How to Decode The Future?

<Reflections from the IIT Bay Area Leadership Conference’24>

What an amazing lineup of topics & speakers at the IIT Bay Area Leadership conference this past weekend!? My customary gratitude post became so long that I had to make a choice: Either truncate it or share it as an article.

I chose the latter so as to share with my #TheDigitalAgenda Newsletter readers as well! Do give it a read and don't forget to give me your thoughts and impressions!

Here's a TL;DR & video for the visually inclined:

AI seems to be everywhere and all at once presenting us with multi trillion dollar opportunities but really it should be about balancing the opportunity and the downsides; about separating hype from possibilities and ultimately about taking responsibility for making an impact in ways that touch your heart.

With a theme of “Decode The Future”, the IIT Bay area leadership conference was overflowing with AI in each session

Detailed Highlights:

1. Ali Ghodsi (CEO Databricks) & Karthik Narain (CTO Accenture) keynote chat set the tone of the day with what’s real out there in the industry from technology and its implementation perspective.?Currently, the market is moving from experimentation to production to scale and hence the enterprise AI market is still evolving.?
2. Predictions for 2025 : it will be the peak year for trough of disillusionment. Real impact for AI coming up,? Big year for voice, Balance from productivity to growth, Move from solving general to specialized problems.? 2025 will be the year of AI specialization; Bigger shift to responsible AI with systematic approach & Talent willing to learn and adapt well be winners
3. After this session, backstage Ali Ghodsi answered few audience questions including mine and in parting, I shared my observation of the fierce enterprise data platform wars being fuelled by AI as the last newsletter edition of TDA pointed out)
4. Ferose V R captured the hearts of the attendees with his talk with this message: The Industrial Revolution was automating the hands. The AI revolution is automating the mind. The only revolution that cannot happen is automating the heart. And so jobs that involve real human to human empathetic contact will continue to thrive.
5. Monica Bajaj (VP Octa) in conversation with Padmasree Warrior highlighted need for AI with human connection. When asked about the most cherished memory / takeaway from time at IIT, Padmasree spoke about "The power of belonging and community."?Likewise, Monica Bajaj shared advice from her professor: "Getting on the train is often the hardest. Just hang tight and the next stop will become evident."
6. Pramod Gosavi, a seasoned VC and Senior Principal at Bloomberg Capital moderated a “Cybersecurity & AI" panel with Hitesh Sheth? & Mario Espinoza on Driving Innovation with Zero Trust.??
7. The venture capital world is undergoing a transformation, with Al driving significant shifts in how we invest, innovate, and grow. It was refreshing to see? Lochan Alagh hosting a VC panel featuring Ashmeet Sidana (Engineering Capital), Raviraj Jain (Partner @Lightspeed) and Apoorva Pandhi (@Zetta Venture Partners).? With the first $5T valued company about to emerge on the horizon resulting from the explosive growth due to AI, their conversation shed light on how VCs and founders alike must adapt to this rapid technological evolution to stay ahead of the curve.?
8. Consul General San Francisco @Srikar Reddy Koppulla’s special address wrapped up the conference on a positive note about the growth prospects of India's GDP
9. Highlights from several other sessions:

• Ravi Purohit (@Birlasoft )session ->Businesses seek outcome not output?

• @Jai Das? & Sudheesh Nair session -> For building companies start with "Why?"?
• @Hitesh Sheth session -->Raise as little funds as you can?
• Jeremiah Owyang talked about the agentic economy while noting that sadly people spend years on the internet?wasting time while AI agents are about to become the norm in the industry and improve productivity drastically
• Anshu Agarwal in a chat with? Abhinav Asthana (CEO @Postman) highlighted how?Postman evolved from self pain point?and became a unicorn in the process
• Chandar Pattabhiram gave his Power of Positioning lightening talk "Five lessons from failure to help you win"
• Glean ’s remarkable success is built on founder & CEO Arvind Jain 's philosophy and belief that Company should last longer than your own lifespan. “How Engineers Build Unicorns” contained the essence of all that
• Besides meeting speakers and friends old and new, the campus-wise lunchtime mixers were. the networking highpoint?of the week
• While the percentage of girl students in IITs has traditionally been low, it was heartening to see an improving representation of IIT Women alumni (Thanks Meenal Nalwaya Surbhi Kaul, @Krystal Kaul, Priya Verma and Kritika B. for posing for the cover picture)

Gratitude

Kudos to the entire IIT Bay Area Alumni Association organizing team for putting together excellent content and an opportunity for us to network with fellow alumni. My exuberant self could not control myself during the lunch time mixer and I posted the picture from the conference floor as it was happening!

Thank you Nidhi Kannoujia Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, PhD, FRSA Anshu Agarwal, Dipty Desai, Ph.D. Hrishikesh Sathawane Ashis Khan Arnab Debnath Swapnil Sinvhal Surbhi Kaul and the entire IT Bay Area Leadership Team for putting together a stellar show and helping us all in figuring out a way to decoding the future for the industry!

(PS: Its not a coincidence that Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, PhD, FRSA and Surbhi Kaul also serve with me on ASEI (American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin) Silicon Valley Board! Thank you all for serving the alumni!)

Content is still the king but combined with people - especially reconnecting with fellow alumni & powerful accomplished speakers, it becomes mind-blowing!?So full points to IIT Bay Area team!

My Key Reflection: CADSE Framework

Prompted by Kirthiga Reddy 's question at the conference, here's what “Decoding the Future” means to me: CADSE

My expanded response with simple acronym framework combines:??

1. Consuming latest content from books, blogs by subject matter experts from industry & academia and attending conferences.?

2 Agile LUR (Learning, Unlearning and Relearning) behavior

3 Develop determination to succeed,?

4? Adopt sustainable habits, and

?5 Execute with passion

>>> Now dear readers, tell me what are your thoughts on this framework?<<<