Despite the best of intentions, more often than not — and for the obvious reasons — business leaders have their heads down developing strategy, product, sales and other facets that keep their companies alive and prosperous.
But as companies begin to grow, there are so many other outside forces leaders must concede to: domestic and global economic outlooks, policies and regulations that focus on issues from trade to data governance to immigration reform, cross border security, corporate tax structures and more. We are at a crossroads, and it is now more than ever that the tech leaders must come together and problem solve as only they can. We are facing a very different landscape that can affect how businesses invest and operate.
Even leading up to this past election before there was a clear winner, issues such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), immigration reform, intellectual property reform and data privacy agreements were being acted upon in Congress. Given the President-elect’s feelings about many of these issues, the tech community could find itself rethinking and retooling how it has been functioning over the past eight years.
Boston has some of the brightest minds in the world. In fact, the notion of Mass. Technology and Leadership Council‘s TRANSFORM was born from the realization that these brilliant people are sharing their insights all over the globe — so why not bring them together to talk about how these same issues are impacting them as individuals, employers and tech sector members here in the region?
I often think of myself as extremely fortunate that as part of my job I have an opportunity to speak with and learn from so many of these brilliant minds. Just a few weeks back, I had a call with Joe Fuller from Harvard Business School who spent time talking about what his research has proven with respect to developing talent and a real pipeline for tech and how the automation of job functions has been developing. This seems like things you might read in the paper or hear others talk about, but his perspective was so fresh and different and, to be honest, very scary. His upcoming talk at TRANSFORM regarding what the workforce of 2025 will look like will be a not-to-miss.
I also spoke with Noel Zamot, the former commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Elite Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base (think Top Gun!). He went on to help secure weaponry for the Department of Defense. With his new company, Corvus Analytics, Noel has embarked on a way to secure both commercial and military airplane systems from being compromised.
These are just two of our exciting speakers, and at TRANSFORM on Nov. 18 at the Federal Reserve Boston from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Joe, Noel and 100 other brilliant minds will come together to talk more about the next generation workforce, securing our skies and many other critical issues facing tech today and beyond.