Brain Pudding | Thoughts from SURAJIT

  • Leaders: A Change Agent

    Its Wednesday November 6th, 2024: Donald Trump has won the US elections to become the 47th President, handing a major win to the Republican Party. On a day like this when change is on everyone’s mind, I couldn’t resist sharing this piece of abstract wood sculpture that I built as part of my commitment to the creative community. This piece is titled “Winds of Change”. It depicts a large sandstone structure eroded into an arch like shape.


    Many perceive change as a threat, a disruption to stability, or an obstacle in the way of their goals. In truth, change is an invitation to explore new paths and discover unforeseen opportunities, much like wind carving through the ancient sandstone, unveiling wonders hidden behind seemingly solid rock. By embracing change as a force for growth, leaders can guide themselves and their teams to new heights, transforming challenges into stepping stones for innovation and progress.




    Leaders as Champions of Change

    In business, as in nature, resisting the forces of change is not only futile but often counterproductive. Leaders who recognize the value of change and embrace it as a tool for growth can harness this force, shaping their organizations and teams with the same artistry that wind shapes stone.

    1. Fostering a Growth Mindset

    Leaders who champion a growth mindset help their teams view change as an opportunity rather than a setback. They encourage adaptability, curiosity, and resilience, shifting the focus from what is lost to what can be gained. For instance, when a market disruption occurs, a growth-minded leader will steer the team toward identifying new avenues for development rather than dwelling on the disruption itself.

    2. Empowering Teams to Innovate

    Just as wind creates new patterns in rock, change can inspire teams to think creatively. Leaders can foster a culture of innovation by empowering their teams to experiment with new approaches and challenge traditional methods. This might mean creating space for brainstorming sessions, allocating resources for research and development, or simply encouraging team members to think outside the box when confronted with a problem.

    3. Seeing the Big Picture

    Leaders need to communicate the larger vision behind change. A good leader helps their team see the purpose and potential on the other side of change. When people understand that change isn’t just an arbitrary shift but a pathway to greater possibilities, they’re more likely to embrace it.

    4. Motivating Teams to Thrive in Change

    While leaders may understand the value of change, guiding a team through it requires empathy, vision, and a clear strategy. Here are some pointers for success –
    * Create a Safe Environment for Experimentation
    * Celebrate Small Wins
    * Communicate Openly and Frequently
    * Inspire with a Compelling Vision

    Today each one of us stands at the edge of change – let’s embrace it willingly and transform with it.

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  • Using AI to improve Human Intelligence?

    No world without AI

    The whole world has become a testbed for OpenAI chatGpt, and a myriad of questions gets answered by the AI platform. So much that we ask for practical suggestions, write code, language for documentation, poems and what not. I even dared to ask suggestions from ChatGpt on what to paint on canvas on a rainy day (yes the downpour in Bay Area does not seem to end). Then used the ChatGpt answers to get several digital art samples via the Dall E 2 interface! All that is fine – however it is also essential for us humans to maintain some intelligence, lest machines take over the world 🙂

    A Different Take

    I decided to do something different than asking ChatGpt for answers. I asked ChatGpt to ask me questions, to sharpen my own intelligence and I need that session everyday. With help from ChatGpt I asked it to write a python program to run itself. The work – “generate 10 intelligent questions in Technology for me”. I will place the python program on a cron job and run it every morning. Here is the code ChatGpt generated and used the text-davinci-002 model to generate intelligent questions.

    import openai_secret_manager

    # Authenticate to the OpenAI API
    secrets = openai_secret_manager.get_secrets(“openai”)
    print(secrets)

    import openai
    openai.api_key = secrets[“api_key”]

    def generate_questions():
    # Generate 10 questions
    questions = []
    for i in range(10):
    response = openai.Completion.create(
    model=”text-davinci-002″,
    prompt=f”Please generate an intelligent question number {i+1}”,
    temperature=0.5,
    max_tokens=50
    )
    questions.append(response.get(“choices”)[0].get(“text”))
    return questions

    print(generate_questions())

    You will need a few python packages to be installed to run OpenAI libraries and perhaps you can improve the code to suit your subjects of interest.

    Keeping intelligent in the era of ChatGPT

    Here is what I had asked ChatGPT to ask me – 10 intelligent questions on Technology. Below is what I got – QUIZ for you 🙂

    1. What is the difference between artificial intelligence and machine learning?
    2. How does a blockchain work?
    3. What is the purpose of a router in a computer network?
    4. Can you explain the concept of cloud computing?
    5. How does a search engine like Google retrieve and rank results?
    6. What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
    7. What is the difference between a mobile operating system like iOS and Android?
    8.How does a virtual reality headset function?
    9. What is the difference between a 32-bit and 64-bit processor?
    10. What is 5G technology and how does it differ from 4G?

    That’s it for today.

    If you are curious on the pictures Generative AI can create from Dall E 2 via ChatGpt suggestions for a rainy day scene in a metropolis, they were pretty impressive actually –

    My next project- Having ChatGPT + Dall.E 2 build a script that can build a creative resume to increase university acceptance for students. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!

  • Creating your best in class Sales Team

    2022 was a class balancing act. While on one side the technology industry continued to see unprecedented product advances, the other side saw continuous declines in shareholder value brought about by the economic slowdown. For the engineering consulting organizations this meant addressing several new challenges for their sales teams. I spent a sizable part of the year analyzing different sales approaches, sales leadership traits, platforms and AI usages, sales training and demand generation methodology etc.

    The foremost importance for the success of any sales organization is the quality of its sales personnel.

    Here are 5 essential traits that I found are necessary to become a successful sales person. I believe a sales person should behave like a Liquid –

    1. Take shape of the container – In consultative selling ( or rather in most complex sales), it is extremely important for a sales person to adapt and mould into the customer environment. It is essential to understand the operational and business challenges, the customer’s customers and what motivates product features, what drives a product or services purchase at the organization etc. in order to be able to conceive interesting deals.

    2. Detect the steepest slope and Flow – It is extremely important for a sales person to be able to sense the changing directions of an opportunity based on changes in competition activities, changes in R&R of customer stakeholders, changes in economic environment and the likes. Such changes often demands changes in sales strategy to move an opportunity towards the desired closure path in the most efficient manner.

    3. Maintain surface tension – It is imperative that the most shrewd customers would always try to break the top barriers of a sales pricing and get to the details, so negotiations could get easier and they could bring down pricing offers. It is utmost essential that the sales leader is able to hold on to the fundamental constructs of the pricing strategy and not give away details that can weaken competitive advantage or expose cracks that eventually will result in discounts.

    4. Ability to Leave a mark – Every meeting with a sales person should leave a mark with the stakeholder. This mark is of positivity, optimism, confidence, reliability and passion that is brought together by the sales person. These strengths augment the offering and pricing to build the necessary confidence in the minds of the stakeholder to think about sealing the partnership.

    5. Ability to act as a solvent – Resiliency, a term that cannot be separated from a sales person and becomes his or her second nature to deal with difficulties time and again, yet persevere to come back and play the game well again. It is this ability to be able to absorb criticism, rejections and failures, while always maintaining the gratitude and attitude to win again is what marks a successful sales person.

    Hope this helps you handpick your best sales team members. There are many other considerations one has to take to groom them towards a leadership role in sales, that’s for another day. Hope you enjoyed reading!