What if I say, I could teach you the basics of Projectile motion by just making you imagine how MS Dhoni hits his very famous "helicopter" six? In awe, right?
If you are a 90s kid, the odds are high that you went for the regular schooling that included blackboard teaching, struggling with the color of litmus paper or merely just memorizing Mendel's Pea Theory. Besides, you also had to manage the tuition timings , because you didn't feel the urge to ask the basic principle behind the altered color of the Litmus paper, to your Chemistry teacher. And how do we forget Sports? We all live by the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" , surprisingly inculcating Sports in a tight schedule was nearly impossible. Having said that, we still did manage to sail through exams, however left behind unlearned concepts, mugged up.
I wonder if having access to anything offline and at the ease of my reach, without having the need to constantly ask queries, could've made a change during my schooling days. Have you ever tried to keep aside the concept of
"The area inside a circle is equal to that of a right triangle whose base has the length of the circle's circumference''
and just understand that
"A line is basically a circle, with infinite radius".
Well, now that we live in a Tech dominated era, a Tycoon had been wondering the same which eventually led him to online teaching-Formerly known as BYJUS.
Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran, the online tutoring/ Indian educational technology Edtech firm (Commonly known as BYJU’S - The Learning App), runs on a freemium model and provides free access to content, which is limited to 15 days after the registration on their app.
BYJU’S app was developed by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, established by Byju Raveendran who was trained as an engineer, started coaching students to pass mathematics exams in 2006. In 2011, he founded an educational company with the help of his students offering online video based learning programs for the K-12 segment and competition exams. In 2012, it entered both Deloitte Technology Fast50 India and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific ratings and has been present there ever since.
The success of BYJUS is a real life example of a quote I have curated : If you can be anything in life, I urge you to be passionate. He well knew the circumstances beforehand , but he also believed in himself and took up an unconventional path, that is helping millions today. Did you ever think that Learning could be this fun? Kids using BYJUS app are well familiar with the technology as well, because apparently BYJU'S use Tablet learning as a means of communication. The pedagogy followed is unique and each student is allotted a tutor as well.
I have been a part of BYJUS for six months, and I have seen how immaculately things are done, considering it was just an internship, I tried to reap as much as I can from my mentors and my Manager, who is pursuing an MBA too. All that I learn from the experience was to never give up on dreams, because if your dreams don't scare you , they aren't big enough. I was extremely pumped up by the learnings from BYJUS and I cannot wait to start my own venture too.
I have been fascinated by Art since childhood, and it always made me wonder about the existence of things : Human beings, Nature, Music, Universe - I search for Art everywhere and something unique to define my style of Art.
To change the world, we need to use our passion as our North Star, and let our happiness be the measuring stick of our success. Making happiness the goal of our lives is tantamount to embarking on a fool’s errand that is sure to leave us disappointed, rather following your passion will keep you pumped up.
There is always an opportunity in adversity, I live by this quote - there are no shortcuts. But when this harsh reality sets in, it can leave us feeling hoodwinked, empty, and rudderless. The very adversity we often wish to circumnavigate has the potential to produce within us the grit, perseverance and resilience that we might presumably need to flourish as human beings in an era in which is disrupted and battered by a pandemic. This push for purpose at work is not made solely on moral or financial grounds, however people who pursue their passion in life improve physical and mental health, have greater economic prosperity, and resilience when dealing with change in life. Happiness is not a goal, it is rather a byproduct of living on what I call the “purpose path OR follow what you love OR makes you feel passionate about and adds a meaning to your life.”
This kind of lifestyle comes with an equivalent amount of Hardwork and requires “vocational courage” — gaining clarity about the work you were made to do and committing to it, come what may. This is more than simply attending to one’s passions - this is discovering and acting on one’s reason for being. The author Parker Palmere metaphorically puts it - Vocation is not a goal to be achieved; it is a gift to be received. You have to search for that voice in you, you gotta probe yourself as to what makes you happy , what brings you joy, what adds run errands to your life, and I kid you not, sooner or later it will all be fruitful. In a few words - If you don’t find your Vocation — your Vocation will find you.
Each of us has a vocation — a unique, worthwhile life’s work we are called to undertake in this moment in human history. So instead of orienting our lives around our 24*7 work ethics and the pursuit of happiness, let’s commit ourselves to listening for the voice of our vocation so we can understand who we should become and how we can contribute to human flourishing, It just might change the world for good.
For instance, Raquel Graham- the founder of Roq Innovation found a mammoth opportunity and strived for it. When the Pandemic shut her business, she refused to give up and hence launched a hot new product line - Elaine Pofeldt Senior Contributo. I came across an article on Forbes that mentioned Racquel Graham, and I could relate it to every bit of this article. She began her career as an analyst for J.P. Morgan Chase and eventually became vice president and head of marketing for Ebony magazine. While at Ebony, she earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. During the first month of school, Graham found out she was pregnant and gave birth to her second child prematurely. She wished for a more flexible career so she could balance work and family, hence left Ebony became a marketing consultant for major brands.
Roq Innovation-based in Chicago, was in the middle of launching a new product. The crisis had a dramatic effect on her business, slowing the new product launch. Her factory closed, and a big trade show she was planning to attend got canceled abruptly. Everything came to a halt, everything was scattered.
Though things didn't go as planned, Graham noticed an opportunity to help with the crisis. With many people looking for reusable cloth masks and many schools requiring them, the demand was very high. She used her skills as an inventor to create her own masks, although having zero sound knowledge or experience in the mask business, she threw herself into in depth research. Her quote - “I knew I was going to keep moving until I figured it out, You can’t let fear paralyze you.” sends a shiver down my spine. The very quote reflects Will, Determination and the power to "Never give up".
Graham kept her work on designing her masks and eventually came up with 16 patterns— among them black and white checkers, pretty botanicals and a print of the bill of rights. Each mask allows for the insertion of a filter
When her factory finally did reopen, Graham began manufacturing the designs, under the name Face Maskz. Meanwhile, Graham worked on building up her digital presence, she always meant to do it but never had the time, having a packed up schedule. But, with the consumers spending more time than ever online, she soon realized the massive power of the Internet and thought, it was the perfect moment to invest in her social media marketing. She hired an agency in Los Angeles to help her reach customers through Facebook and Instagram.
Graham’s nimble approach has not only helped the business survive but also to grow. What she picked up as a passion stems up to a huge business today. Now she’s at work on her next product line—waterproof masks infused with anti-microbial silver.
Both aforementioned stories had the same flow directing towards how Passion fuels your career. As you move forward, you need to understand that it’s never too late to “become” yourself. Once you’ve decided to embark on the journey, it may take years, if not longer, to reach your destination however small daily changes can have a compound effect and slowly but surely lead you closer to the person you think you ought to be and what you really wish to become.
On a side note, If you ever get stuck, think of Joanne, a talented and creative woman who kept switching jobs throughout her twenties, deflated and depressed, she felt like a total failure. But she took that feeling of despair and used it to her advantage, something similar to Graham. Since she didn't succeed in following a normal path, she felt pumped to do what she’d always wanted to do: Write fantasy novels for children.
You’ve probably heard of her. Her pen name is J.K. Rowling.
Now get to work.
Author: Amrita Biswas
MBA-SIDTM‘22 | AdHoc member-Prèvision’21 (Indian Telecom), WebNTech, BlogSoc | Brand Partner-Marketing Weekly
