Praveen Parameswar is an Organisation Development Expert turned Entrepreneur. He is a thought leader and policy advocate in career planning along with being an author and a well-known TEDx Speaker. Co-founded by Praveen, Lifology is the Guinness World Record Winning, India’s 1st Career Eco-system for Parents. The mission of the brand is to empower parents to become a “Super Parent”, who will not only be informed about broader career options for their child basis his/her interest but would also be capable of guiding their children towards the right career path. Lifology attempts to solve this problem through its phenomenal Super Parent Eco-system that comprises of Lifology Magazine, Lifology TV, Lifology Hub, Lifology Connect and one of the most-engaging platforms, i.e. their Super Parent platform. In a conversation with Higher Education Digest, Praveen talks about a parent’s role in a child’s career, tools that Lifology use to empower and educate parents and much more.
Why Lifology is called a parent platform? How does this platform work for parents, and how will it benefit the students?
Lifology is the first and only platform in India that exclusively supports parents in education and career planning of their children. We are the most comprehensive solution a parent can subscribe to for ensuring a happy, secure and stable future for their kids.
Research proves that 76% of children turn to their parents while taking crucial decisions about their education and career. Only if the parents are booted well with the right information, tools, methods and systems can they influence children to make the right decisions. Lifology is passionate about enabling and empowering parents to guide their children in the right direction.
Parents can subscribe to Lifology on an annual basis. This makes them eligible to explore the most carefully curated career information, world-class Lifometric assessments, close interaction with international mentors, network with education as well as career experts and numerous other unique facilities.
This upgrades an ordinary parent to a Super Parent who thinks, plans and acts in the most learned manner.
What do you think is a parent’s role in a child’s career?
The parent is the most important factor in the success of any child and his/her career. We live in a very volatile and uncertain world. Courses, colleges, syllabus, teaching methods, the notion of employability, the expectation of employers, the nature of jobs every such aspect has been undergoing a massive change. It has been predicted that more than 48% of jobs as of now would not even exist in the coming decade. This makes it imperative to prepare our children for jobs and career streams which are yet to come into being in the coming years. One must not attribute all this to COVID 19, but its role as a catalyst cannot be denied. In these days of turbulence, even the top-notch corporates or business leaders are taking the help of consultants and mentors to help them make the right decisions. We cannot expect that a child of 13 or 17 years would survive this without external support. It is the responsibility of the parents to help the child navigate through this challenging path and reach the desired destination.
We have been going forward with the conventional western models of career counselling until date, where parents aren’t as involved in the career choices of their children. However, it is time that we understand that guardians are children’s role model and influence their decisions significantly. Therefore, it is only wise and justified for them to step up and help their wards choose the right career path for themselves and aid them to embrace what suits them and their personality the most. Helping young minds to make a decision about their future professions and streams is a part of mentoring them, and it is about time guardians come to the rescue and re-incarnate as new-age gurus for their children.
What tools does Lifology use to empower and educate parents?
Lifology, through its carefully curated modules, expose parents to the most modern trends, choices and options in higher education and career. The intelligent algorithm of Lifology gets you the most suitable module at the right time. Our Lifometric assessments powered by Artificial Intelligence help parents understand children’s learning styles, passion, 360-degree view of personality, aptitude and intelligence orientation. The system will also help parents know ‘which courses and career is the most appropriate for their child. Lifology also facilitates close interaction between parents and master mentors across the world. On top of this, we line up a team of Royal Marine Commandos, Everest Explorers, Mindfulness Gurus and Life Skill Legends to support parents in developing life skills of children.
What according to you are the limitations in the India Career Counseling space
Indian career counselling space has three major limitations.
- Career counselling in India is following the western-centric model that does not give much importance to parents, the key decision-makers in the system. The conversation that happens at schools would normally be between the child and the counsellor that does not influence the thoughts of parents in any manner. Thus the process does not address the critical player in the scenario.
- Career counselling is designed as a very short process, consisting of a couple of short sessions. Generally 1 to 4 sessions of less than an hour each. This does not help in taking any long-lasting or sustainable decision. This is a major reason why career counselling is not making any impact on the way India chooses a career.
- Use of technology in the career counselling space in Indian is extremely less. Cutting edge technologies that process multiple variables can help people make the right decisions with less effort.
Lifology is in-fact on an attempt to overcome these issues and influence career decision making in the most ideal manner.
When did you come up with the idea of Lifology and which Ed-tech brands do you think could give you a competition?
The idea of Lifology has been in our minds since 2003. We coined the word and registered an organisation in its name in 2004 itself. After which we worked in training, Human Resource Development Consulting, Leadership Coaching, Teaching, Research and Publishing studies. Associated closely with firms in various industries ranging from tourism to manufacturing to media to education. Powered by all these experiences, Lifology in the current form was launched in 16th January 2018 with a Guinness World Record.
Being the first mover to the parent support arena, we do not face any direct competition from any companies. However, our biggest competitor is the mindset of parents which does not open-up for new possibilities or unlearn the current pattern of thinking related to education and career planning.
How do you think the outbreak of COVID has changed the ed-tech Industry?
COVID – 19 has changed the Ed Tech industry forever. If Ed Tech was a ‘nice to have’ attachment to the education process in India, the last 6 months have witnessed that the entire system of education is placed around Ed-tech.
Had Ed-tech not grown at the least to the current level (still it is in infancy), the impact of COVID-19 on the life of people would be much more disastrous than in the present scenario. Governments, schools, parents and children are forced to use technology solutions in education. I think the shift we could embrace in the last 6 months would have easily taken a decade or more if COVID – 19 did not happen.
This change is for good.