Life, Leadership, and Technology

October is national work and family month, and it is also cybersecurity awareness month. So, it kind of ties into the theme for this newsletter, Life, Leadership, and Technology together.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I took a 3 month break from writing the newsletter to focus on eWOW ? and a few projects which include advisory engagements on growth strategies for BioTech, EdTech, and HRTech companies, private speaking engagements, and a brand-new course and certification exam for LinkedIn Learning. There are some other exciting things that I am still supposed to keep under wraps, so I won’t spill the beans ??.

There have been so many insightful conversations and learnings in last 3 months and while I have been sharing some via my LinkedIn posts and videos on my YouTube channel, three are worth sharing in this newsletter.

?? Generative AI continues to be the theme:?Be it Dreamforce, Oracle Cloud World or Amazon’s latest investment in in AI startup Anthropic, Generative AI has been the center of every conversation. At Oracle cloud world, practically every keynote and product update included how Oracle is leveraging Generative AI to create customer-centric solutions. We all saw a bold, collaborative, and customer-centric Oracle this year at cloud world, but that’s a story for another day!

In last 3 months, I have had an opportunity to advise leaders from many companies on generative AI use cases. These companies fall into two categories, #1 - companies that want to leverage generative AI to solve real world problems, and

#2 - companies who jump on the bandwagon and use generative AI (period).

My advice to companies in #1 category has been to start small, use generative AI to solve one problem, fine tune your datasets and algorithms to remove biases and then leverage the best practices from this small project to expand the use of generative AI for other solutions. It is not just about generative AI, it is about responsible generative AI. It was interesting to see how this concept of fine tuning the data sets and models to remove bias resonated with the students at San Diego State University where I did a guest lecture last month.

?And my advice to the companies in #2 category is that don’t use technology just for the sake of using it. Don’t use it because it is the new shiny object. Use it because it helps you solve a problem for your customers. Go back to drawing board to understand the problem you are trying to solve, rather than creating a tech solution and then find a problem it can help solve.

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???Skills of future continue to be in demand: Earlier this year, I talked about upskilling and reskilling being one of the key strategic initiatives for the organizations. Fast forward a few months, as layoffs and right sizing continue to be the corporate theme, organizations continue to focus on upskilling and reskilling their workforce on skills that they need to be successful.

In my business coaching practice, a lot of my clients ask me about the skills that they should build now to future proof their careers. As far as power skills go, analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and agility, motivation and self-awareness, and lifelong learning are the must have skills.

When it comes to tech skills, prompt engineering, cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics and digital marketing are key. It doesn’t matter whether you are a tech leader or a business leader, understanding these technologies and how they work is imperative for your success as a leader. Check out my YouTube videos where I share how you can build these skills in under 60 mins and then hone them.

???Life finally takes the center stage: If you are like me and have been paying close attention to top content on LinkedIn off late, you would have noticed the change in the conversation. Look at the posts on LinkedIn. Conversations about what being rich means (Jade Bonacolta ), what real growth looks like (Rashim Mogha), and what work parents need to put in to make work work (Sami (Samantha) Unrau) are resonating with people.

This is a shift from what we saw just a couple of years back when people were playing it safe!

As AI continues to redefine what machines can do, our notions of what it means to be human is challenged.

People are now focusing on leveraging their skills, voice, and unique experiences to question the status quo. They are focusing on how to leverage their energy cycles to produce something that gives them joy. They are focusing on building multiple sources of income so that they can focus on living their life rather than letting it go by in the daily grind.

It is exciting to see an ever-increasing list of entrepreneurs who are taking risks and are building purpose-driven businesses. These are exciting times.

This is the next stage of evolution of humankind when life is taking the center stage again and I can’t wait to see how this evolution impacts the future of work!

Which of these themes resonate with you? What conversations have you been having around life, leadership, and technology with your network? I would love to hear about them in the comments.

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PS: Your comments, shares, likes, and messages provide me motivation to keep bringing these insights to you. Make sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on future newsletters. And yes, repost and share this newsletter with your network :)?#sharingiscaring

Resources:

·??????? A 30-minute call with me?to fast-track your leadership career

·??????? 7 Essential Skills To Learn Today

·??????? 5 Signs That Show You Are Rich

·??????? Oracle Cloud World Recap

·??????? 3 Emerging Practices for Responsible Generative AI