TED Community » Rohit Agarwal

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Seeking more and more knowledge about more and more things.

An idea worth spreading

Collaborative creation and collaborative action - be it between individuals or groups - has the potential to solve many problems in the world today. Given the ease of connecting across the world today with internet, a lot of this is already happening. If I need specialized information that is not available on any website, I go to a discussion forum and post a query - and promptly I get a response which suits my need. Similarly, if I want to sell something I don't need, I advertise it online. And if nothing else works, post an update on facebook and some friend will connect me to someone who has the answer or solution.
The idea is how to take this to the next level? How to harness the tremendous latent thought power and energy towards solving each others problems? Wikipedia is one example. But possibly only about .1% of internet users actively contribute to it. Imagine what can happen if even 10% of net users become actively involved in a platform that is more versatile.

Talk to me about

History, Social Media, Collaborative Learning, Motivation, Leadership Development, Blogging and writing.

People don't know that I'm good at

Connecting people.

My TED Story

Nothing much to write home about. Discovered TED a couple of years back, and got addicted. Have been translating into Hindi whenever I get the time.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +36.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead

  Apr 7 2011: Maybe, and I am saying maybe because of lack of complete knowledge about specifics of the case, for a military leader sometimes the wellbeing of the troops under his command and the loyalty to the cause he is serving is above individuals and loyalty to them. In a situation where he sees a conflict between the former and the latter, any good military leader will and should choose to stick with the former. Of course, there may be an error of judgment and in the methods chosen. But in this case, the intent was probably honest.

• A comment on Conversation: TEDTalk Public Schools

  Apr 7 2011: I would say it would incorporate some principles of the TED talk by Stanley McChrystal - listen and learn to lead. The teachers would not only talk and teach, but also listen and learn. The students would also be encouraged to listen and learn from their peers.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Mere transfer of approaches and processes from successful enterprises to poverty eradication will not work, and could set back efforts too

  Feb 15 2011: While I agree with you, I also feel that the poverty is the 'here and now' while the underlying causes are more intangible, and also more difficult to address. Also, there is probably a feeling that if the symptom can be taken care of then the malaise itself would be treated in due course. Maybe we need more initiatives like Gramin Bank - where the women getting loans also take a oath not to give or take dowry for their children. Also, the symptom - malaise thing may have something in it. When you empower people by meeting their very basic needs, then maybe they are in a better position to take on the underlying causes. Wishful thinking? maybe.