#Complete dynamics materia medica professional#
On a typical evening:įor this post, we handed the keyboard over to UX Director and Google Design team lead Margaret Lee. Earlier this month, I shared my story on navigating the mismatch between personal upbringing and professional roles. As the youngest, I spent a lot of my time observing the adults and amusing myself with their discussions. I learned organic strategies to work with many different personalities, and an intuitive understanding of people’s needs and behaviors. Our living room was my lab.
Living in this big joint family helped me develop emotional intelligence and a capacity for empathy that studying never could.
Her daughter, my aunt (bua) was loving, fun, and easy-going and her husband (phupha ji) was temperamental. My grandpa (baba) was quiet and reclusive, while my grandmother (amma), the matriarch, was strong and decisive. My mother was intelligent and opinionated, while my aunt (chachi) was responsible and caring. We were a then-common, now-endangered species of the Indian societal landscape: a joint family. My father was the patriarch-omnipresent, strong-headed but emotional-while his brother, my uncle (chacha in Hindu) was an eccentric thinker.
Growing up alongside the disparate, unique personalities of my family members, I became adept at understanding people’s emotions and behaviors at a young age. In fact, the skills I’ve needed to succeed were imparted to me at home, by my large family of 12. But here’s the thing: I never studied psychology or business in school. To do my job well, I need to be an expert at both understanding subtle human behaviors and building products.