INKtalks

Amit Singhal visits INKtalks : “Beliefs make organizations…”

Jul 3rd, 2012 1 Comment

Amit Singhal

As we were winding down our week on a Friday, we had a visitor who brought a fresh dose of energy and enthusiasm for Team INK. Amit Singhal, Senior VP at Google, Inc. and the man behind Google’s ranking algorithm, dropped by at the INKtalks office in Bangalore. What followed was a spirited discussion on topics ranging from internet penetration in India and China, to what makes Google the company it is.

He was pleased to meet all our Google-INK ambassadors and felt that what the Google-INK Project aims to do ( to bring the next billion Indian people online ) is one of the most important things that need to be done in this day and age.

He spoke about how people use search differently in different countries and his observations on how the online population in India has a lot of potential to grow. So what is keeping many Indians from coming online, when we have such a large middle and upper class population with access to affordable devices and Internet service?

We explored the possibility that the reason might be in the deep rooted beliefs of the people. One of our young staff members said she observed that some older generation Indians treat their gadgets as sacred, fragile showpieces to be touched and operated by the man of the house. They are mostly kept covered to protect from dust, and the opportunities and possibilities of the internet are never explored. A growing number of teenagers are online, but the older generation just doesn’t feel the need to be online. Those who can afford have their secretaries or office-help do the work online for them.

Amit talked about how in the India he grew up in, each town used to have an indispensable post-man who would read out and write letters for everyone. He fears that we might see a time when each town will have a computer-operator-person who sends emails for everyone, because people are not comfortable with using computers yet.

We all agreed that something has to be done and people, old and young, must be made aware of how they can be benefited, empowered, and more informed by using the web.

The most fascinating part of the conversation was when Amit talked about how values and beliefs shape organizations. And how beliefs and convictions continue to define and shape organizations and even countries in the long term.

As a part of his job at Google he has to make big decisions every day.He said that at crucial moments, alongside data, their beliefs help them in making the final decision. For Google, the priority is to provide fair and just information to everyone, profits and market share come second.

So even when under intense pressure form groups who would like to see Google results changed because they don’t like the results for a query, Google stands its ground and refuses to change search results under pressure.

In the early years of Google, they had an opportunity to earn a large sum by placing an ad on the homepage. The question that they asked themselves was if an ad on the homepage would make the user experience any better and when the answer was “no”, they turned down the amount even though they needed the revenue. Profits and money were never the motivator; it was giving the users a great search experience and building innovative and intuitive products. This might be the reason why Google has the trust of millions of users and are generally perceived as the ‘good guys’.

Amit Singhal is also an Inner Circle member of the INK conference. And when asked about what he feels about the INK conferences, he talked about how in life we are constantly struggling each day, and for those 2-3 days of the conference or even 15 minutes of watching a talk online, we slow down, expand our minds and are refreshed with new ideas.

Amit Singhal at INKtalks with Lakshmi Pratury , Google-INK ambassadors and INK staff.

by Vaibhav Mathur, 
Intern 

Simon Lewis: One Year Post-INK

Feb 29th, 2012 4 Comments

To quote from my Introduction to Rise and Shine, I wrote it, “…with the information I used to achieve my recovery, in order to share the knowledge that I wish someone had given me.”

But after publication of my inspirational memoir, and as is true with most new books, there was almost no publicity for it. Connie Martinson, member of the National Book Critics Circle and host of Connie Martinson Talks Books on local public television, recognized its merit and interviewed me. There was praise on a couple of blogs and newspaper websites. But my goal for Rise and Shine—to reach and inspire people with the possibilities of our minds, bodies and souls—fast faded before the reality that I had little access to media or the Internet, beyond websites I might create but few would find. The barriers seemed insurmountable, my book and its message of hope destined for obscurity.

Then, Lakshmi Pratury read my book, and came to LA to meet me for a lunch I’ll never forget. She enthusiastically invited me to the INK Conference, to talk about the role that technology played in my recovery, to show science-based treatments designed to yield measurable and repeatable results, that are not widely known or available.

With Lakshmi’s invitation, everything changes, bringing my ideas to a world forum for the first time. TED honors my INK talk with upload to TED.com, and Deepak Chopra invites me to his Foundation’s Sages and Scientists Symposium, with first reactions from children:

Dear Simon, I really enjoyed your talk! I am really inspired. I learned so much. Thank you so much! K. (Age 13)

And adults alike:

Please keep telling your story. It transforms all of us! T.

Almost two hundred comments post from the TED Community, with volunteers translating my talk into many languages, and hundreds of thousands finding it at TED.com, the INK Community, and Internet sites around the world.

Because knowledge in the medical world tends not to flow but instead pools around centers of excellence, and because I wrote Rise and Shine to release some of that information, INK and TED’s online audience inspire me to create a unique book website to illustrate some of its technologies and ideas: to add to the information in my talk and my book.

To build the site, I work with clinicians and others, who generously provide annotated 3-D reconstructions and PowerPoint presentations about our brains, our teeth and jaws, our pelvis and feet, to show the power and beauty of technology to those in search of the hidden path to self-knowledge.

It’s because of INK and TED that people can find my website, and thousands now browse it from every continent, and state in the USA.

More support, and a chance to interact directly with people with questions about my ideas, comes when TED enables me to offer an online Conversation on my topic, How do we make the most of our Consciousness?

This is scheduled for two hours and extends for two days because so many participate, from countries including India, the USA, South Korea and China. A TED viewer and reader of Rise and Shine is inspired to rise at 2:00 AM in Singapore to participate.

Another viewer and reader recommends my book to a journalist, to whom I give more materials and interviews for The Atavist, so I can use that online magazine’s multimedia capabilities in combination with my talk and book, to communicate aspects of consciousness from multiple perspectives.

Following this, I’m interviewed on National Public Radio’s Snap Judgment and KCRW’s Unfictional and The Business, available on SoundCloud or my website.

Simon Lewis with a fan from Malaysia

Simon Lewis in a handmade, pure silk batik shirt from Malaysia

Word continues to spread. A viewer of my INK talk on TED, and then reader of Rise and Shine, flies from his home in Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles to ask questions about my book and discuss a speaking tour in the Far East, for he feels its ideas are so relevant in Malaysia.

Another reader in Switzerland who found Rise and Shine only because of my talk at INK and TED is so interested by my book’s ideas that he just posted seven chosen paragraphs from it to a support forum of which he’s a member for their discussion, and wishes I would visit to speak and answer questions.

In another INK and TED connection, LA Philharmonic first violin and TED Senior Fellow Robert Vijay Gupta who presented at INK2011, feels so passionately about Rise and Shine and its message of hope about music and the mind that he donates a beautiful performance at my most recent Book Talk at Westwood Library.

Simon Lewis with a reader at the Westwood Library (photo: Maya Dinan)

INK2011 Speaker Robert Gupta plays at the book talk in Westwood (photo: Maya Dinan)

I’ve come to understand that we have the tools to develop a coherent program that optimizes learning from infancy to old age, and at this Book Talk I shared my goal to start a nonprofit to conduct a long-term international study, to explore new approaches to the processes of learning, to see how many in society may benefit from treatments and protocols I describe in Rise and Shine, that changed my mind and changed my life.

It’s been a busy first year since INK. My quest to give people more ideas beyond my talk continues. It’s a challenge each day to find advocates to continue my efforts to reach people, and the support of the INK and TED Community over the last year—including this blog—makes a world of difference. I feel so very fortunate to be offered these chances, on this journey that began with my book about a single shared moment in my life, and that continues through the INK and TED Community around the world.

Thank you all.

By Simon Lewis, INK2010 Speaker and author of Rise and Shine

Los Angeles

To share comments about Rise and Shine, please visit its Amazon page or Barnes & Noble page.

Please “Like” Rise and Shine on its Facebook page if you would like updates.

Talking to Jennifer Aaker

Feb 16th, 2012 Leave a comment

When watching Jennifer Aaker’s talk, I bet your first reaction was similar to mine. In essence, I pretty much immediately concluded that Aaker is the $#!+. She’s demystifying happiness. She’s re-imagining marketing to make it a social good. And, she’s saving thousands of Southeast Asians by revolutionizing the concept of bone marrow drives? It sounds too good to be true. When I was a five-year old girl, I wanted to wear pink princess dresses and save the ponies. Aaker is pretty much doing the grown-up version of that—and it’s her job!

So on Monday I spent some time talking to Aaker on the phone. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for, but I think I was subconsciously hoping she would drop me some tips that would enable me to become some sort of adult version of a pony crusader. And my time was well spent. Let me tell you just one of the things I learned.

First of all, here’s a problem in my life. I bet a lot of you feel this way, too. I care about lots of things in this world. I like animals, the environment, social justice, political empowerment, rainbows, cupcakes and sugarplum fairies. I want to help ALL of these causes—but I simply don’t have the cash or attention span to contribute to each and every campaign.

I asked Aaker about this. How can the Environmental Justice Group—or whomever you are—make it easier for someone like me to pay attention and act?

Aaker explained that it’s not so much money—20 bucks, lets say—that organizations should really be striving to compel their donors to give. Instead it’s time. Why? When you contribute time, you get an experience. That hour I spent picking up trash from the park enabled me to personally relate to the Environmental Justice Group, forging a connection between the organization and me. That connection and that experience made me happy. The peaceful, contentment kind of happy. The enduring kind.

Contrast that to the experience of donating 20 bucks on paypal. The process might take 3 minutes, and I have no visceral experience to reward me for my good deed. At best, I’ll get a video in my thank you letter that helps me imagine all the good my money is doing for the environment. That’s just not as satisfying as having the personal experience myself. It’s disconnected enough that it makes me wonder how many lattes I could have bought with the 20 bucks instead. Do I care about lattes or the environment more? Well, obviously I’m going to answer the environment, but…you have to admit, a latte is a more tangible experience in the moment.

Aaker advocates designing moments, experiences, connections, something REAL to encourage people to take action for your org. If you’re not convinced already, she’s shown that once people have had a positive experience, they’re more likely to give money, which makes them want to have another experience, which makes them give money again…and so on and so forth. Aaker calls this the “ripple effect,” and she believes this is a powerful component to the success of any advocacy campaign—or marketing campaign in general, for that matter. As she talks about the 100k cheeks bone marrow drive in her INKtalk, it’s easy to understand what she means.

So how does all this relate to my life? On the one hand, it makes me feel good that I don’t have to blame myself for being an apathetic social justicer anymore. After all, it’s the organizations fault for not creating experiences that make it easy for me to get involved, not my fault for not wanting to give up my lattes! On the other hand, though, next time I think about contributing to a cause, I’m going to search out experiences. Not just because it’s easier on my wallet, but because I know I’m going to be more emotionally fulfilled because of it. And lastly, when I finally get around to my “save the ponies” campaign, you can be sure that the first thing I’m going to do is make a list of 10 easy things you can do to help our cause, and the last thing I’m going to do is outright ask you for your money.

 

By Nina Gannes, INK Program Manager

February 15, 2012

To watch Jennifer Aaker’s INKtalk, click here, or check it out below.

 

 

INK2011 Day 4: A new journey begins, INK2012 in B’lore

Dec 12th, 2011 Leave a comment
Joi Barua

Joi Barua

There’s a tradition in Bengal, the eastern state of India, where they say “see you again” instead of goodbye. As the second INK Conference, in association with TED, drew to a close, preparations for the third conference were already set in place. INK2012 will be held in Bangalore from December 6 to 9.

The day started with the session ‘Coming home’ where INK Fellow Nida Mahmood talked about being inspired by the mundane and turning anti-fashion fashionable. Innovator and entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, handled the issue of women’s hygiene sensitively with humour and understanding.

Singer Joi Barua, who was an INK Fellow in 2010, said he had had a fulfilling journey in the past one year since he launched his music album at INK2010. “The time between then and now was magic.” He went on to sing some of his favourite songs and dedicated one to the INK team.

In the next session ‘Looking forward’, techno artiste Alexander Tsiaras took the audience on a journey through the body simplifying complex medical conditions through a new software that will allow people to make sense of their lab report.

Robert Gupta gave a stunning violin performance and touched the hearts of the audience with his talk about playing music for the mentally ill. Shilo Shiv Suleman, INK Fellow from last year, continued her journey with INK, and launched her iPad app interactive book, ‘Khoya’ at the conference. Anupam Misra took the stage again and won the hearts of the young people in the audience with his simple yet refresing take on relevance on Mahatma Gandhi today. “The keys are always around us, but we only see the locks around us,” he said.

Professor and author of ‘The Art of Choosing’, Sheena Iyengar’s talk was a fitting concluding talk at INK2011, where dwelt on how the choices we make impact our life.

The day ended with a short video about INK captured beautifully in shadow art by artiste Amar Kumar Sen and his troupe.

To register for INK2012 click here.

 INK Correspondent

Sheena Iyengar

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