LE 03

CAN WE CROSS THIS VALLEY ????


Third day of the lecture and expectations rose threefold. Incame Dr.Mandi with a long bamboo on his shoulders and we were as usual taken aback.

He proposed a problem in front of us. The problem of crossing a valley by 3 persons with the help of a single rod. Yes , only a single rod. And as always something beautiful came out of his mind when we saw that actually it is quite achievable. Let me analyze the whole class discussion in this blog now.


Problem Statement :   We have a valley which has a gap and our objective is to cross that valley by 3 persons who only have themselves and a single rod to help them cross the valley.

Difficulty :  The main difficulty in crossing the valley is that the gap of the valley is greater than 1 step and less than 2 steps. So it is impossible for a single person to walk over this gap and land on the other side of the valley.Also all the 3 persons must be holding the rod simultaneously at all positions and the rod can never be put down.

 Solution :   Seems difficult.Isn't it?? Even I felt the same but was eager to know how it could be done. The solution that was presented looked like this :

     How can it be so simple ???

Now that the solution was in front of me , I thought why did I not come up with something like this.But believe me everyone , this task is not at all easy. It requires a lot of effort to do something like this. For us to have a clear picture of the same let us analyze the steps involved in the above case :

Execution and Analysis of the Solution : 

 Before starting I would like to describe the meaning of the states that I would be using :

•  Safe State : Safe state is the one in which both the feet of the person is on ground and he is in no danger.
• Half Risky : Hals Risky is the state in which one leg of the man is in air and the other one on ground.
• Full Risky : Full risky is the state in which both the legs of the man is in air and his body weight is supported by the other two men.

 

1) At the first instance , the first person would take a step forward and would have one feet in the air while the other one is on the ground. (Half Risky).

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Steps
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky
3	Full Risky
4	Half Risky	Half Risky
5		Full Risky
6		Half Risky	Half Risky
7			Full Risky
8			Half Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

2 )  In the second step the first person would be fully in air and his weight would be supported by the rest of the two persons.

3) In the next step , the second person would be have his front leg in air while the back leg on ground whereas the first person would have his front leg on ground and the back leg in air ( Both in half risky state) .

4) After this step, 2nd person would have both the legs in the air while the 1st person would have reached the other side of the valley and would be safe by now.

5) In the next step , the 2nd person would be in half risky state as one of his leg would be in air while the other one on ground and also the 3rd person would be in the same state.

6) In the subsequent step 2nd person would land on the ground on the other side of the valley whereas the 3rd person would be completely off the ground and his body weight would be on 1st and 2nd person.

7) Following that the 3rd person would now be in half risky state as he puts one of his legs on ground while keeping the other one in air.

8) Finally the 3rd person would also land both his feet on the ground and would be in safe position as would be the other two.


Why did they Succeed ???  Our Lessons and Learnings from them : 

1. TRUST :  The single most important factor for their success was the trust factor. Trust was necessary for them because when somebody was in full risky state all of his hope were on the other two and if any of the two failed then he could have fallen into the valley. But he kept on the faith and made it to the other side of the valley . Similarly even in commercial level we need to trust others. We need to trust other people and have faith in their talent and capability.

     2. SHARING OF RESPONSIBILITY :  At all the positions while crossing everyone shared equal responsibility.At no time was any person more responsible for a success/failure than the other one and this defines why they had success in the end. They showed great responsibility while carrying each other. Similarly in our business world we need to share and take responsibility . Unless we take it ourselves nothing would be beneficial for us.Once we start taking it and execute it properly we will see results showing good in our favor as well.

     
      3 . FOCUS :  Focus was one thing that they did not lose. Until they had reached their goal they did not even shifted their focus for a single bit. This defines a true quality of an entrepreneur. One should never lose focus till one has reached where he had aspired for.

4. COORDINATION : Nothing would have been possible unless there was coordination at place. If they had lost a single bit of coordination  at any point then the whole idea would have failed. Similarly in our business world we need to coordinate things properly. If not done well the whole thing could go haywire resulting in utter failure of the concept in spite of hard work.This coordination should be there all throughout the hierarchy of the organization .

THE FINAL TOUCH : To sum up it all , I would say that once again Dr.Mandi taught us something very usual in the most unusual way. And as we always have enjoyed his classes this one again made us feel the same and have set the standards even high for the coming classes to come.

LE 02

    HIS NAME IS 'KHAN' AND HE IS A VISIONARY

You must be wondering which Khan am I talking about. No not Shah Rukh as is predicted by my title but Salman Khan. And if u are now thinking about the Bollywood Hunk then you are mistaken once again. The person that I am talking about is a Bangladeshi American who completely revolutionized the way education can be imparted to students. He is graduate from MIT and now runs a non profit organization called 'The Khan Academy', a venture which he started to provide an effective way of imparting education to students.

                                                                       


Masterji Ki Pathshaala : India is known for masters and pathshaalas. Definitely now they have sophisticated the concept by using teachers, schools and institutions but the basic idea remained the same. Teachers would write equations on blackboard, show some nicely compiled presentations and long hours of lecture. All the students would more often than not sleep during the class and would run for notes and lectures at the time of examinations. Salman , with his great vision turned things around. He has compiled over 3000 videos for imparting basic education to kids and just like facebook.....It's Free!!!

                                                                

Origin : A 'Serendipity' :  A happy accident is what made the start of this noble concept. Salman made the video for the first time in 2006 to teach his cousins about the basic concept of mathematics. He was surprised when he knew that his cousins preferred him on you tube than in person. They appreciated his work for the video could be seen by them anytime and was the easiest way they could learn. He made the video public and people also started appreciating him for the same. This marked the rise of a revolution in his life when he decided to promote this for a social cause.

                                                                 

 Why was and Why is 'The Khan Academy' Effective :  Most of us want to be an entrepreneur but how many of us have actually taken a step towards it?? Probably none. Those who have , have at least gained something. Even if they would have failed they must not have failed to take the lesson. And for those who have been successful , world speaks about them. Salman did something like that. He believed in the principle of  "winners don't do different things, they do things differently". For a guy (working in a hedge fund ), to do things for free would not have been easy. But he made a decision, chose to leave his job, went ahead with his organization and tried to bring the whole education system online.

The main reason for him to be successful was the concept he used. He broke the shackles and brought in a new concept wherein he taught people through his videos. Videos which were free to be seen , could have been seen anytime and also videos which will never ever die. They can be made to use for teaching the coming generation as well.

Lessons for Future Managers and Entrepreneurs : By now we all know about Theory 'X' and Theory 'Y' managers. The problem with Theory 'X' managers are that they consider their employees to be lazy and lethargic and would force them to constantly work or would guide them unnecessarily whereas Theory 'Y' managers are self motivated and hard working and would inculcate in their employees the same values and habits that they themselves follow with right amount of independence and space. Now that we all know the problem with Theory 'X' managers what can be the solution???

I would say change. Change the old system and make way for new things to come. Just as Salman has done with making education online. Just as I find Dr. Mandi doing the same with Nitie Students. Until and unless we change the old system we wont be able to make things happen. Theory 'Y' managers would only become a theory and the concept would change to Practical 'X' managers and Theory 'Y' Managers. I believe we will have to take a stand and bring in change with our ideas, our execution and our entrepreneurial skills so that we help to change the concept to "Theory 'X' managers and Practical 'Y' managers.