Empathize and define sirisha
- 1. Empathize and Define Design Thinking ~ Sirisha Bhamidipati
- 2. The Challenge … Redefined Context : Children from Indian Middle Class families where parents are mostly salaried and are keen and focused on their children settling down Context Description The usual flow for the majority of the middle class Indians is to complete school, complete graduation, and then get into a job. Post that, it usually ends up with them getting into a rat race, getting stressed in the process. The majority take the road frequently treaded. This results in fewer innovators, ideators being born, fewer people pursuing their dreams, fewer entrepreneurs, fewer people ready to take risks, face failures and get up and move on – in spirit and in action.
- 3. The Challenge Is school to ‘working on an area of passion’ transition possible?
- 4. Some Potential Stakeholders Stakeholders interviewed Employees who have just gotten into the workforce
- 5. Interviews # people interviewed – 4 Average Age : 23 Qualification : Graduates/ Post Graduates Demography : Urban ; Tier 1 cities Family background : From urban middle class families Interview coverage • Current area of work • Dream job (Preferred area of work) • Concerns of current education system • Wishlist • Support from other sources • Opinions on a few aspects of the current system • What can be changed – could be different from the wish list
- 6. Observations ( from one interview) 1. “I am working as a professional analyst – designing new funds and marketing them globally” 2. “I am fine with what I am doing today but this is not what I aspire to be .” 3. “I think I have the ability to run my own company or an arm of a large company” 4. “A few areas of what I learnt in my formal education are useful for me to take the plunge but I am still scared because I never learnt anything in the experiential way . We just studied to clear exams. Nobody bothered to think of application” 5. “I have a feeling that there is a lot of knowledge on running a company /business which is in literature but will be better learnt if it is done in a practical way” 6. “I want to try out a few things of running a business, get my hands dirty, get the frameworks right before taking the plunge” 7. “The biggest thing is learning the softer aspects of running a business, the true life skills or characteristics of being an entrepreneur, the attitude, exposure to risk – all these will only help boost confidence on self. I think the education system should definitely do it – as it is essential – entrepreneurship or mainstream as a career” 8. “Next comes team work and collaboration. There were courses in university and activities in school that helped us work together in teams, learn to present our work, discuss to understand concepts etc. But these should be the norm than the exception.” 9. “We should leverage and network more with the alumni as we get to learn a lot from their experiences” 10. To bridge the gap, I am actively networking, reading, trying out few aspects of management in stand alone projects, attending lot of external workshops, conferences”
- 7. Empathy map - Think Think Say Feel Do • Ability to run own company • Experiential Learning will be more useful, practical • Need to up skill on nuances of running a company • Education system should change • Education should focus on attitude and mindset also apart from other skills • There should be focus and usage of team work and collaboration
- 8. Empathy map - Say Think Say Feel Do • “Education should not just focus on marks but focus on application” • “I want to try out a few things of running a business, get my hands dirty, get the frameworks right before taking the plunge” • “I have a feeling that there is a lot of knowledge on running a company /business which is in literature but will be better learnt if it is done in a practical way”
- 9. Empathy map – Feel Think Say Feel Do • Lack of confidence • Not sure if I am ready to take the plunge • Not sure if I am a team player • Never really collaborated while studying • Attitude of an entrepreneur • Good in ideation
- 10. Empathy map - Do Think Say Feel Do • Networking with Alumni • Social networking to meet people with similar interests • Read • Attend workshops, conferences • Try things out and learn through mistakes
- 11. Insights • To be confident to take the plunge into entrepreneurship, one needs to have – Opportunities to meet people who have been there, done that – to learn practical lessons from them – To try out tools, frameworks in a non- damaging environment – To learn and experience collaboration and people management skills
- 12. The Problem Statement A sincere , hardworking and smart post-graduate who has studied in reputed Universities, got great ambitions in life and perseveres to achieve his dreams My Stakeholder Needs a way to To try out what he has learnt and learn more by doing, especially by doing with others because He needs to build his confidence to take the plunge into entrepreneurship