'Learning & unlearning - a parallel process of discovering what’s next in digital mktg'

At e4m’s Digital 40 under 40 Summit, a power-packed panel discussed the topic ‘Learning and Unlearning - the need for constant innovation’ in a fast-paced digital world. The panel shared their thoughts on innovative ideas around the creation of a culture where taking risks and experimentation are allowed and encouraged.

The panellists were Pritesh Chothani, Co-Founder and CEO, HiVoco Education and Learning; Vaishali Shah, CEO and Creative Head, Moving Pixels Private Limited; Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director, Samsung ads. (India and South East Asia), Samsung; Faizan Ahmad, National Head, Digital Transformation (Revenue), The Hindu Group and Rohit Uttamchandani, Founder, Tacheon. The session was moderated by Aditi NC, Founder, CEO, The Social Unicorn.

Opening the discussion, Aditi NC asked the panellists to share their perspectives on how to create a culture where taking risks and experimentation are allowed in an educated and confident manner. Faizan Ahmad said, “According to me learning, unlearning, or relearning is a perfect combination of awareness, intellectual humility, and curiosity. However, the new term that is finding its way is ‘Learnability.’ There is a huge difference between what we want to create. Whether we want to create an experience for multiple years, or one experience for multiple years. If you want to create an experience, you need to make certain changes. As an organization, it is our responsibility to create a safe environment. Mistakes will take place. Nobody can predict what will happen in the future unless and until a safe environment is created. As Alvin Toffler rightly said, ‘The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Prabhvir Sahmey added, “I do sometimes have the allergic reaction to the word unlearning. We should not forget some of the foundational elements that we've learned. For me, the way to fit changes has been the willingness to learn and also understand that you need to adapt to survive. Along with adopting this mindset, we also have to be agile and adaptive to whatever is happening around us.”

Rohit Uttamchandani shared his insights on the rapid changes in the digital world. He said, “We're in a time of great change and change all around us. Everything we do in this world is changing at a rapid pace. Digital is a space that changes really fast. The pace of change that we have today has never been faster and will never be slower. In a space like this, it is crucial to have that skills and to be able to unlearn and then relearn. Digital requires the necessary skills and the ability to kind of let go of what you've learned before.”

According to Pritesh Chothani, “As a leader and a manager, I think it's our primary responsibility towards our employees to actually make the change happen for them. Therefore, as a leader, one has to create that culture of giving the power to the employees and saying, ‘Listen, I understand you're doing something right here, and you're learning and you're doing well. But now, I want you to pick up something new, and I won't question you for the next 12 months.’ Once you see a leader give a conviction, you will see this culture of innovation naturally come out. Obviously, you need support in terms of training the employees and creating the resources. However, it is the conviction of the manager and the support that you give to the employer, that will bring about the positive and necessary results.”

Quoting that learning and unlearning is a ‘parallel process,’ Vaishali Shah added, “Learning and unlearning is not just one person's culture, it's the culture of the group and the culture of the whole organization. Only then, does one person's dream become a shared dream, and therefore, we can grow and achieve together. Unlearning is not about forgetting our skills, but it's about reminding ourselves of our skills every day in order to work harder, and to think broader. Unlearning is also about coming out of our comfort zones. Unlearning is not a time-consuming process. It's a quick decision. It's a quick shift from what's next, to what's new.”