch to fats as the energy source after initial carbohydrates have been burnt off.

Strength Training – Do a strength training session two-three times a week. Plantar flexion stretches, Knee extensions, shin and hip extension exercises are important to give forward thrust while running.

Increase Tempo – For long runs, get used to 10 Km run daily followed by Half Marathon once a week and increase tempo slowly.

One last thing to remember, over training can lead to injury and injury can lead to giving up. Don’t let a setback stop you in your pursuit of what you want. Take the spirit of determination of the marathon runner. Keep moving forward, one step at a time and one foot in front of the other until you get to finishing line. 

I will end with one of my favorite quote from Dean Karnazes: “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; JUST NEVER GIVE UP!”