The Holocaust[1] was a time of horrifying acts. Between the years 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies were responsible for the deaths of six million Jews in Europe. It is a time we cannot afford to forget lest we are led into similar situations in the future. The holocaust was also a time of innovations that saved many lives. There was no blueprint for these innovators. They reached into their hearts to make a difference. One such innovator was Sir Nicholas Winton.
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Walt Disney
“Ideas are no one’s monopoly. Think big, think fast, think ahead.”
Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance Industries
Entrepreneurship 101
Have you noticed how people react when you say you are an entrepreneur? They get excited and want to know all about your venture, and how successful you are, monetarily. Entrepreneurs are special a special breed. It takes substantial efforts to overcome numerous hurdles before you can join this elite group. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says about 20% of U.S. small businesses fail within the first year. Roughly 50% fail by the end of the fifth year and only a third survive after 10 years (I have not been able to find the statistics for India, but it is bound to be similar). When this is the case, why does everyone aspire to be an entrepreneur? The idea that anyone can work on an idea, build a business, and create wealth, is something that appeals to all of us.
I was honored to be featured in this podcast where I talk about my journey in data.
Jason Tan is the founder of Data Driven Analytics, Brisbane, Australia. He interviews business leaders from around the world to learn and share how they run a modern high-performing organisation, enabled by data & analytics. The interview is business-focused but through the lens of data and analytics.
I had the honor of cohosting and emceeing the Women in AI inagural event of Deloitte’s Leading conversations in AI series on March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day. Here is a recap.
Carnegie Mellon University’s social media team gave me two prompts to answer during the Women’s History Month. The short tweet: Who influenced Shantha Mohan? Here is my long answer.
Q. What motivated you to go into Integrated Innovation as well as teaching?
Delivering a toast is one of the speeches I had to give as part of my Toastmaster journey to Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award. I chose to do it on an imaginary toast that I would have given at the launch of my daughter Anita’s book, Love Songs for a Lost Continent which was published in 2018. This short story collection won the 2016 Mary Roberts Rinehart Award.
This is a speech I delivered in my Toastmasters a while back, pretending the audience to be my fellow alumni and students from my alma mater.
In 1978, a family of three arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with 700 dollars to their names, and all their possessions in two suitcases. They knew one woman in the city, the one friend they had made in India when she was passing through and needed a place to rest in-between flights. Now they were relying on her to put them up for a night or two while they found housing. You could say they were naïve, you could call them foolhardy, but they had aspirations. The man was going to do his higher studies, and the woman and the one-and-a-half-year-old daughter tagged along.
