An evening with Mr Ravi Venkatesan
Introduction
On Friday, Aug 1, we had an insightful session by Mr Ravi Venkatesan, former Chairman of Microsoft India, Bank of Baroda and Cummins India. Mr Venkatesan spoke about how we must equip ourselves to thrive in the age of AI. If all of us thrive, our country will also thrive. Viksit Bharat will become a reality. The full session is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POUpJ51wwI0
About Mr Ravi Venkatesan
Mr Ravi Venkatesan holds a BTech from IIT Bombay, an MS from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A business leader, author and a social entrepreneur, he has set up the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) for developing entrepreneurial skills at scale in the country. Mr Venkatesan has also been associated with UNICEF.
A cautionary tale
The dinosaurs offer a cautionary tale. They were amazing animals who dominated the world for about 200 million years. About 65 million years ago, the earth was hit by a massive asteroid. The impact resulted in a powerful blast wave, a heatwave, and the ejection of vast amounts of debris into the atmosphere. There was also a major climate change. Most animals including dinosaurs became extinct. (Some small animals dug into the ground. And when they came out, they found bright sunshine. These mammals, which survived were our predecessors.)
What can we learn from the dinosaurs? When things change fast, humans, animals, society and companies find it difficult to adapt. In the 21st century we are seeing a rapid pace of change. In the coming 100 years, we will see more change than in the previous 10,000-15,000 years of human history. The only way to survive is to stay curious and remain adaptable.
Why so much change?
Suppose four cyclones originate simultaneously in the Bay of Bengal. They will collide and feed into each other and unleash explosive energy. Today, there are four different storms converging.
Climate change: After years of unsustainable development, we are seeing the revenge of the planet. Nature is putting us in our place. We saw major flooding in Texas recently. In Delhi temperatures have crossed 50 degrees Celsius in recent times. They may cross 60 degrees Celsius soon in many parts of the country. In the nighttime, they may remain above 45 degrees Celsius. All this will make it difficult for humans to live. India will be particularly hit by climate change as we depend on rain fed crops.
Technology: The rise of AI is raising major concerns. The recently launched ChatGPT 5 gives responses that are indistinguishable from the world’s most authoritative sources. Microsoft has identified 40 jobs which will be most affected by AI. These include software programmers, lawyers, researchers and writers. It is simplistic to argue that humans complemented by AI will be able to thrive. A human combined with AI can replace many humans. So many jobs will go away, and wages will fall.
Divisions/polarization: There are divisions within India and between India and other countries. Consider the trade dispute between India and the US. We are seeing all kinds of cracks and fissures at a time when the world needs more unity to tackle complex problems.
Demographics: Except for Africa, the world is getting older. India’s population is also peaking. Due to good food and healthcare, most of us will live longer than the earlier generations. So, we will have to work till say 75. But who will employ us? Today, if we are over 45, we are living on borrowed time.
In short, things are getting difficult, and they will not get easier in the coming years. But if we are prepared and equipped, there will also be many opportunities at an individual level.
Implications
The days of stable jobs and careers will disappear rapidly. We might be working for a good team in a good company. Yet, we may lose our job. As workflows get automated, more jobs will go away. A major worry is that entry level jobs too may disappear. We should think seriously about becoming self-employed. We should think of becoming entrepreneurs who can build sustainable (not necessarily large) businesses.
The most important skill needed in the coming years will be the entrepreneurial mindset. Traditionally becoming an entrepreneur was a career choice that few people made. But now it is becoming a life skill. Jobs will be fewer in number but there will be many opportunities. For example, Bangalore has a huge garbage problem. There are opportunities for waste management, recycling and biogas generation.
Entrepreneurship can be learnt. Few people are born entrepreneurs. GAME works with underprivileged children in govt schools. During summer, they are given Rs 1000 to launch a business. They have to return the capital but can keep the profits for themselves. Most children make a profit. This shows that entrepreneurship skills are not that difficult to pick up.
If we are mediocre at something, we will be dead. In the past, if we were educated, showed up at the workplace, did a reasonable job and did not upset our boss, we were assured of a reasonable career. But today to succeed, we must be excellent. We need excellent attitude, expertise and should deliver a high level of performance. We churn out a lot of mediocre engineers every year. The world does not need them.
If we do not want to be replaced by AI, we should try to be different from AI, i.e. be more human. AI is good for solving structured problems and for handling repetitive tasks. Humans are good at empathy, creativity and critical thinking. So, if we can develop such skills, there will be a place for us in the world of AI. AI may be good at solving a problem, but we humans are better at asking the right questions. We have a better sense of judgment and can distinguish between credible information and false information. We are also great at story telling. Only humans can imagine things which do not exist and narrate a story to convince others.
Leadership
This is our Brahma Astra. Can we inspire people to join us in doing something? It is not about title, position or power. It is a behaviour. Consider a major traffic jam. The vehicles are just not moving. And everybody is blowing the horn. Tempers are rising. Somebody starts directing the vehicles and slowly they begin to move. No one has given that person the authority. Yet he has taken charge. If we can be like that person, our place is secure.
Note: In his book, What the heck do I do with my life, Mr Venkatesan mentions that leadership is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and becoming extraordinary in that act. Leaders do not wait for a mandate. They see an opportunity to make a difference and answer an inner call to action. They do not always have formal authority or power and learn to lead by influence.
Mr Venkatesan mentions that when leading with little or no formal authority, we must have a keen instinctive understanding of the dynamics of power and influence. When Mr Venkatesan was appointed non-executive chairman of Bank of Baroda, he found that most of the decisions were being taken not by the board but by the Ministry of Finance. Mr Venkatesan began by developing a nuanced map of all the stakeholders. He spent much of his time developing relationships and trust with all these people who were involved in important decisions. As a result, the CEO and the management could accomplish a lot in a short period of time.
Resilience
When there are severe shocks expected, we need to brace ourselves. We need seat belts. We need a financial cushion so that we can survive even if we do not have a job for some time. But even more than tangible assets, we need intangible assets like professional reputation and networks. During Covid, nothing worked, and we had to depend on our close friends. So, relationships are very important. Also, when the going gets tough we need faith. We must believe in something greater than ourselves.
Q&A
Mr Venkatesan has had an interesting and fulfilling professional life. For 15 years, he was involved in diesel engines. Then he was with Microsoft. Subsequently, he had stints on the Boards of Infosys and Bank of Baroda. More recently, he has been associated with social enterprises/funds.
All of us are curious when we are born. But we lose this curiosity as we grow older. Mr Venkatesan has remained curious. When he found something new, he looked at it as an opportunity to learn rather than a risk. That is how he returned to India from the US in 1996. The Indian economy was not flourishing then. But Mr Venkatesan decided to take the plunge and joined a failing joint venture (Tata Cummins) in Jamshedpur. His boss cautioned him. But Mr Venkatesan, who was then 32, decided that the experience would be valuable. He turned around the company.
In 2003, Microsoft sent feelers to Mr Venkatesan. His close friends and family members cautioned him that it was a tough company in a tough industry, and he would fail. But Mr Venkatesan decided to accept the offer. He had a fruitful association with Microsoft. He finally left them on good terms to pursue other interests in the social sector.
Note: In his book, Mr Venkatesan mentions that when he became the head of Microsoft India, the company had a bad reputation for aggressive business practices and lack of empathy. The company had alienated both businesses and the government. Under Mr Venkatesan’s leadership, a new strategy was coined: Realizing Potential with India. The company embraced a new mindset of helping people, business and government and not just make money by selling licenses. Some of the noteworthy outcomes were Shiksha, the world’s largest literacy program, an affordable Windows starter edition and a differential pricing system where people were charged based on their ability to pay. Over the next 7 years, the business grew rapidly. Microsoft became the most admired foreign company in India and later the best place to work for in the country.
Mr Venkatesan’s career has been unusual. But more of us are likely to have such unusual careers in the coming years. The trick is to remain curious and take calculated risks.
We should get proficient in the use of relevant tools. Mr Venkatesan uses Chat GPT and other LLMs for doing research and for his podcasts.
We must become exceptionally good at something. There is no room for mediocrity. Every and now then, layoffs are happening. We must find our Ikigai. We must do something AI cannot do.
Note: To know more about Ikigai, watch this ICFAI WiseViews session https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr-MEfNMmjA
We must practise becoming a leader: There is a leader in all of us. Leaders are made and not born. We must find a way to take charge when no one is willing to.
Padmashree, a housewife in Bangalore became frustrated by the garbage piling up outside her home. She decided to do something about it. One day, she started cleaning the place outside her home. Soon other people joined. The movement spread to the entire locality. She then petitioned the authorities for the ban of single use plastics. Households began to segregate dry and wet waste. Composting was taken up for wet waste. Garbage contractors began to be held accountable. Biogas plants were set up. Today, Padmashree is considered a thought leader when it comes to waste management.
When it comes to the country’s development, we must stop being self-congratulatory. We must work hard. Our business environment, education system, healthcare, all need to improve.
We are not short of talent. But we are unable to provide the right environment for talent to flourish. Many Indians are at the forefront of AI but they are not based in India.
Our education system was designed about 100 years back for a world which no longer exists. The system still emphasises rote learning, remembering things and structured problem solving. We are not equipping our students with human skills such as creativity and critical thinking. We are in a self-congratulatory mode about NEP but we are nowhere close to where we should be.
Our primary healthcare should start delivering. It should become so good that our netas should also be going there for treatment.
Mr Venkatesan emphasised that the hype withstanding, Viksit Bharat is a subject for the academics. What is more relevant is what we can do individually to equip ourselves. If more of us succeed, the country will also succeed. And Viksit Bharat will be a reality.
During the Q&A, Mr Venkatesan added that we need to have the right metrics to measure progress towards Viksit Bharat. We have begun to feel proud that we have crossed the GDP of Japan. Our per capita income is about $ 2000 ($ 4 trillion /1.4 bn). But this average figure is misleading. The median income for an Indian is only $ 500 per year or about Rs 100 per day. One cannot lead a life of any dignity with this income.
We need more small businesses that can create jobs. Unfortunately, while our large companies are growing, our small and medium enterprises are struggling. Half of India is unemployed.
When Mr Venkatesan was on the board of Infosys, the company was going through a difficult transition. Infact there were multiple transitions happening simultaneously. The founders had decided to leave. For the first time in the history of the company, there was a professional independent board and an outsider CEO. Meanwhile, the industry was going through a major transition. The board was divided on the way to move forward.
Mr Venkatesan and likeminded board members asked themselves: How will history judge us? They got the answer: Not very kindly unless we take difficult decisions. Mr Venkatesan and another board member, Mrs Kiran Mazumdar persuaded Nandan Nilekani to come out of retirement in 2017. This and some other good decisions enabled the company to make a strong comeback. The Infosys share price has tripled since then. History will probably judge the board members favourably. The crisis is an example of deciding what needs to be done and the courage to step up and do our dharma.
We have to expose students to role models, i.e. successful entrepreneurs.
The programs should be experiential not academic. Students should be forced to launch a business.
We can create a directory of business ideas. Many students are not clear about what kind of venture they want to run.
We need mentors who can answer some of the questions of the students. GAME has created an AI mentor.
Teachers must be role models. During routine discussions and meetings, we must demonstrate the use of critical thinking. Suppose we ask the students a simple question: How much should we pay our driver? We may get different responses. What are the prevailing wages? What is the minimum wage stipulated by law? What wages would enable the driver to lead a dignified life? Seeing something from different angles without becoming fixated on one view is the core of critical thinking.
This has nothing to do with our income or wealth. In his book, What the heck do I do with my life, Mr Venkatesan explains the difference between abundance and scarcity mindsets. A scarcity mindset means everything in life is a small, finite pie. If one person takes a piece of the cake, it means there is less left for others. An abundance mindset means there is plenty out there for everyone. There is no need to be self-centred or mean.
Mr Venkatesan regularly interacts with a local beggar. She often offers a cup of tea to him. She is very poor but always smiling and trying to share what she has. In contrast, some billionaires are reluctant to part with their money.
Note: There was a famous study called: “Secret fears of the super-rich”. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/04/secret-fears-of-the-super-rich/308419/
The people who qualified to take part in the study needed to have $ 25 mn invested in financial instruments (in addition to all their physical assets). They were asked: What is your biggest fear? Their first fear was: When the children took over the wealth, what would happen to their wealth? But surprise of surprises, their second fear was that they thought that they did not have enough money. These people had abundant money, but the scarcity narrative was running in their head.
In contrast, consider the poor people featured in the documentary, “Happy”. There are scenes from Calcutta featuring slum dwellers who are rickshaw pullers. They wear tattered clothes and have blisters on their feet. The interviewers ask them: How can you afford to be ok? Their response: God is bountiful. When we need anything, we ask our neighbours for salt, etc, and we often get it. Even if we do not get anything, it is fine. We will be able to eat later. So, we are not worried about going hungry or missing a meal.