Social Media- is to be slowly born again in new world # First HCLTweetup

I kept my profession out of this space but an experience of an event calls to be typed down to be kept as ever lasting memory. I work for a technology company but have no technology background, believe it or not but my first encounter with computer was in graduation first year during my BSc. Mathematics. Therefore computer for me was like a rocket science if not more till 6yrs back :-). And after completion of my graduation when I landed up to Galib’s city for Job search (my another post has detailed rationale about this move), my first interviewer asked me, can you operate a computer? I answered, NO explaining further that only thing I know is how to place my hand on mouse. From this background to finally working for one of the most disruptive IT company and then being part of first tweetup (I was clueless what does it mean and finally figured out ,it is Twitter meet up, God Bless Sergey Brin and Larry Page whose Idea is saving grace for so many like me ). OMG this is turning into a fairytale or another slumdog into motion ("millionaire" doesn’t go along with fair distance);-).

My job is such that every week I end-up meeting 100+ new people F2F. I am in talent acquisition and in line to this I frequently travel to metro’s and budding IT hubs like Indore, Bhuvneswar , Vizag n all and keep meeting & dealing with people. Therefore going into another meeting or get together doesn't excites me much to be honest unless there is something unique or new about it. So what prompted me being at tweetup? that too when I am in pressure cooker situation these days, it was just that I’ll get to meet the genius thought leader who has given new meaning and dimension to word “Management” The maverick Vineet Nayar.

I am new to twitter and still learning about it but why did I join this? Just to know what is so god damn great about this tool/portal which has cost an Indian minister his post, so called charismatic Lalit Modi bitted the dust over night courtesy Twitter. Also it gives you access to management, leadership theories free of cost from likes of Tom Peter’s to Gary Hamel, you name one you will get him. Mark Zuckerberg’s allegedly theft Idea from an Indian origin mind is also a buzz word, recently only I became more active on Facebook because the way people were talking about it whole day everywhere you go, I thought I should make my presence felt before people start doubting my existence :-).


And then the D-day came I went all excited for tweetup and best part was the venue, it was an art gallery coveted with art work of MF Hussein to Tayeb Mehta and almost all big names from Indian paint brush landscape. Though it is next to my work place but it was my first visit there. Tweetup started with casual introductions to sharing of embarrassing twitter incidents finally leading to very insightful discussions about digital identity and branding thanks to our young (for his signature indeed he is) & dynamic Chief Marketing officer who is musician also, Oh you just said "sounds" interesting ;-), He is on exploration for his unique sound . The topic digital identity was vast thus it was natural to have diverse opinions. Great Confucius said whenever possible "Be clear" and that’s exactly what both parties did and lines for verbal battle have been drawn, which lead to very profound discussion about, How one should craft his/her digital persona? to optimize his/her influence and impact. And then question came straight from tweet world, how does an employee’s individual branding helps an employer? And answer came walking into gallery in form of our Chief Enabling Officer (That's what CEO in HCL stand for) ; today Vineet is great brand into business space because of his management theories, thoughts and ideas which are changing the business nuance across the world. Need not to mention because of his ever growing individual brand image HCL is deriving great dividend of him being at driving seat.

After discussions on digital identity and personal branding it was time for all 25 of us to sneak-in in one of the most evolve business minds. And he started with intriguing thought that world is full of Idea if you have eyes for them. What stays forever? Only Ideas, Gandhi , Martin Luther King are still been followed and revered because of their ideas. Which are so relevant even today and making the world better place to live. Midst of all what had been said and discussed in HCL tweetup, most defining and profound thought which has stayed with me is “what is so unique about U and your identity?” Along with this Vineet’s answer to a question “who is your most favorite person whom you follow in twitter?” His answer was “I don’t follow people I follow ideas”. When there is so much available from Preeti Zinta’s twing tweet to John Hollon’s people management theories and you can’t have both same time thus being self censored & knowing your filter is very important to keep away from distractions. Because twitter serves all simultaneously imagine having continental and south Indian food on same platter, will you be able to tell the taste after meal, even foodie experts like Kunal & Vinod Dua will be lost ;-) are they experts? at least their Santro stuffed bellies suggest that. After full dose of high voltage social media usages & implications we celebrated our first Tweetup with yummy cake and delicious snacks.

Imagine a Google or Apple employee meeting Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs for 1 hour in so casual manner cut across the band and level. That too owing an idea which being formulated on social networking site just a week back. Am I dreaming? Yes but in HCL we turn dreams into realities and explore the unexplored with each passing year. Tweetup was another testament of this spirit, CEO met with 25 of us for 1 hour, shared his mind-boggling thoughts, clicked pictures. It has a message to all who still romanticize with pyramid, here it has been inverted big time and bottom is on TOP now if you still so romantic about it, just to remind you with words of our CEO “pyramids are associated with death as well”. “Employee First” at center stage once again.

To all twitter transformers, folks this is our opportunity to make it big and take it to next level, lets design a framework of our influence and optimize our impact with more collaboration and bring more people on board. Thanks so much for having me there and please keep educating me with art of tweeting….Bokul ,Kavita & Anshul thanks for putting this together and painting this ever changing HCL canvas with painting of its own kind called “TWEETUP”.

Happy Tweeting!!