The Ultimate Adventure

Summary: I will be in Lucknow, India, for the next year or two (starting mid-February) helping Digital StudyHall develop and implement an effective and sustainable growth strategy.

I'm going to Lucknow, India! No, the exact date hasn't been set, I don't have a plane ticket, I haven't gotten any vaccinations, and of course I haven't started packing.

But...I have made the decision to take the leap. I will be working at Digital StudyHall in Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh.

According to Wikipedia, Lucknow is "among the top ten fastest growing non-major-metropolitan cities of India." Talking to folks at DSH, however, I've learned that even though there are 2.8 million people there, there is only a handful of foreigners who live there.

But I'm not going over there to live a glamorous life in Lucknow. I'm going to work at DSH. DSH is a small, educational nonprofit that creates and disseminates DVDs of government curriculum taught by effective classroom teachers to less privileged schools. The DVD becomes a "partner teacher," helping improve the quality of teaching in the lower quality schools. For an organization founded by a former CS professor at Princeton, the work is certainly not a particularly high-tech solution, but its beauty lies in its simplicity and accessibility. DSH recently won the Microsoft Education Award (and $50 K) at the Tech Awards hosted by Applied Materials, which is where I met the founder and heard about the organization. They're giving me the opportunity to pick my own project, and I may end up helping them develop and implement an effective and sustainable growth strategy.

This opportunity with DSH lies at the intersection of a lot of my interests: education, social entrepreneurship (and social change), India, and strategy. It's as if the perfect (though ambiguous) job fell into my lap, and I just couldn't turn it down.

I realize it's not going to be an easy transition, and I know I'll have my fair share of struggles there. But, as human beings, we don't grow if we don't struggle. As someone once said, "If you're not failing, you're not challenging yourself enough." I'm not looking forward to failing, but I am looking forward to growing.

In all honesty, I don't think I can do this without the support of family and friends, so I thank you in advance for your encouraging words. Visitors are always welcome, though to be honest, Lucknow probably isn't the most exciting place to be. However, there are plenty of options a hop, a skip, and a jump away, such as Nepal, Delhi, and Goa.

P.S. Logistically, I will be leaving the Bay Area around January 24, aiming to be in India by mid-February.

P.P.S. This blog is a way for you to keep track of me and my adventures, wherever you or I may be. Per the request of a friend, I'll try to have a summary preceding each entry for those who'd prefer not to read the fine print. (Like any good consultant, I've learned to use the skills of summary and synthesis to write effective taglines.)