Challenge & Selection    One of the challenges I face is when my juniors from school, university or elsewhere, reach  out to me for guidance on their careers and on what path to take. They seek a more first- hand experience of a particular industry or work-stream or an office or a team or a  university to help them in making decisions. When they reach out to me, I try to leverage  my experience, my network to provide them answers they seek. At times, it becomes  difficult when I am no expert on the topic of their queries. In such situations, I put myself in  their shoes and try to understand the situation from their view-point. This is when I use the  design thinking tools of Mind-mapping and story-telling to guide them.   Storytelling is exactly how it sounds: weaving together a story rather than just making a  series of points and A mind map is a tool for the brain that captures the thinking that goes  on inside one’s head. When trying to explain my point, I try telling stories that they can  relate to and then help them paint a picture of what needs to be done/ or what the next  steps are. These tools makes understanding process easier for both myself and the listener,  and hence I use these tools often.

Application    I will tell you an instance where I used these techniques and saw amazing results. I have a  younger sister who is doing her Design degree which is diametrically opposite to my  Engineering background and the journey in Banking & Finance I have pursued post my  graduation. She often looks up to me for guidance on what she should do, how she should  pursue xyz etc. As you can imagine, I didn’t really have the core expertise that would have  helped her. Instead, I told her stories from my experience – the steps I took to find an  internship, my thought process while choosing a B-school, my planning ideas that helped me  organize my to-do-list and manage time efficiently. These were generic instances from my  life where I succeeded at times and failed at times. I told her all about What worked well for  me and what could have been better / or what I could have done differently. Post telling her  this, I used mind-mapping to help her visualize next steps – create an excel of companies  that she is interested in. This is an exhaustive sheet of her mind map – companies, projects,  deadline to apply, application process, contact info etc. Once this excel sheet was clear, I  suggested she reach out to the companies weekly – according to her preference. I explained  how things worked in the corporate world and how she can leverage them in her field. This  would not only help her professionally, but also develop personal skills. She is a person who  likes to remain in her comfort zone. I wanted her to challenge herself and take one step at a  time outside her comfort zone.   After this tedious yet important process, she started applying for internships of her choice.  Despite the covid situation and limited hiring, she landed a paid internship a few days back  and I am super happy with the results that came out of this process.    Insight & Approach    What I have learnt from applying these techniques is that – while everybody may be good at  sharing knowledge, it is important to share in a way that the person achieves what he/she is  looking for. The stories allow the person to relate to situations in a seamless way. It makes

ideas/ views feel real and compelling. It allows the person to share their perspective in a  more personal way (lets them open up and be more honest in sharing what they actually  think). The person can quickly identify where they are using the mind-mapping technique. It  helps them to organize the information efficiently and identify what they don’t know, in  what areas they need to obtain information (either their own research or follow up with  relevant people).    This course made me see storytelling and mind-mapping as a tool in a new way. When I've  done it before it was really "ad hoc," but now I can prepare ahead and think of stories that  will assist me in presenting my ideas and best illuminate them. I can work on creating a  personal mind-map before providing guidance to others.

