Hmmm… What is Learning & Development? Did some scratching & searching, landed on a definition of learning as “acquisition and development of memories and behaviors. It is the goal of education and product of experience and heard that it is seen only in large vertebratesL”. Definition of Development as “interventions and activities that are intended to improve the knowledge and skills”. This blog being dedicated to student community, this topic seems more relevant to feature on our campus arena.
Well, that is good enough to understand, what is L&D.
Now, Why Learn? Why Develop? Humans (large vertebrates!) are born curious and we grew asking “Tell me Why?”, since birth. So let me share some thoughts on Why aspect of L&D in my first Blog. As we go along, let us handle What to Learn, Where to Learn, When to Learn & How to Learn aspects.
Alright, that defines the scope & frames thought for this content. Let’s get on to Why?
Why Learn?
Alvin Toffler, in his book “The Third Wave”, describes Agricultural age to emphasis “What you grow”, Industrial age to emphasis “What you make” & in Information Age, third wave, it is all about knowledge and acceleration of Change. One of his key maxims is “Change is non-linear and can go backwards, forwards and sideways”), like our auto rickshaws. Hence in Information Age, it is very critical to learn, continuously learn, lifelong learning, else we will become extinct.
Hence in this era of information revolution, we need to adapt, adapt quickly, before we loose out. As budding talent, before you hit corporate world of opportunities, equip yourselves. Fore warned is Fore armed, get all your ammunitions ready, prepare very well, to hit the ground running. Stephen R. Covey in his book 7th habit emphasizes the same as “Sharpen the Saw”.
For example, be it Computer architecture, be it structural engineering, be if applied physics, be it bio-technology, your focus should be to gain knowledge & skill, Sharpen. Gain depth in your subjects, understand the theory, concepts, principles, theorems. Gain breadth of subjects, learn database, learn domain, learn languages, learn recent trends in the market, learn what’s hot and what’s not. Exposure to breath is the key. Third dimension post depth & breadth is application. How much could you relate your fundamentals to things around you, do you get your hands dirty in trying out varieties from fixing an electrical problem at home to designing a prototype biogas 4 wheeler.
To relate to little bit of theory, it is good to have perspective of DIKW hierarchy… I know, it is called Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom hierarchy.
So this decade will soon become Wisdom age, the future doesn’t belong to survival of fittest but survival of wisest. Survival of the wisest will become the new criteria for evolution. As aspirant of being a Knowledge worker, working primarily with information, developing and using knowledge in workplace, it is key to learn continuously.
Wipro and L&D
L&D is a key differentiator in Wipro. Wipro is the recipient of the ‘BEST’ award from ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) sequentially for the last few years. BEST stands for Building talent, Enterprise-wide, Supported by the Organization’s leaders, fostering a Through-and-through learning culture. This award recognizes the contribution of learning to the overall success of an organization; it also demonstrates enterprise-wide success as a result of employee learning and development. Wipro is the only Indian IT service provided to have received this award three years in a row.
In subsequent session we will touch base on Learning Initiatives at Wipro, like Mission 10X (grooming 10000 faculties by 2010), LiB (Learning in the Box) initiatives, Learning Enhancement Initiatives of Wipro Cares for Society at large.
Let me end this topic with a quote…He who knows what he knows not, is a child; teach him
He who knows not what he knows is asleep; wake him
He who knows not what he knows not is a fool; shun him
He who knows what he knows is wise; listen.Keep Learning !…To Be Continued…
Brilliant !!!
Its really great to see this stuff…
Great!!!
Thanks to Mr.Kannan…
Now.. walking towards WISDOM AGE…
and want to become a SURVIVAL OF THE WISEST..
Excellent!!!!!!
Inspiring!!!!!!
hi!
very interesting thoughts…
although, he who knows not what he knows also seems to not know a lot
Its really an encouraging step for the freshers to be in touch of the growth of the organization.
Thanks for the site.
sir, yes i agree to u that learning & learning & continuous learning only makes a man perfect. its d learning whch increases our views, ideas,gvs a new look to our vocab,helps us to knw more abt d world.
Outstanding stuff…Really inspiring stuff for freshers like us to walk towards the WISDOM AGE…. A very good quote at the end
hii everyone….myself ujjawal agrawal from hbti kanpur recently got selected in wipro technologies……its a great organisation to work with..people who think more find wipro a right destination as wipro is APPLYING THOUGTS…..nw i m fully satisfied wid my selection by going through campus arena.n i think my dreams came true…..my friend request to all wiproites…….jai wipro……
Congrats for making this happen & brilliant!!
Your thoughts on learning & development was good..
hi everyone iam veni recently got selected in wipro .This is really very interesting and very useful to freshers.
Hey Great Yaar, Kannan
I think u should be writer
anyway a fabulous,incredible note to all of us
put this article first
I think everybody should read this ……
It is really a nice thought & very useful for freshers like us.
thank you.
Hi everyone !!! I m a campus recruit from H.B.T.I-Kanpur. What not to say about Wipro Technologies.Wipro is the place where enthusiasm and professionalism is recognized.Its a place where innovative thoughts are welcomed to make learning an enriching experience. Chak De Wipro !!!
Hi everyone!i m a WIPRO recruit from salem.Am really inspired by this arcticle. working with information and gaining new knowledge is the key for innovation.Hats off to WIPRO for providing a rosy-cozy work life. thank u…..
Respected sir & My Dear fellow freshers,
Im Vinay Nair from SVITS AP . I come from a very rural place.But was always interested in technology & 24 hours on net searching & putting into my pocket anything matching to the keyword technology.It was great to see a step like this taken by Wipro to initiate a bonding between freshers & the seniors.Coming to the article Kannan sir the article rocks .Whole my life i have spent to understand this concept.Now i get a kind of inspiration and encouragement by reading this.
I will like to post one of my own quote
Don’t be a rat to win the rat race…..
Be a cat to make it sure that you win the rat race….
It’s really THOUGHT PROVOKING while reading your article.
excellent article… very inspiring…
eagerly expecting the continuation of the article on the blog…
this blog is proving to be an excellent place to make the wipro’ites of ‘08 feel inspired by our organisation…
It is really a very good and inspiring article by Kannan sir.
In the present competitive environment our only motto should be “Learn and Develop Myself … Learn and Develop Myself …. Learn and Develop Myself … “. There is no Full Stop for Learning or Developing our skills or Knowledge.
Last year i had participated in the Red Hat Open Source Challenge 2006-2007 (http://ekalavya.it.iitb.ac.in). It is an competition organized jointly by Red Hat and IIT Mumbai. In this competition students of B.E, B.Tech, M.Sc and M.C.A can participate and they would form groups and develop a Project which would be an innovative technical solution to a real life problem.
All the projects from all over India would be judged and evaluated by experts in different phases and in the final evaluation around 10-15 groups would be awarded.
It also has Scholarship prizes for the Top 3 GROUPS.
My project was “A Corebanking Solution with e-Banking Facility” and was developed using Open Source technologies only i.e. C, MySQL, GTK, PHP, Apache Server and Fedora Core Linux Platform.
It was really exciting and challenging to work on a project and compete with the top brains of India from the IITs, NITs and other premier Institutes of the Country.
At the time of completion of the project i had learned many things
(both technical and non-technical).
And as a reward to my hardwork and devotion my project made it to the Final Evaluation List in the first phase (out of 947 groups) and in the second phase it was among the 13 Winning Projects selected out of 40 groups.
(RESULTS : http://ekalavya.it.iitb.ac.in/showRhsResult.do)
So, i would like to tell, all those who are recruited by Wipro, to participate in this and as Kannan Sir says, “Learn & Develop”
Jagannathdas Rath
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering
Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar