The Learn-It-Yourself University

You know I have always been a stickler for curiosity. Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to know what goes on behind toys. I’d break them endlessly to understand the physics behind it. It would lead to reprimand and thrashing(very stereotypical of Indian parents) but that would barely stop me from understanding the mysteries of the universe. Flash forward 17 years when I passed my undergrads as an engineering graduate and realised I have no clue what really happens in tech and business. Thanks to passing out from a less than mediocre college I was only loaded with theoretical understanding of computer science. I had no clue how the world worked.When I went for my first job in a small company in Pune I would see people talking about cluster computing, information retrieval, strategy, Cost Benefit Analysis and I’d just stare at them. The only good part was that I had superlative English speaking skills so I could converse with them from time to time to know more. As time passed it became difficult to connect with the crowd who’d talk about stuff that would scare the bejesus out of me. It was then I decided I’d have to do something to fix this complex.

Wasn’t an easy task. People in my family who were in tech settled abroad showed no interest and silently refused to help. My parents were in the Armed Forces so they had no clue about technology or business. I knocked several doors but in India people don’t have that attitude towards helping so I never really received any help from them. It was then I decided that I’ve had enough of this crazy batshit thing going on where no one is willing to help. It was time to take things in my own hands. I went back to the basics and asked a simple question-how am I going to learn stuff about tech or business. The simplest answer that came to me was by reading books written by some of the best minds in the world. I started searching for books and the first book I ever read(I mean I am a voracious book reader but had read fiction of all sorts)on business was ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki. I loved every part of it. It taught simple financial wisdom people largely tend to inadvertently ignore in the scheme of things. After gobbling it up I understood that non fiction book reading can take you a long way in terms of knowledge. Its been 15 years since then and I still end up reading 2 books every week.

But the next most important question was how to know what to read be it books or articles or research journals. It was then I started sending emails to Professors at top B-Schools and tech schools about what kind of literature to read. Most were kind enough to ignore the emails, there were some who’d come up with threats, cuss words and in some cases profanity and there were some who’d just ask,”What do you need?”. The most famous instance was when Guido Van Rossum the creator of Python programming language realising the naivety of my questions came back and suggested me several ways how one can master Python. I was touched when I realised how big this guy was and he was helping a lout like me with my silly questions. Today if I have spent 15 years in tech and 10 years programming and building things it’s because of Guido Van Rossum. Anyway through these electronic communication drills I understood a lot about how Silicon Valley thought about tech. It was a revelation. In act when someone told me about MIT OCW I was taken aback by the volume of good courses they had.Please be informed these were pre Coursera,Udacity,Codeacademy and Udemy days. The only resources available were from Khan Academy and Linda(which was a paid subscription so practically of no use). I wouldn’t shy away from mentioning the fact that as a programmer reading someone else’s code also presented a great opportunity for understanding the intentions of the programmer. It was a remarkable feat now that I could think like the original author. Stackoverflow,StackXchange,Topcoder and Codinghorror provided some relief to the ailing programmer in me debugging a piece of C++ Code. But slowly things started making more and more sense to me. It was definitely better than before where I at least knew something about the industry I was a part of. But there was something missing.

Although I was hogging books, research journals and articles at lightening speed but somehow it lacked an element of pragmatism. I had to do something about it.It was then I decided to go to events, seminars and conferences to connect with more people. It became evident that unless you get a platform to connect with other people and discuss your ideas and concerns with them you’d never really know the scope of your learning. I started attending major events across Bangalore. These events were seemingly different from each other. The tech events focused majorly on how tech is changing the world in terms of innumerable use case implementations. The business congregations focused on various aspects of business namely marketing, operations, sales, HR, strategy. The format would be more or less similar where eminent people from the industry would come and talk about their experiences. It was helpful. I was able to get some additional perspectives on what worked and what didn’t. But it wasn’t enough. After some time I realised that events did not have much to offer other than what I already knew.

It was then I was hooked to movies, documentaries, videos, short films and any motion picture stuff related to areas of learning. Most of them were not that useful but some of them proved to be extremely valuable. I remember watching Noam Chomsky’s ‘Manufacturing Consent’ or Dustin Hoffman’s ‘Wag the dog’ and thinking a lot about the role mass media plays in concealing information or manufacturing it for the benefit of Governments. Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ and ‘Fahrenheit 911’ showed us the dirty side of politics so did Fernando Meirelles’s ‘The Constant Gardener’. I must say people think all the above are distractions but I learnt a hell lot of things by watching the above. Most of what I know today or how I conduct myself is a consequence of watching all the aforementioned things like crazy. My mind consumed so much data over so much years that I could perhaps write my own version of Encyclopedia Brittanica.It surely helped. I was at par with what the world knew to some extent.

I can’t help but mention the role social media played in my personal development. Social media namely Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn became important platforms to get access to amazing articles, blogs and news. I could also put up a post and get opinion from my counterparts separated by the quintessential 6 degrees. Although the entire world is plagued by the negative effects social media can have on the human psyche I present a completely contrarian outlook. I learnt a lot from social media blogs, posts and articles. I followed influencers and in some cases interacted with them to get optimal perspectives on many things. Social media proved to be a boon in disguise. So I might be among the few percentages who really juiced up social media quite well. So anyone looking forward to learning could use social media.

But what really took the cake was the travel I had to do as part of my job. The travel took me to foreign lands where I got an opportunity to interact with people from other cultures and understand the way they did things. Peter Drucker in one of his most important quotes said that,’Culture eats strategy for breakfast’. It really true. Unless you understand the cultural data points of a country you wouldn’t be able to go that far in terms of business. I would speak with French, Germans, Japanese, Portugese, Americans, Chinese, British, Irish, Australian folks and question them for hours on their culture, traditions and festivals. I learnt a hell lot of things about the way countries differ subtle or major. I read all about the history of various countries and the major events that altered the history. I saw documentaries on Nat Geo or Discovery or History channel to understand more about these countries. The drill proved quite helpful. I could now see business from a global perspective.In fact HP’s ex CEO Carly Fiorina in her bio ‘Tough Choices’ talks about how a visit to South Korea showed her it is extremely important to have dinner with the partners before a deal could go through. Cultural sensitivity it seems plays a pivotal role in shaping business in some geographies. Now when I look back I can confidently say traveling and staying abroad for many years was extremely helpful when it came to building my knowledge base. Taught me a lot of things about life and business.

Last but not the least the greatest learning I made was when I ran my own startups. It was a swashbuckling experience. It gave me some really invaluable insights I never knew existed. Standing in front of a Mall handing pamphlets was one of the greatest learning drills I ever did. The constant rejections and the wonderful chats opened my mind to a world where people make irrational choices on the premises of rational thinking. Doing cold Sales calls gave me invaluable knowledge about what people did not want and why? Learning digital marketing on the fly through Udemy, Udacity or Coursera or at best Google Analytics gave me an opportunity to try all marketing channels out and then see what works and what doesn’t. It taught me a lot about following metrics especially in the acquisition and the activation phases of the marketing funnel. I mean I was practically married to CAC and LTV for four years of my life. Till I did things on my own in my own startup I had a vague rather theoretical knowledge about how things worked. However after running a bunch of startups and failing some 97% times it became apparently clear what works and what doesn’t. It made me street smart. I suddenly knew how to talk to people and what to talk about. It made me shameless enough to do anything to crack a deal. I failed miserably and each of these failures became intimately close to me as they taught me a lot about business. I made it a point to ask as many questions to people be it VCs who turned us down, Angels who said goodbye to us, mentors who refused mentorship, media who were not interested in us, even payment gateway guys who didn’t let us integrate them with our products and the responses interestingly revealed a lot about the intricate details of the human mind. The mind not the lord works in mysterious ways.So all in all my entire drill around entrepreneurship was one of the most formidable learning experiences I have had till date. Made me a lot sharper.

I almost remembered and I am glad I did. One thing that helped me learn was also doing some part time teaching gigs. I taught engineers, engineering aspirants, software engineers, MBA students, commerce students, finance students and even professors in some cases. I must admit it’s an amazing exercise because it lets you test your knowledge and get an instant validation from the crowd. As Richard Feynman once said, If you cannot explain things to a layman in simple words you probably aren’t getting it right yourself no matter who you are. So teaching as they say is one of the best methods when it comes to learning. The more you teach the more validation you get about the correctness of your theories and the more you know the areas where you need to work more. If Billy Walsh is to be believed every leader needs to be able to teach his team and groom them to a level where they become future leaders.Teaching helped me connect with the diaspora and understand a subject from different angles. It helped me agree to disagree on a lot of topics. It helped me familiarise myself with interesting contradictions that helped me see things in an entirely different way. So teaching is essential if one were to learn and get one’s learning validated. Don’t ever miss out on a teaching opportunity if you get one. it could change your life.

It’s strange to see how far I have come now from where I was 17 years back. The journey was hard yet enthralling and interesting. Had a bit of setbacks but in the end it all worked out. But in these 17 years I made it a habit of helping people like me who needed a little bit of guidance, mentorship or financial assistance to get a break. The only thing I expect from these mentees is to pay it forward by helping those who need assistance once they’ve settled up. Learning like life finds a way. In fact it’s by virtue of the mentorship crisis I faced I could learn so much. At the brink of survival we do extraordinary things to survive and thrive. I’d urge everyone to keep your curiosity alive. It’s the only guiding force in your otherwise lacklustre life. Let it do whatever it takes to learn, unlearn, relearn, fail or perhaps be successful but never ignore it’s voice.It is your guiding spirit and it takes you closer to enlightenment than you will ever realise. Happy exploration :)