The Future of Work with Subbu Iyer

Episode 18: DEI & Sports

Sports is a major contributor to economic growth and therefore mainstream. It is a major feed into the Media and Entertainment Industry. Even in the good old days when newspapers were published and most people read it, they started from the back pages where sports was featured and made it to the front pages where politics and economics is featured. Today one has feature stories of sports on the front pages. The work here is not seasonal but an annuity-oriented one with very well-paying careers for not only the ones that play the sport but also for the ones that participate in its ecosystem.
 
Giggr Technologies is bringing into focus the four main dimensions of the sports industry:
Athletic Development: Data Science taking a major leap in shaping the Capabilities of an athlete from Grassroots to Professional / Elite and or Amateur Sports.
Sports Science Development: Sports uses analytical data at all levels to varying degrees of success but has still not managed to provide a higher level of assurance for all shareholders and stakeholders with Cognitive Intelligence
Sport Development: Many sports find advancement and encouragement at the professional level and many are neglected because of a lack of popular appeal. This brings great inequity among its practitioners and this needs attention as well.
Sports Operations and Fan Management: Even though nearly an estimated $75 Billion Dollars are spent in fan management, unless the above three aspects of Athletics, Sports Science and Sports Development is paid attention to, there is a great chance of losing the real demographic that helps this industry thrive. This means the above three discrete events have to be tied into the process of Sports Operations with Innovation.
 
In this episode, we are proud to feature Danish Manzoor, a Taekwondo athlete from Jammu & Kashmir. He has a great aspiration to serve the sport as an ambassador grooming more athletes and popularizing the sport. But first, he must find expression for the abilities he has honed from a very early age, focusing on a sport rather than the tragedies around him that have crippled the society of Jammu & Kashmir.

Episode 19: Innovation in Mobility?

India manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a total route length of 68,103 km (42,317 mi) as of 31 March 2022. While the average train speeds of the Mail / Express trains have peaked at 50.6 KM / Hr, the Vande Bharat introduced recently is capable of running at 180 KM / Hr. Yet they only average around 76 KM / Hr because of the lack of tracks / infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Maglev runs at 460 KM / Hr and the CR400 ‘Fuxing” at 350 KM / Hr in China, the ICE3 at 330 KM/hr in Germany, the TGV at 320 KM/hr in France and the JR East E5 at 320 KM / HR in Japan.
 
The Vande Bharath is undoubtedly a major upgrade or improvement t the current Mail Express Trains that operate in the country but only a marginal Improvisation barely addressing any of the five dimensions of transactional value including Quality, Cost, Delivery (Time), Service and Flexibility. While we celebrate its success, we must not forget that it falls neither in the Mind 2 Market nor Time 2 Market categories of Innovation.
 
Indian Railways is one of the biggest employers in the country with over 1.4 Million employees. 70% of its estimated expenditure revenue is towards wages and pensions. It is struggling with eliminating obsolete jobs while being found wanting in both the efficacy and efficiency of its operations. It works on outdated technology, is poor in Security and Operating Standards and yet transports the people of goods of the largest populous country in the world; which is a miracle in itself.
 
It is a microcosm view of the legacy of the British Raj that the country over 75 years of Independence is yet to overcome. It is not the brightest and the best of minds in the country who seek a job with the railways. Nor has the Railways found a way to build private partnerships due to the inherent corruption of contracts in the system.
 
Against this background, our featured guest Sudhanshu Mani is a refreshing profile to pick. He spearheaded the making of the Vande Bharat and succeeded against great odds in delivering it within the scales of economy and time. A Poet at heart and an Engineer by Education, he brought the rare quality of Leadership to his job and work that is refreshing and reassuring at the same time.

Episode 20: The Growth of MSME

The MSME Sector is the backbone of India and also the global value chain. it is this sector that has the onus to change the context of Globalization to Glocalization.

Episode 21: Entrepreneurship

The topic of Entrepreneurship today draws visuals of Unicorns, Valuations and Market Capitalization. Entrepreneurship is none of this. It is about abstracting an idea for a Life Solution. For example, the Subject of Healthcare would branch into Well-being and Medicine as Themes in which there are multiple Topics for each theme to be addressed. Both the themes will break down to Physical, Mental, or Psychological Health at the highest level as Topics. Impact, Relevance and Connection are the Cornerstone of how an Entrepreneur Visualizes a Solution. The Plug n Play of Applications from these Solutions must be seen as a fusion of Data, Talent, Materials, Capital and Infrastructure that delivers the Applications in a Personalized Manner to Segments and Cohorts of Customers; not decided by Sales & Marketing but rather the Value in People’s Lives. Personalization in Industries today is the Visualization of how not to Exploit a Customer in their Vulnerable State but rather Empower them in their Life Journey. Entrepreneurship is all about making this switch that will be relevant in the future.
 
We have come to this stage on the Planet when a few Privileged and Rich imagined Products and Services and Industrialized them for Profits. This is hurting and threatening the very existence on the Planet. The advancement of Digital Technologies and the Connectivity of Internet however provides great hope for the Planet to reverse this trend by delivering to the aspirations of millions who have yet not been included and compromised in this Cannibalized System.
 
Greg Pass, Professor of Practice at Cornell Tech has an interesting title of Chief Entrepreneurial Officer for Developing Pioneering Leaders and Technologies for the digital age. He champions the 4C’s as essential for an Entrepreneur; Curiosity, Commitment, Creativity and Confidence. The first two are related to Design Thinking or Design Learning as we prefer to call it from hereon at Giggr Technologies. The latter two are related to Design where Creativity and Confidence is applied to delivering Maximum & Not Minimum Viable Product & Services.
 
We are at a Strategic Inflection Point (SIP) on the Planet. There is need for Clarity on the Path of Progress to Pursue. For the Creator Economy to succeed we must move the needle from Memory based Information Processing to Realtime Data Based Computing.
 
The past generations were burdened by the Memory of World Wars, Colonialism, Slavery, Economic Depravation and Social Inequities. Therefore their approach to life prioritized with Personal Security is justified to a large extent. But the Gen A (08 - 18) and Gen Z (18 - 25) who are the Future of Everything on this Planet have no such baggage of Memory to carry. They have the freedom to Create without the Constraints of Instructional Consumption. Artificial Intelligence should not be allowed conception from Synthetic Data and Universal Data. It must driven by Cognitive Intelligence that is Experientially Macro and Micro Learning; drawn personalized data driven by data autonomy.
 
The Entrepreneurial focus should be on the process of Conceptualizing and Engineering Solutions. The Cascading Personalization / Industrialization and Commercialization of Products & Services will be much more effective and efficient. At Giggr Technologies, we see this as a Mechanism in the Pursuit of Excellence for Individuals, Industries and Institutions.
 
In this episode, we feature 29-Year-Old Azaan Feroze Sait, who identifies himself as Founder, Creator and Community Builder at Hubverse. He graduated from  USC Marshall School of Business in 2015 and has since been involved in Curating his Entrepreneurial Spirit. Coming from a traditional old economy business family that has been into Real Estate and Retail, he has chartered his own course. He has been one of the first to set up a co-working space in Bengaluru visualized as a Community rather than just a workspace. The Theme of Community has helped him visualize and participate in Media, Communications Food Enterprises and other areas of Life with admirable felicity. He espouses causes in Animal Welfare, Children, Economic Empowerment, Education, Environment and Art & Culture and is clearly a role model inspiring and involving a workforce average age of 25 who work with him Experimenting with Empowerment to Create.