WEBVTT
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Everybody talks about the transformative power
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of AI, but real transformation isn't about technology
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alone. It's about confronting the messy human
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reality of change. Today, we'll uncover why thoughtful
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implementation, risk -taking, and facing resistance
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head -on non -negotiables for success. Hi, welcome
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to The Digital Impact. My name is Charles, and
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today joining us is Rupali Kumbani, an executive
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leader driving digital and strategic transformations
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across industries like healthcare, real estate
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tech, and fintech. Rupali's unique approach aligns
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people, purpose, and priorities, delivering operational
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efficiency and innovation at scale. Rupali, thank
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you so much for joining us today. Thank you,
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Charles, and thank you for such a kind introduction.
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I'm really excited for this conversation. To
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get us started, you emphasize aligning people,
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purpose, and priorities before adopting new technologies.
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So can you share what this looks like in practice
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when you first with an organization. Absolutely.
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So that's the, I would say, my focus when I'm
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driving any initiatives, whether it's a new organization
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or you're starting a new initiative in your existing
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organization. So what I mean by people, purpose
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and priority is it has to start with the purpose,
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meaning why you're doing this and what you're
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trying to achieve out of it. Once that's clear,
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I'm a firm believer the changes we are doing
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is for the people. I'm not making life better
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for any kind of machine. but people. And these
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changes are done mostly by the people because
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my transformation is doing in collaboration with
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people, technology, processes. All these are
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helpful tools, but still it's going to be the
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people who are driving these changes. So aligning
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them together to what we're trying to achieve,
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what does our purpose look like, and getting
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them aligned with what we wanted to do is helpful.
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And then it comes to prioritization. And this
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piece, prioritization, changes on a different
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level. So I'll give you an example of when I
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was driving an initiative called as global collaboration.
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So my organization was growing quickly at a global
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regions. We had a presence in North America,
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but we were expanding into Asia, expanding into
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Europe and UK. so my global ceo felt like we
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are working as individual silos rather than as
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a one region so he wants to start with making
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this organization talking as a one unit rather
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than silos so hence he was calling this as a
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global collaboration now knowing why he wants
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to do that i still was not clear that what he
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wants out of that so talking with him and his
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peers who are the c -suites like cio ceo of a
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different region i was able to identify What
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does this global collaboration mean? And with
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that help of information, I created a strategic
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plan and tell them that this is what we're trying
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to achieve. You have 10 requirements out of which
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we're going to be able to do five. This is the
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most priority item here is. So that's where the
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priority comes in a picture. Present that plan
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in front of them and saying, this is what we're
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trying to achieve. Now, let me build up a team
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to give you the solution and how we can attain
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the priorities you wanted to achieve. So this
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is one of the examples I could say is the people,
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purpose, and priorities. Now, a lot of our listeners,
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of course, have to manage massive amounts of
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documents. Obviously, we're Foxit, so we're a
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document company. How can aligning these three
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elements help organizations leverage technology
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to transform data? into actionable insights.
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Yes, so documentation is piece, I mean... it
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is most valuable things because you have employees
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who are working on something may no longer work
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with your organization or has some personal uh
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things comes up and cannot be part of your transformation
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so documentation is a key information which will
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be leveraged for all historical information so
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i totally get that what alliance is a lot of
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time you will see frustration with around the
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documentation piece um i work a lot with the
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engineers and a lot of engineers when you tell
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them that you done this great feature you've
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done this great product now write the documentation
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and see the look on their faces they don't like
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this i don't think so documentation is anybody's
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life favorite thing to do that's one of the monotonous
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work anybody wants to do so hence sharing why
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we are doing this that purpose piece helps them
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to understand that what we're trying to achieve
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it's not something that i i just want you to
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work on non -meaningful work or something you
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would be more suitable for, but getting the value
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out of what the documentation brings to them
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and their team. So a lot of time you might not
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see value in your documentation, but you are
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going to be working on a next challenge where
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that somebody else done the same thing for you,
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helpful for you to navigate your transformation
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or your changes or your implementation. So giving
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that purpose is super helpful. So then people
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feel like I'm doing something to add value rather
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than just doing a task. Having people aligned
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to that, and even after that, there are some
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people who will be like, no, I can leverage the
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technology. Great. Tell me how you can leverage
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technology with that. A lot of time, technologies,
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a lot of time recently, people are using AI for
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documenting their information in a nicer way
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or in a better presentation way. I'm all up for
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improving that. And if that is the priority for
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us, then yes, we go for that. But a lot of time,
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we have to keep in mind that technology is not
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at full fledge where it gives you the right information.
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So at the end, a human check is also needed.
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So we can leverage the technology when it is
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needed. For example, when I'm doing a healthcare
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transformation, I would rather want a person
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to do that rather than a technology to intervene
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in doing that because there's a lot more impact
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going in people's life here. So I want to use
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technology in a more prioritized way rather than
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just implementing because it makes sense. Well,
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now, a lot of organizations are in this crazy
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rush to implement AI, but that's because of the
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competitive pressures. Is speed more critical
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today than alignment? Or, I mean, how do you
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balance that urgency with strategic alignment?
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Wow. I mean, that's the question every C -suite
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is asking. So everybody, you're absolutely right,
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wants to be at the forefront of AI. Even people
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who are using a co -pilot and saying that we
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are an AI -driven organization because, yeah,
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you are using a part of AI, but that's not what
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we mean by AI -driven organization. To be honest,
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that's the question each leader has to think
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from what is the bigger purpose of their organization
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is. What are we trying to achieve? Speed is good,
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but speed without strategic thinking in a long
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term would lead to a failure. You will have a
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short term goals, but you would not have a long
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term goals. Impact which you wanted to see for
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your organization is not. showing up. And how
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I convince people is our leaders would be data
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-driven, giving them information. Nobody right
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now has a complete crystal ball about what's
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going to be AI looking in three years, five years,
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but it's ever -growing. Something which you have
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seen two months ago would no longer work in AI
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world right now. It's a continuously adaptable
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and over -evolving AI world. Prime example would
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be internet. 10 years ago what internet was and
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how we are using right now is totally different.
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So to align people saying it's what is that long
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-term growth looks like? Are you searching for
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a long -term vision or are you more about a short
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-term vision? And I would say most of the leaders
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I connect with are long -term planners. They
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wanted to do things right rather than doing in
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a speed basis. Doesn't mean that we can't have
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quick achievements. Yes, there is. It's long
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-term strategy does not take away from the short
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-term goals. There are places we can achieve
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in a short level, but you have to think strategically.
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Now, prime example is when I joined my nonprofit
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organization as a board of director. uh the first
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question i joined there was can we use ai uh
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i've been we are hearing this ai and is that
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helpful to us and my answer to them is ai is
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super helpful i am a technology person and i'm
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leading your technology board of directors so
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yes that is part of it but i'm also strategic
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And for me to answer that question, I need to
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know your business model. I need to know the
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processes and people who are going to be using
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this technology. Then I can come to know and
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tell you what it looks like. So taking the time
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to understand our business model, I identified
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that we cannot leverage AI for our core business
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because we provide voices to people who are affected
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by conflict through art and literature. so your
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voice is your um it's our valuable product is
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and we can't use ai on it because then we are
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we are not using the authentic voice we are not
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we are not sitting with our own vision it's something
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is ai driven so ai is not useful there but there
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are a lot of processes which is a lot of manual
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processes AI would be super helpful and implemented
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AI and technology to reduce the waste there to
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improve the operational efficiency, making processes
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simpler and faster. And that's how you have to
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make a decision. Well, that can be hard because
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we talked about this earlier. People generally
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are pretty resistant to change. I think we even
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said nobody really likes change. So, you know,
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share with me some experiences you've had where,
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you know, you've successfully navigated a significant
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pushback where somebody just did not want to
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shift. I hear you in that. And I think my empathetic
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leadership helpful in that. So as we have chatted,
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I told you that people do not like changes, no
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matter how value it brings in our lives and including
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me. I'm not excluding myself. I don't believe
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that the changes are really great, even if you
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tell me the value. So there is always going to
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be that resistance. And knowing that helped me
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to understand that the resistance is not coming
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because I am driving this change. It's coming
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out from certain fears. People are not comfortable
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in discomfort. Let me tell you that way. Changes
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makes you discomfort. Change brings you from
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your normal day -to -day life. wants you to do
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something differently, which I don't think so
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everybody enjoy doing that. So knowing that,
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it helps me to connect with the people. It goes
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back to my original thought of connecting with
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people. So one of the example, I will say it,
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the global organization, which I was talking
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about. We were expanding so fast. One of the
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initiatives was to create a standardized project
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management methodology. We call it as GPM, which
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is a global project methodology. One of my colleagues
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was driving that for different regions, North
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America, Asia Pacific, and including EU and UK.
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When they were building it, it was great. It
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was done very correctly. But at the time of launch
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and implementation, there were roadblocks coming.
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And I've been called to rescue this initiative
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to drive it forward because it's a key part of
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not only for our team, but also helps us to interact
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with different global clients. So we're talking
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about billion users we wanted to talk with and
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billion revenue we are affected by that. So knowing
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that, my first priority is they are not resisting
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this change out of. some kind of biases. They
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are resisting change because there is something
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which is not aligning with what they wanted to
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do. So keeping that biases aside, I try to talk
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with the people who are impacted. So these are
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the VP and engagement officers of different regions.
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Setting and talking up with that came to know
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a pattern. The pattern which shows up that we're
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trying to implement a methodology, which we're
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trying to make a one -time fix for all which
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would not work because we are talking about different
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regions different people some one region felt
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that 75 documentation is too much for them One
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region felt that they are not having enough resources
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to train their people. Another region felt that
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it's not aligning with what they want to monitor
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in their initiatives. So combining all this came
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up with the strategy where I said, yeah, 75 documentation
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doesn't make sense. The purpose of this initiative
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was that the leaders and the clients whom we
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interact with gets the same information. So if
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you're getting a status report, it should look
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like to all CEOs the same. They get the same
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documentation. It reads same. But it doesn't
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mean how you fill out that information has to
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be the same. That's not the purpose. So then
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why we are creating multiple documentation for
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all teams. Some are compatible with... Five documentation
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to fill out this one report and some are comfortable
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with one documentation. Let's give that flexibility.
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Let's give the flexibility that how we indicate
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the project is turning yellow or red or green.
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For Asia, the budget is the highest priority.
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For North America, schedule is the highest priority.
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So based on this constraint, you indicate why
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your project is red so the leaders knows. What
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are you trying to achieve here? And considering
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all these factors and building the strategy around
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that helps me to create that alignment and able
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to launch that methodology. So that's one of
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the examples I can share. So this is really for
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digital transformation just overall. This isn't
00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:20.500
just specifically for AI. Like if we were talking
00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:22.879
about document management and digital signatures
00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:25.679
and we wanted to overcome organizational resistance
00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:29.179
for just that level of... digital transformation.
00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:31.299
These are the same tactics, right? These are
00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:33.659
the same principles you would follow. And absolutely,
00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:36.559
that's a great point you have made, Ed, because
00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:39.759
we are thinking that AI is different. AI is something
00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.720
new, so it's different than the rest of the technology
00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:45.279
we have implemented. No, it is not. Yes, the
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.299
impact, the value it brings would be different,
00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:51.120
but how we handle the change is very similar.
00:14:51.769 --> 00:14:54.250
Working in different industries, I see the same
00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:56.970
because people are the same. A resistance to
00:14:56.970 --> 00:14:58.909
the change is different. I mean, a resistance
00:14:58.909 --> 00:15:01.629
to change is same. It's just the impact and the
00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.990
complexities changes. Healthcare has a different
00:15:03.990 --> 00:15:07.009
complexity. Real estate has very low complexity
00:15:07.009 --> 00:15:09.789
compared to the rest of the world. So that's
00:15:09.789 --> 00:15:12.730
what I mean. Even if you're drawing the AI implementation
00:15:12.730 --> 00:15:16.450
or a transformation specifically to implement
00:15:16.450 --> 00:15:20.149
AI in your organization, core questions remains
00:15:20.149 --> 00:15:23.120
the same. Strategies remains the same because
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.960
we as a people are the same. Now, sometimes is
00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.960
resistance justified? Like are there scenarios
00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:32.700
where an organization is actually right to be
00:15:32.700 --> 00:15:34.860
hesitant about implementing a new technology?
00:15:35.299 --> 00:15:38.960
Great question. I don't think so. I don't see
00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.419
it as a right and wrong because the moment I
00:15:41.419 --> 00:15:44.220
put that in my head, then there is the chances
00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:48.059
of biases coming in my approach. What I feel
00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:52.500
is. I attack the core question is why you want
00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:56.240
to do it. And keeping in mind the changes and
00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.960
their impact would not come immediately. There
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.539
are short -term goals, but most of the cases,
00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:05.279
the true usage of your new product, your new
00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.460
technology will show up in yours. That strategy
00:16:08.460 --> 00:16:11.080
shows up because it takes a people time to understand,
00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:14.539
use it, and then now use this new technology
00:16:14.539 --> 00:16:17.360
for better use. AI primarily is the example.
00:16:17.789 --> 00:16:20.629
Once you learn new technology, for each individual,
00:16:20.769 --> 00:16:23.690
it takes a time. But once you learn that, then
00:16:23.690 --> 00:16:26.850
how I can leverage AI so that my work improves,
00:16:27.129 --> 00:16:30.070
my productivity improves, my profit improves,
00:16:30.210 --> 00:16:32.649
takes a time. And more and more people start
00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:35.889
using it, it becomes more usable for people.
00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:38.519
So that's the reason the true identification
00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:40.980
of a change comes over the time and we see what
00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:43.759
is the real value it's bringing. So to answer
00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:45.899
your question, I don't see this as whether it's
00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:49.100
true or not. Is something impacting you differently?
00:16:49.179 --> 00:16:52.159
It's impacting me. And as an individual, we both
00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.299
are different. Rather than addressing that, I
00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:58.820
think so I'll make you or pull you in the other
00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:02.610
side. I'll make you more. change driven rather
00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:05.210
than opposing the change. And that's what my
00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:08.150
goal is. I know one of the things that would
00:17:08.150 --> 00:17:12.069
cause anybody to think about technology, if you're
00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:15.289
going to be implementing or adopting new technology,
00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:21.750
one good cause of hesitancy that is kind of justified
00:17:21.750 --> 00:17:26.289
is your process. Is your process ready for this
00:17:26.289 --> 00:17:31.119
adoption? Because you've cautioned it too, that
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:34.000
trying to layer technology onto a broken process
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.460
is not the recommended way of adopting new technology.
00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:41.700
So can you expand on that? I mean, what are some
00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.000
examples from your experience and how did you
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.180
handle that? Absolutely. So that goes back to
00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:51.819
that strategy conversation we were doing. When
00:17:51.819 --> 00:17:53.839
you're implementing a new technology or a product,
00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:58.029
have you analyzed what your current... layout
00:17:58.029 --> 00:18:00.150
looks like, your current environment looks like,
00:18:00.150 --> 00:18:02.430
how people are working, when are you trying to
00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:05.930
fix it? Are you putting a technology because
00:18:05.930 --> 00:18:10.269
it's new, it's catchy? And AI is very core of
00:18:10.269 --> 00:18:13.170
that. Everybody wants to implement the AI. And
00:18:13.170 --> 00:18:16.210
when I'm having a conversation with people and
00:18:16.210 --> 00:18:19.269
leaders saying, yes, it's great. AI is usable.
00:18:19.509 --> 00:18:22.529
My first question to them is, what are you trying
00:18:22.529 --> 00:18:26.509
to achieve out of it? Every AI model which you
00:18:26.509 --> 00:18:32.549
want to build in -house, or if it's not building
00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:35.049
in your own environment and you're using a third
00:18:35.049 --> 00:18:38.069
-party product for AI -based, you have to understand
00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:41.190
the core of AI is data -driven. A data would
00:18:41.190 --> 00:18:44.029
drive the meaningful results for your AI. Your
00:18:44.029 --> 00:18:46.470
model will be trained if you feed them correct
00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:50.529
data. And as your data grows, your infrastructure
00:18:50.529 --> 00:18:53.529
needs to handle it. So that goes back to your
00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:56.609
process question is, is your technology ready?
00:18:56.710 --> 00:19:00.750
Do you have that data to train the AI in a right
00:19:00.750 --> 00:19:03.490
way so it gives you right information? I don't
00:19:03.490 --> 00:19:05.369
want to implement AI who gives me an answer which
00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:08.470
is incorrect. My business will go down. And none
00:19:08.470 --> 00:19:11.349
of the leaders wants that. So once the data is
00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:13.930
correct and feeding it to it, it will take a
00:19:13.930 --> 00:19:16.430
time to see the results. And then the other is
00:19:16.430 --> 00:19:18.650
the infrastructure readiness. Because as you're
00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:21.859
growing, As you are scaling your AI model, you're
00:19:21.859 --> 00:19:24.519
giving and eating and gathering tons of data.
00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:27.619
Your infrastructure needs to be ready for that.
00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:32.500
So that process of information and data and environment
00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:35.680
readiness, it's not there. Just talking about
00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.119
AI would not be fruitful. Or hiring a bunch of
00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:41.960
engineers and start building things without not
00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:44.319
looking into what current processes you have.
00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:46.279
It's not going to be helpful. I had somebody
00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:48.720
explain it to me and say it's... If you think
00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.380
about AI, it's like having a master chef show
00:19:52.380 --> 00:19:55.240
up in your kitchen. I pushed a button, and this
00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.079
chef is just amazing. He can make any dish you
00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.500
can imagine. He's just that good. But you didn't
00:20:01.500 --> 00:20:03.519
think about what's in your fridge. I have a bottle
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.819
of spoiled milk, a box of tofu, and a jar of
00:20:05.819 --> 00:20:09.250
pickles. You have a master chef, but I don't
00:20:09.250 --> 00:20:11.470
have the ingredients to work with. You didn't
00:20:11.470 --> 00:20:13.630
build the infrastructure. There's no data. There's
00:20:13.630 --> 00:20:16.250
nothing for him to work with. So you're going
00:20:16.250 --> 00:20:18.250
to end up with pickles with mayonnaise on it
00:20:18.250 --> 00:20:21.269
because I didn't have anything else to work with.
00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:26.779
Exactly. A lot of AI models. not as the level
00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:28.859
of AI which we are thinking about, but the digital
00:20:28.859 --> 00:20:32.740
models we do have. Imagine all of us, a lot of
00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:37.000
us are using smart home systems, and you might
00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.640
have a smart thermometer in your house, and you're
00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:42.819
setting up in a way saying, okay, in my house,
00:20:42.859 --> 00:20:45.140
I'm living in Chicago here, so we are going to
00:20:45.140 --> 00:20:47.980
have a great humid environment, so I want to
00:20:47.980 --> 00:20:50.579
reduce my humidity. I want to make sure during
00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:53.119
these sunny days, air condition is turned on
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:56.259
to this level. This is the data you are feeding
00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:59.440
to that model so that model understands the wet
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.019
summer comes. And I put these specific processes
00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:04.880
there saying, when it hits to this temperature,
00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:08.119
go and start my air condition. I want it to be
00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:11.099
this level. This is very simplistic model you
00:21:11.099 --> 00:21:14.380
can see about it. But if I'm using AI, what I
00:21:14.380 --> 00:21:17.500
want is it should automatically see the weather
00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:20.640
and convert it itself. Or give me a warning and
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.799
say, hey, Rupali, there is extreme heat wave
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:25.700
going in Chicago. Do you really want to turn
00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:29.079
on? Or if I'm ordering some medication because
00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:31.619
I'm not feeling well, looking into that data
00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:33.339
and says, you're not feeling well. Do you really
00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:35.779
need that high AC in your room? Do you want me
00:21:35.779 --> 00:21:38.880
to lower it down? That is what the next level
00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:42.700
of AI we are thinking. But to have that, that
00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:45.240
model needs to know my pattern, should have access
00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.039
to all this information. It's not thinking by
00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:50.670
itself. We are the one beating that data. So
00:21:50.670 --> 00:21:52.809
I want to play devil's advocate for just a moment
00:21:52.809 --> 00:21:58.210
because I want to know what happens if fixing
00:21:58.210 --> 00:22:02.250
a process takes too long and our competitors
00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:05.109
surge ahead of us because while we were trying
00:22:05.109 --> 00:22:06.910
to fix our process before we adopted anything,
00:22:07.130 --> 00:22:09.670
our competitor already had a good process in
00:22:09.670 --> 00:22:12.230
place and now they're ahead of us and we are
00:22:12.230 --> 00:22:17.740
behind. Is incremental technology adoption, is
00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:20.900
that ever justified? Even with a flawed process,
00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:23.400
if we're implementing while fixing at the same
00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:27.390
time. Is that a strategy or is that a recipe
00:22:27.390 --> 00:22:29.789
for disaster? It depends. It depends upon what
00:22:29.789 --> 00:22:32.369
you're trying to solve. It cannot be a one size
00:22:32.369 --> 00:22:35.049
fit all. But in the case which you have said
00:22:35.049 --> 00:22:38.109
that when you are moving forward and in between,
00:22:38.269 --> 00:22:40.849
somebody has already implemented something. So
00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:43.250
it's a clear example that the strategy you were
00:22:43.250 --> 00:22:45.769
driving for was not fruitful enough or they were
00:22:45.769 --> 00:22:48.509
better in their strategy and resources. And then
00:22:48.509 --> 00:22:50.849
they are faster than what you're working on.
00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.880
In any of these situations, I would recommend
00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:56.059
to be more adaptable, especially when you are
00:22:56.059 --> 00:23:00.779
doing AI or any kind of high -evolving technology
00:23:00.779 --> 00:23:04.640
implementation. Adaptability is key. There are
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.099
challenges that would be presented to you, and
00:23:07.099 --> 00:23:11.259
how you quickly, agility -wise, pivot to new
00:23:11.259 --> 00:23:14.240
scenarios is where it shows up your leadership.
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.579
So adaptability and agility is what I always
00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:21.470
say. I've been telling and saying this, that
00:23:21.470 --> 00:23:23.890
AI is evolving. So something what we know right
00:23:23.890 --> 00:23:27.569
now might not be same in future. So what will
00:23:27.569 --> 00:23:29.730
happen if I'm in the middle of my strategy trying
00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:32.650
to implement and somebody else comes up with
00:23:32.650 --> 00:23:35.210
a beautiful new technology, which will make my
00:23:35.210 --> 00:23:38.509
process very faster? That time you have to do
00:23:38.509 --> 00:23:41.470
your risk analysis. Saying, is it better to continue
00:23:41.470 --> 00:23:43.990
in my path, which I've been doing, might be different
00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:45.869
than your organization, but I'm going to get
00:23:45.869 --> 00:23:48.009
a result which is workable for my organization.
00:23:48.829 --> 00:23:51.869
In the same industry, we all have different goals.
00:23:52.049 --> 00:23:54.569
And your organization is going for one goal.
00:23:54.650 --> 00:23:57.410
My organization is going for another goal. Quickly
00:23:57.410 --> 00:24:00.789
checking is going to serve that purpose. Or is
00:24:00.789 --> 00:24:03.150
the new technology, which my competitor or somebody
00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:06.990
else has done it, can make my process faster
00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:10.390
with less investment? Then yes, I will do that.
00:24:10.670 --> 00:24:13.490
But it costs me more to invest in your new technology
00:24:13.490 --> 00:24:15.890
rather than continue in mine. I would rather
00:24:15.890 --> 00:24:18.950
continue with my processes, even though it takes
00:24:18.950 --> 00:24:20.769
a longer period of time, but it's workable for
00:24:20.769 --> 00:24:23.170
me and it is more advantage for my organization.
00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:26.690
So a lot of that is going back to your purposes.
00:24:27.509 --> 00:24:30.170
Prioritize based on what you wanted to do. It's
00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:32.970
easy to divert yourself with what others are
00:24:32.970 --> 00:24:35.609
doing, but focusing on what you want to achieve.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.539
with the resources and risk management strategies,
00:24:38.740 --> 00:24:40.859
it's super helpful. We have to talk about risk
00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:44.579
strategy now because, you know, I say let's talk
00:24:44.579 --> 00:24:47.980
about my favorite topic, embracing failure, because
00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:53.119
I sure stumble over my feet pretty often. And
00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:55.579
you highlight that when it comes to innovation,
00:24:55.900 --> 00:24:59.359
you really have to embrace failure. Exactly.
00:24:59.539 --> 00:25:02.180
Yeah, you and I talked about it and you're not
00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:04.440
alone. I'm in that same group, too. Something
00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:08.000
which is great and good. A lot of time, the fear
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:11.579
of failure stops us to move forward rather than
00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:15.240
our own ability. And that's that's common theme.
00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:18.920
around every human. So when I'm talking with
00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.339
a leader, they all want to be a forward -thinking
00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:23.720
leader. You want to build a strategy for the
00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:26.220
future generation. You want to build something
00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:29.480
innovative, creative, disrupt the industries.
00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:32.720
And all that start with the risk tolerance. So
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.700
when I'm talking with them, my first question
00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:37.519
to them is, it's great. I love your mindset.
00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:40.799
I love what you're trying to achieve here. But
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:43.829
what is your risk tolerance looks like? are you
00:25:43.829 --> 00:25:47.529
able to take failure to what percentage? So for
00:25:47.529 --> 00:25:49.809
example, if you are having a billion dollar or
00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:52.329
a million dollar initiative, are you able to
00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:58.809
take a risk of 30%, 50 %? Because when I am building
00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:01.410
an innovative solution, this is something, a
00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:03.710
groundbreaking work, which is nobody has done
00:26:03.710 --> 00:26:06.430
it in the past. And I'm trying to do it. That's
00:26:06.430 --> 00:26:08.950
where we call it as an innovative way of working.
00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.240
If I'm modifying some methodology which is already
00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.400
created and I'm putting a creative touch to it,
00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:17.339
then it becomes a little bit easier because I
00:26:17.339 --> 00:26:19.400
have a previous data to showcase to the leader
00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:21.940
saying, hey, it's been done this way and this
00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:23.980
is what I'm trying to achieve. the risk here
00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:27.740
is less but i'm creating my own methodology complete
00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:30.759
from ground break then it takes more from my
00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:33.519
leaders to have a risk tolerance because that
00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:35.779
gives the trust to your people to think outside
00:26:35.779 --> 00:26:38.500
the box because they are not constantly worried
00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:41.119
that if this fails my job isn't jeopardy because
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.500
that's going to be the that's the fear in my
00:26:43.500 --> 00:26:45.920
team when they are writing this there will be
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:49.319
fear in my head saying if i fail here is my job
00:26:49.319 --> 00:26:53.130
going to be chopped up so Giving trust to your
00:26:53.130 --> 00:26:56.369
people is important. But how I gain their trust
00:26:56.369 --> 00:26:58.349
is also important because this is something new
00:26:58.349 --> 00:27:01.269
for them. They are also at a high stake. So what
00:27:01.269 --> 00:27:06.230
I do is give them what is the data here is. What
00:27:06.230 --> 00:27:08.410
is the risk tolerance looks like? Is it a 30
00:27:08.410 --> 00:27:12.049
%? 50 %? What are my strategies are? I'm a big
00:27:12.049 --> 00:27:15.190
on a risk management plan, driving any initiative.
00:27:15.289 --> 00:27:18.250
And that works for small, big and midsize. Any
00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:21.369
of your listeners doing any initiative. AI, non
00:27:21.369 --> 00:27:24.849
-AI, non -technology. Risk management plan is
00:27:24.849 --> 00:27:27.890
so important. Creating a strategy and empowering
00:27:27.890 --> 00:27:30.930
my team to use them and making sure they're accountable
00:27:30.930 --> 00:27:33.289
to using them. Every team meeting starts with
00:27:33.289 --> 00:27:35.890
that risk management plan. What it looks like.
00:27:36.369 --> 00:27:39.309
Where are we in the risk? And the third piece
00:27:39.309 --> 00:27:42.269
is communication back to them. So my leaders
00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:45.289
are aware and I make sure that they understand
00:27:45.289 --> 00:27:48.809
you will be at every step of this process because
00:27:48.809 --> 00:27:52.230
I understand it's a high risk and you are also
00:27:52.230 --> 00:27:55.150
in the same level as all of we are. So you are
00:27:55.150 --> 00:27:58.609
not inside with us in all this transformation,
00:27:58.710 --> 00:28:01.150
but I want to make sure that you understand this
00:28:01.150 --> 00:28:04.089
and you get the information. And what we talked
00:28:04.089 --> 00:28:07.599
earlier is super important here. If I feel that
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:10.579
risk is going beyond the tolerance of my leader,
00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:14.920
where I foresee is, Charles was saying 30%, but
00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:17.200
we are going to go and hit roadblock as a 50%.
00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.039
Communicate to your leaders ahead of the time
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.519
and telling them, that's where I gain their trust.
00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.539
Saying, hey, she came to me. She told me what
00:28:25.539 --> 00:28:28.420
is it, what is my solution looks like. Are we
00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:30.440
accepting this risk? Then what will be the impact
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.000
look like? And that gives them confidence to
00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.630
move forward or not. Or are... I'm always adaptable.
00:28:36.730 --> 00:28:39.349
So it's like, if this is not working, if it is
00:28:39.349 --> 00:28:41.869
not something meaningful to you, what is the
00:28:41.869 --> 00:28:45.130
best case next step we can take? So we are still
00:28:45.130 --> 00:28:47.750
able to achieve a part of that goal, even not
00:28:47.750 --> 00:28:52.589
100%. I firmly believe that as humans, we learn
00:28:52.589 --> 00:28:55.349
from failure. We don't learn from success. If
00:28:55.349 --> 00:28:58.309
you do nothing but succeed, you're not learning
00:28:58.309 --> 00:29:01.470
anything. So you're never really advancing. You're
00:29:01.470 --> 00:29:06.029
just kind of maintaining this mid -level. And
00:29:06.029 --> 00:29:08.769
it's the same or even more so when you start
00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:10.890
talking about innovation, because innovation
00:29:10.890 --> 00:29:15.150
happens when you're solving problems, which comes
00:29:15.150 --> 00:29:18.509
through overcoming adversity, which is all about
00:29:18.509 --> 00:29:21.369
failing. You have to fail if you're going to
00:29:21.369 --> 00:29:24.849
learn and build something new and, you know,
00:29:24.849 --> 00:29:29.329
quote unquote, innovate. On the other hand, we
00:29:29.329 --> 00:29:32.049
are kind of in this climate of economic uncertainty,
00:29:32.230 --> 00:29:36.210
right? When we start talking about promoting
00:29:36.210 --> 00:29:40.430
high risk tolerance, can you see where that could
00:29:40.430 --> 00:29:45.549
be dangerous in some scenarios? Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:29:45.670 --> 00:29:50.309
I tell you, even in this, uncertainty is constant.
00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:53.829
Like just taking our timeline five years back,
00:29:53.930 --> 00:29:57.519
we had hit by COVID. Everything stopped. Then
00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.880
it started and people were more virtual than
00:29:59.880 --> 00:30:02.240
ever trying to find a new business model that
00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:04.579
works in that environment. We came out of the
00:30:04.579 --> 00:30:07.579
COVID and now people are finding what is that
00:30:07.579 --> 00:30:10.200
new business model looks like with people having
00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:13.380
working in a hybrid environment. Next is the
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:16.680
political. Then it comes the economical. So the
00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:20.079
uncertainty is going to be consistent. And when
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.880
you are driving innovation, I tell you uncertainty
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.250
is going to be continuous. And it is set at a
00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:28.789
different level. So it does play in the mind
00:30:28.789 --> 00:30:31.430
of the leaders. When they are making these decisions
00:30:31.430 --> 00:30:34.109
on innovation, the return on investment is a
00:30:34.109 --> 00:30:37.490
key point. Any initiative, whether it's innovative
00:30:37.490 --> 00:30:41.809
or not, ROI is big. Leaders wanted to know what
00:30:41.809 --> 00:30:44.400
is on return on investment looks like. What makes
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.779
it innovation complicated is I don't have historical
00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:51.700
data to give them exact information. I do give
00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:54.619
them a ballpark thing, looking at what I have
00:30:54.619 --> 00:30:56.960
done in the past, what is the historical similar
00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.579
level has done in the different industries. This
00:30:59.579 --> 00:31:03.980
is what looks like in ROI to get the funding
00:31:03.980 --> 00:31:07.559
and the trust. from my leaders to move forward
00:31:07.559 --> 00:31:10.440
with this innovation. But that data -driven decision
00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:13.460
is super important. You have to give them that
00:31:13.460 --> 00:31:16.799
information. I can't tell them it's in my gut.
00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:20.680
I feel that my emotions are telling me this is
00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:23.640
going to be a really great, great solution. No,
00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:26.880
in the real world, it doesn't work like that.
00:31:27.549 --> 00:31:30.670
So the data, the more data has been shown and
00:31:30.670 --> 00:31:33.349
answering their questions helps them to understand
00:31:33.349 --> 00:31:35.170
this is something they want to move forward or
00:31:35.170 --> 00:31:39.089
not. And that takes care of it. And with communication,
00:31:39.329 --> 00:31:41.710
you tell them where we are with the budget, what
00:31:41.710 --> 00:31:43.910
we are trying to achieve, how much we have spent
00:31:43.910 --> 00:31:46.730
out of what we were supposed to do. And a lot
00:31:46.730 --> 00:31:48.869
of times that iterative approach, if you can
00:31:48.869 --> 00:31:52.130
get it, is really right, saying some kind of
00:31:52.130 --> 00:31:57.019
MVP is a great, great tool. Highly recommend
00:31:57.019 --> 00:32:00.720
leaders to use that. I was doing the global collaboration,
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:04.579
as I told you about. My first approach that how
00:32:04.579 --> 00:32:08.380
this big enterprise level transformation would
00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:11.420
work was to done an MVP in a short environment
00:32:11.420 --> 00:32:15.319
with a 20 group of people. Seeing the result
00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:18.559
gets the confidence of the leader saying, hey,
00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:21.440
it's worth investing billion into this. It's
00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:24.809
worth investing resources into that. That MVP
00:32:24.809 --> 00:32:28.630
has given them that sense of achievement so that
00:32:28.630 --> 00:32:32.009
they could spend that money into my bigger initiative.
00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:35.049
All right. I want to talk about one of your recent
00:32:35.049 --> 00:32:38.410
wins. And it's a pretty big one. I'm excited
00:32:38.410 --> 00:32:40.750
about this. I want to know more about it. You
00:32:40.750 --> 00:32:43.789
recently doubled the size of a nonprofit board
00:32:43.789 --> 00:32:46.549
and you significantly streamlined their operations.
00:32:46.930 --> 00:32:51.089
So I want to know, how did you manage this rapid?
00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:56.339
pace of growth. And how did you avoid burnout
00:32:56.339 --> 00:32:59.559
and chaos and complete disorganization, which
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:02.880
so often comes with rapid growth? Absolutely.
00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:07.960
So when I joined them, they were, it's a passionate
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:10.859
passionate group of people. I would say nonprofit
00:33:10.859 --> 00:33:13.660
organizations runs a lot on a passion because
00:33:13.660 --> 00:33:15.839
you're passionate about the goals, the mission.
00:33:15.980 --> 00:33:19.500
And I was all for it. But looking at on the high
00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:22.920
level, I feel like we are functioning on the
00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:26.019
opportunities as it feels fitted to them. So
00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.059
if there is new shiny things comes up, everybody
00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:30.779
excited, started working on it in a one month.
00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:33.319
It doesn't seem excited and then driving into
00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:36.359
the next level. So seeing that pattern we have
00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:41.250
a huge turnout of people. We were losing people
00:33:41.250 --> 00:33:43.829
very quickly. And that was impacting organization
00:33:43.829 --> 00:33:47.349
in such a level that we were spending more time
00:33:47.349 --> 00:33:51.549
onboarding and training and then again hiring
00:33:51.549 --> 00:33:55.210
new people after one month of a time. So all
00:33:55.210 --> 00:33:57.130
that struggle, I identified that there is not
00:33:57.130 --> 00:33:59.549
a structure to the board. So I looked into what
00:33:59.549 --> 00:34:02.430
are the nonprofit model looks like. And for our
00:34:02.430 --> 00:34:05.630
organization, it felt that we should be a model
00:34:05.630 --> 00:34:08.289
where everybody has an equal voice. There are
00:34:08.289 --> 00:34:10.840
people. who would, the board members should be
00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:13.059
acting more as a board of director rather than
00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:15.619
board of advisory because we need more out of
00:34:15.619 --> 00:34:18.780
these people. And looking at the processes, I
00:34:18.780 --> 00:34:22.320
felt that we needed more people on development
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.920
side, on fundraising, in grants, and they need
00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:28.500
to have certain skillset, which has not been
00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:31.500
filled up by right now. In past, they used to
00:34:31.500 --> 00:34:33.420
hire people based on what they are currently
00:34:33.420 --> 00:34:37.170
looking or doing, not a forward thinking. Like
00:34:37.170 --> 00:34:39.869
this is the goal of the organization. So aligning
00:34:39.869 --> 00:34:43.789
that, I created out that we need to have six
00:34:43.789 --> 00:34:46.769
more people in a board which follows the structure,
00:34:47.010 --> 00:34:50.070
which have the skill set. Technology was a big
00:34:50.070 --> 00:34:53.690
help in that. Leverage AI into streamlining hiring
00:34:53.690 --> 00:34:57.579
processes and onboarding. There's a soul of the
00:34:57.579 --> 00:35:00.559
person who is working on the organization. He
00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:04.179
is spending more hours on administrative tasks
00:35:04.179 --> 00:35:07.380
than actually doing work for the organization,
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:10.139
which is meaningful, which he would love to do
00:35:10.139 --> 00:35:12.559
it, but doesn't have a bandwidth. He's spending
00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:16.760
hours on writing a job description, hours on
00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:20.559
training people. My approach was... Let's use
00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:24.400
AI to take what you have a vision and make it
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:26.460
as a forward thinking aligned with the goals.
00:35:26.659 --> 00:35:31.059
That has reduced 30 % of the waste and improved
00:35:31.059 --> 00:35:34.159
the operation efficiency. For hiring and training
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.960
people, recording the meetings, doing Zoom or
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:40.519
AI information will be super helpful so people
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.880
can have the narration with the scripts. and
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.420
with the information would reduce the time. So
00:35:46.420 --> 00:35:48.880
he's not training people 15 times on the same
00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:51.219
content. He's like, this is a good use of your
00:35:51.219 --> 00:35:54.719
time. So combining all of this has helped us
00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:57.519
to grow tremendously. We are not only hiring
00:35:57.519 --> 00:36:00.840
more in a board level, but also hiring more people
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:04.219
underneath the board. So now we are doubling
00:36:04.219 --> 00:36:07.179
more on the people side of the organization also.
00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:10.559
So that's the great, I feel so great about that
00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:12.760
achievement. I really loved your definition of
00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:15.679
waste when we talk about efficiency, because
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:18.639
I've heard many different definitions of that
00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:20.820
word efficiency and what that means. For most
00:36:20.820 --> 00:36:22.519
people, it seems to be, well, now I can do twice
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:26.340
the amount of output. And that always seems like
00:36:26.340 --> 00:36:30.320
I'm going to be more busy rather than more efficient.
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:34.260
So the idea of just thinking about how often
00:36:34.260 --> 00:36:36.699
do you perform a task and think to yourself,
00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:40.099
this is such a waste of my time. And if you can
00:36:40.099 --> 00:36:43.559
cut all of that out, that is so much time in
00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:47.039
your day that is suddenly freed up and is now
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:49.920
automated. Absolutely. And with your background
00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:52.239
and doing a lot of undocumented piece we talked
00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:55.159
about, this was super helpful. Like efficiency
00:36:55.159 --> 00:36:58.940
feels like to them is like way something is a
00:36:58.940 --> 00:37:01.980
physical, but no, there is our time is most important
00:37:01.980 --> 00:37:04.769
and valuable. As a resource, what we work upon
00:37:04.769 --> 00:37:08.130
and what we spend our time on is so important.
00:37:08.289 --> 00:37:10.590
A lot of time, we don't have that choice because
00:37:10.590 --> 00:37:12.670
these are the tasks never used to be automated.
00:37:12.989 --> 00:37:16.050
But thinking about it, using technology in a
00:37:16.050 --> 00:37:19.130
right way, I feel like that's the best approach
00:37:19.130 --> 00:37:21.630
and this is the best value a technology can bring.
00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:24.389
And this is the value I think most of the AI
00:37:24.389 --> 00:37:27.050
-driven organization is trying to do, is not
00:37:27.050 --> 00:37:30.980
to eliminate people. But use the technology so
00:37:30.980 --> 00:37:33.719
that you leverage it for your advantage. You
00:37:33.719 --> 00:37:37.239
use your time in a more productive work rather
00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:39.440
than using something which can be done with the
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:41.840
technology. All right. Before we go, I have five
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.619
rapid fire questions that I'm going to throw
00:37:43.619 --> 00:37:45.840
at you. And these are just for fun. So, you know,
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:47.500
don't think about it too much. Just like whatever
00:37:47.500 --> 00:37:49.980
comes to the top of your mind. Just just blurt
00:37:49.980 --> 00:37:52.719
it out for me. What is your favorite technology
00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:55.880
tool or app? Technology tool or app. I would
00:37:55.880 --> 00:37:58.659
say lately I've been liking motion a lot. Okay.
00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:02.920
It's a documentation. I use it a lot for journaling,
00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:06.400
listing, sharing content. I'm also writing a
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:09.400
book. So it helps me in organization of that
00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:11.880
too. All right. What is one book you would recommend
00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:15.539
for every leader? Oh my gosh. That's Charles.
00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:22.179
You can't put me in that position. I think so.
00:38:22.219 --> 00:38:29.610
The mountain is you. That's a great book. I would
00:38:29.610 --> 00:38:32.349
highly recommend anyone to read that. It's such
00:38:32.349 --> 00:38:36.789
a great tool for me and helpful in my personal,
00:38:36.909 --> 00:38:39.750
professional, everyday life. I just love that
00:38:39.750 --> 00:38:41.210
book. All right, finish the sentence for me.
00:38:41.369 --> 00:38:45.530
Innovation without blank is useless. Strategy.
00:38:45.809 --> 00:38:50.570
I agree. What is the biggest misconception people
00:38:50.570 --> 00:38:53.820
have about AI? AI is going to take the job. There
00:38:53.820 --> 00:38:56.980
are going to be robots running around and I would
00:38:56.980 --> 00:39:02.179
not be useful at all in this life. All right.
00:39:02.219 --> 00:39:07.039
Last one. What is one practical first step that
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:11.280
a leader can take today to embrace AI effectively?
00:39:11.539 --> 00:39:15.380
Start learning about AI. Learn AI as much as
00:39:15.380 --> 00:39:17.519
possible. There are great information available
00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:20.880
in so many podcasts and so many informations.
00:39:21.219 --> 00:39:24.360
There are conferences. There are so many certifications
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:27.440
available, which is at a free of cost. What I
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:30.340
would do is learning that strategically. There
00:39:30.340 --> 00:39:33.199
are tons of information available. Prioritize
00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:35.699
what works for your business. Prioritize for...
00:39:36.059 --> 00:39:39.260
works for your goals. If you are in healthcare,
00:39:39.559 --> 00:39:42.679
you wanted to read more about AI making your
00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:44.980
people's life better, your patient's life better,
00:39:45.159 --> 00:39:47.119
your healthcare industry, how they are implementing
00:39:47.119 --> 00:39:50.539
it. The more you learn, the more you can leverage
00:39:50.539 --> 00:39:54.460
it. for the better of your company. Today, Rupali
00:39:54.460 --> 00:39:58.239
reminded us that AI is not a silver bullet. It
00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.559
is a strategic tool that demands thoughtful integration.
00:40:01.960 --> 00:40:04.440
So whether you're addressing resistance or you're
00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:07.039
fixing a broken process or you're taking calculated
00:40:07.039 --> 00:40:10.800
risks, true innovation is about aligning people
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:14.960
with purpose. Rupali, thank you so much for joining
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.409
us today. This was a lot of fun. Samuel, thank
00:40:17.409 --> 00:40:20.510
you for taking time. And I hope this gives value
00:40:20.510 --> 00:40:22.929
to all the viewers and the listeners of your
00:40:22.929 --> 00:40:25.710
podcast. I'm happy to answer any question if
00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:27.769
you wanted to talk more about it. As you know,
00:40:27.789 --> 00:40:29.349
I'm very passionate about this conversation.
00:40:30.369 --> 00:40:32.949
Absolutely. I would love to have you back sometime.
00:40:33.090 --> 00:40:34.889
I feel like we could probably keep talking for
00:40:34.889 --> 00:40:39.679
hours. I'm going to have links to your social
00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:41.880
and to your websites down in the description
00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:43.900
below. So people who are watching, who are listening,
00:40:44.019 --> 00:40:46.099
I do recommend going to the description, clicking
00:40:46.099 --> 00:40:48.760
on those links and learning more. Everybody,
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:50.579
thank you so much for joining us on The Digital
00:40:50.579 --> 00:40:53.699
Impact. Until next time, keep leading thoughtfully.
00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:08.460
Everybody talks about the transformative power
00:00:08.460 --> 00:00:12.019
of AI, but real transformation isn't about technology
00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:14.960
alone. It's about confronting the messy human
00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:18.920
reality of change. Today, we'll uncover why thoughtful
00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:22.219
implementation, risk -taking, and facing resistance
00:00:22.219 --> 00:00:26.410
head -on non -negotiables for success. Hi, welcome
00:00:26.410 --> 00:00:28.890
to The Digital Impact. My name is Charles, and
00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:32.689
today joining us is Rupali Kumbani, an executive
00:00:32.689 --> 00:00:35.990
leader driving digital and strategic transformations
00:00:35.990 --> 00:00:39.210
across industries like healthcare, real estate
00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:43.210
tech, and fintech. Rupali's unique approach aligns
00:00:43.210 --> 00:00:46.490
people, purpose, and priorities, delivering operational
00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:50.429
efficiency and innovation at scale. Rupali, thank
00:00:50.429 --> 00:00:52.890
you so much for joining us today. Thank you,
00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:54.570
Charles, and thank you for such a kind introduction.
00:00:54.829 --> 00:00:57.289
I'm really excited for this conversation. To
00:00:57.289 --> 00:01:00.509
get us started, you emphasize aligning people,
00:01:00.789 --> 00:01:04.730
purpose, and priorities before adopting new technologies.
00:01:04.969 --> 00:01:08.489
So can you share what this looks like in practice
00:01:08.489 --> 00:01:12.349
when you first with an organization. Absolutely.
00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:15.290
So that's the, I would say, my focus when I'm
00:01:15.290 --> 00:01:18.730
driving any initiatives, whether it's a new organization
00:01:18.730 --> 00:01:21.329
or you're starting a new initiative in your existing
00:01:21.329 --> 00:01:24.609
organization. So what I mean by people, purpose
00:01:24.609 --> 00:01:27.310
and priority is it has to start with the purpose,
00:01:27.430 --> 00:01:29.730
meaning why you're doing this and what you're
00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:32.150
trying to achieve out of it. Once that's clear,
00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:35.329
I'm a firm believer the changes we are doing
00:01:35.329 --> 00:01:38.709
is for the people. I'm not making life better
00:01:38.709 --> 00:01:42.209
for any kind of machine. but people. And these
00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:45.349
changes are done mostly by the people because
00:01:45.349 --> 00:01:48.269
my transformation is doing in collaboration with
00:01:48.269 --> 00:01:51.989
people, technology, processes. All these are
00:01:51.989 --> 00:01:54.670
helpful tools, but still it's going to be the
00:01:54.670 --> 00:01:57.629
people who are driving these changes. So aligning
00:01:57.629 --> 00:02:00.250
them together to what we're trying to achieve,
00:02:00.349 --> 00:02:02.790
what does our purpose look like, and getting
00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:05.730
them aligned with what we wanted to do is helpful.
00:02:06.090 --> 00:02:08.710
And then it comes to prioritization. And this
00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:11.189
piece, prioritization, changes on a different
00:02:11.189 --> 00:02:14.310
level. So I'll give you an example of when I
00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:17.449
was driving an initiative called as global collaboration.
00:02:17.830 --> 00:02:21.189
So my organization was growing quickly at a global
00:02:21.189 --> 00:02:23.569
regions. We had a presence in North America,
00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:26.849
but we were expanding into Asia, expanding into
00:02:26.849 --> 00:02:31.610
Europe and UK. so my global ceo felt like we
00:02:31.610 --> 00:02:34.250
are working as individual silos rather than as
00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:37.349
a one region so he wants to start with making
00:02:37.349 --> 00:02:39.949
this organization talking as a one unit rather
00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:42.669
than silos so hence he was calling this as a
00:02:42.669 --> 00:02:45.409
global collaboration now knowing why he wants
00:02:45.409 --> 00:02:48.770
to do that i still was not clear that what he
00:02:48.770 --> 00:02:51.750
wants out of that so talking with him and his
00:02:51.750 --> 00:02:55.169
peers who are the c -suites like cio ceo of a
00:02:55.169 --> 00:02:58.030
different region i was able to identify What
00:02:58.030 --> 00:03:01.009
does this global collaboration mean? And with
00:03:01.009 --> 00:03:03.650
that help of information, I created a strategic
00:03:03.650 --> 00:03:06.870
plan and tell them that this is what we're trying
00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:09.849
to achieve. You have 10 requirements out of which
00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:12.710
we're going to be able to do five. This is the
00:03:12.710 --> 00:03:15.409
most priority item here is. So that's where the
00:03:15.409 --> 00:03:18.050
priority comes in a picture. Present that plan
00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:20.090
in front of them and saying, this is what we're
00:03:20.090 --> 00:03:22.530
trying to achieve. Now, let me build up a team
00:03:22.530 --> 00:03:25.669
to give you the solution and how we can attain
00:03:25.669 --> 00:03:28.150
the priorities you wanted to achieve. So this
00:03:28.150 --> 00:03:30.349
is one of the examples I could say is the people,
00:03:30.490 --> 00:03:32.789
purpose, and priorities. Now, a lot of our listeners,
00:03:32.830 --> 00:03:35.810
of course, have to manage massive amounts of
00:03:35.810 --> 00:03:38.250
documents. Obviously, we're Foxit, so we're a
00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:42.289
document company. How can aligning these three
00:03:42.289 --> 00:03:45.050
elements help organizations leverage technology
00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:48.340
to transform data? into actionable insights.
00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.889
Yes, so documentation is piece, I mean... it
00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:54.750
is most valuable things because you have employees
00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:57.090
who are working on something may no longer work
00:03:57.090 --> 00:04:00.229
with your organization or has some personal uh
00:04:00.229 --> 00:04:02.629
things comes up and cannot be part of your transformation
00:04:02.629 --> 00:04:05.110
so documentation is a key information which will
00:04:05.110 --> 00:04:08.110
be leveraged for all historical information so
00:04:08.110 --> 00:04:10.830
i totally get that what alliance is a lot of
00:04:10.830 --> 00:04:13.789
time you will see frustration with around the
00:04:13.789 --> 00:04:16.649
documentation piece um i work a lot with the
00:04:16.649 --> 00:04:19.370
engineers and a lot of engineers when you tell
00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:22.350
them that you done this great feature you've
00:04:22.350 --> 00:04:25.029
done this great product now write the documentation
00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:28.629
and see the look on their faces they don't like
00:04:28.629 --> 00:04:31.670
this i don't think so documentation is anybody's
00:04:31.670 --> 00:04:34.470
life favorite thing to do that's one of the monotonous
00:04:34.470 --> 00:04:38.029
work anybody wants to do so hence sharing why
00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:41.649
we are doing this that purpose piece helps them
00:04:41.649 --> 00:04:43.449
to understand that what we're trying to achieve
00:04:43.449 --> 00:04:46.310
it's not something that i i just want you to
00:04:46.310 --> 00:04:49.819
work on non -meaningful work or something you
00:04:49.819 --> 00:04:52.560
would be more suitable for, but getting the value
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:55.019
out of what the documentation brings to them
00:04:55.019 --> 00:04:57.459
and their team. So a lot of time you might not
00:04:57.459 --> 00:04:59.920
see value in your documentation, but you are
00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:01.660
going to be working on a next challenge where
00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:04.079
that somebody else done the same thing for you,
00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:06.500
helpful for you to navigate your transformation
00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:09.480
or your changes or your implementation. So giving
00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.240
that purpose is super helpful. So then people
00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.500
feel like I'm doing something to add value rather
00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:18.819
than just doing a task. Having people aligned
00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:21.420
to that, and even after that, there are some
00:05:21.420 --> 00:05:23.519
people who will be like, no, I can leverage the
00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:26.540
technology. Great. Tell me how you can leverage
00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:30.980
technology with that. A lot of time, technologies,
00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.519
a lot of time recently, people are using AI for
00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:38.120
documenting their information in a nicer way
00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:41.319
or in a better presentation way. I'm all up for
00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:43.920
improving that. And if that is the priority for
00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:47.300
us, then yes, we go for that. But a lot of time,
00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:49.540
we have to keep in mind that technology is not
00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:52.339
at full fledge where it gives you the right information.
00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:55.779
So at the end, a human check is also needed.
00:05:56.019 --> 00:05:58.160
So we can leverage the technology when it is
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.680
needed. For example, when I'm doing a healthcare
00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:02.860
transformation, I would rather want a person
00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:05.399
to do that rather than a technology to intervene
00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:08.139
in doing that because there's a lot more impact
00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:11.480
going in people's life here. So I want to use
00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:14.540
technology in a more prioritized way rather than
00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:16.920
just implementing because it makes sense. Well,
00:06:16.939 --> 00:06:20.420
now, a lot of organizations are in this crazy
00:06:20.420 --> 00:06:23.920
rush to implement AI, but that's because of the
00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:28.339
competitive pressures. Is speed more critical
00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:30.879
today than alignment? Or, I mean, how do you
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.639
balance that urgency with strategic alignment?
00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:37.360
Wow. I mean, that's the question every C -suite
00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:41.439
is asking. So everybody, you're absolutely right,
00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.459
wants to be at the forefront of AI. Even people
00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:46.980
who are using a co -pilot and saying that we
00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:49.759
are an AI -driven organization because, yeah,
00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.259
you are using a part of AI, but that's not what
00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:56.829
we mean by AI -driven organization. To be honest,
00:06:57.089 --> 00:06:59.410
that's the question each leader has to think
00:06:59.410 --> 00:07:01.689
from what is the bigger purpose of their organization
00:07:01.689 --> 00:07:05.009
is. What are we trying to achieve? Speed is good,
00:07:05.170 --> 00:07:09.029
but speed without strategic thinking in a long
00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:11.829
term would lead to a failure. You will have a
00:07:11.829 --> 00:07:14.110
short term goals, but you would not have a long
00:07:14.110 --> 00:07:17.129
term goals. Impact which you wanted to see for
00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:20.660
your organization is not. showing up. And how
00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:24.000
I convince people is our leaders would be data
00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.800
-driven, giving them information. Nobody right
00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:28.779
now has a complete crystal ball about what's
00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:32.079
going to be AI looking in three years, five years,
00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:34.500
but it's ever -growing. Something which you have
00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:37.279
seen two months ago would no longer work in AI
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:41.160
world right now. It's a continuously adaptable
00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:46.319
and over -evolving AI world. Prime example would
00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:48.800
be internet. 10 years ago what internet was and
00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.699
how we are using right now is totally different.
00:07:50.939 --> 00:07:54.000
So to align people saying it's what is that long
00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.240
-term growth looks like? Are you searching for
00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.279
a long -term vision or are you more about a short
00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.379
-term vision? And I would say most of the leaders
00:08:02.379 --> 00:08:05.180
I connect with are long -term planners. They
00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:08.079
wanted to do things right rather than doing in
00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.949
a speed basis. Doesn't mean that we can't have
00:08:10.949 --> 00:08:14.069
quick achievements. Yes, there is. It's long
00:08:14.069 --> 00:08:16.649
-term strategy does not take away from the short
00:08:16.649 --> 00:08:18.790
-term goals. There are places we can achieve
00:08:18.790 --> 00:08:21.790
in a short level, but you have to think strategically.
00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:25.410
Now, prime example is when I joined my nonprofit
00:08:25.410 --> 00:08:28.540
organization as a board of director. uh the first
00:08:28.540 --> 00:08:32.360
question i joined there was can we use ai uh
00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:35.299
i've been we are hearing this ai and is that
00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:38.799
helpful to us and my answer to them is ai is
00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:41.899
super helpful i am a technology person and i'm
00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.320
leading your technology board of directors so
00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.500
yes that is part of it but i'm also strategic
00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:49.779
And for me to answer that question, I need to
00:08:49.779 --> 00:08:52.120
know your business model. I need to know the
00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:55.220
processes and people who are going to be using
00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:58.100
this technology. Then I can come to know and
00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:01.259
tell you what it looks like. So taking the time
00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:03.860
to understand our business model, I identified
00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:08.679
that we cannot leverage AI for our core business
00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:12.379
because we provide voices to people who are affected
00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:15.080
by conflict through art and literature. so your
00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:19.240
voice is your um it's our valuable product is
00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:22.799
and we can't use ai on it because then we are
00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.519
we are not using the authentic voice we are not
00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:29.120
we are not sitting with our own vision it's something
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:32.720
is ai driven so ai is not useful there but there
00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:35.100
are a lot of processes which is a lot of manual
00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:38.679
processes AI would be super helpful and implemented
00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.779
AI and technology to reduce the waste there to
00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:45.759
improve the operational efficiency, making processes
00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:48.919
simpler and faster. And that's how you have to
00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:50.759
make a decision. Well, that can be hard because
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:56.200
we talked about this earlier. People generally
00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.299
are pretty resistant to change. I think we even
00:09:59.299 --> 00:10:04.269
said nobody really likes change. So, you know,
00:10:04.269 --> 00:10:06.669
share with me some experiences you've had where,
00:10:06.769 --> 00:10:11.610
you know, you've successfully navigated a significant
00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:15.710
pushback where somebody just did not want to
00:10:15.710 --> 00:10:20.149
shift. I hear you in that. And I think my empathetic
00:10:20.149 --> 00:10:23.269
leadership helpful in that. So as we have chatted,
00:10:23.330 --> 00:10:27.590
I told you that people do not like changes, no
00:10:27.590 --> 00:10:30.070
matter how value it brings in our lives and including
00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:33.440
me. I'm not excluding myself. I don't believe
00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:36.519
that the changes are really great, even if you
00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:38.360
tell me the value. So there is always going to
00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:41.559
be that resistance. And knowing that helped me
00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:44.419
to understand that the resistance is not coming
00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:47.139
because I am driving this change. It's coming
00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:51.039
out from certain fears. People are not comfortable
00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.080
in discomfort. Let me tell you that way. Changes
00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.740
makes you discomfort. Change brings you from
00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:00.720
your normal day -to -day life. wants you to do
00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:02.740
something differently, which I don't think so
00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:05.480
everybody enjoy doing that. So knowing that,
00:11:05.659 --> 00:11:08.399
it helps me to connect with the people. It goes
00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.659
back to my original thought of connecting with
00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:13.360
people. So one of the example, I will say it,
00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:15.580
the global organization, which I was talking
00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:18.799
about. We were expanding so fast. One of the
00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.779
initiatives was to create a standardized project
00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:24.720
management methodology. We call it as GPM, which
00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.820
is a global project methodology. One of my colleagues
00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:31.519
was driving that for different regions, North
00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.580
America, Asia Pacific, and including EU and UK.
00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:38.340
When they were building it, it was great. It
00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:41.720
was done very correctly. But at the time of launch
00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:44.100
and implementation, there were roadblocks coming.
00:11:44.570 --> 00:11:48.129
And I've been called to rescue this initiative
00:11:48.129 --> 00:11:50.889
to drive it forward because it's a key part of
00:11:50.889 --> 00:11:54.309
not only for our team, but also helps us to interact
00:11:54.309 --> 00:11:56.610
with different global clients. So we're talking
00:11:56.610 --> 00:12:00.129
about billion users we wanted to talk with and
00:12:00.129 --> 00:12:04.289
billion revenue we are affected by that. So knowing
00:12:04.289 --> 00:12:08.049
that, my first priority is they are not resisting
00:12:08.049 --> 00:12:12.259
this change out of. some kind of biases. They
00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:14.759
are resisting change because there is something
00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:17.100
which is not aligning with what they wanted to
00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:21.279
do. So keeping that biases aside, I try to talk
00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:23.700
with the people who are impacted. So these are
00:12:23.700 --> 00:12:26.419
the VP and engagement officers of different regions.
00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.740
Setting and talking up with that came to know
00:12:29.740 --> 00:12:32.299
a pattern. The pattern which shows up that we're
00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:34.440
trying to implement a methodology, which we're
00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:39.000
trying to make a one -time fix for all which
00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.039
would not work because we are talking about different
00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:44.519
regions different people some one region felt
00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:49.500
that 75 documentation is too much for them One
00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:52.639
region felt that they are not having enough resources
00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:55.480
to train their people. Another region felt that
00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.580
it's not aligning with what they want to monitor
00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:02.799
in their initiatives. So combining all this came
00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:06.379
up with the strategy where I said, yeah, 75 documentation
00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:09.730
doesn't make sense. The purpose of this initiative
00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:12.929
was that the leaders and the clients whom we
00:13:12.929 --> 00:13:16.190
interact with gets the same information. So if
00:13:16.190 --> 00:13:18.210
you're getting a status report, it should look
00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:20.950
like to all CEOs the same. They get the same
00:13:20.950 --> 00:13:24.950
documentation. It reads same. But it doesn't
00:13:24.950 --> 00:13:27.169
mean how you fill out that information has to
00:13:27.169 --> 00:13:29.870
be the same. That's not the purpose. So then
00:13:29.870 --> 00:13:32.350
why we are creating multiple documentation for
00:13:32.350 --> 00:13:36.370
all teams. Some are compatible with... Five documentation
00:13:36.370 --> 00:13:38.929
to fill out this one report and some are comfortable
00:13:38.929 --> 00:13:41.950
with one documentation. Let's give that flexibility.
00:13:42.590 --> 00:13:45.090
Let's give the flexibility that how we indicate
00:13:45.090 --> 00:13:47.769
the project is turning yellow or red or green.
00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:50.769
For Asia, the budget is the highest priority.
00:13:50.950 --> 00:13:53.370
For North America, schedule is the highest priority.
00:13:53.809 --> 00:13:57.490
So based on this constraint, you indicate why
00:13:57.490 --> 00:14:01.000
your project is red so the leaders knows. What
00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.080
are you trying to achieve here? And considering
00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.620
all these factors and building the strategy around
00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:09.460
that helps me to create that alignment and able
00:14:09.460 --> 00:14:13.120
to launch that methodology. So that's one of
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.080
the examples I can share. So this is really for
00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:17.759
digital transformation just overall. This isn't
00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:20.500
just specifically for AI. Like if we were talking
00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:22.879
about document management and digital signatures
00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:25.679
and we wanted to overcome organizational resistance
00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:29.179
for just that level of... digital transformation.
00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:31.299
These are the same tactics, right? These are
00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:33.659
the same principles you would follow. And absolutely,
00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:36.559
that's a great point you have made, Ed, because
00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:39.759
we are thinking that AI is different. AI is something
00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.720
new, so it's different than the rest of the technology
00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:45.279
we have implemented. No, it is not. Yes, the
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.299
impact, the value it brings would be different,
00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:51.120
but how we handle the change is very similar.
00:14:51.769 --> 00:14:54.250
Working in different industries, I see the same
00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:56.970
because people are the same. A resistance to
00:14:56.970 --> 00:14:58.909
the change is different. I mean, a resistance
00:14:58.909 --> 00:15:01.629
to change is same. It's just the impact and the
00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.990
complexities changes. Healthcare has a different
00:15:03.990 --> 00:15:07.009
complexity. Real estate has very low complexity
00:15:07.009 --> 00:15:09.789
compared to the rest of the world. So that's
00:15:09.789 --> 00:15:12.730
what I mean. Even if you're drawing the AI implementation
00:15:12.730 --> 00:15:16.450
or a transformation specifically to implement
00:15:16.450 --> 00:15:20.149
AI in your organization, core questions remains
00:15:20.149 --> 00:15:23.120
the same. Strategies remains the same because
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.960
we as a people are the same. Now, sometimes is
00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.960
resistance justified? Like are there scenarios
00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:32.700
where an organization is actually right to be
00:15:32.700 --> 00:15:34.860
hesitant about implementing a new technology?
00:15:35.299 --> 00:15:38.960
Great question. I don't think so. I don't see
00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.419
it as a right and wrong because the moment I
00:15:41.419 --> 00:15:44.220
put that in my head, then there is the chances
00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:48.059
of biases coming in my approach. What I feel
00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:52.500
is. I attack the core question is why you want
00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:56.240
to do it. And keeping in mind the changes and
00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.960
their impact would not come immediately. There
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.539
are short -term goals, but most of the cases,
00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:05.279
the true usage of your new product, your new
00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.460
technology will show up in yours. That strategy
00:16:08.460 --> 00:16:11.080
shows up because it takes a people time to understand,
00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:14.539
use it, and then now use this new technology
00:16:14.539 --> 00:16:17.360
for better use. AI primarily is the example.
00:16:17.789 --> 00:16:20.629
Once you learn new technology, for each individual,
00:16:20.769 --> 00:16:23.690
it takes a time. But once you learn that, then
00:16:23.690 --> 00:16:26.850
how I can leverage AI so that my work improves,
00:16:27.129 --> 00:16:30.070
my productivity improves, my profit improves,
00:16:30.210 --> 00:16:32.649
takes a time. And more and more people start
00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:35.889
using it, it becomes more usable for people.
00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:38.519
So that's the reason the true identification
00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:40.980
of a change comes over the time and we see what
00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:43.759
is the real value it's bringing. So to answer
00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:45.899
your question, I don't see this as whether it's
00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:49.100
true or not. Is something impacting you differently?
00:16:49.179 --> 00:16:52.159
It's impacting me. And as an individual, we both
00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.299
are different. Rather than addressing that, I
00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:58.820
think so I'll make you or pull you in the other
00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:02.610
side. I'll make you more. change driven rather
00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:05.210
than opposing the change. And that's what my
00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:08.150
goal is. I know one of the things that would
00:17:08.150 --> 00:17:12.069
cause anybody to think about technology, if you're
00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:15.289
going to be implementing or adopting new technology,
00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:21.750
one good cause of hesitancy that is kind of justified
00:17:21.750 --> 00:17:26.289
is your process. Is your process ready for this
00:17:26.289 --> 00:17:31.119
adoption? Because you've cautioned it too, that
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:34.000
trying to layer technology onto a broken process
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.460
is not the recommended way of adopting new technology.
00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:41.700
So can you expand on that? I mean, what are some
00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.000
examples from your experience and how did you
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.180
handle that? Absolutely. So that goes back to
00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:51.819
that strategy conversation we were doing. When
00:17:51.819 --> 00:17:53.839
you're implementing a new technology or a product,
00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:58.029
have you analyzed what your current... layout
00:17:58.029 --> 00:18:00.150
looks like, your current environment looks like,
00:18:00.150 --> 00:18:02.430
how people are working, when are you trying to
00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:05.930
fix it? Are you putting a technology because
00:18:05.930 --> 00:18:10.269
it's new, it's catchy? And AI is very core of
00:18:10.269 --> 00:18:13.170
that. Everybody wants to implement the AI. And
00:18:13.170 --> 00:18:16.210
when I'm having a conversation with people and
00:18:16.210 --> 00:18:19.269
leaders saying, yes, it's great. AI is usable.
00:18:19.509 --> 00:18:22.529
My first question to them is, what are you trying
00:18:22.529 --> 00:18:26.509
to achieve out of it? Every AI model which you
00:18:26.509 --> 00:18:32.549
want to build in -house, or if it's not building
00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:35.049
in your own environment and you're using a third
00:18:35.049 --> 00:18:38.069
-party product for AI -based, you have to understand
00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:41.190
the core of AI is data -driven. A data would
00:18:41.190 --> 00:18:44.029
drive the meaningful results for your AI. Your
00:18:44.029 --> 00:18:46.470
model will be trained if you feed them correct
00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:50.529
data. And as your data grows, your infrastructure
00:18:50.529 --> 00:18:53.529
needs to handle it. So that goes back to your
00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:56.609
process question is, is your technology ready?
00:18:56.710 --> 00:19:00.750
Do you have that data to train the AI in a right
00:19:00.750 --> 00:19:03.490
way so it gives you right information? I don't
00:19:03.490 --> 00:19:05.369
want to implement AI who gives me an answer which
00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:08.470
is incorrect. My business will go down. And none
00:19:08.470 --> 00:19:11.349
of the leaders wants that. So once the data is
00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:13.930
correct and feeding it to it, it will take a
00:19:13.930 --> 00:19:16.430
time to see the results. And then the other is
00:19:16.430 --> 00:19:18.650
the infrastructure readiness. Because as you're
00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:21.859
growing, As you are scaling your AI model, you're
00:19:21.859 --> 00:19:24.519
giving and eating and gathering tons of data.
00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:27.619
Your infrastructure needs to be ready for that.
00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:32.500
So that process of information and data and environment
00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:35.680
readiness, it's not there. Just talking about
00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.119
AI would not be fruitful. Or hiring a bunch of
00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:41.960
engineers and start building things without not
00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:44.319
looking into what current processes you have.
00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:46.279
It's not going to be helpful. I had somebody
00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:48.720
explain it to me and say it's... If you think
00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.380
about AI, it's like having a master chef show
00:19:52.380 --> 00:19:55.240
up in your kitchen. I pushed a button, and this
00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.079
chef is just amazing. He can make any dish you
00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.500
can imagine. He's just that good. But you didn't
00:20:01.500 --> 00:20:03.519
think about what's in your fridge. I have a bottle
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.819
of spoiled milk, a box of tofu, and a jar of
00:20:05.819 --> 00:20:09.250
pickles. You have a master chef, but I don't
00:20:09.250 --> 00:20:11.470
have the ingredients to work with. You didn't
00:20:11.470 --> 00:20:13.630
build the infrastructure. There's no data. There's
00:20:13.630 --> 00:20:16.250
nothing for him to work with. So you're going
00:20:16.250 --> 00:20:18.250
to end up with pickles with mayonnaise on it
00:20:18.250 --> 00:20:21.269
because I didn't have anything else to work with.
00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:26.779
Exactly. A lot of AI models. not as the level
00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:28.859
of AI which we are thinking about, but the digital
00:20:28.859 --> 00:20:32.740
models we do have. Imagine all of us, a lot of
00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:37.000
us are using smart home systems, and you might
00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.640
have a smart thermometer in your house, and you're
00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:42.819
setting up in a way saying, okay, in my house,
00:20:42.859 --> 00:20:45.140
I'm living in Chicago here, so we are going to
00:20:45.140 --> 00:20:47.980
have a great humid environment, so I want to
00:20:47.980 --> 00:20:50.579
reduce my humidity. I want to make sure during
00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:53.119
these sunny days, air condition is turned on
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:56.259
to this level. This is the data you are feeding
00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:59.440
to that model so that model understands the wet
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.019
summer comes. And I put these specific processes
00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:04.880
there saying, when it hits to this temperature,
00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:08.119
go and start my air condition. I want it to be
00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:11.099
this level. This is very simplistic model you
00:21:11.099 --> 00:21:14.380
can see about it. But if I'm using AI, what I
00:21:14.380 --> 00:21:17.500
want is it should automatically see the weather
00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:20.640
and convert it itself. Or give me a warning and
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.799
say, hey, Rupali, there is extreme heat wave
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:25.700
going in Chicago. Do you really want to turn
00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:29.079
on? Or if I'm ordering some medication because
00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:31.619
I'm not feeling well, looking into that data
00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:33.339
and says, you're not feeling well. Do you really
00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:35.779
need that high AC in your room? Do you want me
00:21:35.779 --> 00:21:38.880
to lower it down? That is what the next level
00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:42.700
of AI we are thinking. But to have that, that
00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:45.240
model needs to know my pattern, should have access
00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.039
to all this information. It's not thinking by
00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:50.670
itself. We are the one beating that data. So
00:21:50.670 --> 00:21:52.809
I want to play devil's advocate for just a moment
00:21:52.809 --> 00:21:58.210
because I want to know what happens if fixing
00:21:58.210 --> 00:22:02.250
a process takes too long and our competitors
00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:05.109
surge ahead of us because while we were trying
00:22:05.109 --> 00:22:06.910
to fix our process before we adopted anything,
00:22:07.130 --> 00:22:09.670
our competitor already had a good process in
00:22:09.670 --> 00:22:12.230
place and now they're ahead of us and we are
00:22:12.230 --> 00:22:17.740
behind. Is incremental technology adoption, is
00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:20.900
that ever justified? Even with a flawed process,
00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:23.400
if we're implementing while fixing at the same
00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:27.390
time. Is that a strategy or is that a recipe
00:22:27.390 --> 00:22:29.789
for disaster? It depends. It depends upon what
00:22:29.789 --> 00:22:32.369
you're trying to solve. It cannot be a one size
00:22:32.369 --> 00:22:35.049
fit all. But in the case which you have said
00:22:35.049 --> 00:22:38.109
that when you are moving forward and in between,
00:22:38.269 --> 00:22:40.849
somebody has already implemented something. So
00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:43.250
it's a clear example that the strategy you were
00:22:43.250 --> 00:22:45.769
driving for was not fruitful enough or they were
00:22:45.769 --> 00:22:48.509
better in their strategy and resources. And then
00:22:48.509 --> 00:22:50.849
they are faster than what you're working on.
00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.880
In any of these situations, I would recommend
00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:56.059
to be more adaptable, especially when you are
00:22:56.059 --> 00:23:00.779
doing AI or any kind of high -evolving technology
00:23:00.779 --> 00:23:04.640
implementation. Adaptability is key. There are
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.099
challenges that would be presented to you, and
00:23:07.099 --> 00:23:11.259
how you quickly, agility -wise, pivot to new
00:23:11.259 --> 00:23:14.240
scenarios is where it shows up your leadership.
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.579
So adaptability and agility is what I always
00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:21.470
say. I've been telling and saying this, that
00:23:21.470 --> 00:23:23.890
AI is evolving. So something what we know right
00:23:23.890 --> 00:23:27.569
now might not be same in future. So what will
00:23:27.569 --> 00:23:29.730
happen if I'm in the middle of my strategy trying
00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:32.650
to implement and somebody else comes up with
00:23:32.650 --> 00:23:35.210
a beautiful new technology, which will make my
00:23:35.210 --> 00:23:38.509
process very faster? That time you have to do
00:23:38.509 --> 00:23:41.470
your risk analysis. Saying, is it better to continue
00:23:41.470 --> 00:23:43.990
in my path, which I've been doing, might be different
00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:45.869
than your organization, but I'm going to get
00:23:45.869 --> 00:23:48.009
a result which is workable for my organization.
00:23:48.829 --> 00:23:51.869
In the same industry, we all have different goals.
00:23:52.049 --> 00:23:54.569
And your organization is going for one goal.
00:23:54.650 --> 00:23:57.410
My organization is going for another goal. Quickly
00:23:57.410 --> 00:24:00.789
checking is going to serve that purpose. Or is
00:24:00.789 --> 00:24:03.150
the new technology, which my competitor or somebody
00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:06.990
else has done it, can make my process faster
00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:10.390
with less investment? Then yes, I will do that.
00:24:10.670 --> 00:24:13.490
But it costs me more to invest in your new technology
00:24:13.490 --> 00:24:15.890
rather than continue in mine. I would rather
00:24:15.890 --> 00:24:18.950
continue with my processes, even though it takes
00:24:18.950 --> 00:24:20.769
a longer period of time, but it's workable for
00:24:20.769 --> 00:24:23.170
me and it is more advantage for my organization.
00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:26.690
So a lot of that is going back to your purposes.
00:24:27.509 --> 00:24:30.170
Prioritize based on what you wanted to do. It's
00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:32.970
easy to divert yourself with what others are
00:24:32.970 --> 00:24:35.609
doing, but focusing on what you want to achieve.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.539
with the resources and risk management strategies,
00:24:38.740 --> 00:24:40.859
it's super helpful. We have to talk about risk
00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:44.579
strategy now because, you know, I say let's talk
00:24:44.579 --> 00:24:47.980
about my favorite topic, embracing failure, because
00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:53.119
I sure stumble over my feet pretty often. And
00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:55.579
you highlight that when it comes to innovation,
00:24:55.900 --> 00:24:59.359
you really have to embrace failure. Exactly.
00:24:59.539 --> 00:25:02.180
Yeah, you and I talked about it and you're not
00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:04.440
alone. I'm in that same group, too. Something
00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:08.000
which is great and good. A lot of time, the fear
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:11.579
of failure stops us to move forward rather than
00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:15.240
our own ability. And that's that's common theme.
00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:18.920
around every human. So when I'm talking with
00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.339
a leader, they all want to be a forward -thinking
00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:23.720
leader. You want to build a strategy for the
00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:26.220
future generation. You want to build something
00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:29.480
innovative, creative, disrupt the industries.
00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:32.720
And all that start with the risk tolerance. So
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.700
when I'm talking with them, my first question
00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:37.519
to them is, it's great. I love your mindset.
00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:40.799
I love what you're trying to achieve here. But
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:43.829
what is your risk tolerance looks like? are you
00:25:43.829 --> 00:25:47.529
able to take failure to what percentage? So for
00:25:47.529 --> 00:25:49.809
example, if you are having a billion dollar or
00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:52.329
a million dollar initiative, are you able to
00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:58.809
take a risk of 30%, 50 %? Because when I am building
00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:01.410
an innovative solution, this is something, a
00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:03.710
groundbreaking work, which is nobody has done
00:26:03.710 --> 00:26:06.430
it in the past. And I'm trying to do it. That's
00:26:06.430 --> 00:26:08.950
where we call it as an innovative way of working.
00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.240
If I'm modifying some methodology which is already
00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.400
created and I'm putting a creative touch to it,
00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:17.339
then it becomes a little bit easier because I
00:26:17.339 --> 00:26:19.400
have a previous data to showcase to the leader
00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:21.940
saying, hey, it's been done this way and this
00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:23.980
is what I'm trying to achieve. the risk here
00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:27.740
is less but i'm creating my own methodology complete
00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:30.759
from ground break then it takes more from my
00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:33.519
leaders to have a risk tolerance because that
00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:35.779
gives the trust to your people to think outside
00:26:35.779 --> 00:26:38.500
the box because they are not constantly worried
00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:41.119
that if this fails my job isn't jeopardy because
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.500
that's going to be the that's the fear in my
00:26:43.500 --> 00:26:45.920
team when they are writing this there will be
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:49.319
fear in my head saying if i fail here is my job
00:26:49.319 --> 00:26:53.130
going to be chopped up so Giving trust to your
00:26:53.130 --> 00:26:56.369
people is important. But how I gain their trust
00:26:56.369 --> 00:26:58.349
is also important because this is something new
00:26:58.349 --> 00:27:01.269
for them. They are also at a high stake. So what
00:27:01.269 --> 00:27:06.230
I do is give them what is the data here is. What
00:27:06.230 --> 00:27:08.410
is the risk tolerance looks like? Is it a 30
00:27:08.410 --> 00:27:12.049
%? 50 %? What are my strategies are? I'm a big
00:27:12.049 --> 00:27:15.190
on a risk management plan, driving any initiative.
00:27:15.289 --> 00:27:18.250
And that works for small, big and midsize. Any
00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:21.369
of your listeners doing any initiative. AI, non
00:27:21.369 --> 00:27:24.849
-AI, non -technology. Risk management plan is
00:27:24.849 --> 00:27:27.890
so important. Creating a strategy and empowering
00:27:27.890 --> 00:27:30.930
my team to use them and making sure they're accountable
00:27:30.930 --> 00:27:33.289
to using them. Every team meeting starts with
00:27:33.289 --> 00:27:35.890
that risk management plan. What it looks like.
00:27:36.369 --> 00:27:39.309
Where are we in the risk? And the third piece
00:27:39.309 --> 00:27:42.269
is communication back to them. So my leaders
00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:45.289
are aware and I make sure that they understand
00:27:45.289 --> 00:27:48.809
you will be at every step of this process because
00:27:48.809 --> 00:27:52.230
I understand it's a high risk and you are also
00:27:52.230 --> 00:27:55.150
in the same level as all of we are. So you are
00:27:55.150 --> 00:27:58.609
not inside with us in all this transformation,
00:27:58.710 --> 00:28:01.150
but I want to make sure that you understand this
00:28:01.150 --> 00:28:04.089
and you get the information. And what we talked
00:28:04.089 --> 00:28:07.599
earlier is super important here. If I feel that
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:10.579
risk is going beyond the tolerance of my leader,
00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:14.920
where I foresee is, Charles was saying 30%, but
00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:17.200
we are going to go and hit roadblock as a 50%.
00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.039
Communicate to your leaders ahead of the time
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.519
and telling them, that's where I gain their trust.
00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.539
Saying, hey, she came to me. She told me what
00:28:25.539 --> 00:28:28.420
is it, what is my solution looks like. Are we
00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:30.440
accepting this risk? Then what will be the impact
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.000
look like? And that gives them confidence to
00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.630
move forward or not. Or are... I'm always adaptable.
00:28:36.730 --> 00:28:39.349
So it's like, if this is not working, if it is
00:28:39.349 --> 00:28:41.869
not something meaningful to you, what is the
00:28:41.869 --> 00:28:45.130
best case next step we can take? So we are still
00:28:45.130 --> 00:28:47.750
able to achieve a part of that goal, even not
00:28:47.750 --> 00:28:52.589
100%. I firmly believe that as humans, we learn
00:28:52.589 --> 00:28:55.349
from failure. We don't learn from success. If
00:28:55.349 --> 00:28:58.309
you do nothing but succeed, you're not learning
00:28:58.309 --> 00:29:01.470
anything. So you're never really advancing. You're
00:29:01.470 --> 00:29:06.029
just kind of maintaining this mid -level. And
00:29:06.029 --> 00:29:08.769
it's the same or even more so when you start
00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:10.890
talking about innovation, because innovation
00:29:10.890 --> 00:29:15.150
happens when you're solving problems, which comes
00:29:15.150 --> 00:29:18.509
through overcoming adversity, which is all about
00:29:18.509 --> 00:29:21.369
failing. You have to fail if you're going to
00:29:21.369 --> 00:29:24.849
learn and build something new and, you know,
00:29:24.849 --> 00:29:29.329
quote unquote, innovate. On the other hand, we
00:29:29.329 --> 00:29:32.049
are kind of in this climate of economic uncertainty,
00:29:32.230 --> 00:29:36.210
right? When we start talking about promoting
00:29:36.210 --> 00:29:40.430
high risk tolerance, can you see where that could
00:29:40.430 --> 00:29:45.549
be dangerous in some scenarios? Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:29:45.670 --> 00:29:50.309
I tell you, even in this, uncertainty is constant.
00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:53.829
Like just taking our timeline five years back,
00:29:53.930 --> 00:29:57.519
we had hit by COVID. Everything stopped. Then
00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.880
it started and people were more virtual than
00:29:59.880 --> 00:30:02.240
ever trying to find a new business model that
00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:04.579
works in that environment. We came out of the
00:30:04.579 --> 00:30:07.579
COVID and now people are finding what is that
00:30:07.579 --> 00:30:10.200
new business model looks like with people having
00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:13.380
working in a hybrid environment. Next is the
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:16.680
political. Then it comes the economical. So the
00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:20.079
uncertainty is going to be consistent. And when
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.880
you are driving innovation, I tell you uncertainty
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.250
is going to be continuous. And it is set at a
00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:28.789
different level. So it does play in the mind
00:30:28.789 --> 00:30:31.430
of the leaders. When they are making these decisions
00:30:31.430 --> 00:30:34.109
on innovation, the return on investment is a
00:30:34.109 --> 00:30:37.490
key point. Any initiative, whether it's innovative
00:30:37.490 --> 00:30:41.809
or not, ROI is big. Leaders wanted to know what
00:30:41.809 --> 00:30:44.400
is on return on investment looks like. What makes
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.779
it innovation complicated is I don't have historical
00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:51.700
data to give them exact information. I do give
00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:54.619
them a ballpark thing, looking at what I have
00:30:54.619 --> 00:30:56.960
done in the past, what is the historical similar
00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.579
level has done in the different industries. This
00:30:59.579 --> 00:31:03.980
is what looks like in ROI to get the funding
00:31:03.980 --> 00:31:07.559
and the trust. from my leaders to move forward
00:31:07.559 --> 00:31:10.440
with this innovation. But that data -driven decision
00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:13.460
is super important. You have to give them that
00:31:13.460 --> 00:31:16.799
information. I can't tell them it's in my gut.
00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:20.680
I feel that my emotions are telling me this is
00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:23.640
going to be a really great, great solution. No,
00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:26.880
in the real world, it doesn't work like that.
00:31:27.549 --> 00:31:30.670
So the data, the more data has been shown and
00:31:30.670 --> 00:31:33.349
answering their questions helps them to understand
00:31:33.349 --> 00:31:35.170
this is something they want to move forward or
00:31:35.170 --> 00:31:39.089
not. And that takes care of it. And with communication,
00:31:39.329 --> 00:31:41.710
you tell them where we are with the budget, what
00:31:41.710 --> 00:31:43.910
we are trying to achieve, how much we have spent
00:31:43.910 --> 00:31:46.730
out of what we were supposed to do. And a lot
00:31:46.730 --> 00:31:48.869
of times that iterative approach, if you can
00:31:48.869 --> 00:31:52.130
get it, is really right, saying some kind of
00:31:52.130 --> 00:31:57.019
MVP is a great, great tool. Highly recommend
00:31:57.019 --> 00:32:00.720
leaders to use that. I was doing the global collaboration,
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:04.579
as I told you about. My first approach that how
00:32:04.579 --> 00:32:08.380
this big enterprise level transformation would
00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:11.420
work was to done an MVP in a short environment
00:32:11.420 --> 00:32:15.319
with a 20 group of people. Seeing the result
00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:18.559
gets the confidence of the leader saying, hey,
00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:21.440
it's worth investing billion into this. It's
00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:24.809
worth investing resources into that. That MVP
00:32:24.809 --> 00:32:28.630
has given them that sense of achievement so that
00:32:28.630 --> 00:32:32.009
they could spend that money into my bigger initiative.
00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:35.049
All right. I want to talk about one of your recent
00:32:35.049 --> 00:32:38.410
wins. And it's a pretty big one. I'm excited
00:32:38.410 --> 00:32:40.750
about this. I want to know more about it. You
00:32:40.750 --> 00:32:43.789
recently doubled the size of a nonprofit board
00:32:43.789 --> 00:32:46.549
and you significantly streamlined their operations.
00:32:46.930 --> 00:32:51.089
So I want to know, how did you manage this rapid?
00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:56.339
pace of growth. And how did you avoid burnout
00:32:56.339 --> 00:32:59.559
and chaos and complete disorganization, which
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:02.880
so often comes with rapid growth? Absolutely.
00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:07.960
So when I joined them, they were, it's a passionate
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:10.859
passionate group of people. I would say nonprofit
00:33:10.859 --> 00:33:13.660
organizations runs a lot on a passion because
00:33:13.660 --> 00:33:15.839
you're passionate about the goals, the mission.
00:33:15.980 --> 00:33:19.500
And I was all for it. But looking at on the high
00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:22.920
level, I feel like we are functioning on the
00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:26.019
opportunities as it feels fitted to them. So
00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.059
if there is new shiny things comes up, everybody
00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:30.779
excited, started working on it in a one month.
00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:33.319
It doesn't seem excited and then driving into
00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:36.359
the next level. So seeing that pattern we have
00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:41.250
a huge turnout of people. We were losing people
00:33:41.250 --> 00:33:43.829
very quickly. And that was impacting organization
00:33:43.829 --> 00:33:47.349
in such a level that we were spending more time
00:33:47.349 --> 00:33:51.549
onboarding and training and then again hiring
00:33:51.549 --> 00:33:55.210
new people after one month of a time. So all
00:33:55.210 --> 00:33:57.130
that struggle, I identified that there is not
00:33:57.130 --> 00:33:59.549
a structure to the board. So I looked into what
00:33:59.549 --> 00:34:02.430
are the nonprofit model looks like. And for our
00:34:02.430 --> 00:34:05.630
organization, it felt that we should be a model
00:34:05.630 --> 00:34:08.289
where everybody has an equal voice. There are
00:34:08.289 --> 00:34:10.840
people. who would, the board members should be
00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:13.059
acting more as a board of director rather than
00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:15.619
board of advisory because we need more out of
00:34:15.619 --> 00:34:18.780
these people. And looking at the processes, I
00:34:18.780 --> 00:34:22.320
felt that we needed more people on development
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.920
side, on fundraising, in grants, and they need
00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:28.500
to have certain skillset, which has not been
00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:31.500
filled up by right now. In past, they used to
00:34:31.500 --> 00:34:33.420
hire people based on what they are currently
00:34:33.420 --> 00:34:37.170
looking or doing, not a forward thinking. Like
00:34:37.170 --> 00:34:39.869
this is the goal of the organization. So aligning
00:34:39.869 --> 00:34:43.789
that, I created out that we need to have six
00:34:43.789 --> 00:34:46.769
more people in a board which follows the structure,
00:34:47.010 --> 00:34:50.070
which have the skill set. Technology was a big
00:34:50.070 --> 00:34:53.690
help in that. Leverage AI into streamlining hiring
00:34:53.690 --> 00:34:57.579
processes and onboarding. There's a soul of the
00:34:57.579 --> 00:35:00.559
person who is working on the organization. He
00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:04.179
is spending more hours on administrative tasks
00:35:04.179 --> 00:35:07.380
than actually doing work for the organization,
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:10.139
which is meaningful, which he would love to do
00:35:10.139 --> 00:35:12.559
it, but doesn't have a bandwidth. He's spending
00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:16.760
hours on writing a job description, hours on
00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:20.559
training people. My approach was... Let's use
00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:24.400
AI to take what you have a vision and make it
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:26.460
as a forward thinking aligned with the goals.
00:35:26.659 --> 00:35:31.059
That has reduced 30 % of the waste and improved
00:35:31.059 --> 00:35:34.159
the operation efficiency. For hiring and training
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.960
people, recording the meetings, doing Zoom or
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:40.519
AI information will be super helpful so people
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.880
can have the narration with the scripts. and
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.420
with the information would reduce the time. So
00:35:46.420 --> 00:35:48.880
he's not training people 15 times on the same
00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:51.219
content. He's like, this is a good use of your
00:35:51.219 --> 00:35:54.719
time. So combining all of this has helped us
00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:57.519
to grow tremendously. We are not only hiring
00:35:57.519 --> 00:36:00.840
more in a board level, but also hiring more people
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:04.219
underneath the board. So now we are doubling
00:36:04.219 --> 00:36:07.179
more on the people side of the organization also.
00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:10.559
So that's the great, I feel so great about that
00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:12.760
achievement. I really loved your definition of
00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:15.679
waste when we talk about efficiency, because
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:18.639
I've heard many different definitions of that
00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:20.820
word efficiency and what that means. For most
00:36:20.820 --> 00:36:22.519
people, it seems to be, well, now I can do twice
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:26.340
the amount of output. And that always seems like
00:36:26.340 --> 00:36:30.320
I'm going to be more busy rather than more efficient.
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:34.260
So the idea of just thinking about how often
00:36:34.260 --> 00:36:36.699
do you perform a task and think to yourself,
00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:40.099
this is such a waste of my time. And if you can
00:36:40.099 --> 00:36:43.559
cut all of that out, that is so much time in
00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:47.039
your day that is suddenly freed up and is now
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:49.920
automated. Absolutely. And with your background
00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:52.239
and doing a lot of undocumented piece we talked
00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:55.159
about, this was super helpful. Like efficiency
00:36:55.159 --> 00:36:58.940
feels like to them is like way something is a
00:36:58.940 --> 00:37:01.980
physical, but no, there is our time is most important
00:37:01.980 --> 00:37:04.769
and valuable. As a resource, what we work upon
00:37:04.769 --> 00:37:08.130
and what we spend our time on is so important.
00:37:08.289 --> 00:37:10.590
A lot of time, we don't have that choice because
00:37:10.590 --> 00:37:12.670
these are the tasks never used to be automated.
00:37:12.989 --> 00:37:16.050
But thinking about it, using technology in a
00:37:16.050 --> 00:37:19.130
right way, I feel like that's the best approach
00:37:19.130 --> 00:37:21.630
and this is the best value a technology can bring.
00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:24.389
And this is the value I think most of the AI
00:37:24.389 --> 00:37:27.050
-driven organization is trying to do, is not
00:37:27.050 --> 00:37:30.980
to eliminate people. But use the technology so
00:37:30.980 --> 00:37:33.719
that you leverage it for your advantage. You
00:37:33.719 --> 00:37:37.239
use your time in a more productive work rather
00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:39.440
than using something which can be done with the
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:41.840
technology. All right. Before we go, I have five
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.619
rapid fire questions that I'm going to throw
00:37:43.619 --> 00:37:45.840
at you. And these are just for fun. So, you know,
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:47.500
don't think about it too much. Just like whatever
00:37:47.500 --> 00:37:49.980
comes to the top of your mind. Just just blurt
00:37:49.980 --> 00:37:52.719
it out for me. What is your favorite technology
00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:55.880
tool or app? Technology tool or app. I would
00:37:55.880 --> 00:37:58.659
say lately I've been liking motion a lot. Okay.
00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:02.920
It's a documentation. I use it a lot for journaling,
00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:06.400
listing, sharing content. I'm also writing a
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:09.400
book. So it helps me in organization of that
00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:11.880
too. All right. What is one book you would recommend
00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:15.539
for every leader? Oh my gosh. That's Charles.
00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:22.179
You can't put me in that position. I think so.
00:38:22.219 --> 00:38:29.610
The mountain is you. That's a great book. I would
00:38:29.610 --> 00:38:32.349
highly recommend anyone to read that. It's such
00:38:32.349 --> 00:38:36.789
a great tool for me and helpful in my personal,
00:38:36.909 --> 00:38:39.750
professional, everyday life. I just love that
00:38:39.750 --> 00:38:41.210
book. All right, finish the sentence for me.
00:38:41.369 --> 00:38:45.530
Innovation without blank is useless. Strategy.
00:38:45.809 --> 00:38:50.570
I agree. What is the biggest misconception people
00:38:50.570 --> 00:38:53.820
have about AI? AI is going to take the job. There
00:38:53.820 --> 00:38:56.980
are going to be robots running around and I would
00:38:56.980 --> 00:39:02.179
not be useful at all in this life. All right.
00:39:02.219 --> 00:39:07.039
Last one. What is one practical first step that
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:11.280
a leader can take today to embrace AI effectively?
00:39:11.539 --> 00:39:15.380
Start learning about AI. Learn AI as much as
00:39:15.380 --> 00:39:17.519
possible. There are great information available
00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:20.880
in so many podcasts and so many informations.
00:39:21.219 --> 00:39:24.360
There are conferences. There are so many certifications
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:27.440
available, which is at a free of cost. What I
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:30.340
would do is learning that strategically. There
00:39:30.340 --> 00:39:33.199
are tons of information available. Prioritize
00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:35.699
what works for your business. Prioritize for...
00:39:36.059 --> 00:39:39.260
works for your goals. If you are in healthcare,
00:39:39.559 --> 00:39:42.679
you wanted to read more about AI making your
00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:44.980
people's life better, your patient's life better,
00:39:45.159 --> 00:39:47.119
your healthcare industry, how they are implementing
00:39:47.119 --> 00:39:50.539
it. The more you learn, the more you can leverage
00:39:50.539 --> 00:39:54.460
it. for the better of your company. Today, Rupali
00:39:54.460 --> 00:39:58.239
reminded us that AI is not a silver bullet. It
00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.559
is a strategic tool that demands thoughtful integration.
00:40:01.960 --> 00:40:04.440
So whether you're addressing resistance or you're
00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:07.039
fixing a broken process or you're taking calculated
00:40:07.039 --> 00:40:10.800
risks, true innovation is about aligning people
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:14.960
with purpose. Rupali, thank you so much for joining
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.409
us today. This was a lot of fun. Samuel, thank
00:40:17.409 --> 00:40:20.510
you for taking time. And I hope this gives value
00:40:20.510 --> 00:40:22.929
to all the viewers and the listeners of your
00:40:22.929 --> 00:40:25.710
podcast. I'm happy to answer any question if
00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:27.769
you wanted to talk more about it. As you know,
00:40:27.789 --> 00:40:29.349
I'm very passionate about this conversation.
00:40:30.369 --> 00:40:32.949
Absolutely. I would love to have you back sometime.
00:40:33.090 --> 00:40:34.889
I feel like we could probably keep talking for
00:40:34.889 --> 00:40:39.679
hours. I'm going to have links to your social
00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:41.880
and to your websites down in the description
00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:43.900
below. So people who are watching, who are listening,
00:40:44.019 --> 00:40:46.099
I do recommend going to the description, clicking
00:40:46.099 --> 00:40:48.760
on those links and learning more. Everybody,
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:50.579
thank you so much for joining us on The Digital
00:40:50.579 --> 00:40:53.699
Impact. Until next time, keep leading thoughtfully.
