Tag: executive coaching

October 23, 2019

October 23, 2019 — Over the past five years, we at AlligatorZone, have observed how digital natives connect the dots between what they learn in school or from friends on the one hand, and lessons from the real-world startups we feature and their transformative products, on the other. It makes me tremendously optimistic and excited about the future that the children are going to build.

Our teens and tweens belong to a no-nonsense generation.

The views of teens and tweens on matters such as personal privacy, customer empathy, or use of natural resources, are going to surprise many businesses in the foreseeable future. The children who meet startup founders in our programs are already making eye-opening contributions to conversations about how a product or service ought to be made differently. They do not mince words, and never fail to surprise and delight the startup founders with their robust common-sense, their maturity, sensitivity, and their perceptive understanding of the world of which they want to take charge.

Sadly, their potential is not being recognized, and unfortunately, very few parents can afford to make the time required to inspire their children. Very few of the well-intentioned parents who sign up for our events are able to actually bring their children to the venues. Very few parents have the time to devote to finding good reading material and sources of information for their children. Most parents seem to have resigned to the false assumption that their children are addicted to screens and will only use sites like Netflix and YouTube.

I was recently advised to consider offering ‘video snacking’ to cater to the limited attention spans of the demographic. I must disagree. Uninspiring content gets limited attention. If the reading material or viewing material involves great storytelling tied to a cause they care about deeply, then tweens and teens stay riveted for long uninterrupted sessions to untangle problems and come up with clever solutions on issues that matter to them and to the world at large.

Parents seem to underestimate the capabilities and sense of purpose of teens and tweens, in my observation.

Many parents do not give enough credit to tweens and teens for staying incredibly curious to learn from sources where they see a path to a rewarding future that aligns with what means a lot to them. In our week-long summer workshop, one 11-year old cared so deeply about cats getting euthanized when pet-shelters run out of room, that he worked relentlessly for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, to craft a program to teach people about the joys of cat-ownership and to support pet shelters.

Other examples are that of teens and tweens being really tuned in to things such as what can make something go viral and how to create a movement for a cause. The teens and tweens who come to AlligatorZone events are amazingly engaged with the knowledge they get to soak up. They do follow YouTubers and may watch Netflix or scroll through Instagram and Tiktok, but that’s primarily their source of entertainment. It builds personality and is part of their social conversations, but they are aware, that alone is not enough. Teens and tweens rise to the occasion when a parent or teacher entrusts them with world class coaching, high quality reading and viewing material, and opportunities for greater self-awareness. That is probably because the students we see at AlligatorZone are indeed very aspirational and very ambitious. More importantly, they seem to care about wealth creation for all.

That is why we are painstakingly building our premium at-home learning program at AlligatorZone, with carefully curated and contemporary storytelling to prepare students of today for the future of work. This holiday season, you can gift or buy a subscription for a low monthly fee https://AlligatorZone.org/premium.

Let’s not underestimate how much our children are learning from various sources, and how eager they are to contribute to the world and to make a positive difference. Let’s not be dismissive about how serious they are to create wealth and their ability to make good choices. Let’s just make sure we spread a lavish buffet of real-world knowledge, besides the knowledge they are already gathering, so that they can make those good choices before they get into college or the world of work. Let’s make sure they have the opportunity to develop self-awareness to figure out what they might enjoy doing in life. Let’s make sure we help them position themselves to easily obtain access to the skills required, the coaching needed, and the differentiation to help them become standout candidates on the path to their calling.

The author is Ramesh Sambasivan, co-founder of AlligatorZone, where students meet startups to learn about the future of work.

June 1, 2019

There seems to be a misconception about personal branding as it relates to middle-school and high-school-age children.

In my recent essay announcing our new trajectory, I had talked about getting kids ‘started on a journey of building an authentic and distinctive personal brand for themselves’. That has generated some discussion. “You didn’t explain what you mean by personal branding for children,” said my mother, a career-educator and retired elementary school teacher. Another parent said she didn’t really care about branding children’s image for the outside world. Allow me to clarify what we mean by personal branding in the context of AlligatorZone’s young members. In the video below, I have summarized my thoughtfully written explanation, if you scroll down further.

Branding in general starts with knowing oneself. That applies to products, companies and people. We can’t communicate about ourselves to the outside world unless we know who we are as individuals and what keeps us ticking.

The first step in branding is self-awareness.

For children to know what excites them, why something catches their fancy, and where they can personally create the most positive impact, is a deeply introspective process. It is usually an observant parent or a teacher who knows first about a child’s authentic personal brand. You may hear that in the way a mother describes how her son always knows what colors go together on a greeting card that he’s painting, or how her daughter instinctively knows which song is playing upon hearing the first few instrumental notes.

How will our AlligatorZone Activity Premium Plan help in developing the personal brand of the children? The various activities that we are designing for children are a way for them to wrap their young minds around complex concepts through playful observation of the world around them and asking the right questions.

Through these tethered flights of exploration of the future as it is being created, the children will start getting an idea of what facets of their exploration they enjoy the most and, what areas attract an audience. Along with their parent or teacher, the children too will start recognizing their own personal brand and its value at the confluence of their interests, their positive impact, and their audience.

Along with their parent or teacher, the children too will start recognizing their own personal brand and its value at the confluence of their interests, the positive impact they can make, and their audience.

Then comes the question of how they express that personal brand to eventually arrive at their true calling and a community that cares about the positive impact that the child can create. It is a question also of how they take charge of their personal narrative and make it a coherent story of who they are why they deserve a chance to make an impact in any field. That coherent narrative brings compounded benefits when it is delivered with consistency over a period of time.

That coherent narrative brings compounded benefits when it is delivered with consistency over a period of time.

This is also another way for a child to develop habits that can be fulfilling and rewarding.

That is where the Ambassador Advantage plan aims to step up kids’ personal growth, by giving them opportunities to slow down and enjoy learning without feeling pressured, while taking the time to use their innate talent to express themselves through various media — be it creating poetry, art, coding, writing, public speaking, woodworking, emojis, mime or memes.

Allowing their personal brand to manifest through their preferred forms of expression will help children achieve amazing clarity about the kind of impact they would like to make in the world, and how.

We want to give opportunities to children to do this in a manner so elegant that the slice of the world where they believe they can make an impact, can’t help but take notice of their body of work.

The children’s distinctive and authentic personal brand thus gets built automatically, over a period of time, without conscious effort, without orchestration, while generating compounding returns, over a long period of time or even over a lifetime.

A personal branding journey for children can’t be rushed.

A personal branding journey for children can’t be rushed. It takes time, constant nurturing, and tremendous patience on the part of the parents, but a journey for personal branding is a worthwhile investment for parents to make. As with all of AlligatorZone’s programs, our emphasis remains on providing a learning environment that is forgiving, supportive and uplifting for the young impressionable minds, and provides active support and encouragement from parents and educators.

The author Ramesh Sambasivan, is cofounder & CEO of AlligatorZone.org, a membership community developing tools to help parents and teachers prepare children for the future of work. Learn more at https://alligatorzone.org.

May 24, 2019

What began as a fun family project has evolved into a serious education company with a noble mission

Believe it or not, it’s been five years of delivering AlligatorZone’s free public events! To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we are changing our trajectory by setting ourselves some lofty goals, and I am really excited about it.

AlligatorZone is morphing into a membership community. Membership will be free, which means we will continue to have event programs where kids and teens can meet cool startups.

What’s particularly exciting is a new set of premium plans that discerning members will be able to layer on top of their free membership. These premium subscription plans have specific goals.

For instance, you may have observed children binge-watching video clips and shows on the Internet. These are fast becoming the next generation’s primary source of knowledge and entertainment outside of school. Children deserve better choices. I know it is not easy, but we are up for the challenge. Our new premium plan called AlligatorZone Activity addresses this issue through thoughtful, playful and compelling activity-based learning that children can pursue at their own pace in the comfort of their homes. More importantly, the Activity plan aims to ensure that children never outgrow their innate sense of wonder and curiosity, and that they develop habits that make them life-long learners.

The other thing happening, which you may not be aware of, is that several middle-schoolers and early high-school students have been asking to do more with AlligatorZone, in the form of projects and roles, that I would characterize as personal branding initiatives. Our new Ambassador Advantage Premium Plan aims to provide them with amazing opportunities by extending AlligatorZone as a platform for them to get coached, and to practice and perfect skills to become standouts in whatever path they choose, while getting them started on a journey of building an authentic and distinctive personal brand for themselves, and, we hope, gaining priceless clarity of purpose along the way. [Here’s a subsequent blog post, explaining what we mean by ‘personal branding’]

Besides playful learning activities, these new premium plans will include training and certifications as tools to develop good personal branding habits for life.

So that’s where we are taking AlligatorZone. I hope you will continue on this journey with us. Ask your friends to also become members of AlligatorZone and let us make this movement a meaningful one for families everywhere.

On this fifth anniversary, I sincerely thank you being a part of AlligatorZone.

If you have not been a part of AlligatorZone, become a member now.

-Ramesh Sambasivan, Co-founder and CEO of AlligatorZone.