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[avinashsathian]

Name: Avinash Thayyil Valappil

Student Number : 3042494

The topic which I have chosen for my third research is all about “Asking better questions for creative problem solving, innovation and effective leadership”. What excites me to choose this topic for my research is that creativity and innovation are the most significant traits of a modern corporate leader. Creativity is the abandoning of inflexible frameworks, which is a very desirable attribute for those in leadership positions to have in a corporate context since it deviates from traditional business models. The creative thought process of leaders differs from that of individual contributors in terms of sequence. Successful leaders, in particular, start the process by requesting and analyzing other people's ideas for fixing a specific problem. The more defined the problem to be solved, the easier it is for team members to provide viable solutions and for a leader to assess the quality of those proposals. The discussion with Hal Gregersen was mainly about the reason behind him choosing the field of leadership for his research and the importance of effective leaders when leadership landscape has evolved over the years. Also, the discussion had covered areas like digital transformation and innovation leadership, how the global pandemic had an impact on digital transformation and so on. The few main points which I learned by listening to this discussion are given below:

“Every leadership task we engage in at one stage or another, demands us a better question”

Gergersen’s mother was deeply curios about social behaviour

“Pandemic had a crucial impact on digital transformation globally”

“Leaders create a space where an enquiry leads to insight. We learn something new which we did’nt know before. Insight had a positive impact on people”.

Guest:Hal Gregersen

Hal Gregersen is a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at MIT's Sloan School of Management, a fellow at Innosight, and a cofounder of the Innovator's DNA consulting firm. Gregersen, who was named one of the world's 20 most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50 and received the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award for leadership, has delivered several inspirational keynote speeches which are phenomenal, plenty pf interactive and dynamic customized workshops, and transformational advisory experiences. He has devoted his lengthy career, which includes previous teaching positions at INSEAD, London Business School, and Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, to cultivating cultures of fearless inquiry and assisting executives in transforming their firms into innovative powerhouses. Gregersen developed the Question Burst, a three-step process that firms may use to develop stronger problem solvers and increase creative impact at all levels, from senior executives to entry-level staff, twenty years ago.

He argues in his Nautilus award-winning book, "Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life" (based on 200+ interviews with catalytic questioners like Elon Musk and Orit Gadiesh), that while people are programmed to seek answers, catalytic inquiry is the true catalyst for innovative, disruptive change. His Question Burst approach, along with four additional inquiry habits, has helped restructure business cultures around constructive questioning at companies such as Chanel, Daimler, DisneyPixar, Ernst & Young, Fidelity, Genentech, Patagonia, Salesforce, World Economic Forum, and Zappos, among others.

References

https://clutch.co/hr/resources/importance-of-creative-leadership

https://thepersimmongroup.com/critical-leadership-skill-creative-problem-solving/

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/hal-gregersen

[avinashsathian]

Name: Avinash Thayyil Valappil (MSCC)

Student Number: 3042494

The topic which I have chosen for my second research is all about “Education: What works and what does not works”. The major reason for me selecting this topic for my research is that education is the most pivotal and predominant aspect for the survival of our life. Without proper education and knowledge, we cannot lead a successful life. It is the key to our in the future and more good opportunities. Furthermore, education sharpens our minds, confirms our beliefs, and fortifies our character and conduct toward others. The discussion with Proffessor John Hattie was mainly about “What works and does not works in Education”. The study conducted by the professor involved meta-analysis of students under different age groups and adults as well. He also addressed the challenges of combining the data coming from different resources which he used for researching about this topic. Also, the discussion has covered areas like calculation of relativity of the effect, understanding the relativity of each effect size and how these effects relate to each other. The points which I learned from this discussion was:

A huge and deep research has done by the professor in relation with meta-analysis of students and adults in their education.

Every people whom the professor John met at the business during the period of calculation of relativity of the effect were teachers.

A judgement cannot be made for a school based on the size of the classroom of that school, presence of homework and educational technologies.

Guest: Professor John Hattie

Professor John Hattie is an education researcher who is known for his two publications, Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers, made him more well-known to a larger audience. Performance indicators, models of measurement, and assessment of teaching and learning are among his areas of interests in research. Visible Learning is the product of his research for 15 years which was based on “what works best for learning in schools”. Since March 2011, John Hattie has served as Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne in Australia. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in Canada. He formerly served as the Project Director of asTTle and as a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research received a lot of media attention as a result of the release of his Visible Learning meta-study. Many particular components of his study were grabbed and exploited as a type of checklist that might miraculously transform schools.

References https://visible-learning.org/john-hattie/#:~:text=John%20Hattie%20has%20been%20Director,the%20University%20of%20Toronto%2C%20Canada.

[avinashsathian]

Name: Avinash Thayyil Valappil (MSCC)

Student Number: 3042494

The topic which I have chosen for my first research is all about “The Technology Trap” and the Future of Work. The major reason for me behind the selection of this topic is that today in this technologically advanced era, it is vital aspect such that without it, living ourselves an easier and comfortable life is impossible. When you consider your daily routine and tally all the technological devices we use in a single day, you will understand how vital technology is when we use our phone, television or any other electronic device. Indeed, the reliance on technology grows day by day, despite in communication, transportation, information search, or entertainment. The discussion was mainly about how the evolution of technology has affected the world. Also, the discussion had covered in areas like "What will be the future of labour”, “How will the next AI and Automation revolution effect the nature and organization of work", "What will the impact of these changes on the fabric of society from a social, economic, and political standpoint” and so on.

The main few points which I learned by listening to the discussion are:

Most of human history was devoid of wealth and inequality because of the lack of access to the technologies during those days.

The escalation of technology had a significant impact on the agriculture

 The progress of technological development was remarkable from the 16th century to the present time as the labour of workers has become more easier as it depends on machineries for all the tasks. Most of the jobs has got adapted to the machineries during the industrial revolution.

Guest: Dr Carl Benedict Frey

Dr Carl Benedikt Frey is an Oxford Martin Citi Fellow at the University of Oxford, where he runs the Future of Work program at the Oxford Martin School. Frey received his PhD in 2011 from the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition after studying economics, history, and management at Lund University. He afterwards joined the Oxford Martin School, where he developed the Future of Work program with Citigroup backing. Also, he joined Nuffield College's Economics Associateship in 2012 and the Institute for New Economic Thinking's Senior Fellowship in 2013 where he remained as a Senior Fellow of the Department of Economic History at Lund University, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

Dr Frey has supervised international organizations, think tanks, governments, and businesses, including the G20, the OECD, the European Commission, the United Nations, and many Fortune 500 corporations. His scholarly work has been covered in over 100 media locations, including The Economist, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Le Monde, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Also, Frey has published opinion pieces for the Financial Times, Scientific American, and the Wall Street Journal, where he has discussed the economics of artificial intelligence, the history of technology, and the future of labour. “The Technology Trap”, one of  his most recent book, was named one of the Financial Times' Best Books of the Year in 2019.

References

https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/people/carl-benedikt-frey/