Career Lessons from The Jungle Book

Disney's The Jungle Book 2016 http://movies.disney.com/the-jungle-book-2016 is not only entertaining kids around the world but is also connecting a lot of adults with their childhood memories of watching the animated series. Considering a lot of us are employed in the corporate Jungle, it's not hard to draw parallels with what goes down in Mowgli's land :)

Survival Instincts First
Starting with the escape from tiger Sher Khan, Mowgli's early life is spent learning and doing activities key to survival. When protected by the wolf family, Mowgli becomes a part of it latching onto Raksha the mother wolf's teats for milk, learning the wolf language and bonding with his brothers - these are activities Mowgli does, by instinct, to survive.

Career Lessons:
Bond with your hiring manager.
Bond with your team members.
Learn and follow the culture.




Team, Guru and Mentor
With his parents and brother wolves, Mowgli learnt to stalk, hunt and kill. When the young cubs were introduced to the pack, Mowgli was sponsored by Bagheera and Baloo spoke for him too. Though not his teacher, spending time with Bagheera helped  Mowgli learn a lot about the jungle and from his experiences with man. Mowgli spent a lot of time with Baloo and learnt the Laws of the Jungle.

Career Lessons:
Learn basic skills with the team.
Learn general skills from a mentor who draws from his experience.
Learn domain skills from a guru who has in-depth knowledge.




Stay Focused, Avoid Distractions
With the wolf pack, Mowgli had a clear target of stalking and catching prey. Skills were practiced and honed for that. Implements useful for hunting were sought, mastered and used.

Then along came the Bandar log - monkey people. They started one task, moved to another and never had clear, persistent goals. They grabbed Mowgli by being friendly with him and praising him but the relationship soured when they could not get what they wanted.

Career Lessons:
Work towards clear goals and targets
Avoid groups and activities that are not aligned with those goals.
Beware of false praise and a mutual appreciation society, which can build up your ego :)




Identify Problems
Sher Khan is an existential threat to Mowgli. So, Mowgli and his friends constantly keep track of him to know what he is up to. Mowgli is determined to win, so constantly seeks information on Sher Khan and how he can be beaten.

Career Lessons:
Identify problem areas and people
Learn more about them to deliver a solution
Track a problem till it is completely resolved




Ask for Help
When Mowgli was kidnapped by the Bandar log, he informed Chil the kite to let Bagheera and Baloo know. They were able to get Kaa to go after the monkeys and save Mowgli.

Career Lessons:
Ask for help in a timely manner




Create Allies and nurture those Relationships
Mowgli and Kaa could have been enemies, but they end up being allies. Kaa rescues Mowgli from the Bandar log and Mowgli seeks his advice and help in different situations while rendering services in return.

Career Lessons:
Identify allies based on expertise and experience.
Leverage allies based on alignment with activities.
Give back to those allies and nurture the relationship.




Attack when the time is right
Mowgli did not go after Sher Khan the moment he knew him to be his enemy. He learnt about Sher Khan and his habits. He nurtured allies who could help him. He decided the time and place of the attack based on Sher Khan's behavior. He employed his new skill of herding cattle by getting the bullocks to stampede.

Career Lessons:
Continuous learning and collaboration is needed for growth
Making career moves at the right time is essential for success

With best wishes for success in the corporate Jungle :)

Meal Time Ads and Promos

In the middle of our hectic work days, break times are eagerly awaited for the food and camaraderie. Discussions about last night's telly episodes, sports and politics usually dominate conversations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is a bit different in that the food and currently showing TV programs get a mention. That is where our advertising, marketing and promotions industry has cut us some slack :)

In many small offices, meal times mean a visit to nearby hotels and food stalls. Lucky are those who get great stuff from home, but of course, colleagues get a munch in. In workplaces that have their own cafeteria, the food is usually an afterthought since it has to be cooked a couple hours earlier for the caterer to get it to office. That is where there's an opportunity to channel attention.



These are some scenarios that could resonate at offices in India -

• Branded pickle samples on the buffet counter
• Candy and sweet samples from brands, confectioners and sweet shops
• Breakfast cereal samples, as also speciality breads and jams
• Informational pamphlets/ads accompanying mints (tax, investment, real estate, automobiles)
• Listerine and other dental hygiene samples

With a captive audience, and advertising that is informative but not intrusive, we could channel some of our urban spare time to the causes of brands that need them. To enable that vision, have informally started https://twitter.com/mealtimeAds to explore its potential - for meal time ads and promos do get in touch.

Internet Leisure Time can be used for Chennai Flood Relief

CHENNAI FLOODS: YOUR INTERNET TIME CAN HELP

MATCH AID OFFERED TO AID NEEDED - PLEASE DO YOUR BIT

Scan for aid offered and aid needed postings

on twitter via these hashtags -
#ChennaiNeeded https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=chennaineeded&src=typd
#ChennaiRains https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=chennairains&src=typd
#ChennaiFloods https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=chennaifloods&src=typd
‪#ChennaiRainsHelp https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=chennairainshelp&src=typd
#ChennaiFloodsHelp https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=chennaifloodshelp&src=typd#ChennaiRising https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=chennairising&src=typd
and also these sites

http://chennairains.org/
http://www.restorechennai.in/
http...://volunteer.events/chennai/map 
http://chennaineedshelp.org/

http://rainhelp.pyrumas.com/relief_supplieslist.php?x_relief_item=1%2C5%2C7%2C16%2C17%2C19%2C23%2C24&z_relief_item=LIKE&x_confirmed=Y&z_confirmed=%3D&cmd=search

Tweet out to folks who offer aid/materials and try connecting them with aid needed (try to match in nearby areas). If you don't mind using the telephone, go for it.

With these steps, have been able to connect volunteers and resources, and hope you can do so too.

Evolution of the Scroll Bar

Today, I learned that the humble scroll bar has been around 20 years. As we worked earlier on monitors with smaller display resolutions, it was necessary to indicate there was more than one page of info that was being shared. The scroll bar ensured it was apparent to the reader.

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/20-years-of-the-scroll-bar shows the way it is being used by popular programs and operating systems. In smaller displays like our smartphones it is apparent without even the presence of a scroll bar that we must swipe up, down or sideways to get to more of the goodness it contains.

 

If they had redesigned it on a Friday, would it look like this?

 

 

 

Revolutionary design of the new Apple iPhone 5 revealed!
It's a fully eatable one. Oh, yes! Don't settle for anything less :)

Don't Sue Me Note - All brands mentioned above except
the revolutionary and eatable ones are registered trade marks of 
http://www.apple.com/

Loves me. Loves me not. With an apple!

The Birds and The Pigs (after the fight)