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Keynote by Abhi Shah : Growth Mindset Virtual Conference
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Nov 9, 2023
A conference growth mindset, success, and motivation. Join live panels and ask your questions about digital transformation, emerging technologies, innovation, strategy, and leadership. Enjoy live music played during session breaks. Brew exotic tea, coffee, and learn how to mix drinks from an award-winning bartender. Conference Website: https://growthmindsetconference.com About Speaker: Abhi Shah is a celebrated entrepreneur, philanthropist and diverse board director with 15 years of corporate governance experience and digital transformation expertise. Mr. Shah is Vice Chairman of the Board of Morae Global Corporation, a digital transformation provider to Global 500, and on the Board of Advisors of Samya.AI, an enterprise revenue growth AI SaaS company. He is also Chairman of Yuva, which has transformed 1,800+ impoverished municipal schools, impacting the lives of 800,000+ underprivileged children. Previously, Mr. Shah was the Founder, CEO & Board Member of Inc. 5000-listed Clutch Group, a leading AI-powered Big Data Analytics and professional services firm, and on the Cyber Security Board at the Rutgers Center for Innovation Education. Earlier, he worked with Accenture and Mphasis. Mr. Shah was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015 by EY, Best in Business International Awards (Gold Winner), and European Business Awards (National Champion for the United Kingdom), as well as named Maverick of the Year and Executive of the Year by American Business Awards. He has been featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business, and in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and a Harvard Business School case study. Mr. Shah holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and has completed the Eisenhower Leadership Development program led by former US President George H.W. Bush, the Artificial Intelligence program from MIT, the Making Corporate Boards More Effective program from Harvard Business School and the Board Leadership Fellowship from NACD. Speaker's Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhi-shah-404854/ 🌎 C# Corner - Community of Software and Data Developers 🔗 https://www.c-sharpcorner.com
View Video Transcript
0:00
Abhi, welcome to the Growth Mindset Conference
0:06
Thank you, Mahesh, for your very kind words and such a warm welcome
0:12
It is really an honor to be with all of you today
0:17
But honestly, my presence here in front of 5,500 leading technologists from around the
0:26
world is quite unexpected. it. You know, my grandfather was a shopkeeper in India and lived in a home with rent of 50 rupees
0:37
a month or in today's terms, less than a dollar a month. I grew up in that home with 10 family
0:43
members, my grandparents, parents, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins all under one roof
0:52
But, you know, my grandfather had bigger dreams for his sons. And so with a loan and a scholarship, my father came to study in America, the land of opportunity
1:05
Through hard work, my mother got a Rotary scholarship and joined my dad
1:11
And while studying at the University of Houston, they got married at the campus chapel with a one dollar ring
1:18
and only one ring, which first he put onto her and then she removed it and put it onto him
1:26
And their wedding feast was cooked and served by their classmates. But thankfully, my parents too had bigger dreams for their sons
1:37
And they imagined us going to the best schools in the world
1:41
And I stand here today on the shoulders of those giants who came before me and who dared to dream big
1:51
And herein lies the first important lesson I learned in life. You've got to dream big
1:59
Thinking small is a crime. My parents then returned to India after their studies
2:07
and I came to study in America alone at the age of 16
2:12
As I was wrapping up senior year of high school in Texas, my father shared with me a phone number of a gentleman who would help me find a job to pay my way through school
2:27
I called the number and on the other line was, you know, raspy voice with a deep southern accent
2:35
His name was Sonny. And I said, Sonny, what kind of job is it? and he said well selling books I said that's easy where's your bookstore and he said there is no
2:46
bookstore and I was taken aback I said how is this going to work and he said well selling books
2:55
door to door so out of curiosity I asked him what kind of books Sonny are we talking about here
3:03
And he said, well, Bibles, of course. And at this point, I said, you know, to be honest, I've been in the US for less than a year, not exactly proficient with the Bible, not really sure how this is going to work
3:16
And he said, well, look, life is a learning experience. So I'm trying to, you know, just get down to business at this point
3:25
You know, I had to come up with $20,000 for tuition fees, you know, and living expenses for the first year of college
3:32
And I said, Sonny, how much money do I make? And he said, well, that's the best part. It's not a job. It's your own business. And so we'll set you up with a bank credit line. You buy the Bibles from us at a wholesale price. You go out and sell them for retail. And, you know, as long as you keep your expenses low, you'll have a profit margin
3:56
so you know so now I'm trying to find the positive in this situation and I asked him where in the U.S
4:07
would I go and do this job and you know I was thinking maybe greener pastures New York California
4:16
and Sonny said look you know I don't really know you come to Nashville Tennessee there is a week-long
4:22
training. At the end of the week, there is a hat that gets passed around the room and you pick a
4:29
note out of the hat and whatever town's on it, you go there. I said, where am I going to live
4:39
And he said, look, I don't really know. If I don't know where the heck you're going
4:45
do you really expect me to know where you're going to live? um so you know he said welcome to the real world and he hung up the phone i immediately dialed home
4:58
and told my parents look there seems to have been a genuine mistake this guy sonny is telling me i
5:05
gotta sell bibles door to door 80 hours a week don't know how much money i'm gonna make don't
5:12
know where I'm going to end up. This is ridiculous. My father says, slow down, slow down
5:19
Are you trying to tell us that you already landed the job And I said well we did discuss a lot of details So it sounds like it And he said well congratulations That very exciting
5:35
We're going to throw a party. We're going to celebrate. And before I could ask him for money, he hung up the phone
5:44
Now, I have no money and no prospects. So $26 and two days later on a Greyhound bus
5:52
I landed up in Nashville, Tennessee with an exciting week-long training the seventh day rolls around
6:00
the infamous hat is being passed around the room and now it's my turn to pick my destiny
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and it was in New York it was in California it was a small town of 18,000 people
6:16
called Talladega in Alabama three other students got the same town and so off we went to Talladega remember we didn't have a
6:30
place to live and so we went to a church talk to the pastor at the end of his sermon he made an
6:37
announcement if anyone wanted to help us you know and as people were leaving they were very kind and
6:44
welcomed us to Alabama, the Southern hospitality, but the crowd was thinning out and no one was
6:49
offering a place. And finally, Walter, a middle-aged high school teacher said, do you think
6:56
you can handle $250 a month each? So for $1,000 a month rent, four of us had a roof over our head
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I got assigned the ping pong room, you know, the table tennis room in his house. I put a mattress
7:11
on the floor and I was in business. Next morning, everybody is out the door in their cars and
7:22
they're knocking on doors by 8 a.m. I realized a technical issue. I didn't have a car
7:30
So I called home and explained to my parents, and this was really the last time I called for money
7:36
that, you know, I'm calling from this small town in the middle of nowhere in Alabama
7:44
It's 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside. This book bag weighs 40 pounds. Back then I weighed 120 pounds
7:55
So there's no way this is happening unless you at least buy me a three, four thousand dollar used car
8:02
You see, my expectations in life had kind of tempered down. And the answer I got was, look, 20 years ago, when we were studying there, our parents couldn't afford luxuries like secondhand cars
8:18
So all the best. So with that, the phone hung up and I went to Walter, my landlord, and said, do you want rent
8:26
And he said, absolutely. Then I said, well, I have to sell some books. He said, look, don't worry
8:31
He had this old beat up Jeep truck. So every morning, if you imagine, he'd be in the driver's seat. I'd be in the passenger seat. His Dalmatian dog would be in the backseat. And, you know, we would be heading off. He dropped me off at some crossroads in some neighborhood
8:52
and from 8 a.m. in the morning to 8 p.m. in the evening, I dragged that 40-pound bag in 100
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degrees heat, tried to knock on doors, and then call him up at the end of the day, wherever I've
9:03
ended up, to come and get me. So that's how the first job, the first business really began
9:11
And to be frank, it wasn't a great success. At the end of eight or 10 weeks of grueling 80, 90 hours a week in those hot summers, my big check, after all expenses, was a little over $2,000
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I only had 90% gap to fill up with scholarships and loans
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but you know I came back the second summer after first year of college to fight back I did not want
9:44
to give up and the second summer with hard work and and luck turned out to be much more lucrative
9:53
where I made a little over 10,000 and and then the third summer of course I came back because
10:00
as a student, there was no other job where you could really, you know, make that kind of money
10:09
So this is where I learned the second most important in life, the value of hard work
10:18
No matter how tough a challenge is, no matter how seemingly impossible it is
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you can do whatever it is that you set your mind to
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Don't ever forget that. The third and last story I wanted to share with you was, you know, within three months
10:41
it had barely been even 90 days before launching the company. And you know we had a small office that could barely fit you know five people in Bangalore and one of our investors made a call to a Fortune 20 contact that he had and we landed this great meeting in New York You know three four of us traveled 10 miles
11:10
you know, and landed up at their headquarters in Park Avenue. And as we're waiting in the
11:16
conference room for the potential client to join in, you know, he just kind of opens the door
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peeps in, his name was Andy and says, hey, you know, thanks for stopping by
11:33
You know, I'm troubleshooting a crisis with my boss and I don't have a time to listen to your
11:40
picture, look at your presentation, but maybe I can give you five minutes. So I simply asked him
11:50
the question, how can we help you? And he described, you know, sort of a technology-enabled project
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And I said, yeah, absolutely, we can do that. We can dedicate a whole team to it
12:03
And within five minutes, we walked out. We were walking a few feet high above ground with excitement
12:09
of having landed a Fortune 20 client in literally a matter of minutes
12:15
You know, I was wondering those 500 case studies at Harvard Business School about how tough entrepreneurship and life is, you know, what was that all about
12:25
And then we came back and the corporate bureaucracy kicked in. And, you know, procurement wanted to negotiate price
12:35
Legal wanted to negotiate a 100-page contract. IT wanted to do half a dozen audits, infosec, security, and all kinds of stuff
12:44
And after three months of going through that rigmarole, we were ready to go
12:51
And again, I get the call from Andy. Hey, seems like everything went well
12:58
All you got to do now is come and meet my boss. And as soon as she approves the project, we can go ahead
13:05
I said, wait a second. You don't even have approval? and we have been, you know, running from pillar to post
13:13
left, right, and center, just doing this for the last three months. So again, I get back on the flight
13:20
And right before, you know, I'm going to come back, I get a call from the Asia head of this company saying
13:31
look, I have some bad news. I'm not really sure how to break it to you
13:36
I know that you're going to meet the big boss, but unfortunately, she just passed away
13:44
And I froze, feeling terrible. She lost her life to cancer. At the same time, realized that the 100-page contract in my briefcase is now worthless
13:58
In any event, got on the flight, tried not to be depressed and disappointed
14:03
and was watching whatever movie they were showing in the plane. Landed in New York, jet lagged, middle of the night, crashed
14:14
And at two in the morning, I got a call from my brother saying
14:20
hey, I'm just calling to let you know I've landed safely in New York. So I already was in a bad mood and I took off on him saying
14:27
you know, why would you wake me up in the middle of the night? Couldn't you just call in the morning
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and he said well you don't know what's happening in the world i was on a virgin atlantic flight
14:38
from london to new york and al-qaeda had put liquid bombs on it and luckily it got
14:45
got just in time i'm calling to let you know that i have arrived safely and i'm alive so i said i'm
14:54
sorry. Thank God. You know, I had no idea. Crash again within a few hours, about six or seven in
15:02
the morning, I get a call from James. James was going to be our team member number one in the US
15:08
in anticipation of landing this Fortune 20 client. He said, you know, I'm calling you from the
15:16
emergency room of the hospital. I know we were going to meet for breakfast at nine and finalize
15:22
my onboarding, but I'm sorry to tell you that, you know, I've been detected with a tumor
15:28
Thankfully, it is benign, so I'm not going to die, but there's no way I can
15:34
at this point, you know, join this exciting new venture. And so now I'm wide awake. My jet lag is gone, and I'm wondering what else could possibly happen
15:47
And sure enough, around 10 o'clock in the morning, I get a call from Rob, who was the CEO of a small company that we were going to acquire to jumpstart the U.S. operation
16:01
Everything was set. The legal documents were drawn up. And we pretty much just had to sign
16:07
And, you know, he explained to me that at the 11th hour, his investors were pushing for, you know, more money
16:17
And it was already too rich a deal. And so at the 11th hour that transaction that was really going to launch the U operation fell through So I be honest with you you know I was thinking you know did I really make the right decision
16:36
to take the plunge in entrepreneurship where I could be in a cushy job on Wall Street or in
16:43
consulting doing really well like many of my peers. But you know, the saving grace was
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a scene from the movie Rocky Balboa they were playing on the flight over and you know for those
16:59
of you that are Rocky fans you know there was a heated argument between Rocky and his son in a bar
17:07
and Rocky says you know the world is a mean and nasty place and it's gonna kick you down and it's
17:13
going to keep you there if you let it. But it's not about how hard you can hit. It's about how
17:19
hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward
17:27
That's how winning's done. So with that motivation, I called a team meeting
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which was really four of my colleagues around a conference speaker phone. And I said, look
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I have to share an update with you. In the last 24 hours, our first Fortune 20 client has died
17:52
My brother was almost bombed by Al-Qaeda. Our first U.S. colleague is in the emergency room
18:00
of the hospital and cannot join. And the first acquisition that was going to jumpstart the
18:05
global operation has fallen through at the 11th hour. But we're not going to give up
18:11
we're going to stay true to our vision of building a leading company in the industry that we can be
18:18
proud of and we're going to march forward now there was pin drop silence on the call
18:24
and i fully anticipated that when they hang up they'll probably dust up their resumes
18:30
and go find a real job but they believed and they stuck and as they say
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you know never never never give up the third most important lesson in life otherwise you know
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the rest would have really happened we wouldn't have a business with operations across U.S
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Europe and Asia Pacific with many of the iconic Fortune 100 clients in financial services
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healthcare, technology, and energy, and numerous awards that it has won over the years
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So with that third story, you know, in closing, let me say that today we're living in historic
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times through this pandemic. We are up to 122 million cases, 2.7 million deaths, record unemployment
19:35
and more than 20 trillion global bailouts so far. The sheer magnitude of the impact
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and the speed with which it has happened has exposed how fragile our organizations
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and nations really are. There is heightened insecurity and uncertainty about many things, but there's clarity on one thing
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The future is digital. Customers are increasingly buying digitally. Employees are working remotely
20:06
Companies are improving their operations with artificial intelligence. And we have leapfrogged many years in digital adoption
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McKinsey study shows that 75% customers using digital channels for the first time will continue to do so in the future
20:25
As you know, many of the big Silicon Valley companies like Facebook have announced that they're shifting 50% employees to working remotely in 5 to 10 years
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Tata Consultancy Services with 450,000 employees is shifting 75% within 5 years
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So U.S. productivity alone in quarter two of last year rose 10.6%, followed by a 4.6% increase in Q3, which is the largest six-month improvement since 1965
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So we are not going back to normal, but we are moving forward to a new normal
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and as the leading technologists of our time, this is really your opportunity
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to rise to the occasion and seize the moment, to reimagine and rebuild a brave new digital world
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Not only a world with the resilience to absorb future shocks, but a world with a more inclusive society and economy
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So I'll leave you with, you know, if you dream big if you work hard and if you don't give up sky is really the limit
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thank you very much it was a pleasure to be with you today
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