Khan academy and my learning

 

A brief recap

In the earlier post, we talked about Khan Academy and the way it is radically changing the way we learn and perceive education. Khan Academy is a free online content catering system, where video lectures and tutorials on various topics are posted and made accessible to the world. People all over the world can use this content to learn things at their own pace. A brief introduction to Khan Academy by Bill Gates can be viewed here:

In this post, I will try to outline my learning from Khan Academy in managerial perspective.

Culture of Ideas

This century so far has been a century of ideas. We are noticing people reaching their zenith not only by their sheer hard work and perspiration but also by implementing a right idea at the right place at the right time. This is my first learning from Khan Academy. One famous quote by Aristotle can be cited in the present context - 


"It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world" - Aristotle.


My second learning from the episode of Khan Academy is: "Bringing order to things that are scattered in the past and organizing them in a way that your peers and the world appreciates their value, is a innovation in itself."

For an entrepreneur, it is important to look beyond the obvious and try to find ideas where there are none. One might have thought that there is enough content on the internet in the form of articles and  video lectures that coming up with yet another content catering system will be a cliche. However, the Khan Academy has proved that it's enough to show the world, a different dimension of an existing product or procedure to catch the its attention and capture the potential market. All that one requires, is a radically different perception and approach to that idea. This, I think, is one of biggest take away from the entire Khan Academy episode.

How I relate this learning to my daily life

As a manager, one encounters a variety of situations in one's day to day life. It might be possible that one needs to work in a prearranged setup and conditions where everything goes as per some fixed guidelines.

However, it remains on the part of the manager to think and understand the importance and the need for such guidelines. A good manager should never stop striving to innovate within his own line of work, to enable the streamlining of the product or process, to build rapport with and among team members, to encourage out of box thinking and to enrich the work experience for himself as well as his colleagues.

 An entrepreneur, apart from being a good manager, needs to be an observer(or rather an ardent observer)of the trends and changes that are taking place in the current market place. He needs to keep looking for opportunities that can be converted into potential market ideas.

After the Khan Academy episode, I am  forced to think seriously about the entrepreneurial ideas I had always framed, and never dared to go after leaving my comfort zone. I thought that they are either already implemented by someone or because of what others may think about it. I now realized that no matter how cliched an idea is, one can always add one's unique perceptive to that idea and that gives an entirely new dimension to the idea. This left me as a better manager and a better person.