The V-nning Way

What if I tell you that there out of every 1000 children born in Somalia, 66 children die due to lower respiratory infect and other neonatal disorders? How about the fact that the climate is changing and the threat of destruction is looming large on humankind? I am sure you would agree with me when I say that the world was a much better place before we were born. But what if we both are wrong? What if the lens through which we view the world is actually turned inward and whatever we see is a function of our conditioning and cognitive biases and not based on facts at all. My own personal biases were broken when I read the bestselling book “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling. Advocated by the software baron Bill Gates himself, Factfulness provides a robust framework to base your decisions on facts and steer away from the illusions that distort our worldview and debunks the beliefs that have plagued the human minds for decades now. He has arrived at 10 thumb rules to develop a statistically b...

Olympics- The glorious quadrennial sporting event that transcends political, cultural, economic and religious barriers and witnesses participation of more than 25,000 athletes from more than 200 different countries. There are more than a million visitors who witness the  sporting  carnival and more than 3.5 million viewers glued to their screens to watch their favourite athletes strive for gold. Source- Reuters Staging the 16-days sporting extravaganza not only just brings about pride and massive amounts of revenues to the hosting nation, but also has long-term  environmental  and ecological consequences long after the crowds are gone. In 2012 London Olympic games, more than  3.45 million metric tons of carbon dioxide was released in the atmosphere, whereas in 2016 Rio Olympics 3.56 million metric tons of CO2 was generated. It is estimated that if green measures are not taken by Japan, then a total of 3.01 million metric tons of CO2 would be release...

According to the digital research firm emarketer.com,  China  is the world’s biggest e-commerce market with net sales of $426.26 billion with a growth rate of a whopping 35% since 2013 which is slightly lower than the next three biggest e-commerce markets combined. As of 2017, the number of internet users in China was more than one billion, which is three times as high as the second biggest market,  India . The proportion of consumers who have made a cross-border transaction in China has risen to 67% in 2017 from 34% in 2015 as per  Nielsen’s online shopper trend report. Source It is a no-brainer to conclude that China provides a tremendous growth opportunity for anyone looking to make money. Despite that,  Amazon , the biggest e-commerce company in the world in terms of revenue, has failed to live up to the expectations in the world’s second-largest economy. Amazon has become synonymous with online shopping in countries like the United States and  ...