Challenges for

Educators
How to prepare students for
the future

Mirza Yawar Baig
Opening the world, one mind at a time
Work Experience:
International Speaker, Trainer, Author, Coach,
Leadership Consultant with 16 years in Corporate
General Management, 30 years in Training &
Organizational Development, specializing in Family
Business Consulting & Entrepreneurship
Director / Professional Member:
Center for Conflict Resolution & Human Security
Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science
Entrepreneur:
1994: Founded
Education:
IIM-A , P-CMM, MBTI, WSA, ISABS
Books:
The Business of Family Business
An Entrepreneurs Diary
Hiring Winners
Leadership Lessons from the Life of Rasoolullah
Leadership is a Personal Choice
yawarbaig@gmail.com
www.yawarbaig.com
Member Consultant Panel:
USA
GE Corporate University, Crotonville
Oracle Corporate University, CA
AMA International, New York
Andersen Corporate University, MN
India
Osmania University, Hyderabad
SVP National Police Academy, Hyderabad
SSB Academy, Gwaldam, Uttar Akhand
LBS Academy of Administration, Mussoorie
Clients Include:
GE, Oracle, Motorola, Microsoft, IBM, Digital-Compaq, National
Semiconductor, Unilever, BSNL, Tata Indicom, Colgate, Asian
Paints, Siemens, Wartsila, MphasiS, CavinKare, EXL Service,
World Bank, ICRISAT, World Fish, Tata Corporate, J & J,
Accenture, Zeneca Seeds, Shanta Biotech, Advanta, Reuters,
Air India, Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, Olam, Regal Beloit, Reliance
World, NIS Sparta, AMKA, Emami Group, Suzlon, JP Morgan,
SEW Infrastructure, Rahim Afroze, Expolanka, Brandix
 Your
challenge
To teach the child to
succeed in a future that
you know nothing about
Think of your role
model
For how many of you is it a parent or
a teacher?
What would your children / students

say if I were to ask them the same

question?

The challenge is to inspire those

who we have the maximum facetime
 Why do you teach?
1. History?
2. Geography?
3. Mathematics?
4. Do your exam questions
reflect this?
if you taught keeping the real purpose in m
A
system
designe
d to
create
obedien
t slaves
Define the Product
Method will depend on the
definition
 What question do we
ask?
What was your rank? (Mark
percentage)
What did you learn?

surprise that 85% of engineers are unemploy

Define your role
Teaching him about flying
Teaching him to fly
 Most important need
Define our product: What are we trying to
create?
What you need to create a plane is not
the same as what you need to create a
train
Changes must be made in both What and
How
u cant build an aircraft in a locomotive fact
Assessment Parameters
Using knowledge What new inventions?
New knowledge What new publications?
Leveraging Knowledge What impact in
society?

Financial benefit is a byproduct

 Our successful system
Rewards compliance
Punishes investigation, questioning,
change
Focused on stuffing the head with random
bits of information not on opening the
door to lifelong learning
Tests random recall in a specific time
window - exams
many children read text books after the ex
The Tragedy
Is that our system is highly
successful
21st Century Leadership
To help them to thrive in a
world we know nothing
about
 If a system is to be
judged by its results,
what should we say about
our education system
looking at its result our
society?
Leadership through Education

What it is and what it can do

 Real education
Based on two principles:
1. Responsibility for what you hold in

trust
2. Desire to make a positive

difference
Our global problems today are not

due to lack of resources but lack of

Theaccountability
cure for that is a live conscience
 Responsibility
1. Accepting responsibility for others,
adds value to us. After all that is what
we seek all through our careers
2. Enables us to rise above our base
desires and invokes the best in us
3. Is the only way to leave a legacy of
honor
t takes courage to accept responsibility
Make a positive difference
1. Helping others to succeed
2. See value in it for yourself
3. Payback for what we received
build the bridge after crossing the
river

WiiFM is a station everyone

What we need

Questi Challe Chang

on nge e

When was the last time that you

rewarded a student for disagreeing
 What we produce
Accept

Contin Compl
ue y

We reward compliance and punish questioning

What we must encourage

Imaginatio
n

But we demand conformity and

What we must do

ul
Stim
En
ga

ate
ge
Provok
e

But we dampen and punish

Education is not the
accumulation of random
bits of information, no
matter how complex.
Challenges for Educators
21st Century and Beyond
 Food for Thought
A forking time in history is a time
of great instability. But it is the only
time when the puny effort of a
single man or woman can change
the path of destiny.

to apply effort you need to know the right direc

 Perspective
Perspective is the ability to hold two
pictures simultaneously in your mind
where you are and where you want to be.
Growth happens because where you want
to be is more important to you than where
you currently are.

ut perspective you can never know the right dir

Changes thanks to the
Industrial Revolution
1760-1820/40 to 2015
 Industrial Revolution changed

1. Time of day: Sun to shift bell

2. Parental role: Life coach to wage earner
3. Source of knowledge: Parent to Teacher
4. Concern: Collective to individual

re all part of this not standing outs

Challenge
To deal with rapid disruptive change

Future change will take years where

past change took centuries
 Changes Industrial Revolution
1.Goals: Primarily non-monetary to
money
2.Success: Long term to short term
3.Human value: Honor to money
4.Net worth: Learning and Character to
Bank balance
5.Progress: Rapid continuous growth in
net worth
Programmed
 Knowledge Workers
Huge increase in technology: Workers from developing
countries
Complexity: Migration to developed countries
Formal education required
Manual worker today needs technical education
Higher expectations and demands
Higher spending potential
Change of values, ethics, morals, culture, focus,
aspirations, education
essons from Industrial revolution in social chang
 Key Questions
1. Do we see ourselves as Key Influencers?
2. What is the evidence of that in what we
teach and how?
3. What is our connection to the real world
to ensure relevance?
4. What are our metrics of success?

hat you dont measure, you cant know or guarante

 With respect to Change: To
Survive Adapt
Grow Anticipate
Transform Drive / Initiate

So what do we need to change?

Global Challenges
Of the new world
The first commercial text
message was sent in 1992

Today (2015) the total number of

text messages exchanged is 350
billion exceeds the entire
population of the planet by 5 times
(7 Billion)
Years to reach an audience of
50 million

38 years 4 years 13 years

3.5 years

3 years 35 days
Number of internet
devices

In 1984 1000

2016 (projected)

64,000,000,000
 There are
1,025,109 words
in English (2015)

In 1950 it was
500,000
Researchers have developed
a new fibre optic technology
capable of transferring data
at a rate of 255 terabits per
second (Tbps)

- more data than the total traffic

flowing across the internet at peak
time.
So what does it
all MEAN for
you as a
teacher??
Essence of it all
Faster and easier access to information
Hugely enhanced computation power
Huge information storages
Hugely fast searches
Potential to forecast scenarios, prepare
for eventualities, predict outcomes,
options
Potential to control, influence, track, help,
network, leverage, surveillance, security,
Operative Questions
What are our criteria of judgment?
What values will drive our decisions?

What is the cost of change?

What is the price of not changing?

What demands will the new

generations have?
How will these be fulfilled?
Integrated Teaching
A brief glimpse
 Integrated Holistic Teaching
Connectivity: Show links between
subjects
Utility: Show how these apply in
real life
Curiosity: Raise questions
What do the majority of students
do with text books once the course
 Class Room
Students of multiple ages
Several teachers subject wise +

class teacher
Self-learning and discovery

Teachers provide support only

Text books dumb down knowledge. Teach

original texts
 Project: Oceans
Biology: Marine plants & animals
Physics: Displacement floats ships
Chemistry: Why is sea water salty?
Geography: Navigation, Orienteering, sailing,
Engineering: Ship building
History: Maritime history of nations, colonial
domination
Trade: Routes, goods, cultural & population
Living
changeknowledge applied in context
 Project: Mountains
Geology: Isostacy of mountains:
Stabilizing effect
Geography: How mountains effect
climate
Biology: Mountain flora & fauna
History: How mountains affected history
of nations
Draw lessons to connect to
 How?
Recognize the
problem and seek
solutions
O! Teacher, stop
teaching

And start learning

 Daily Self-assessment
Start discovering, learning, enjoying.
Start appreciating that the student is

the best thing that happened to you

and every single day try to become
the best thing that happens to him or
her.
If you want to know what someone values, see
what they measure. ~ Mikel Harry (Motorola, 6 Sigma Quality)
Ushers not teachers
Teachers must never teach.
They must be like ushers in a vast
museum, walking quietly with their
students tiptoeing behind them, opening
one door after another letting them take
a peek and then handing them the key
to the door so that they can come back
and explore in detail.
Is every day exciting?
 Give them the keys
The teacher then takes them to
another door for another peek and
another key. See??
Imagine how exciting that is for the

student!
The teachers job is to give them the
Teaching is about asking
keys.
questions and teaching them
 Ask questions
Reward the best question
The teacher who gives answers has

failed.
Let them find the answers and be

prepared for answers you didnt ever

think about
The best question is the one that
left you speechless
Its not about
today
Teaching is about
keeping the
excitement of
learning alive all
 Consider
Our present system of teaching discrete
subjects from text books, dictating notes,
model question papers and cramming
factories to pass exams from the
perspective of real EDUCATION
So what are we really trying to achieve?

nd we actually reward this violen

 What do you call?
Someone who studied something full time
for 15 years?
What do you call someone who passes the
12th exam?
So what was achieved in 15 years of
schooling?

And we actually get paid for it

 Do you really want to
change?
1.What is the cost of changing?
2.What is the cost of not changing?
3.What will be easy?
4.What will be difficult?
5.What are you willing to do to make it
happen?
sults are directly proportional to effo
 Success is a process of
connecting aspirations
to reality

Investment
Commitment
Adaptability
Persistence

Ambivalence Passion
 If you want to be
successful you must
respect one rule:
Never lie to
yourself.
 SMART Goals
1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Actionable
4. Realistic
5. Time bound
 What is my
investment?
Start Stop Continue
1. 1. 1.

2. 2. 2.

3. 3. 3.
Thought Share
yawarbaig@gmail.com
www.yawarbaig.com