Wired in: Shuo Chen on Technology and the Future of Business

In Good Companies is back! And for Season 6, we’re doing a deep dive into the future of work. Because business will look different in 2050, and if we had to take an educated guess, it seems that technology is going to be a driver of change.

In 2024, 86% of organizations have maintained or raised their IT budgets. We all sense that digital tools can help us secure the future of business; we’re just not sure how to use them to our advantage. So today, we speak with a leading voice in the field of technology and entrepreneurship: Shuo Chen, Silicon Valley connoisseur, faculty professor at UC Berkeley and Stanford University, and partner at IOVC, an investment firm focused on early-stage startups that drive the future of work.

In this episode, Shuo shows us how tools like AI and Blockchain can revolutionize business. She demonstrates how technology will eliminate repetitive tasks, streamline our processes, redirect our attention to cultural human questions, and afford us more time to hone our leadership skills. Shuo shines a light on a new, diverse generation of self-starters who are taking their seat at the business table. And she breaks down how technology is changing the nature of entrepreneurship; opening up new career paths going forward.

So join Shuo Chen and our new host Ari Marin, to get into the nuts and bolts and launch your company into the future!

Highlights:

• A brief history of AI & Blockchain (4:16)
• Why AI & Blockchain are a powerful combination (6:44)
• How technology can augment workflows and improve decision making (8:08)
• Breaking down the “Human VS Technology” myth (10:00)
• “80% of the jobs available in 2030 were not invented 5 years ago” (11:03)
• Ways in which technology will change existing roles (12:20)
• A happy middle: how to juggle automation and personalisation (14:12)
• Using tech to make different leadership styles possible (15:09)
• Transformations in the world of entrepreneurship (16:42)
• FinTech and changes at play in venture funding (18:17)
• Fractional founders: how Shuo seeded her career (19:41)
• Debunking the taboo of building fractionally (21:58)
• Linking together technology, diversity and inclusion (23:41)
• How widespread access to information can create more fruitful discussion (25:33)
• “Resistance is a healthy part of technological development” (26:38)
• A final word from Shuo on the Future of Work (28:26)

Links:

• Cadence Bank Website
• Cadence Bank X (Twitter)
• Cadence Bank LinkedIn
• Shuo Chen X (Twitter)
• Shuo Chen LinkedIn
• IOVC Website
• Research - “State of the CIO Survey” by Foundry
• Research - “Realizing 2030: A Divided Vision of the Future” by Dell Technologies

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producers, Eydie.Pengelly@cadencebank.com or Danielle.Kernell@cadencebank.com.