Remote work, Real Estate, Neuroscience on Adult brain, Good Economics book, MBA

Welcome to Sridhar’s newsletter number # 18. Appreciate you being here, so we can connect weekly on interesting topics. Add your email id here to get this directly to your inbox (https://sridhargarikipati.substack.com).

With current Covid-19 situation and now post 8 months into it, did you noticed the Job descriptions are getting changed and how it is impacting rentals, home buying around you? Why it is so hard for an adult to learn any new language or any new skills for which they do not have any background, Neuroscience has answer for it. Most problems in world are of migration, race, government policies, climate change, many have their beliefs without knowing many facts, A Good Economics for Hard time book answers it in plain words, easier to understand such complex topics. Is MBA degree really generating its worth or is just a ticket to get higher salary or mere a master’s degree to add to one’s name? This week newsletter is all about these topics. So, let us dive in.

1. Remote work and Real Estate

Currently most of job openings are for sure are remote due to current Covid-19 situations. Now that we are more than 8 months into remote work due to Covid-19, the jobs asks is also getting changed, Instead of saying remote till Covid-19 situation is resolved and then have to be at onsite; now the ask is remote for long term and may need to be in office once in a month or in some cases already one week at worksite and 3 weeks remote, where existing workforce is getting rotated at weekly basis with not more than 25% occupation in building. If one does not need to drive every day to work, earlier people who used to drive already 30 mins to 2 hour or in some city even more for work every day, has no reason to stay near to worksite. If one has to drive say 2 hours to get to work, but if it is weekly only once or in some cases 1 week in entire month like that, then for sure people who are already away from their worksite, there is no reason for them to move near and also people paying high rents staying near to worksite to avoid daily travel does not make sense now, as they are also moving out of cities and will end up moving out.

I am just taking my own example as well, I moved last year near to my office literally 0.5 miles near to it. The real estate market for buyers and sellers, even for rental it was a hot place, never seen more than 3-4 rental available right away. if we see now, more than 30 plus rental units are available. Other trend specially in USA, due to interest rates gone down, job market even so dull has moved real estate to sky high. People are moving to new or resale homes, moving to bigger square feet space than they were before where one can accommodate their homework setup separate out of living room or kitchen counters. So although rental units are available in plenty, the bigger space one are going quick and smaller one which are still available are taking time, but their price is not getting down, as even they are also getting filled up with some time compared to before with premium rates. The Buyer and seller market for residential homes is too hot now, its cherry on top for both. One thing is very evident that, the places which are away from city say 1 hour or more are picking up this cherry a lot, there sales have gone up, the rental prices got appreciated. This trend is just started, the look at job description asks and company’s not asking workforce to be at workplace every day, will give a huge potential for real estate for areas which used to be long drive from work place earlier or outskirt of city or suburbs in case of USA are going to hit more highs in residential real estate sector, they were already premium in some states and now going to be even more. Let us see how this will go. If you are in market for home buying already, taking this bet is worth. That is my 2 cents on this, as I am not a real estate guru, just my 2 cents thought.

2. How an Adult can learn something new

Learning a new language is not easy for adult, even a basic speaking skills will take lot of time for an adult to learn when compared to kids. As per neuroscience, once we are into adulthood, our body response time to learn something, curiosity which kids have will be lost. This is why it is very hard for an adult to learn something very new compared to kids, adults will end up doing their same learnt skills prior to 30 years of age, more and more expert in them, but getting into all new skill where they do not have any background is very tough. But we still see all around us, they are adults who perform top in anything new as well they try. so, there are still options for adult to allow our brain to train itself to learn something new.

Urgency and Focus happens, when adult has to learn any new skill. When this thing happens, most people step back, but body is designed to use it as fuel to run the runway to winning post.

The adults we mentioned about are these ones, who take their body signal and instead of stopping, they use it with more focus for some time and concentrate on their learning. Neuroscientist has studied this and have mentioned that every one of adult can get themselves into kids’ curiosity and learning focus by doing two things. i.e.

1. Uninterrupted focus

An adult in need to learn some new skill, require Uninterrupted focus on skill they are trying to learn. It can be short 15 minutes at first, but slowly take breaks take this short uninterrupted time to 30 minutes and then 60, 90 minutes so on.

2. Sleep

It shows on your body, so you know it better than anyone else. I do recommend Why we Sleep book, give it a try if your library has it or try trial version for free of Audible, it will give you in depth information on this topic and why this generation really needs sleep and its awareness. Neuroscientists have been studying sleep a lot since last decade where they are exploring why sleep is so important and what happens when we do not get enough sleep. One thing its very clear from studies is, when we sleep well, body cleans out the toxins in the brain that gets accumulate during waking hours. When we are awake the mind gets lots of signals, so at some time body will stop responding to signals, this is where many people quit. So, if you have seen any one in training or as adult when trying to learn something very new, at some stage we quit. The studies have clearly shown, the person who sleeps well has an ability to show uninterrupted focus. Also recent studies have shown, even the small naps during the day or 15 mins break where one is not really thinking or doing anything, may be just stare a wall or have a juice or tea without thinking about your day and come back to study again. This is where one can gain the uninterrupted focus, we talked about in step 1.

An adult can learn at any age, just by doing above two steps well. Hear all this from great Andrew D. Huberman who is an American neuroscientist and professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Key take away from him is, Proper sleep, light social interaction, Exercise can boost one’s mental health, higher performance, productivity.

3. Good Economics for Hard Times - Book

In Good economics for Hard Times, Author Banerjee and Duflo had walkthrough most difficult topics of current times with best examples. Most of the content dealt with most crucial topics which can change a country course and world economy or world itself. For sure very informative and detailed, as topics like Immigration, climate change which we discussed last week can be simply biased by someone even without checking the facts. So, if you are looking for facts then hear it from such great professors.

Topics included as below not exact chapter names though.

1. Migration - Big enough to drive the politics of many countries.

USA 2016 election, BREXIT are such few examples which moved to a new country politics.

Why moving is not such an easy task, even when pay is higher on other side.

Immigrants add more power to country economy, crates jobs when they spend money.

2. Trade

3. Race, religion, Ethnicity, Gender

4. Growth - World Economy, Inflation, GDP

5. Climate Change

6. AI, robots, Automation discussions around jobs.

7. Abraham Lincoln Quote from the Gettysburg Address. "That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” Entire chapter covering multiple countries, existing policies what worked and what did not work.

8. Cash and Care, either by government policies or by donations of rich, can work for people or in some cases against them as well.

Most complex topics were explained with simplistic details which anyone can relate to and very much informational. Click here for Book

Here is Bill Gates review on this book.

4. Foreign students shun MBAs in US

This topic was trending in LinkedIn this week if you have noticed, The Wall Street Journal did an article where it states that MBA program got dipped near to 30% in U.S and also noted in London its up by 55%. Major reason is travel/visa restrictions placed since 2016 election in U.S and now during Covid-19 situation, Visa Rejections, Higher tuition costs in U.S are major factors to keep students away.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/international-m-b-a-students-look-for-alternatives-to-u-s-11604485806

The higher tuition fee made me think about Year 2008, while in job I was preparing for MBA exam in parallel. Even at the time, the premium colleges in India were also having high tuition fees as per Indian economy, for sure they will be less than U.S tuition fees in exact comparison. I dropped the idea of doing MBA from some local college as I didn’t had the marks to apply for IIMS and a career in front of me which I felt is better than doing 2 years degree from some non-premium college. Anyhow it was that time decision for me. It might be India or U.S, in last decade if you notice, you will know many around you, for sure have MBA degree on their name or even yourself. Countries have produced so many MBA students in last decade, but if we notice it is a broken degree according to many now.

1. Do an M.B.A person getting education to real world problems as noted in Good Economics for Hard Times book. i.e. Migration, Job Markets, Trade, Policies in good interest of people if in Government, entrepreneurs.

2. For sure, it is not generating great leaders out. As very few are coming out with essential leadership skills. To be a leader, Creativity is must, great decision-making skills are few such traits which are must.

Just India produces more than 3 Lakh MBA graduates every year. Above two clearly raises an ask on current MBA Degree, as numbers do not lie, so many came out in last decade, but hardly anyone shines above expectations. It became more of a rat race to get higher package post completion of degree, rather the master’s degree credential is used to get more creative, come up with solutions for real problems in workforce. Mine is just few thoughts on this, read this article which articulates it well.

That is all for this week. See you again.

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