:: Lt Gen (Retd) Arjun Ray ::

Leadership and spiritual competency

01-December-2018

Innovation is the #1 leadership and spiritual competency. To succeed, in the past millennium we relied on a combination of analytical and emotional intelligences, based on knowledge and past experiences. In the 4th Industrial Age we need a new type of intelligence - innovative intelligence to succeed and be competitive.

Future intelligence = innovative intelligence

innovative intelligence = Human intelligence+ Artificial intelligence
This intelligence will enable us to:
a. Reinvent ourselves continuously because of the obsolescence of knowledge, of jobs and technology.
b. Gain insight into problems we yet do not know.
c. Operate through uncertainties, ambiguities and complexities.
d. Work collaboratively as teams to first define and then solve problems creatively, and figure out new possibilities of doing things.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

In the 4th Industrial Age

01-October-2018

In the 4th Industrial Age, educating the heart (emotional intelligence) and the mind (spiritual) has become more important than educating the head (knowledge about).

Consequently, teachers and students must develop the book reading habit to improve their quality of thinking and learning. This is the best antidote to digital addiction, as well as the only way to expand our consciousness, the only way to beat algorithms and computers.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Reskilling by Teachers

01-September-2018

The reskilling revolution has arrived.

In a VUCA world driven by technology; and characterized by knowledge and job obsolescence, the challenges are unique. All plans for investment are dependent on reskilling oneself continuously - upskilling, re-skilling, and re-re-skilling again and again. Current skills are getting outdated every five years. Re-skilling is, therefore a financial strategy - a survival strategy, and primarily a personal responsibility.

Individual readiness strategies and investment plans must be in place now, and teachers must work on them from this very moment. The grand strategy will be to become lifelong learners. This will involve:

Learning about yourself: Who am I? Why am I here?

Ownership for self and professional growth

Developing entrepreneurial competencies, especially innovation

Deep reading followed by application of concepts and ideas.

There are several types of investments - property, real-estate, gold, stocks and shares, bonds and fixed deposits. We invest for improving our quality of life, to reduce taxable income, for higher education, marriages of children, for retirement, for starting and expanding business, whatever. The time has now come for us to invest in knowledge - our time, money, resources and hope.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Academic year with one key resolution

01-August-2018

The new session for 2018 - 19 has commenced. We start the academic year with one key resolution: every teacher and student must set goals for improving their academic rigour and human potential.

Challenging goals are the most powerful leadership tool for unlocking human potential and being happy. Einstein once said, " If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things."

Those who set goals and write down plans, succeed in life, gain a competitive edge over others, and become good human beings.

This is what we endeavour at Indus.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Future schools will be schools of innovation

01-July-2018

Future schools will be schools of innovation. Innovation will be necessary for economic prosperity, coping with VUCA conditions, sustainability of the planet, self-actualisation and institutional legacy. From 1955 to 2017, only 60 of the original 500 Fortune companies are surviving. It is believed that, in the next ten years, about 40 percent of today's Fortune companies will disappear. The reasons are obvious: no purpose, no vision, and no innovation.

The renaissance for innovation must begin in schools. Schools of the future are schools of innovation.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Asking Questions

01-June-2018

The innovation culture begins with asking good questions. It does not matter whether it is a country, an organisation, a family or an individual. Those who are afraid of asking questions or raising their eyebrows, can never be creative. It's a well-documented fact that schools discourage asking questions.

Children and adults who ask questions become better thinkers and better problem solvers. You start dying the day you stop asking questions as a child, as a student and as a citizen. You also stop being curious about life and the environment you live in.

Between the ages of 2 and 5 children ask about 40,000 questions. Thereafter, they stop asking questions because our education system discourages children asking questions. Teachers and examinations want only answers. What they fail to realise is that one gets good answers only when one asks good questions.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Developing academic rigour

01-May-2018

We believe that dataism is critical for developing academic rigour, achieving excellence, continuous development, and self-directed learning.

We are in the process of creating greater data-mindedness in all teachers and our respective leadership teams. In the process, we will also be able to perceive progress and plan early interventions.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

The 4th Revolution characterized by Artificial Intelligence

01-April-2018

We have entered the era of the 4th Revolution characterized by Artificial Intelligence, automation, job obsolescence, volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

The challenge in education is staring us in the face. How do we prepare children for a world in which 40% of today's jobs will disappear by 2035, by the time they enter the workforce? New jobs will require a totally different set of skills and competencies.

We believe that our preparations must begin from the early and primary years. In this regard, parents will play a key role by:

Stop over-protecting children, to enable them to think and act for themselves, and become risk-takers and innovation.

Avoid providing instant gratification to children.

Strictly regulating screen time to enable children to be:

Be empathetic

Engage the world around them

Play with pets

Read picture / story books even before they can read

Be with nature

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

The 4th Industrial Revolution has arrived.

01-March-2018

The 4th Industrial Revolution has arrived.

AI will render millions of jobs obsolete, and many will not have the skills for new jobs. Two-thirds of today's primary children will be required to take up jobs that don't exist today. So how do we prepare children to flourish and be happy in a future we do not know?

The challenge for education is straight forward: how do we prepare children to compete with algorithms and computers. We do so by doing what computers cannot do, by educating the heart and the mind, the software that driver the hardware; and the brain. At Indus, we do this by focusing on:

Developing an entrepreneurial mindset, especially innovation

Practising the school's core values of love, empathy, respect and discipline

Tolerance

Acceptance

Beliefs based on faith and reason

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

What Machines Cannot Teach

01-February-2018

The 4th Industrial Age has arrived.

AI will render millions of jobs obsolete, and many will not have the skills for new jobs. Need to reimagine school education. Two-thirds of today's primary children will be required to take up jobs that don't exist today.

Today's teaching is focused on content knowledge and not on application and innovation. If schools continue teaching the way they have been doing for the past 200 years, children have a bleak future. The machines will take over! They will have no economic value, and will be consigned to the useless class, or worst, biological waste.
New knowledge must focus more on what what machines cannot teach. Machines are good in knowledge; human beings are good in wisdom. Therefore, the 'soft' curriculum should aim at achieving wisdom, innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset, comprising:
Wisdom

Value

Believing in beliefs

Independent thinking

Team work or collaboration

Entrepreneurial mindset

Growth mindset

Research mindedness and skills

How to access credible information

Art, music and sports

This is what Indus will endeavour.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)