Metabolizing AI: Shulagna Dasgupta on on unlocking human potential

You have been human-centered throughout all of your career.

So what do you think it is about you? Because there's not a lot of technologists and folks who have that mindset first.

Is it something about your background or is it something about who you are as a person that really makes you lean into that?

I'll answer it in two ways.

One is just a straight up what I went to school for.

I went to school for personnel management.

And, you know, at the time, you're just moving with the horde and you don't really know what it means.

And you just go take a course and then boom, on the other side, you're a people practitioner.

I would say it's that.

But I think the more philosophical take on it is I, Tami, have had to change personas constantly.

very frequently in life.

It was maybe because I had to go to different schools and fit into very different cultures and learn new languages and make friends.

Or it could be, if I look at my very long career at Accenture, I kind of gave you a broad brush, but I've had every kind of job, right? I've been a practitioner, I've been a practice leader, I've been a P&L runner, I've been a client account lead.

So I've had to change personas a lot.

I've lived and worked in many different places.

And I think that at the heart of all of that is I've had to learn to change as sometimes at the more superficial layers of what I need to do to fit in.

And sometimes at a more profound level where I have to learn something completely new or change a deep-rooted behavior that's not serving me anymore.

And I think that having had to do that so many times in my life, in my career, it's taught me the power of human potential.

That every turn, every fold, every trip down something completely new, I've come out on the other side feeling like that was for the better.

when I now see people that I work with as CXOs or their job as leaders, I always have that lens of how might you unleash your greatest potential and of what service can you be to your people so they come through the same thing.

And I think at the heart of any and all of this is technology is changing at a very, very fast pace.

But if humans just know how to make a few of those tweaks, I mean, there is, unlimited potential to unlock.

I love that.

And so when you're thinking about large organizations and the changes that they're going through, I mean, I continuously see that adoption continues to be the biggest challenge that organizations are facing.

I mean, it's ROI, but they're not getting the ROI potentially because it's not being used in the way that they expected or wanted or needed.

You have been human-centered throughout all of your career.

So what do you think it is about you? Because there's not a lot of technologists and folks who have that mindset first.

Is it something about your background or is it something about who you are as a person that really makes you lean into that?

I'll answer it in two ways.

One is just a straight up what I went to school for.

I went to school for personnel management.

And, you know, at the time, you're just moving with the horde and you don't really know what it means.

And you just go take a course and then boom, on the other side, you're a people practitioner.

I would say it's that.

But I think the more philosophical take on it is I, Tami, have had to change personas constantly.

very frequently in life.

It was maybe because I had to go to different schools and fit into very different cultures and learn new languages and make friends.

Or it could be, if I look at my very long career at Accenture, I kind of gave you a broad brush, but I've had every kind of job, right? I've been a practitioner, I've been a practice leader, I've been a P&L runner, I've been a client account lead.

So I've had to change personas a lot.

I've lived and worked in many different places.

And I think that at the heart of all of that is I've had to learn to change as sometimes at the more superficial layers of what I need to do to fit in.

And sometimes at a more profound level where I have to learn something completely new or change a deep-rooted behavior that's not serving me anymore.

And I think that having had to do that so many times in my life, in my career, it's taught me the power of human potential.

That every turn, every fold, every trip down something completely new, I've come out on the other side feeling like that was for the better.

when I now see people that I work with as CXOs or their job as leaders, I always have that lens of how might you unleash your greatest potential and of what service can you be to your people so they come through the same thing.

And I think at the heart of any and all of this is technology is changing at a very, very fast pace.

But if humans just know how to make a few of those tweaks, I mean, there is, unlimited potential to unlock.

I love that.

And so when you're thinking about large organizations and the changes that they're going through, I mean, I continuously see that adoption continues to be the biggest challenge that organizations are facing.

I mean, it's ROI, but they're not getting the ROI potentially because it's not being used in the way that they expected or wanted or needed.