Using Network Intelligence to educating the next generation of leaders ..

Formal education is interesting .. Classroom based, teacher led, localised, subject focused and exam tested ..

When one moves from basic education to higher, specialised, knowledge based executive education, the scene is very different. In this world of massive networking and availability of online courses, YouTube, TED videos, Coursera, EdX, NPTEL etc .. and information portals, should education or the learning process be confined exclusively to acquiring degrees through the formalised system based more on classroom teaching, assignments, exams, viva etc .. ?

Prof Das NarayanDas, co-author from HBS speaking at IIMB

It need not be so, says modern research. The author happened to attend the Future of Learning Conference at IIM Bangalore (click here..) this January 2019. Prof. Das Narayandas, Associate Dean from from Harvard Business school, co-author, who was a speaker at the conference was mentioning about his next paper, (Educating the next generation of leaders, click here for the HBR article..) which stressed on what the future of executive education and life-long learning is going to look like ..

The secret is on tapping from the intelligence of the network, realising the "network intelligence". 

Quoting an example from the personal experience of this blog's author would be best. The author was suffering from occasional bouts of slipped disc for the past past 12 years having unsuccessfully tried allopathy, yoga, Ayurveda, physical exercises etc, to no avail. It was when he was asked by a famous hospital in Bangalore to go for a spine surgery that he  got serious about it and spoke to his sister (a senior executive with a large govt Ins. Co, click here) in Mumbai. She had already seen how risky and ineffective spine surgery was through the many insurance claims that came to her.

She advised him to just take rest. The senior doctor too was kind enough to recommend a curated set of physiotherapy exercises. For the past four years, the author has been doing these exercises and has not had a recurrence of low back ache. It was the intelligence and experience of 30 years of the professional from his network that made the difference. No textbook based knowledge and experience could supplant the intelligence received from the network of experienced people.

Network intelligence is also what the author resorts to while writing articles. Usually he starts with a small post. When the post is read by friends and strangers, the adverse and favourable remarks from them gets him to edit the blog a second time. Negative comments have always helped him to come up with superior and effective writings. It was the network intelligence that helped him to do great writings for the benefit of society and the student community - Open Source Knowledge.

Open Source Knowledge - Knowledge should be open and easily accessible for anybody and everybody irrespective of their financial, educational, regional, cultural and social status.

It is the Open Source knowledge that one taps into through the network. In short, the future of continuing education and executive learning for individuals is by widening his/her network and tapping into it occasionally. With the modern advances in social media and the Internet, it is very much possible. Learning does not stop at any age and is going to be a life long experience. And the maximum knowledge one gets not from formal sources like textbooks or classrooms, but by tapping from his/her extensive wide network, in short leveraging on the network intelligence.

George.