Genius Inside, an AI-powered digital platform of transformation (L&D Edutech), started by Priya Kumar, Tarun Katial and Puneet Johar, who have spent decades in corporate training and management. The motive behind the soon-to-launch platform is to provide a personalised and defined learning journey with tangible results in transformational leadership development leading to more value/wealth creation for employees and corporate organisations.
Kumar has been training business leaders for over 25 years now, and Genius Inside is a scaled-up model of her existing services. By leveraging advancements in AI intervention and Machine Learning for the recommendation engine, combined with phy-gital mentoring, Genius Inside hopes to help users benefit from continued learning and personalised transformation, on-demand. Excerpts from an interview with Kumar:
Could you take us through the journey of Genius Inside, from conception to execution?
I have been in the corporate training industry for 26 years now, helping people overcoming their limitations and self-imposed barriers toward their success. If one chooses to get honest with themselves, they will realize that they are the only real obstacle toward their goals. That is the core of what I do. Tarun Katial, Ex CEO of Zee5 and now co-founder of Genius Inside, and I had been speaking about scaling up the reach of my work and purpose through the digital platform, leading to the conception of Genius Inside. In fact, through digitalization I am able to create a far greater and tangible impact by personalising the journey to every individual and bringing to them timely support through coaches. Especially now, the attempt to bring order and direction in one’s life has never been so urgent. And yet, the solutions remain elusive or hard to implement. We plan to address four primary segments – Post Graduate students on the verge of their corporate journey, management trainees, middle management and the C level Suite.
What are some of the key areas/industries you focus on? The two main product offerings are:
a.Genius inside for Business
Self-Help today is a 40 billion dollar industry projected to grow to 80 billion dollars by 2025. And yet, look at the state of the world. There has never been such large-scale chaos ever. Today, CHROs are faced with an acute shortage of skills which will only intensify the talent war in the next couple of years. The traditional hiring metrics might need to be re-evaluated as the learning mandate for the corporates undergoes massive change induced by the pandemic. The Genius Inside program helps corporate professionals to overcome their barriers, inhibitions, and shackles of resistance, so they can unleash their potential.
b.Genius inside for Students
The youth believe anything is possible. But once out of the safe environment of their homes and colleges and universities, that’s when reality hits and they are not prepared for it. The rate of un-employability of fresh graduates in India is 60 per cent. Educational qualification being a constant – recruiters are looking for dynamic personalities, problem-solving abilities, leadership traits, self-confidence, self-assured mindset, ability to work with and get along with others, decision making, exceptional communication skills, creativity, innovation and so much more. That is the deciding factor whether the doors to your dreams will open or shut on you even before you start your life.
Could you please elaborate on how your Priya Kumar Training Systems (PKTS) works?
It is a premier leadership training institute. My flagship programmes, ‘Personal Breakthrough’, ‘Ignite The Fire Within/the Fire Walk’, and ‘Dream Dare Deliver’ have been attended by over 300,0000 participants across 47 countries. More than 100 multinational corporations engage with my programmes every year. The key scale-up opportunity is to extend the content, offer personalisation, build a trainer ecosystem and digitise the business end to end.
What are some of the irrevocable changes you see in Learning & Development as a result of the pandemic?
The learning and development mandate has gone through a massive overhaul. For companies to navigate through uncertain times, they have to build a culture of learning which should address the top three concerns – upskilling/reskilling employees to drive revenues; addressing post-pandemic morale and mental agility and maintaining productivity. Companies are desperate to train people at light speed and make them equipped with a post pandemic work situation. The marketplace of digital learning tools has stepped up, and L&D is the key tool for organisations across the globe.
With the huge surge in online learning, how is Genius Inside going to go forward in the future?
We understand the gap between training offered and the impact on the participants – why regular style training doesn’t work. Also, the platform is capable of physical, digital or phy-gital as required, making it flexible for our clients. We can help unlock ones true potential while giving them full control over how they learn and in how much time. Talking about the current scenario, we have already kick-started the hiring process as per the strategy and are in the advanced discussion stage with clients and prospects for long term partnerships.