Kris Safarova  00:45

Welcome to the Strategy Skills podcast. I’m your host, Kris Safarova, and our podcast sponsor today is StrategyTraining.com. If you want to strengthen your strategy skills, you can get the Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies. It’s a free download, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/overallapproach. And you can also get McKinsey and BCG-winning resume, which is a resume that got offers from both of those firms. And you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/resumePDF. And the last gift from me today is a co-authored book with some of our clients. It is on leadership. It’s called Nine Leaders in Action, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/gift and firmsconsulting is F-I-R-M-S consulting. And today we have with us Faisal Hoque, who is an award-winning entrepreneur and innovator and the number one Wall Street Journal, best selling author, and he is a founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter and other companies, and he’s a three-time winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50. And also serves as a transformation and innovation partner for CACI, an 8 billion company focused on US national security. Faisal, welcome.

Faisal Hoque  01:59

Thanks for having me.

Kris Safarova  02:01

So you built your first commercial software at 20 while still in college, and most people struggle just to keep up with coursework at that age. What do you think drove you to start building so early?

Faisal Hoque  02:14

You know, I got lucky, because, you know what happened? I started working for a local computer consulting firm in Duluth, Minnesota, and I got exposed to, you know, during that time internet was not even out, we’re dealing with the notion of, you know, the local area network and desktop and whatnot. So I, you know, I got exposed to this whole, whole software development process during that time, and came up with a software that takes the data from Vax and mainframe and puts it on your desktop. But you know, I mean, even the Windows was not out, so we’re talking many years ago. So it’s a part of luck and being at the same at the right place, and interest, combination of all that kind of, you know, drove me to to build a piece of software that’s middleware software.

Kris Safarova  03:09

How did that first venture that you built shaped your understanding of technology’s role in business and strategy?

Faisal Hoque  03:16

Um, so, you know, I have always been interest, uh, interested in business model and how business are built utilizing technology. So every venture I have focused on is kind of in that enterprise side, you know, the how do you really scale enterprises utilizing technology? So, you know, the first software company that I built was focused on middleware software that takes data from Legacy system and brings on a desktop arena. And it was a kind of a messaging software, and that landed me a customer like Chase, and then I showed that to GE because it was on the TCPIP protocol right around before the browser was coming, becoming a possibility. And that ended up getting me a role in a new GE venture by embedding my software in the GE venture, which was basically the first these business to business e commerce. So if I’ve been always driven by business strategy where technology is an enabler, not a technology, technology is the building technology platform for building application. If that makes any sense.

Kris Safarova  04:38

Looking back, what do you think we’re the biggest mental shift that allowed you to progress and grow as a business leader and a navigator?

Faisal Hoque  04:47

Gosh, you know, I mean, so when you know when you’re in your 20s and when you are in your 30s or 40s, and when you’re in in 50s. Now I’m in my 50s, right? So your, your your Outlook. Changes because you get exposed more, exposed to more what really matters, and how do you actually try to, at least in my case, how do you try to provide an impact to the organization, but larger as a society. So my outlook changed as time went by, from pure technologies to a, you know, a business strategies, business builder with technology to now, how do you actually create impact by bringing business side and the technology side together? And you know, that’s also ended up it allowed me now also get involved with our US government. I do quite a bit of work at the US government on innovation and transformation in their complex entities. So it has shifted from technology to build business enabled by technology, then to business Plus technology to create impact. So that’s been kind of my progression.

Kris Safarova  06:10

I know that you blend Eastern philosophy with what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in the West. How does that dual perspective shape the way you approach things differently from many other people?

Faisal Hoque  06:23

Look. I mean, you know, I grew up in Bangladesh, you know, where I was exposed to, you know, Bengali literature and Sanskrit literature, and all of those literature are very much driven by spiritual and the philosophical bent from Eastern philosophical Tenet, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, as well as all various type of philosophical tenet. But I never really looked at that as a foundation of anything till maybe 1015, years ago, because I started to do these trips in Japan, and got exposed to Zen Buddhism in Japan, and as time went by, it actually helped me to ground myself, to be much more self aware and self conscious in terms of how I look at things From a middle ground, not from one side to another side, and balance, you know, innovation, with, with, with, let’s say profit motive as an example, or growth motive, but also in the context of, you know, now that we’re talking a lot about AI is the innovation versus how do you Put guardrail? But so this middle ground and looking at a balanced approach and questioning, you know, the what’s the right path and purpose has been kind of my driving force for last 1015, years. But prior to that, I was not so confident about really talking about it or exposing it, because in the business community, during those that it kind of sounded little asset to it. You know, it’s become a common place now to talk about mindfulness and philosophical bent and whatnot. So but as time went by, as I’ve gained more confidence, I’ve kind of now freely talk about, you know, the Eastern philosophical stuff. And it does help me to become, it has helped me to become who I am.

Kris Safarova  08:30

What wisdom do you want our listeners to know from Eastern philosophy?

Faisal Hoque  08:34

Um, look, a couple of things. I would one thing, I would say that, you know, we need to, if you want, if you are somebody who is trying to create a greater impact, however you want to define impact as, hopefully, that that impact is towards moving the humanity forward, and not just technology or business, then you have to be very devoted to humanity and detach from the noise of all the distraction that comes from technology and other kind of things that you can easily get very addicted to, aka social media now heavy uses of AI, I mean, you kind of have to have be very disciplined where to use it and where not to use it, and that’s where the detachment comes in. So one critical thing is that you have to be devoted to your purpose, but also detach from the noise that kind of distract you from that purpose, and hopefully that purpose is towards creating a greater impact to humanity.

Kris Safarova  09:41

And do you have certain spiritual practices that you do on a daily, weekly basis?

Faisal Hoque  09:47

Yeah, yes. I mean, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t, you know, I don’t follow a particular dogma per se, you know, but I am very grounded in, in, in Buddhist philosophy and and Eastern philosophy. I. To try to meditate, you know, as often as I can, and, and, you know, that’s kind of my my grounding, right? So the meditation is kind of, it’s very, very self created meditation. So it doesn’t follow a particular, you know, path of meditation. It’s really to ground it and kind of try to live in gratitude, because I’ve been very fortunate in my journey, you know, since, since I left home at the age of 19. So I I try to live in gratitude and try to kind of, you know, do a meditative session first thing in the morning, before I get my day started.

Kris Safarova  10:41

Can you talk us through how you do meditation? For those of our listeners who haven’t yet started this practice.

Faisal Hoque  10:48

So let’s, let’s, let’s just say that meditation doesn’t have to be that you sit in and, you know the classical way empty your mind and be at the current, you know, be at the present moment. That’s not the only form of meditation. If you’re a runner, when you run and you’re not thinking about anything and just about your run, that is a form of meditation. If you’re a musician, you’re making music. That’s a form of meditation. If you’re a cook, like I love to cook. So when I cook, I kind of get lost in that phase of, you know, whatever that I’m cooking. When you write, as a writer, you know, when I write, I get lost in writing. So any of this fact, any of this discipline, approach of doing things that focuses you at the current moment without any distraction, is a form of meditation. So you don’t have to be classically trained Buddhist monk to sit there and do meditation, although you can. I mean, there is all sorts of guided meditation that you can find on anything from YouTube to app all over the place, but any of those forms of, you know, concentration could be a meditation.

Kris Safarova  12:03

And which form do you find most helpful for yourself?

Faisal Hoque  12:07

I think it’s, it’s, I find it in three different places. One is how many four, you know, when I cook, I find it very meditative. On the morning, when I try to do meditation outside, you know, as a like a classic meditation, where you you empty your mind and be focused and try to think about nothing. That’s I find it very helpful. I find meditative meditation, meditative path when I write, because I get lost in my writing. And then I also find meditation when I listen to music, you know, a form of meditation when I listen to music. And the trick is just be at the moment and not think about anything else. That’s the essence of meditation and being mindful, right? So, so it can be whatever works for you. You know, I don’t really Bull. I don’t think that it has to be one form or another.

Kris Safarova  13:01

How do you think your perspective on life changed after you started going to Japan and getting introduced to Zen Buddhism?

Faisal Hoque  13:07

I think, you know, it changed because of the fact that I started to think. It started to it made me caution what’s really important. You know, up until that moment, I was very much focused on, you know, like a classic entrepreneur, build company, grow it, scale, it maybe exit, you know, that was kind of my mode. And, and I, you know, I went in. I was in my, you know, late, late 20s, early 30s, you know, eight, eight, you know, you eight. So that was kind of like a moral operation. It’s like, if I’m not doing stuff constantly, I’m not growing and scaling my revenue and building new product, I kind of felt that that’s, you’re kind of falling behind, or whatever, when I started looking at, you know, when I started getting into more, you know, guide it into this, this kind of, this spiritual path, or whatever you want to call it, it gave it a perspective. Is it scale, or is it impact? What’s important to me? You know, impact became more interesting than the scale, right? So, so I am in a very fortunate place now where I don’t, you know, I can basically do whatever I want to do. So I do interesting thing, like even this, my, you know, my next book, all my book proceed, goes to cancer research, because I don’t write book for profit. So, but that’s, that’s a unique choice. That’s a very fortunate choice, because most author writes because they gotta make a living. I don’t need to make a living from writing. So perspective change, you know, and the things that motivates me has completely changed, and it’s very impact driven than anything else.

Kris Safarova  14:53

And did it change also the way you look at the purpose? I guess we already touched on it, but maybe we could go a little bit deeper. In terms of your purpose here, and how should you use your time here beyond what we know.

Faisal Hoque  15:06

Absolutely, you know, and you know, and there’s, there’s another personal story I will share with you that also had a significant impact, in the sense that my son, who is now 22 he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at the age of 18, right around COVID, right? So that gave me a whole new purpose about, what can I do, just beyond taking care of him, because people of his age doesn’t get, you know, that kind of disease. Usually it’s, it’s get, you know, they get impacted. People get in their 50s or 60s, get impacted with that kind of, that kind of disease. So my whole focus for last four or five years, you know, after his diagnosis, has been parallelly bringing awareness to those kind of incurable disease and look at technology like AI and other things, because I’m, at the end of the day, still a technologist now how it can help elevating or transcending humanity to the next level to have a better quality of life, better quality of treatment, the cost savings for treatment and that sort of a thing. So every phase of my life as because of the path I have taken or the adversity that’s been thrown at me, kind of changed who I am, and I’m so grateful and thankful I don’t I’m not just saying this. I truly mean this because of those, the obstacle and the adversities that I have faced, because it made me a better person, and it gave me a better outlook. And very little few things, though, kind of like totally rattles me, because, you know, you shared with the fact that you you had been infected by your I mean, you have been affected by the fire. I mean, you know, just think about what’s going on with other people, and it gives a whole different perspective, why you are here, and what you’re trying to do as very little. Most of the things we do actually really at the bigger context. It’s not that meaningful. I mean, we are so small in the context of entire universe, right? So, so it’s a different, very different perspective.

Kris Safarova  17:15

I’m so sorry to hear about your son. How is he feeling now?

Faisal Hoque  17:20

It’s good. He’s gone back to school. He’s an inspirational kid, because he plows through it and he’s doing fine. We are very fortunate to have the, you know, the best medical team you could possibly have, because we live in East Coast, so we have Yale, the medical team at Yale to be thankful for. And Dana Farber, which is in Boston, which is also, you know, the there the consulting medical team that helps my son. So, you know, we are we as a family, very fortunate that we have access to those things and and he’s doing fine. Thank you.

Kris Safarova  17:59

I’m so glad to hear that did that experience, and also your exposure to Eastern philosophy, did it change the way you look at that, the way you look at our entire kind of experience as humans, that we are getting older, and then at certain period, people often get midlife crisis and they feel time is running out. What is your perspective on that?

Faisal Hoque  18:21

I mean, I don’t think I could have survived in many ways. I feel like I have been, you know, that my philosophical and spiritual journey kind of prepared me for that. This may sound odd. It’s like, you know, like that famous Steve Job code that you can’t connect the dot looking forward, you can only connect the dot looking backward. It’s kind of like that. So when I look back, it kind of gave me that grounding to be able to deal with this and you know, and you know, another thing I talk about and try to practice is empathy, you know, because when you know, when you are empathetical to other people and other people suffering. It gives you a strength that that you would not find if you didn’t practice that. And it takes, it takes, actually effort to be constantly be empathetical to other people, because more all of us are, you know, I mean, human beings are very, very, you know, individualistic species, and we, we fight for our own personal survival. So, you know, it requires an effort to be, to be empathetic, right? So, so that suddenly grounded me and helped me to kind of prepare for that. And the other thing is that, that you know is that you know, you, you, you, you kind of realize that, that you know that there’s a there’s a joy, you know, in in suffering, and that actually very Eastern philosophical, philosophical thought process, because. US, there is no life without suffering, but there is a joy and a positive element from suffering. It allows you to be more conscious of what’s going on, but it also allows you to be more creative and more expressive that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. So I look at my recent writing, and as an example, it always goes back to that even talking about things like AI, it constantly pushed me back to those kind of things.

Kris Safarova  20:32

Were there particular things that you understood about life that gave you a strength during that very difficult time?

Faisal Hoque  20:40

Yes, it is the fact that you know that how insignificant and how much not in control, as much as we want to be in control we are, and how you kind of have to surrender. And if I can use that word to the universe and do your best and not focus on the outcome. Just go through the journey and try to find whatever joy you can find you know during that process, so that, by the way, applies when you’re an entrepreneur trying to build something, or whether you’re a parent trying to take care of your child, or whether you’re a son or a daughter trying to take take care of your aging parents. You know, it’s kind of all of our friends, or whatever the kids may be. It kind of gives you that that perspective. So, so I think, you know, I’m glad that that I learned that lesson early on versus later on, because it kind of prepared me for this.

Kris Safarova  21:40

You mentioned that there’s joy in suffering. For someone who is suffering right now, what do they need to know?

Faisal Hoque  21:48

Nothing is forever. The success is not forever. Failure is not forever. Loss is not forever. Again is not forever. Happiness is not forever. Sadness is not forever, right? So once you start thinking about that, it’s just only change is the change is the only thing that’s forever, right? So once you kind of accept it, adapt it, and try to make the best out of it, then it kind of becomes more tolerable, you know. And it’s not easy by any means, because, depending on your situation, like, you know, a loss of your home, a sick child, war, whatever the case may be, you know, conflict zone, you know, whatever the case may be, we’re all dealing with something, you know, mental illness, physical illness, but once you kind of like accept the fact that the change is the only normal that makes easier.

Kris Safarova  22:48

And from that point, what should they do next?

Faisal Hoque  22:53

These are very deep questions, I think you you do. You push yourself to make best out of every situation, and you think about others, and that gives you strength, whatever little way you can. It’s not like you have to be a hero and save the planet whatever little way you can, you know, contribute, you know, I mean, like for in my case, I mean, I can’t cure cancer. I can’t. I can’t. I don’t have that kind of resource where I can donate billions of dollars for for cancer research, but in my small way, you know, whatever contribution I’m making, it is giving me a strength, right, for to take care of my son, but also maybe contribute to others, right? So, so I kind of look at it that if you kind of push yourself to do the best, and not just for yourself, but also for others, it makes the journey easier and makes the journey more meaningful for sure.

Kris Safarova  23:51

Knowing what you know, how do you think we should be thinking differently about AI?

Faisal Hoque  23:57

So you know, we have seen lot of technological revolution, meaning in human history, right from, I mean industrial age to, you know, the information age. And now, now we’re entering a new era with AI. But the critical thing with AI is that, unlike any other technology, it couldn’t be used for very destructive outcome, right? So, whether that’s human using AI against other human being, in terms of manipulation, misinformation, deep fake, you name it, there’s million ways to use it in a very bad way. There’s also what could happen, you know, when AI takes over, meaning lots of jobless people, you know, and all kind of prediction that that could actually push humanity to extinction, right as we know humanity today. And. Because then we’re also gradually outsourcing our freedom to to AI, right? So, so in that context, I think that this notion of balance, just because we can, should we, you know, and just because, just because it’s, you know, innovation can be limitless. Should we be? You know, not put any guardrail that balance of divorce, devotion and detachment is very critical more than ever, because collective it will. You know, humanity will be what it will be with AI, based on what individually, what we do as individual, what organization does and then what governments do, right? So three, these three elements will dictate the future of humanity in next I don’t know. 3, 5, 10, 15, 30 years time, right?

Kris Safarova  25:54

I know it’s very hard to predict the future, but what do you think will likely happen, 5, 10, 15 years from now?

Faisal Hoque  25:59

Well, I mean, I think we’re going to see a if we go to that current path. I think within next five years, we’re going to see major shakeup in the society, in the sense that many people are not going to have the same kind of jobs. Fewer people are going to have jobs. We’re going to get increasingly, you know, displaced with with these kind of assisted technology, where we’re outsourcing our critical thinking process. We’re going to have more disparity in terms of wealth and in terms of people who are very savvy utilizing this technology to be more creative, people who are not so savvy are going to get left behind. So those are my fear, right? But also, you know, if you look at the positive side, you know there’ll be more discovery in medicine, more better quality of life, like, for example, you know, last year I lost my mother, I often think, and he she had dementia, and she was bilingual, and, you know, and so tail end of her life, she would having conversation and will do a switch in Bengali, but her audience doesn’t understand Bengali, so I was thinking that if I had a AI assistant right next to her, it could immediately translate, and it would make the interaction better. So there are many of these positive things that will happen with AI as well. Right? There’ll be more geopolitical unrest because of technology, because we can be more manipulative, and we can algorithmically, kind of, you know, manipulate what one type of people think versus another type of people thing, and just feed them just that kind of information, and lose that objectivity and be more and more biased, right? So, so there’s a both good side and bad side. I think within next five years, we will either reinvent ourselves, or we will completely be, you know, in the Marcy of this, this technology. And actually, you know Jeffrey Hinton, you know the Nobel Peace winner, who is kind of so called Father of AI. I mean, he thinks that in next 30 years, humanity will be extinct if we don’t establish the guardrail that we should be establishing.

Kris Safarova  28:32

And in terms of discoveries in medicine, what do you think most likely will happen as it relates to AI? Because the potential is, of course, huge, and it could be really good for us. But what do you think will actually happen?

Faisal Hoque  28:44

It’s hard to tell, but I’m hopeful that we will have lot of positive discoveries, and we will have early detection and cheaper cheaper drugs and medicine better, cheaper healthcare because of the optimization and whatnot. So I’m, I’m hopeful selfishly, because I have a, you know, I have a family member who needs those kind of, those kind of, you know, advancement. So I’m hopeful in that, in that context. But who knows, you know, none of I mean, things are dramatically changing every other day, you know? I mean, we are having, you know, and we are already, like, pushing forwards with quantum computing chips. That could be, that could be doing competition million times faster than we did six months ago, right? So, so it’s hard to predict.

Kris Safarova  29:39

What do you think leaders should think about right now in terms of skills development. Where should they focus that? Then the little time they have, because everyone is working so hard, whatever little time they have, how should they dedicate it in terms of skills development?

Faisal Hoque  29:54

I think that if you want to maintain humanity, and if you want to can send. Humanity for Humanity’s sake, then you’ll have to develop skill set that are very humanistic, not just stem technology, you know, stem skill, but also, you know, critical thinking. Utilize it, looking at technology like AI as a partner, not as outsourcer, looking at things that are focused around soft skills, so called soft skill, like empathy and mindfulness, because that actually helps you to decide where your focus should be on what your purpose should be in order to elevate humanity to the next level. So I think those and critical thinking is going to be a survival skill, because if you don’t question, and if you don’t learn and you just like very, you know, freely, you know, outsourcing yourself, then you’re, you’re going to become obsolete, right? So, so those skill sets are going to be critical.

Kris Safarova  30:58

And can you share with us how you personally use AI right now?

Faisal Hoque  31:02

Yeah, I mean, I actually, you are beginning to use it extensively, because in the context of writing this new book, you know, we kind of had to do a lot of, do a lot of experimentation, and you have to look at the AI from several contexts, right? There’s the consumer AI, meaning which is all the buzz is around generative AI, where any individual can go and use it for research, for, I don’t know, crafting your email, writing your article, whatever the case may be. But there is enterprise AI where you are using it for workflow, automation, predictive models, you know, warehousing, customer service, you name it, you’re using it. So I can, because most of my work is on the enterprise side. That’s, you know, I spend quite a bit of time in there, on the consumer side, you know, just think, simple thing as a writer and a researcher, I use, you know, the lot of large language model where I have loaded up my own work from last 10 years, and I can build on that knowledge and find newer relevant research utilizing, you know, generative AI and large language models Like the cloud or the chat GPT and other other technology on the enterprise side, obviously, I’m experimenting with all these generative, not generative AI, but the predictive models and and agenty Ai, to see where enterprises can use it responsibility to Do actually how the resource will they have to reach to the next level of creativity and output.

Kris Safarova  32:45

And of course, a danger we have with using AI is our own abilities can deteriorate over time. What do you do? And what would you recommend to do for people to continue strengthening their abilities, to think so?

Faisal Hoque  33:00

I think the best users of AI is the best subject matter expert in a particular subject, right? Because, you know, I mean, we’re never gonna be smart as AI. It’s already wrong because, you know, think about this way. You’re one person, and you may know your passion may be physics and cooking or music and writing and whatever. Let’s say you have 10 different topics that you’re very interested in, and you’ll know a lot about it now, compared to a large language model, which has like, 1000s and 1000s of people’s knowledge packed in one place, so it’s always going to know more. But let’s say you are a physicist, or you’re a doctor, or you’re a writer, and you want to do specific things, and you are a subject matter expert, you can actually do better with AI engine, because you are asking the right question. But you can also validate and start a as a as a partner, a intellectual partner, that is allowing you to take your critical thinking process to the next level. So only way you’re gonna stay relevant is if you increase your knowledge base at a deeper level, and you’re you know you’re practicing your cognitive and your critical thinking with AI partner, because it just makes the thinking process and product output process faster, but it also, you know, it’s also challenging you, right? So it all depends how you use it versus I needed to write a paper, so let chatgpt write a paper, and I got the paper, and then just submit the paper. I mean that just you just completely outsourced your creativity to a third party. But it was like, like, you know, having somebody else do your homework kind of a model.

Kris Safarova  34:54

Very true. What do you do to keep your mind sharp? Do you have any practices? Anything? That you do, that you demand of yourself to do.

Faisal Hoque  35:02

So I am a voracious reader and a thinker, so I constantly question what you know on a wide variety of topic, and I try to learn things that I don’t understand or don’t know, right? So, so I find that very helpful to increase my knowledge base, and I like to experiment on things that I have never encountered before, right? So I would read a, you know, I’ll read something that I have never read before. I will use technology to learn something that I haven’t learned before or thought about before. You know, you know, we talked a quite deal about, a great deal about Eastern philosophy. A couple of things I did in the context of writing the new book is I recruited couple of people who are expert in Western philosophy, right, so that I could learn from them and kind of compare and contrast and infuse that knowledge in transcend. So I tap into things that that’s not familiar to me.

Kris Safarova  36:08

And how do you select what to read, what to learn, what to explore?

Faisal Hoque  36:13

I think it’s the interest base, you know, and then whatever is happening in that particular time in my life. So if it’s a business, if it’s for business purpose, you know, if I’m solving, trying to solve, like, you know, when I switched my industry or added industry many times over, like when I got involved with the government. I knew nothing about how the US government works and how complicated it is, and their buzzword and their lingo. I spent a year or so learning about those before I could actually apply my expertise in the context of, you know that because I wanted to write a book on AI. But with philosophy is the band. Even though I know a lot about Eastern philosophy, I didn’t know about Western philosophy, so I kind of, you know, dove into that, you know, I love to cook, so I’m constantly experimenting with different kind of, you know, cooking styles and cuisine from different parts of the world. So whatever I you know, whatever is happening and you know. And then I learned a lot about, you know, cancer research process and drug discovery process, and I’ve started to write about those things, because in the context of, you know, taking care of my son, I want to know what’s going on and what’s the latest and greatest to spend sometimes, you know, talking to the oncologist or going to the seminar. So these are all kind of like part of daily learning process, depending on whatever is going on, both professionally and personally.

Kris Safarova  37:41

If you’re comfortable sharing, how much time in the week, in a day, do you dedicate to learning?

Faisal Hoque  37:47

You know I would say that 40% of my time spends in learning, and then I would say 40% is actually working to make a living, and the other time is allocated to taking care of my family. You know that that’s kind of how I look at it.

Kris Safarova  38:07

So you recently wrote the book. What do you want people to take away from that book? What are the key things you want people to take away?

Faisal Hoque  38:14

So I give, I will give you from a four quadrant point of view, because the book is a part philosophy, part business, part humanity and part technology. So I would say, you know, there’s nothing more important than the future of humanity. You know that that’s because it’s a, it’s a question of, what, what, what will our humanity be, you know, for good or bad. So that’s, that’s one element of it, and we asked lot of question, not just tell what it’s going to be, because no anybody tells you what’s going to be. I mean, just don’t know, right? So you have to ask the question. So we live with lot of questions. Second piece of it is that, you know, the business models are going to be dramatically changed in terms of, you’re going to look at AI as a as a resource, just like human resource. So the leadership models and and and the business models are going to be significantly changed. Then you will also have to think about not just how to explore opportunities, but also how to how do you govern, right? So that’s the second element from a business point of view. Technology point of view is that technology is, you know, dramatically changing. So you have to look at technology as a partner, not just as outsourcer or a competition, because it can be your partner to do good. And the last point about about, you know this, this philosophy, is that philosophy actually allows us to be questioning about who we are, what ethic means. How do we? How do we? How do we discover who you know, where do we go next? So So we kind of the book is blend of all those four things.

Kris Safarova  39:57

If someone could take away only one thing from the book, what would you want it to be?

Faisal Hoque  40:03

Be devoted to your purpose, and define what your purpose is, whatever it is you know, and hopefully it is to make an impact to humanity, and detach yourself from the noise, because there is a lot of noise, and that noise meaning misinformation, to addiction, to technology, to whatever the case may be.

Kris Safarova  40:29

Very powerful. And also a lot of this noise is very negative.

Faisal Hoque  40:33

Absolutely, it’s easy to get lost in noise.

Kris Safarova  40:37

I wanted to ask you my favorite question over the last few years, what were two, three aha moments, realizations that really changed the way you look at life or the way you look at business.

Faisal Hoque  40:48

So, you know, I think on the positive side, you know, when I got involved with with our government, you know, and I kind of didn’t know how many people do what they do, for the love of the country, you know. And it’s really remarkable, because many of us who have never worked in the government, or don’t know the government you know, kind of feel that, you know, there are a bunch of people who are just there and they don’t do anything which is not right, which is not true. There are million, 1000s and millions of people who are in uniform and who are not uniform to love their country and doing selfishly daily things that kind of keeps us together the way we are. So that’s the positive thing that I learned in last 567, years, negative, but also positive is that, you know, when you really look for help and you are in dire state, you may think that there are too many people who will help you, but people do show up, you know, and they do. People are very helpful, and they do want to help. So I try to believe on the positive side of humanity, because I’ve seen that in the course of my son’s, you know, case, and I’ve also seen that when my mother ended up in nursing home, because, you know, I saw people took care of her and total strangers and whatnot. So those are kind of like the aha moment. And if I go back 1015, years, you know, it’s like when I went to took that sabbatical, or not sabbatical, but the travels in Japan and spent some time that is kind of quiet times that, you know, produce my one of my books called everything connects, which I explore very significantly in terms of, you know, how do you find yourself? And then out of that, finding yourself allows you to be more impactful or innovative, right? So Diane had been very fortunate to have these several aha moments, if you want to call it aha moments.

Kris Safarova  42:55

And the last question, quick one for today is, do you have any so to say success habits, beyond meditation that we already discussed, that allow you to really stay grounded, centered, healthy.

Faisal Hoque  43:08

You know, I focus less and less on outcome. I focus more and more journey, but that requires the discipline, because, you know, Journey is if you want to stay focused and dedicated to your journey, discipline comes from doing mundane things that you don’t want to do. So you talk about writing, you know, the this is my 10th book. I try to push myself to write something every week that requires effort, right? Because you don’t feel motivated to write all the time, or, let’s say you want to, you want to work with your customer. There are days when you don’t want to work with your customer, but you feel you know, or when you work with your team, and the team is not quite producing what they should be producing, so you have to, kind of like, be very disciplined. And that takes, that takes effort.

Kris Safarova  44:02

That is very true. Thank you so much for being so honest and open and generous. Where can our listeners learn more about you? Buy your book? Anything you want to share?

Faisal Hoque  44:13

You can find me on the web, obviously faisalhoque.com is my website, and all the things I do, both from a venture side and my writing is on there. You can find me on LinkedIn. I put I share, you know, little nugget of learning every day on LinkedIn, you don’t have to buy anything, you know, just a nugget of sharing. The books are available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, as I mentioned it all my book proceed, goes to cancer research. So if you buy it, you may learn something, but you also be, you know, be doing a favor to some somebody, or hopefully to a greater cause. So I encourage that you go and check them out.

Kris Safarova  44:56

So thank you so much. And thank you for being the kind of person you are. Our guest today, again, has been Faisal Hoque. Check out his book. It’s called Transcend. And our podcast sponsor today is StrategyTraining.com. If you want to strengthen your strategy skills, you can get the Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies. It’s a download we prepared for you that can be very good introduction to the kind of work we do, and can be very helpful for you. And also, another free gift you have from us is McKinsey and BCG-winning resume example, which is a resume that got offers from both of those firms. So if you’re currently updating your resume, or thinking about updating your resume, a good idea. You can get it at firmsconsulting.com/resumePDF. And the last gift from me is a copy of a book we co-authored with some of our amazing clients. You can get it at firmsconsulting.com/gift. Thank you everyone for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to connect with you all next time.