A purposeful career: Anatomy of Quality Education in India
Interesting conversations stand out. A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to interact with Pramath Raj Sinha, an entrepreneur, educator, and institution builder who has conceptualised and built hallmark educational institutes such as the Indian School of Business and Ashoka University.
The conversation sheds light on his views on purpose, crossing the chasm from ideation to execution, building brands like ISB and Ashoka, the definition of a mentor, and much more.
On Finding Purpose:
Early on in life, people don’t think much about purpose. When one accumulates assets, they have the freedom to start thinking about the things they genuinely care about, and questions like ‘who am I?’ and ‘why do I exist?’ come to mind. One has to get to a point in life where they have the luxury to ask these questions. Some discover it sooner, while others take their time. Once the realisation dawns that purpose is essential, one can start thinking about finding purpose. Purpose neither grows on trees nor is buried somewhere for people to go and find. Purpose is found by discovery; to discover it, one has to try different things. The more different things one tries, the more one realizes what is not their purpose, and somewhere one hits upon something that seems like their purpose. So, they engage in that and stay with that for a long time. Purpose is a transient journey. It is a lot of experience personified in interests, and the direction one wants to steer their life.
Crossing the chasm from ideation to execution?
“Ideation without execution is delusion.”
Pramath says that people get lots of ideas, but many ideas are hammers looking for a nail. Ideas always come to mind and seem very interesting, but the question is whether they genuinely solve many people’s problems. Stress testing the idea to make sure that it is genuinely solving a problem, meeting a need, and shaping a big solution for many people, even if it doesn’t meet existing demand, is something that is the first important step. Many people jump head-first into something they find interesting without making sure that it is improving something. Pramath’s formula has been to identify a more fleshed-out idea and to solve a problem through that idea uniquely and distinctively. Once that part is cracked, it is a matter of picking the right people and being uncompromising in taking that idea to execution. And here, the real skill lies in identifying great people and setting the vision and the bar high.
Defining an Institution:
Pramath conceives an institution as an entity or organization with an identity of its own that extends beyond its founders' identity. An institution is also sustainable and financially viable.
The first batch-early adopters?
Pramath believes there is something special about the first batch. They are early adopters and ready to take risks. History is testimony that the first batch has produced great leaders who went on to do path-breaking stuff.
How brands ISB and Ashoka were built in a short period of time:
Pramath’s only secret to building institutional brands like ISB and Ashoka is faculty. Ensuring that the students learned from only the best industry experts and got inspired by every teacher was one aspect of the brand. They attained this by asking industry experts to do a visiting faculty stint. With great teachers, good students also enrolled, fulfilling the second aspect of the brand. Pramath believes that the lower one starts, the longer it takes to get to a high benchmark. So, a tier C/tier three institution remains a tier C/tier three institution because it started from a low standard with the aspirations of becoming a tier A/tier one institute someday. Quality doesn’t scale. One has to set the quality bar high from day one and then scale on quantity without diluting quality. Trying to scale quality is an almost impossible task.
Why is Harappa Education needed in today’s world?
The world is constantly changing, and the knowledge, technical, and functional skills needed to survive are also changing. Foundation skills around thinking, problem-solving, communicating, collaborating, and leading are most required in the working world, but those are not imparted traditionally in schools or colleges. These skills help people navigate a career, move up the career ladder, or change sectors across industries. Therefore, it was important to impart those skills. Besides, industry and employers complain that despite hiring the best guys, they cannot find qualities like good team leadership. Harappa attempts to fill this gap.
Bringing the skill-sets to the blue-collar workers:
These skills have to be brought as concepts and frameworks that have to be simplified for blue-collar workers because they are life skills. For example, one doesn’t need to tell the workers about Aristotelian Appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos for effective communication. But one can teach the workers about the importance of empathy and connecting to an audience or the importance of having a structured logic to speech. The creativity comes in simplifying the concepts in their language. Additionally, one has to get into the psyche of the blue-collar worker to pick the content that’s relevant for them and tailor that to fit their understanding.
On Hindi Literature as a participating member and the legacy:
Pramath’s four generations have been writers in Hindi. Currently, he’s trying to publish an anthology of his father’s literary works. His father’s body of work has inspired him. He continues to publish the magazine NayiDhārā, started by his father, and has taken it to the digital platform in audio, video, and social media spaces. He’s also working on preserving the rich heritage of Hindi literature.
On the Role of a mentor and his best career advice:
A mentor is somebody who deeply cares about the mentee’s success with no expectation of any return or with any feeling of competition. Their real reward comes from seeing the mentee succeed; even there, a mentor doesn’t look for credit. They are satisfied with the fact that they had a role to play in the mentee’s success. One has to be associated with a mentor, been working with them, and develop trust. The best career advice that Pramath got from his mentors was a green flag to become the Dean of ISB.