Sparks: Think Beyond Borders: How to Cultivate a Global Citizen Mindset With Solvay CEO Ilham Kadri

There are two things about the future of work that worry me. The first is if executives at organizations will choose to use AI and automation to replace humans instead of using them to augment humans. The second is that if we as individuals take a passive role in our lives and careers. We cannot just sit back and watch from the sidelines as the world changes. That is a surefire way to ensure we get replaced by technology. If we can work on both of these issues, then the future of work is optimistic

11 Sep 20192min

Today I am joined by Ott Vatter, the Managing Director at e-Residency, an initiative started by the Republic of Estonia to encourage more people to start businesses in Europe and to make it easier for remote workers and entrepreneurs to work while on the move. E-Residency was the first digital initiative of its kind, and there are now over 55,000 e-residents worldwide, including Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Pope Francis, and Angela Merkel. It has been so popular that e-residency applications have been growing faster than the number of births in the entire Estonian nation.   Today we are talking about how e-Residency came to be--what made the government of Estonia start this initiative, the benefits that have come from it, what impacts the country has seen from the program, and the possibility of other countries creating their own programs. You will also hear some mistakes they made along the way and how they overcame them. Ott Vatter is the Managing Director at e-Residency, an initiative started by the Republic of Estonia in 2014 to encourage more people to start businesses in Europe. It makes it easier for remote workers and entrepreneurs to work while on the move.    E-Residency was the first digital initiative of its kind, and there are now over 55,000 e-residents worldwide, including Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Pope Francis, and Angela Merkel. It has been so popular that e-residency applications have been growing faster than the number of births in the entire Estonian nation.    So why was it first formed? Ott says, “If we look at the population first of Estonia, we're only 1.3 million people. With the domestic market, we can't really develop or scale. We're also demographically losing people. People are moving away. Some people are moving back. But in general, the outlook in 50 years, 100 years is not that positive. We have to be clever in these ways that we can actually innovate. We're not a rich country in terms of national resources, or we don't have huge resources of oil. But what we do have is the basis of a digital country. We could really capitalize on that. The infrastructure of e-Residency was already there for our own citizens. We didn't have to invent anything new, but we could replicate the same model for foreigners. We use the same identity card, taking away the photo and making it available for others as well.”   Any individual is able to apply for e-Residency, even if they are not currently looking to start a company or work remotely. Some people just do it to say they are an “e-Estonian”. One of the main benefits of joining e-Residency is the ability to use your digital certificate to sign documents quickly and it allows remote entrepreneurs to let other people handle the basic administrative tasks which leaves the entrepreneur freed up to focus on more important parts of running a business.    When thinking about the future of work Ott believes that being a digital citizen will have huge benefits. He says, “People are traveling around even more and more. I think remote work is growing immensely. Digital identity is something that makes your life easier. As a German citizen, you wouldn't have to fly back to your own country, for example, from Thailand and wait in line in the tax office to fill out a form. Or in the U.S., for example, the tax forms, I mean, they're crazy. You physically have to be present to actually present all of these documents. I think the future of work is about being location independent. Being able to submit or do your business from anywhere in the world. I think digital identity will play a very big part of this revolution.” What you will learn: What e-Residency is and why it was started Why the concept of a digital society is so important The impacts of e-Residency on the country of Estonia  The role of privacy and security in a digital society Some of the mistakes that were made in forming this program and how they were overcome What Estonia is doing as a country to encourage people to start businesses there

9 Sep 201948min

Have you ever been asked a question that you don’t know the answer to? What was your response? Did you make something up? Did you talk around the question? One thing I have learned over the years is the power of saying three simple words---”I don’t know”. It might seem like a scary phrase, you might think people will lose respect for you or that they will think you’re an idiot. But I have found that the opposite is true. People tend to have more respect for someone who admits they don’t know everything. I think getting comfortable with this phrase is something that is going to be increasingly important in the days ahead as the pace of change gets faster and faster. We are never going to be able to know everything about everything. There is power in admitting you don’t have all the answers.

4 Sep 20193min

This week I am joined by Ann Anaya, the Chief Diversity Officer at 3M, a global company with 93,000 employees in 70 countries around the world. They use science and innovation to create and supply products for the fields of industry, worker safety, health care, and consumer goods. One of their most well-known products would be the Post-it Note. In our conversation today you will hear Ann’s advice for people looking to make a career shift and why it is more important to focus on your skills rather than your past job titles. You will also hear how the Post-it was created, what people outside of HR need to know about diversity and inclusion, and what programs 3M has going on to emphasize and focus on diversity inside the organization. Ann Anaya is the Chief Diversity Officer at 3M, a global company that creates and supplies products like the Post-it note. They have 93,000 employees in 70 countries around the world. Ann has been with 3M for six years. She actually began her career as a lawyer, first for the state court in Minnesota and then for the US Attorney’s Office focusing on major white collar and complex crime. Six years ago she was looking for a change in her career path and she applied into legal affairs for 3M. After working in legal affairs for four years she was asked to consider the newly opened position of Chief Diversity Officer.    Ann gave advice to others who are looking to change careers, she said there are three pieces in figuring out the best industry and role.    What is your passion? What are you good at? Figure out where your skills and passions make a difference and then take action   She says, “we all know that we're really good at some ... a handful of particular skills and one of the things that I am fortunate to have as a skillset that I do well at is the ability to influence change and doing that through advocacy. Yes, those are skills for a trial lawyer or a litigator but those are skills that we use in so many other ways. Number one, is passion. Number two, what skills do we really have that we're really good at? Then, finally, I would say, where can we take our experiences and apply them in a way that there is a need to make change?”   Ann also had a mentor, who played a huge role in helping her figure out where her skills fit best. She believes everyone should have people in their lives who push them, challenge them, and stretch them in order to be better. As she puts it, “We all need champions. We can’t do it alone” no matter if you are a leader or an entry level employee.    3M has been focused on intentionally embedding diversity and inclusion into their brand, their mission, and their goals. They are going through a “new culture refresh” and it will be a part of all 3M does. And they are finding that having a diverse and inclusive organization not only impacts the employees, it also impacts the customers.  “Diversity is all about demographics and inclusion is about our environment or the atmosphere we create in our workplace. There is no one without the other. You can't have an inclusive workforce if there isn't diversity within the workforce and you can't be inclusive without the diversity of ideas, perspectives and backgrounds. You won't benefit from diversity, inclusion unless you have both.” What you will learn: Why we should focus on skills rather than job titles Advice for people who would like to explore a new career path Why people outside of HR need to know about diversity and inclusion What is diversity and inclusion and why is it important Programs 3M has in place to embrace and promote diversity and inclusion

3 Sep 20191h 3min

In our increasingly connected world the way businesses compete has changed. It is no longer about competing within your industry or within your geographic location--you are competing with everyone. And that is especially true with talent.   The way that organizations compete has changed. It used to be that organizations would compete within their own industry or within their geographic location. But now with our world becoming more and more connected our organizations have to compete with everyone. And this is especially true in the war for talent. Employees today have so many options. Organizations have to adapt if they want to attract and retain the best talent. It is not all about perks--you don’t have to have slides, ping pong tables, free food, and parties every week. The way to win the war is to bring humanity back into your organization. You have to treat your employees like humans.

28 Aug 20192min

My guest today is Farooq Kathwari, the Chairman, President, and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc., an American furniture chain founded in 1932 with more than 300 stores across the world. Farooq has a new book coming out on September 3 titled: Trailblazer: From the Mountains of Kashmir to the Summit of Global Business and Beyond.   He has a truly fascinating life story, some of which you will get to hear today. Our discussion today covers a lot of ground including how his background shaped his approach to leadership, the immigrant mentality to work, the six leadership principles he created over 35 years ago that his team still follows today, and how to get people around you to think like an entrepreneur. Farooq Kathwari is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc. an American furniture chain founded in 1932. The company now has more than 300 stores across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Farooq has been President of the company since 1985 and Chairman & CEO since 1988.  Farooq’s journey to his current role inside of Ethan Allen has been a very unique and inspiring one. He grew up in an area of conflict and he and his family became refugees and were forced to split up. At the age of 20, he made his way to Brooklyn, New York where he attended NYU at night and worked as a bookkeeper for a printing company during the day.  He also worked hard as an entrepreneur to sell arts and crafts to stores like Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor. He later was hired as a junior financial analyst at Bear Stearns on Wall Street where he succeeded and therefore was recruited to set up an investment company. All the while he still sold his arts and crafts. It was at the investment company that Farooq was introduced to the co-founder of Ethan Allen, Nat Ancell. He had a partnership with Ethan Allen which later on led to a merger. When he was in his 30s, he became the head of Ethan Allen.  How has his past shaped his approach to work and entrepreneurship? Farooq says, “When you say immigrant, you can also use the word entrepreneur. When you leave your home, when I came here with enough money for, I think about five or six months to survive, well, you have to be entrepreneurial. So immigrants, by nature, who leave their homes, who travel, have more of an entrepreneurial attitude, because not everybody from every other world leaves. It's a few people who leave. They've got to have that DNA to be able to leave, to take risks. Immigrants also take risks.” He also truly believes in treating all people with dignity and respect. He brings that belief into his role as a leader and tries to empower his employees. When he first started as the head of Ethan Allen he met several thousand employees from different locations and he said something shocking which was, “The main job of a leader is to help their people become better. If the leaders don't do that, people have a right to revolt.” Farooq says helping people become better is “a very critical factor in leadership. Leaders don't think that their job is to make people better.” Farooq has all of the company’s managers and leaders write a report for him every single week. In the report, they can share things that are working well, things that need improvement, and issues they are having with any employees.  This practice came from one of the leadership principles Farooq created 35+ years ago. He still follows all of these principles today. They are: Leaders must have self-confidence. This also means leaders have to empower people. Leaders who don’t empower people don’t have self-confidence. Hard work--if leaders don’t work hard, how can they ask their people to work hard? Excellence in innovation--You have to have a passion for being the best Accessibility--leaders need to be approachable and they need to treat people with respect Customer focus--The customer is number one, you have to take care of them Prioritization--Leaders must constantly think about prioritization because not everything is important What you will learn: A look at Farooq’s fascinating life story and how he went from an immigrant student at NYU to the Chairman, CEO and President of Ethan Allen How his background shaped his approach to leadership The leadership principles that Farooq created 35 years ago and why he and all the leaders at Ethan Allen follow them still today How he provides feedback to employees who are not performing well How to continue persevering in business when you keep getting told ‘no’ How to create an entrepreneurial mindset inside of your organization What skills will be most relevant for employees in the future

26 Aug 20191h 6min

Artificial Intelligence is not a new concept. Actually, it has been around for thousands of years and you can see representations of the concept throughout history starting with Jason and the Golden Fleece. Did you know that the concept of Artificial Intelligence has been around for thousands of years? One of the first representations of AI in history shows up in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Jason had to travel to get the golden fleece and along the way, he had to battle it out with Talos, a huge non-human man made of bronze. Representations of AI also appear in Judaism and Chinese, Greek and Indian Philosophy. The concept has been around for a very long time. Now we have things like Siri and Alexa and it shows that AI is part of our human nature to want something that is higher and greater than ourselves. There is a quote from Pamela McCorduck that states, “Artificial Intelligence began with an ancient wish to forge the gods”. And that “ancient wish” is still around today. But, what happens when our wish comes true? Be careful what you wish for.

21 Aug 20192min

This week I am joined by Ragu Gurumurthy, the Chief Innovation and Digital Officer at Deloitte. Today we are talking about a hot topic--digital transformation. What it actually means, what it looks like to be a digitally transformed company, what skills are needed to achieve transformation and much more. Ragu actually authored a report on this topic back in March of this year titled, Pivoting to Digital Maturity: Seven Capabilities Central to Digital Transformation. In our discussion you will also hear Ragu talks through the seven digital pivots mentioned in his report and why they matter.  Ragu Gurumurthy is the Chief Innovation and Digital Officer at Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services company with 240,000 employees around the world. Ragu has been with Deloitte for over 13 years. Prior to that, he worked at companies like T-Mobile, Morgan Stanley, and AT&T.    In March 2019 Ragu authored a report titled, Pivoting to Digital Maturity: Seven Capabilities Central to Digital Transformation that looks at why some digital transformation efforts succeed while others fail. In the report, he explores seven digital pivots that can improve the chances of success for organizations going through digital transformation.    So what does digital transformation actually mean? Ragu says, “There are so many ways of defining digital transformation. It's an eye of the beholder, so to speak. Simply put, the way at least we would define digital transformation, it is about becoming a digital enterprise, holistically, by leveraging data, technology and people, data technology and people to evolve all aspects of the business; what they sell to their clients and customers, how they operate the business and how they sell to their customers. How do they relate to the... How do they reach their customers? How do they serve their customers in terms of customer experience? It is really thinking about all the aspects of business enabled by data, technology, and people.”   As a whole, when asked where the business world is at in terms of digital transformation, Ragu says we are still in the very early stages.   Ragu believes that although the digital era is upon us, it’s not all about technology. People are important, in the words of Ragu, “people are very important. I see them as the quarterback in this transformation.” A mixture of technological intelligence and human intelligence is what Ragu believes will get us to a new frontier.    The seven digital pivots Ragu explored in his report are:  Flexible, secure infrastructure Data mastery   Digitally savvy, open talent networks Ecosystem engagement Intelligent workflows Unified customer experience Business model adaptability    Ragu’s advice for organizations looking to go through digital transformation is, “the biggest advice I have is to do a thought experiment. Think about, how would I use technology, data and available AI software, voice recognition, it could be semantic language processing. You don't need to be a technologist. Read basic at the highest level, what do these things do and see how can I use it to solve the problem differently? That's my advice, think about doing things differently in different things as a supporter would say, what exactly you can do and go do it. Experiment and learn.” What you will learn: A look at Ragu’s report: Pivoting to Digital Maturity What it looks like to be a digitally transformed organization Trends Ragu is paying attention to What skills are needed to go through digital transformation What Deloitte is doing internally to digitally transform How to overcome the challenge of change management

19 Aug 20191h 5min