Presenting: The Un-Ikigai Diagram - Things to Not Keep in Life

My realisation of this week was that the Venn Diagram of Ikigai is Japanese in the same way that French Fries are French. 

Thanks to the shift in mindset, the brain now operates from a place of humour very often. So, as the entrepreneurs' group was discussing entitled customers, the mind was making memes. Somewhere, that and the Ikigai idea got merged. I picked up a pen and paper and started drawing the Ikigai' (Like A' in Set Theory - A' is everything that A is not). 

When some of the places could not be filled, the family was called in. For instance, "What is it that I am really bad at and no one wants to pay for?" 

"You taking care of your health" came the pat answer. 

When done, I thought it was hilarious. So, from my personal Un-Ikigai, I created an Un-Ikigai template, for others to have fun. 

Here it is: 

Then, for 2 days, I laughed at my Un-Ikigai diagram. "Yes, I am terrible at this" "Gosh that one is totally true" 

The third day, the penny dropped. 

The Un-ikigai was not just a funny meme. It was a collection of things that need to be put out of life. I imagined my life without the things in that diagram. I was never going to enjoy A, I am not likely to be great at it. So, why is it still in my life? If "Playing to our strengths" had a corollary diagram, this was it. These are the things that I should not invest time on. 

So, in 2023, I am going to act on that joke of the Un-ikigai diagram - By removing the items that truly add little value and are better accomplished through another medium. 

Thankfully, The Children's Post Calendar has monthly targets instead of annual resolutions. So, it looks like one might be able to do something. 

Forecast post

This is a forecast post. It has 2 pieces of forecast, both about Google. 

Prediction One: Chickens will come home to roost 

Within 2023, the Cyber Crime Cell of India will hold Google accountable for misinformation leading to fraud that originates on its website.

Why? 

Google owns 92% of the global search engine market. 

At this time, multiple frauds are based on incorrect service desk numbers published on Google. Unwitting customers dial these fraud numbers to get customer service on their bank/card/product etc. and end up getting conned. 

Google is not held accountable for this in any way. 

 This is even more culpable because the fraud numbers are highlighted separately on the right in the Google Search result. 

The other thing for which Google will be held accountable is listing fraudulent sites on top of the search results only because these companies have paid for search optimisation ads. 

I am sure we all have been conned at least once by the top search result on Google. 

Now, of course, I make it a point to check the reviews of the site before trusting them, but most consumers are not likely to do that. Here is one example: 

As you can see, on the right, the highlighted searches are a website called Perfume Papa. 

The prices are at least 50% lower than those of all other sites. 

BUT, at this point, before we order, we do a simple text based scam check: 

First of all, the reviews come a little after half page is over. Then, as you scroll, you see more and more negative customer reviews. 

Now, consider what is happening here: 

Google is supposed to show the most relevant search results on top. This means that a user can assume, reasonably, that a search result on top is a relevant search result. They do not, at this point, have any reason to doubt the geniuneness of the site because Google has displayed it as a legit site to buy perfumes. 

When a customer gets scammed, they have no way of bringing Google to book. They can only blame themselves for trusting Google. But Google PROMISES relevant results and enjoys 92.2% market share only because of reliability. 

If you told everyone that Google search results are not reliable, do you think Google would still be at that 90%? 

Also, Google directly controls what it shows on its search engine. Therefore, it cannot claim the intermediary benefit. Any fraud that happens on account of organic search results is the responsibility of Google. It cannot hide behind search engine optimisation. 

Prediction Two: Reliability is the new gold 

Within 2024, reliability will become the No. 1 headache of the world. 

Even Google realises that ChatGPT3 is the future of web search. 

As this article and many others state, Google has issued Code Red over Chat GPT. 

However, Chat GP is not particularly reliable on the facts side. Really.  

I have no idea where it gets its fake ideas from, but am guessing from the same place as Google. 

If Google thinks that it is at risk from the format of Chat GPT, that is not it. It is at risk from the reliability of GPT. 

I just tried some controversial statements on Chat GPT and the results this week are different from results last week. Today is a lot more diplomatic, ergo, completely useless. BUT, it had no factual errors this time. 

The new success catalyst for web based search will be the reliability of search results. 

Not the format. The content. 

Example: 

Here is the text query I put on Chat GPT just now (time stamp is important because Chat GP is evolving rather rapidly) 

Search Query: What is the most controversial event of the 21st century so far

Chat GPT 3 response:

It is difficult to identify a single, most controversial event of the 21st century so far, as different events may be perceived as more or less controversial depending on one's perspective and context. Some events that have been widely considered to be controversial include:

• The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which occurred on September 11, 2001, and were perpetrated by a group of Islamic terrorists. The attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people and had significant global political and economic consequences.

• The invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003, which was justified by the US government as a response to the 9/11 attacks and the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The invasion, which was not authorized by the United Nations, led to a long and costly war and the destabilization of the region.

• The Arab Spring, a series of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that occurred in several Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. The protests, which were fueled by widespread dissatisfaction with autocratic governments and economic inequality, led to the overthrow of several leaders and significant political change in the region.

• The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019 and has had a profound impact on global health and economic systems, as well as on social and political dynamics. The pandemic has raised numerous controversial issues, including debates about the effectiveness of various government responses and the distribution of vaccines.

Google search results start with Wikipedia! 

Yes, usability is a HUGE issue with Google search results. But notice something else? There is no trustworthiness to what Google is putting out. Wiki is the Kingdom of misinformation and no one has any accountability, again. 

Since investing in Wiki, i notice that Google has been prioritising Wiki in the search results. But that comes at a huge cost to the reliability of Google itself. 

And, if i have to double check everything the search engine is telling me, why do I need the search engine at all. 

Google's results are even less reliable and relevant than distant competitors like DuckDuckGo 

And Yahoo! 

The new gold is not just data. It is fact-checked, accurate data. 

My realisation of the day..

 

We think people are addicted to their mobile screens and see it as a singular issue. 

But, let's think about this - WHY are people addicted to their mobile screens?

What are they running away from? What are they holding on to? 

My hypothesis is that we are in a loneliness epidemic. 

People hold on to that mobile phone because as soon as they let it go, they will fall into that bottomless pit of loneliness. They don't know what to do with themselves. They don't have anyone to talk to. They have nothing binding them to the world. Very few hobbies, fewer friends, and those friends typically are halfway across the world. 

That mobile phone is their link to the world. Their ONLY link to the world. Think. About. That. 

Image generated by Dall E 2 on a written prompt. 

On Harishankar Parsai and his thoughts on women

 I have just finished reading a book by Harishakar Parsai and while every single story/essay in the book is brilliant, the one that stays with me is his thoughts on the biographies of 2 bestselling authors - both women.

And this is my safe space where I can come and talk about this.

This is what he says:(I won't name the authors involved)

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The autobiography of one is a series of her physical affairs with men. She has no emotional connect with any of them. Its a series of sexual adventures - from one bed to the next.

The autobiography of the other, better known author, is even better - its a record of her emotional relationships with men - first her father, then an imaginary lover, then Sahir, then Imroz, and finally, when she mentions her children, she mentions the son more than the daughter.

These are progressive women setting the stage of thoughts for other women. Is this really how progressive women should view themselves? In reference to context of the men in their lives? Is that all that they want to tell about their lives? Was their writing process, their frustrations as authors, and other things related to their craft, or even the daily humdrum of existence as an author (a profession that pays for the bread, but cannot afford the butter) not a part of their lives at all? Where were they living? On some cloud?

When a reader picks up the autobiography of an author, they pick it up for the "author". Is it not a fair expectation of the reader that their lives as authors will be represented in the book?

If you pick up the autobiography of a scientist, and all he writes about is that the samosas in this place are lovely, this cafe in Paris has great coffee, and the buffet at so-and-so is to die for, is that what one expects from the autobiography of a scientist?

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Of all these, the line that struck me the most is this - Is this how progressive women should view themselves? Through the context of the men in their lives?

Today's Professional Achievement

Today, I sat and made a Calendar for 2023. 

#ExperiencesOfAnEntrepreneur. 

Judicial Reforms I need as a Citizen of India

 As a citizen, this is my manifest of what we need from the Judiciary. 

1. Criticism of judge or judiciary should not be treated as Contempt of Court. Only when a person causes disruption in the process of justice should Contempt of Court be applied. Not for criticising delays in court, not for criticising judgements or conduct of judges. Only for disrupting the process of justice. 

2. The colonial practice of "Your Honour", "Your Lordship" etc. needs to be stopped with immediate effect. Only Sir and Madam should be accepted. (Idea by Prachi Maithani Thapliyal) 

3. No summer and winter breaks. No other establishment has them and we can ill afford such breaks given how slow our courts are. For years, the litigants have to travel at a date that is convenient to the judiciary and still the cases take decades. 

4. If a punishment has been given by TWO consecutive subordinate courts, including the local court, it cannot be challenged in a higher court. Nor can an appeal to that effect be filed. 

5. At no time can judges use personal comments against a litigant. Phrases like "This is irritating", "Her tongue is a loose cannon" etc. will not be tolerated. 

6. The judiciary is there to serve the litigants, not the other way round. The judges will address the litigants respectfully and not as if they are their servants. 

7. Every citizen should be allowed to represent themselves and the judiciary should actively promote that practice. The Justice in their address refers to the action of providing justice. The spirit of the law trumps the letter of the law. Ensnaring litigants in lawyer's fees is not the way to provide justice. 

8. Court dates cannot be set unilaterally by the Judiciary. The judge needs to ask both litigants if they are ok to come on a certain date and only then set the date for the next hearing. 

9. There needs to be a statute of limitations on how many hearings can be held ex-parte. After 3 such hearings, the judge should give a ruling and close the case. 

10. Once guilt has been proven, there should be no discretion of the judge on the sentencing. The law provides for a range of punishment for each offence. The judge should choose from within that range and pronounce a sentence. The practice of pronouncing guilty and then another hearing for sentencing also needs to stop. 

 Topics: Employment and IP law

The Case of Pia

“And… Send!” Pia gleefully said to herself as she pressed the Send key on her laptop. She had reasons to be happy. She had just responded to Amita, the lousy HR person who had participated in making her life miserable at Yuvi, her ex-employer.

Pia had joined the team a little over a year ago. She was a very enthusiastic content writer who brought her bubbly personality and inherent enthusiasm to her work. Her content was always positive, funny, and most importantly – successful.

Her posts got great engagement and her witty one-liners were often shared.

This led to her bosses noticing her within 2 months. The CEO, Apsara, had invited her to coffee in her office!

Over coffee, Apsara had been genuinely interested in getting to know her. She had asked about her family, hometown, education, hobbies, everything!

Just as they were at their last few sips, an idea had suddenly occurred to Apsara – “Pia, I have an idea. Would you like to do a Masterclass for the rest of our content team? This will do two good things – one, instead of being jealous of you, they will start to see you as a natural expert, and also understand how you are the tops in whatever you do. Two, it will help you share some of that bubbly personality with others while adding “Training” as a skill on your resume. How does that sound?”

Pia had been thrilled.

Within two weeks, she had prepared a course outline and some course content. Another two weeks, and she was ready to roll!

The training head sat with her on her course for a while and suggested that she should use innovative training content like memes, cases, puzzles, as assessment instead of and old-fashioned test at the end of the program.

This took her another month to prepare, but finally the Training head had been absolutely delighted with her work and had given the Go Ahead!

Pia ran this course for the first batch and it was a smash hit!

The CEO called her and hugged her. Then, she encouraged Pia to add “Trainer” to her Linkedin profile skills.

The second batch was a runaway success too. After that, Pia’s course had been added to the induction for all content team joinees. She ran the program every two months.

Pia thought it was natural to expect that this would lead to a promotion or at least a raise.

However, neither was forthcoming. When she tried to broach the subject with her manager, she got the usual spiel about how everyone needs to show commitment to advance in their career. HR was not much helpful either.

In short, Pia became the de facto subject matter expert of her team, but that translated into no role, salary, or even designation change.

That, and other things at work led to Pia slowly getting disengaged from her workplace.

8 months into the role, she started looking around and in a couple of months, she found a role that suited her better.

She resigned and her resignation was received with.. well, resignation.

The boss made some customary noises about being disappointed and her having a bright future with the company, but made no real effort to retain her or even ask for her real reasons for leaving. Amita, her HR Business Partner, was equally distant and uninterested in having a conversation.

Pia completed her notice period, and on the last day, packed her bags and left.

Two weeks later, her phone rang.

“Hey Pia.. How are you doing?” A chirpy Amita sounded on the other end.

If Pia was surprised, she did not show it, “Am good Amita. What’s up?”

“We were missing you here ya. Hope you’ve settled in fine at the new place?”

“Don’t worry about that. Why did you call?” Pia asked.

“Well, you know, we needed to run the next training batch for new content writers, and we can’t find your training material!”

“Oh, that’s because I took it with me. It’s not there.” Pia said casually.

“You-took-it-with-you?” Amita repeated slowly.

“Yeah!” Pia replied.

“You can’t do that! You made that material while working for the company, so its company property.” Amita’s tone was not exactly aggressive, but it was getting unfriendly pretty fast.

“Errm, actually, I am the creative owner of this content, so I have every right to take it with me. The company has no right to content that I made as a favour to Yuvi.” Pia held her ground.

“I’ll get back to you.” Amita had been quick to disconnect.

A day later, Pia found an email in her inbox. It was from a legal services firm, telling her that she was being sued for stealing the company’s intellectual property without permission. Since the content had been created by her during and in course of her employment with Yuvi, it was covered under the term “Work Product”. As per law, the intellectual rights to work products created by employees rest with the employer by default. 

 

Pia smiled. She had been expecting this. First, she posted the aggressive email received from Yuvi on Reviewer.com – a website to review one’s employers. Then, she sent an email to her HR, marking a copy to her manager and the CEO. The email said:

Dear Team at Yuvi

The content in question is training material. My designation at Yuvi was “Content Writer”. This role does not include the creation of Training Content. Only work done as part of the role is a work product. This content was created by me – not as a part of my work profile. It was shared with the organisation as an act of kindness. Any content created that is not in my work role cannot be a “work product”. I have kindly allowed the organisation royalty free access to the content as well as my services as a trainer without charging for these services.

If my designation had changed to include Trainer in the work profile, any content created by me AFTER such designation change would revert to the organisation on my resignation as “Work product”. However, both these events did not occur.

Therefore, I am the absolute owner of the training content and methodology, being its sole developer and disseminator.

You are hereby instructed to refrain from the use of the training content, or parts thereof, as well as the unique pedagogy developed for this module. Using any part of such content subjects you to potential royalty payments to the original creator.

This includes but is not limited to memes, handouts, assignments, etc. used in the past as part of the trainings.

Sincerely

Pia.

 “And… Send!” Pia gleefully said to herself as she pressed the Send key on her laptop.

Questions for you

1. Which side do you agree with? Why?

2. If the designation had changed to include “Trainer” without any hike in salary, would the contention of Pia hold? Why or why not?

3. In the normal course of events, under what circumstances should the intellectual property created by employees belong to the employer? Discuss your thoughts.

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