Me Too? No Thank You!

A term I first became aware of whilst studying advertising & marketing, decades before its more mainstream interpretation, symbolising sexual harassment in recent parlance. Most marketers invest a lot of time & effort in liberating their brands from the forgettable trap of ‘yet another generic’ and try to cast, or recast, their labels as noticeable, memorable, clutter-breaking icons. Examples that spring to mind include Colgate, Xerox & Maggi, which have dominated collective consciousness to the extent that it has made it almost impossible for other brands to find a place!

 

The analogies we can draw from this realm of ad & marketing, juxtaposed with us human individuals, and the benefits that can be derived are staggering. Which individual wouldn’t want to be as distinctly top-of-mind recall for a critical mass of people in the same way as Colgate!

 

In an age of cloning, sameness, and a desperate need to belong and be accepted, more and more individuals are conforming. Either to family, society, cohorts and peer groups, sometimes compromising certain ideals, at other times, refashioning their beliefs to fit in with the popular majority. 

 

How then is an individual to truly stand out, stand apart, make an impact, and not be entirely swallowed by and lost in the mire of me-tooness? By applying certain marketing fundamentals.

 

On some prior occasions when I have suggested this, and I even use a few of these tools to great effect (If I may say so myself) in my psychological counselling sessions, I have been accused of robbing some of the authenticity from a deep & inward self-reflective excavation to unearth one’s true purpose. I appreciate that concern. My submission however, is that given a scenario in which, for the most part, there is no journey taking place at all, inward, outward, explorative, introspective; at least through what I am suggesting, a young person can build an ‘outward’ differentiated brand-identity for the self – and who knows, through that process, even stumble upon some genuine insights!

 

Which brings me to the simple tool I’d like to share in and through this little write-up. It is essentially a mildly revised version of a fairly standardised and commonplace Marketing Exercise called a SWOT Analysis – adapted by me to better suit a human individual rather than an inanimate brand.

Driveway Devi Life-Guidance Counselling Client SWOT-ANALYSIS

Let us begin with a basic SWOT Analysis of the Self. SWOT, as you might know, elaborates on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats. To help you get started, I am sharing a SWOT analysis of myself in the table below:

Strengths	Communication Skills	Empathy	People’s Skills
Weaknesses	Erratic Mental Health/Moods	Erratic Physical Health	Tendency To Procrastinate
Opprtunities	Social-Emotional Learning Curricula at Schools	Therapeutic Communications Programs at Corporations	Mental Health Content
Threats	Deficit of Will/Time at Schools, Colleges, Corporations	Artificial Intelligence	Established Players

Conclusions:

1. Partnering with a well-regarded, allied organisation that will boost the national profile
2. Tapping into networks of alma mater, clubs and other individuals I’m friendly with
3. Greater focus on steady medication, diet & exercise for longevity & stability of physical & mental health
4. Advocacy of AI-related deficits in the realm of Mental Health & Social Emotional Learning
5. Proprietary Annual Property that becomes synonymous with Mental-Health + DD + Kartik 

You will notice that in the above sample of my own SWOT Analysis, I have written 3 Strengths, 3 Weaknesses, 3 Opportunities and 3 Threats. I have then carefully analysed these findings and written a 5 Point Conclusion, with specific Steps to best capitalise on the Strengths & Opportunities whilst mitigating the negative impact of the Weaknesses & Threats. 

Kartik Bajoria – Founder, Driveway Devi Life Guidance

Member Good Schools Alliance

Designing the Social Surround: Creating Safe Spaces for Productive Failure

The Masterclass conducted on 20th September continued our journey through Productive Failure, with a focus on Chapter 7: Designing for Others. Having explored tasks and participation in earlier sessions, this time we shifted our attention to the outermost layer: the Social Surround.

The Social Surround is not just about the physical classroom—it’s about the emotional and psychological culture that allows learners to thrive. It determines whether students feel safe to speak up, share half-formed ideas, or take risks without fear of being judged.

What We Explored

We began by revisiting the three interconnected layers of Productive Failure:

• Task – What learners are asked to do.

• Participation – How learners engage with the task.

• Social Surround – The cultural environment that makes exploration possible.

Participants reflected on their own classrooms, noting how fear of being wrong often silences students. This simple but powerful observation led us to ask: How can we create environments where mistakes are not punished but celebrated as part of learning?

Psychological Safety in Learning

We discussed psychological safety, a concept first introduced by Carl Rogers and later popularised by Amy Edmondson in organizational learning.

In classrooms, psychological safety means learners feel included, valued, and unafraid to take risks. When this culture is present, even “imperfect” ideas can spark rich discussion—showing that learning often begins at the edge of mistakes.

Two Strategies for Designing the Social Surround

1. Re-norming
Reset classroom expectations so that effort, diverse ideas, and reasoning are valued—not just quick, correct answers. For instance, in a science class, instead of praising only the group that got the “right” result, we can also highlight those who tried bold approaches, asked deeper questions, or learned from experiments that “failed.”

2. Mind-setting
Help learners develop a growth mindset. Encourage them to see intelligence as something that grows with effort and mistakes as natural stepping stones to mastery.

Closing Reflections

The session ended with a challenge for educators:

Reset one classroom norm. 

• Change how you respond to a wrong answer.

• Set expectations for group work differently.

• Celebrate effort and exploration, not just outcomes.

Even small shifts in norms can begin to transform the classroom culture.

What’s Next

We will continue our journey with Productive Failure on 27th September, moving into the next chapter: Designing for Self.

Until then—keep growing, keep learning, and as always—stay happy and blessed.

Gurdeep Kaur

Session Host and The Teachers Academy faculty member

Courage and Patience - Roopa Bhattacharya

A Fearful Student

Fear is one of the seven universal emotions experienced by everyone around the world. Student fears are performance-based anxiety, fear of failure, fear of being laughed at, fear of public speaking, etc... This stems from cultural and familial reasons and individual responses to the environment and circumstances they face. While a teacher cannot immediately solve the deep-rooted fears that the child may have by providing an open, encouraging, friendly and trusting atmosphere in the class, the teacher may be able to wean out the child from some of the fears that he/she may have. It becomes the responsibility of the teacher to set specific rules on values, norms and behaviour that every student is expected to adhere to. Once the fearful child is put in this environment, we may expect him or her to overcome the psychological reasons for their fear. 

A girl was hushed this academic year in my class and never volunteered for any class activity. Hence during the parent-teacher meeting, I asked her mother why she was so quiet and did not volunteer for any activity. After speaking with her mother, I learned that in the previous academic year, she forgot her lines while reciting a poem in the class, and her classmates laughed at her. This made her fearful of taking part in any class activity. I groomed her for inter section recitation competition, in which she did exceedingly well and has now been able to overcome her fear.

An Impatient Student

Impatience in children is another indicator of lack of confidence and self-belief, which they may often try to camouflage through bravado. Counselling the child about the virtues of patience will likely change the child’s attitude and behaviour.

I had a student who would snap at other children and criticize them whenever they made the slightest mistake. This made her unpopular with other children. After noticing her behaviour for some time, I realized that her conduct was just a put-on act to cover her own insecurities. Hence, I counselled her to display patience and be appreciative of others. Once she understood the virtue of patience, her conduct behaviour changed for the better.

Teachers should examine the cause of impatient behaviour in the child and then counsel them.

Roopa Bhattacharyya
Ahlcon Public School
JOL Cohort 2022

Handling Pressure - Prerna Rathod

Pressure means stress that affects us in different ways.  It also affects a person at work or home.  There are different types of stress like physical stress, emotional stress, psychological stress and behavioural stress. Some of the causes of stress are as follows :

1. When we do non stop work without taking rest then it  leads to physical stress. It causes body ache and headache.

2.  If we take less sleep or stay awake till late night, our eyes become red. Our mind does not get any rest and it can lead to psychological stress.

3. Sometimes, we keep on thinking  or worry on certain matters which affects us both physically and mentally and can lead to stress.

4. Sometimes due to financial crisis or loss of a beloved or unpleasant work  environment can also lead to  stress.

 Following steps can be taken to keep away stress:

1. You need to take proper care of yourself, i.e. proper diet and rest.

2. Talk to others to divert your mind from the thing that can cause stress.

3. Do  activities like reading, painting, dancing, playing games, listening music.

4. Do yoga, exercise, meditation daily. 

As educators we must make our students understand what is stress, how it is caused and how to deal with it. If stress is not handled properly, then it can lead to dangerous consequences. Each one of us must try to handle stress in a positive way and get it out of our life to lead a happy and stressfree life.

Prerna Rathod 

The Fabindia School 

prd@fabindiaschools.in