Talent in the Age of AI · 2026-08-20 · 35 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
31 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Pranav Dalal brings 25 years of business process improvement expertise to the AI adoption challenge, arguing that organizations cannot afford to wait for perfect policies or platforms - the competitive disadvantage grows daily. Office Beacon, which operates across the US, India, Philippines, Mexico and South Africa, is implementing AI as a productivity tool similar to how Microsoft Office transformed spreadsheets, not as a replacement for human workers. Dalal positions himself as a Chief AI Officer, investing heavily in strategy and dedicating his days to building AI capability with his technical team. The episode addresses real implementation barriers: data security, technical talent gaps, private versus public model tradeoffs, and the mindset shift required from employees trained in static SOPs. Dalal argues against both reckless "just adopt everything" approaches and paralyzing perfectionism, instead advocating for rapid testing cycles, user feedback loops, and treating AI development like modern agile iteration rather than traditional multi-month software releases. For global teams, he highlights how AI standardizes processes across cultures - enabling consistent HR assessments, training programs, and quality control in South Africa, India, and the Philippines simultaneously. Rather than displacing workers, Office Beacon is growing headcount while reallocating labor toward higher-value functions like sales and marketing enabled by AI efficiencies.
Waiting for perfect platforms, perfect policies, or perfect timing; fear of mistakes; and underestimating implementation complexity around data security, technical talent, model selection (public vs. private), and workforce change management. Dalal argues companies must start iterating with user feedback rather than perfecting upfront.
Position AI as a productivity tool that frees humans for higher-value work like sales, marketing, and strategy. Office Beacon has grown headcount monthly while deploying AI; the organizational makeup shifts but human roles remain critical for oversight, quality assurance, and decision-making.
AI helps standardize business language and processes globally - an HR interview process or training protocol defined in one region can be deployed identically in South Africa, India, or the Philippines, reducing translation gaps and ensuring consistent quality without cultural misalignment.
Both paths have merit. Building proprietary tools requires significant investment in development teams, data security, cloud infrastructure, and integration expertise. Existing platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot are investing in AI and may offer faster, lower-risk deployment for companies without that infrastructure.
Modern AI development enables iteration in days or even overnight - what took weeks or months in traditional software development (specs, developers, project managers, testers) now happens rapidly, allowing users to see feedback implemented immediately and driving excitement and adoption.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode is heavily padded with mutual affirmation, anecdotes, and recycled AI truisms. The few substantive points - AI enabling global process standardization, funneling AI savings into growth headcount rather than cuts, and faster software iteration - are stated briefly and never unpacked with depth or mechanism.
if you're not on this train, you are definitely behind every single day
fortune favors the bold
The framing is almost entirely borrowed - gold rush analogy, industrial revolution comparison, 'move fast and break things', Steve Jobs/Apple references. The 'AI as the new labor arbitrage' point is the one mildly contrarian reframe, but it's not developed beyond a single sentence.
it's the biggest thing since the industrial Revolution
now AI is sort of the new labor arbitrage
Pranav Dalal is a legitimate operator - a founder with 25 years running a global BPO with 5,000 employees who is genuinely deploying AI internally. He is a real practitioner, not a thought-leader circuit guest, but the interview format never extracts the depth his experience could offer.
every day in the morning, early morning, I have a two hour call with my AI team. Every evening, unfortunately this is my schedule right now, another two hour call
we have AI people on our org chart and, uh, uh, positions that are held by AI
Almost no hard data, named client examples, metrics, or dollar figures. The '5,000 employees' headcount and the personal schedule detail are the only concrete numbers. Claims about iteration speed, standardization benefits, and LMS deployment are asserted without evidence or example.
if you have, in our case, 5,000 employees, you just get one idea from everyone every single day
things that would take, you know, weeks or, um, months are now taking, you know, days, if not next day
The host consistently leads witnesses, answers her own questions, and fills airtime with lengthy personal anecdotes (Sprint, her nephew's Carnegie Mellon degree, her 37-year business). There is no pushback, no probing follow-up on vague claims, and no productive disagreement throughout the episode.
Is that a fair statement?
I love that. So people are going to make mistakes, right? And I think if we're so high centered and afraid we're going to make a mistake, we're just never going to jump on the train
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
As AI adoption accelerates across organizations, how can leaders move beyond experimentation and actually integrate AI into the way their people, processes, and businesses operate? In this episode of Talent in the Age of AI , host Wendy Wiseman sits down with Pranav Dalal , CEO and Founder of Office Beacon, to discuss how organizations can use AI to improve quality, productivity, workforce capability, and business growth. Pranav shares why he believes the time to adopt AI is now and explains how leaders need to take an active role in understanding what AI can do for their organizations. He also discusses why scaling AI requires more than simply choosing a platform, with data security, infrastructure, technical expertise, and workforce adoption all playing an important role. The conversation explores the emerging model of AI and human hybrid teams , where AI can take on new roles while employees remain responsible for quality, strategy, navigation, and oversight. Pranav explains how his own organization is training thousands of employees to rethink established processes and identify ways AI can help work get done faster, better, and more effectively.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: This is Talent in the Age of AI, the podcast, helping leaders navigate what AI means for their people, their culture and their future. We talk with the thinkers and practitioners shaping how we work, learn and lead and what it takes to keep talent growing in a world that's constantly changing. We create, curate and connect the insights and the community that helps leaders build AI confidence in themselves and in their teams. Let's dive in. Hello and welcome to the Talent in the Age of AI podcast where we seek to bring you the most current and relevant information on who is using AI in the sphere of talent today. Not technology, not what platform to use, but the real world application of AI to encourage and inspire you to use AI in your organizations and to not be intimidated by any pressure you might have to put it to work. And so I'm so excited to be working today with our guest from Office Beacon. And if I get this right, our guest will correct me if I do not, but with over 25 years perfecting, I'm going to call it Business Process Improvement. Office Beacon combines global talent, enterprise grade infrastructure and hands on oversight to reduce risk while accelerating growth for businesses of all sizes, helping them scale smarter, faster and more securely. And who doesn't need that? And our fabulous guest today is Pranav Dalal. He's the CEO and founder of Office Beacon. He's called the visionary entrepreneur who has successfully scaled companies from small teams to operations with thousands of employees. He's been honored with the Vistage Business Impact Award and is now a member of the Forbes Business Council. And he's the Chairman and CEO of Office Beacon, leading the company which has presence across the United States, India, Philippines, Mexico and South Africa. So hopefully I got some of your bio right, Pranav and I welcome you and I thank you so much for being with us today.
Speaker B: No thanks, Wendy. Glad to be here. And yes, you got it spot on. So thank you for that.
Speaker A: Well, your website's really up to date then. Fantastic.
Speaker B: Yep, it sure is.
Speaker A: So Pranav, 25 years of office, uh, Beacon. You've seen a lot of change in the world of talent development, offices scaling business process improvement. But I'm going to argue that no change as exponentially as First Covid changed everything and now this thing called AI that is just rocking everybody's world. Is that a fair statement?
Speaker B: Definitely a fair statement. I mean it's the biggest thing since the industrial Revolution decades and decades ago. We're seeing incremental and exponential growth and it's actually helping level out the playing field. So, you know, we have talents all around the world, and we deploy AI in many different ways. We'll talk about that today. And what our employees are doing are really, really taking to it and ensuring that they can deliver at even higher qualities.
Speaker A: Well, that's great. So you're obviously not afraid of AI and applications, and your clients are not either. I would tell you that I still talk to companies who are waiting, and I don't know what people are waiting for. Right, Pranav. Because the train has left the station.
Speaker B: The train has definitely left the station a uh, few years ago. A couple years ago. And I would say that what we see out there is if you're not on this train, you are definitely behind every single day. And so when AI was released to the world publicly, I recognized the fact that this was something that I needed to jump on myself. Many of my colleagues and business friends around the world, I spoke to and they thought, well, what is this going to do to your business? Because you're in the business of people and talent, you know, sourcing around the world. And I said, well, I've got to make, you know, our services better, I've got to make the quality better, the productivity better, and if we can do all of those things, we will definitely be highly competitive. So it's definitely something that I encourage your listeners to also jump on for. Sure.
Speaker A: Yeah. And I think so many are waiting for the perfect platform or the right policies. And, you know, and you're consulting with businesses of all sizes. I mean, I know from owning two businesses myself and coming off of one of 37 years, I didn't even want to step back and take time to do my handbook. And it right. I got high centered doing that because especially in the HR world, you feel like there's so much riding on doing it. Right. So, so what would you say to that?
Speaker B: Well, AI and implementing AI across businesses and enterprise, initially, I think there was a mad rush, right? Like over the last year and a half, every business owner employees were just trying to learn about what AI was and how they could apply it and using all the different models out there. We're now at a stage of understanding not only us, but many companies and clients of ours, for example, that it's not as easy as it looks in terms of implementing and especially scaling it. Uh, so scaling it means, you know, how do you deal with data security? How do you deal with security in general? You know, when you use public models versus private ones, how do you technically have the right people that can build the applications, you know, that are needed to that are driven by AI. And then finally, how do you get your workforce to use it properly if you don't have what we call AI plus human hybrid teams, you know, working together, AI could really run amok. I mean, it could just immediately change your business and do the wrong thing, actually. And so we have customers that are really concerned about this. And so there's a lot of thought going out there, a lot of thought being put into how to deploy, how to scale. And that's what I focused on, is helping companies be able to do that.
Speaker A: I want to talk to you about where they start, because it was a little antithesis to what I said. Just start. You're saying? It's not exactly just start. You need some help. But one of the things, I was just talking to a business person the other day who said, well, yeah, we have a whole team investigating AI and how to use it. And I just said, well, why don't you ask AI?
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: Because it won't hesitate to give you an opinion of how to do it. But you're right, the human element, you're the only one who really knows your current state of your business, your clients, you know, the real unspoken stuff that the AI bots aren't going to comb through the world of information and know, Right?
Speaker B: Yes. And, you know, interestingly, when I got very interested early on in AI, in fact, it was my son who was in college at the time, who, who told me about it and said, you know, that, hey, you got to check this out. It was on Instagram. And, uh, like that was, I don't know, two and a half years ago or something.
Speaker C: Wow.
Speaker B: And I started actually learning and I went to courses, AI courses at places like mit. And then I decided, okay, I'm going to do it myself. I'm going to learn how to program for it, I'm going to learn how to develop. And I had some ideas for different AI apps. We started. I started just doing that on my own and then I brought it to my team and they really, you know, grasped it and really took, uh, to it. So my, my recommendation and my thought about businesses is that the leaders of these businesses should be investing their time. They should be doing everything they can to ensure that they are all on board with, you know, learning what AI, uh, capabilities are and how they could, you know, definitely use it and apply it to their businesses.
Speaker A: You are not alone. Several of my guests have said that where they're invited to the party by the C level, but they ask them, well, are you using it and the C level goes no. And so they're really starting slow. They're saying, what if we start with a grocery list? And you know, you can do this. One of my very first guests said that employees want to be led, they want to use it, but they're waiting, they're waiting for the example from the leaders to tell them how and when and what. And by the way, everybody has it on this, right Pernov? Um, so they're going to use it. So none of these don't use AI rules are ever going to hold. And which is dangerous because if a person incidentally, accidentally purposely uploads a company database into cloud or whatever, and there you go, there's an exposure. So better to put guardrails on the world and have the leader lead. And so is that what you do when you go into an office? You start with the C level and say, let's get you guys on task here?
Speaker B: Uh, yes. In fact in my situation, I'm actually the, I'm coming up with this title right now, Chief AI Officer. So it's more like strategist. So every single day I'm just going to give your listeners, um, sort uh, of a preview or purview into my schedule. So every day in the morning, early morning, I have a two hour call with my AI team. Every evening, unfortunately this is my schedule right now, another two hour call with the same team. And we're, my teams are overseas and so we're working sort of around the clock and it's uh, a really interesting journey because I feel that this is a, uh, it's what I call a gold rush. When I started the company, we were coming off the first wave of the Internet and it reminds me of that, but just multiplied by a hundred because this is a time, uh, an exciting time where you know, opportunities are endless and there's so much disruption going on with AI that I want to be part of that and I want our company to be part of it. I want our customers to be part of it. And I definitely am investing considerable amounts of my own time to really drive strategy, vision and outcomes. And so, you know, we're seeing really tangible results from that.
Speaker A: I love that. So people are going to make mistakes, right? And I think if we're so high centered and afraid we're going to make a mistake, we're just never going to jump on the train and miss it. Like you said, this is a gold rush and the time is now. So you know, an analogy, in the gold rush, some people went and dug in the wrong spot and didn't find the gold, but they were at least digging. And I think my personal opinion is, okay, so you go the wrong direction. But it's so easy and almost instantaneous to change directions with A.I. uh, because again, it wants to please. And you won't be so off because you're putting in what you know is right about your company. It's just start. Right, Pranav?
Speaker B: Uh, yes, definitely. You have to start somewhere. And, um, one of the things we do, Wendy, is that, uh, we start with something. We create an AI app, but then we have users that are testing it and, you know, we get it to a good spot where they can give us great feedback. And the great part about AI and development through, you know, AI tools is that you can do the iterations very quickly. You know, in old days, I'm talking old days. We're not talking that long ago, a, uh, year ago, having a change in software. I mean, there was so much involved. You'd have writing up the specs and, you know, having developers work on it, project managers, testers, all this stuff going on. You still have that, but in just a different format. And so now things that would take, you know, weeks or, um, months are now taking, you know, days, if not next day. And so that's the best part. You know, you can get feedback and do iterations real quick. And that's what we're doing. We're just, you know, moving very quickly. And what that does is the users that are interacting with, you know, what you're developing, they get very excited because they're like, wow, you know, like, I gave some feedback and tomorrow I, you know, like, the next day you've got it. And they're just encouraged and very excited. And that's what we're finding, you know, that from our initial client base, it's, you know, starting to use what we're developing, as well as most, uh, of our employees, actually.
Speaker A: I love, you know. Yeah, you're talking about the days of software development releases that were like two years apart, when you're taking that whole time to perfect and you need the usability groups, the user groups, et cetera. Well, now AI is kind of all those things for you. Tell me about that human computer interaction. And that was the, that my nephew has a master's degree from Carnegie Mellon in human computer interaction from 10 years ago, because that was a phrase. But that's what we're talking about today. And I think we personify AI, but it's still really, you know, AI it's artificial intelligence. So.
Speaker B: Absolutely. And, and we. I'm a firm believer and my team is that employees, you know, humans are absolutely still needed in the whole flow. We are going to be using AI, uh, just like any other productivity tool. You know, when Office, Microsoft Office came out, it changed the way people use spreadsheets and the productivity. We view this the same way. It's going to change the makeup of how teams look. In fact, on our own org chart, we have AI people on our org chart and, uh, uh, positions that are held by AI. But everything, you know, we have humans, employees, I'm going to call them employees that are overseeing it, checking the quality, being the navigator, being the strategist. And so we believe that while the makeup of our workforce will change, it is still a very critical component. And we're not at the place yet where we can just lead AI, um, on its own.
Speaker A: Well, that's that 2001 Space Odyssey movie, isn't it?
Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a good reference. I like that one.
Speaker A: When websites were a thing and I owned a marketing company, then I had a client in tears saying, you know, I don't really know how to build a website. And I said, I don't either. That's why we have programmers. But I also had clients go, do I need one of those website things? And I'm like, yeah, you do. And it's the same thing, only on steroids today. Yes. Bring AI into your organization, put rails on it, but embrace the humans that can be friends with your AI people on your org chart and who manage them. Lots of people, you know, they're doing that. I think it's rather whatever. Today I have my AI board of directors, Warren Buffett, etc. And that's fine. But what if you, your employees must really be. Their job description must have really been refined by you and your human team to say, who can supplement what we do here humanly, I'm guessing, is that close?
Speaker B: Yes. Correct. So we're looking at this very strategically. We look. We have different teams. One that is looking at our internal process, another, uh, looking at our client process. And we are enabling and training our employees. We have thousands of employees. We want them to be very aware of how AI can work. It's a very different way of thinking, Wendy. Employees that we have and that are employed around the world, they're used to a certain process. They're used to doing things a certain way based on an sop. But we have to get them to thinking about how AI could improve that Process how it could, you know, help a, uh, client do something faster, cheaper. And that's a very different mindset. So we've had to take a lot of time, bring teams in one at a time, show them how to think, show them how this could, the power of it. Because you're really unleashing your thought process. And for our employees, I'm very proud of them because they have really taken onto this and now they're coming up with ideas and it's just multiplying exponentially. It's just been an incredible journey, and we're just at the start of it.
Speaker A: I'm going to ask us to pause for one second for an advertisement, and I want to put in a little plug for our producer, Brianna Jovan of what's Good Productions. She's amazing. Couldn't make this happen without her.
Speaker C: AI isn't just coming, it's here. But for HR&L and D leaders, the real challenge isn't the technology. It's translating AI into workforce capability and leadership behavior. At Talent in the age of AI, we center, uh, everything around. One question. So what, what does AI actually mean for how you develop people and prepare your organization? Don't just react to change. Lead it. Become a member.
Speaker A: Today@talentintheageofai.com okay, we're back, and I'm talking to my guest Pranav Dalal of Office Beacon, a global company. And we were talking about how he's encouraging teams from around the world to embrace AI so that they can be of greater service to their clients and customers of all sizes of businesses around the world. One of my first guests had done a study of AI adoption in the east and the west, meaning West, United States and Europe, and east being Asia. And there, uh, were distinct differences at the time. I'd love them to redo that study. Now I' go tell the PhD level people that I, I decided what they should go do with all their time. But, you know, it was. It's really different. And you're talking to a lot of Asian companies or on your roles, you're talking to South Africa, et cetera. So how do you get cultures to adapt? Because some of my audience are global multinational companies. And they can't just be one set of systems processes across the company. Right? Or, uh, can it?
Speaker B: It can. And I think that's what's actually, for us, very critical. So AI is helping us standardize the way we do things globally. It's helping us move faster. Getting that standardization with very, very high quality is super important. So that if someone, let's say someone in HR in South Africa is conducting an interview and they have a whole process, that process could be put on a computer, they could follow a certain sequence and AI could help them assess talent. And the same sort of process could be used in India or the Philippines. And that makes our quality much higher because we're not worried about the standardization of the quality or the performance of individuals. And I believe that, that it is very important to try to create that structure. So everyone's talking the same business language essentially, which is really hard to do across cultures. And you're right about that. I mean, for years that's been, you know, saying one thing to one country could mean a very different thing to saying it to someone in another region. And this helps bridge those gaps.
Speaker A: Well, I really love that. You know, it's a world is flat opportunity. Right. So finally we're not. It's less of a translational culture issues because AI can help do that for us. And standardized policy processes across a company in various countries across the world. I've never thought of that as a distinct advantage of adopting AI. That's really cool, Pranav.
Speaker B: It's been a, uh, it's been a journey, Wendy. Like 25 years of doing this. And I, by the way, have been very remote myself. Like, I see my employees a few times a year. Other than that, it's always on a computer monitor. Right. And that's a very different interaction when you're in an office with someone or a team. Productivity is different, communication is different. I find it much more productive. It's just not the way that my company is set up. So AI, you know, what we're able to do with it, uh, bridging gaps and communication and process has definitely made my company a better company.
Speaker A: So you talk about hr. We have a lot of talent and development officers in our audience. And how do you use. How can AI be your assistant, your cohort, your coworker in the world of, uh, upskilling and helping employees stay keep their jobs in the day of AI, they're not be replaced by and grow to be more productive for the company. Do you have examples of how you're doing that?
Speaker B: Yes, I have a great example. So learning management software is very commonplace. You know, many companies use it, usually larger companies, but with AI, with, uh, the ability to create your own LMS learning management software, you can definitely implement and deploy upskilling programs, training and be able to deploy that with regular updates often. And we do that. And that's something that we do through video reading and testing and scoring. And that way our employees are always. We can then bring them along on a path, a growth journey and a growth path that they want to pursue. And that actually we're at the starting point of that. But that's uh, uh, definitely an area in our HR department that is enabling them to really provide a great deal of employee satisfaction actually, because our employees are eager to learn and eager to grow.
Speaker A: I feel like having attended one of the major historic learning and development organization conferences a few months ago, I feel like we are helping unhook companies from m extraordinary cost investment. And no offense to the LMSs out there and the sales forces of the world, but you talk about a world that is being rocked because of what you just said. Must I invest in this system and the upgrades and the subscriptions and the training? When is an AI turning that on its head a little?
Speaker B: So Internet stocks like Salesforce or HubSpot, et cetera, you definitely see a downward trend because of this mindset. However, I have an opposite view which is when a company ventures into developing its own say LMS or even CRM, it is not as easy as business owners may think initially. Right. Going on to Claude and basically or Codex of ChatGPT and saying, you know, putting in some prompts and developing something there's. It is quite complex and we've learned that over the last year and a half ourselves. You know, you still need a development team, you still need a data security team. There's a lot of complexity to that. How are you going to handle integrations with third party software and all the use cases that develop out of these software. So I'm on. It definitely helps a company move faster, which it's doing for us. But there are merits to, to still these softwares that are out there who already have a platform investing in AI. And really, uh, every company has to make its own individual choice on how much they want to invest in terms of having that infrastructure. So technical people, development people, data security people and the infrastructure like servers and cloud servers, all of that. So there's not one answer I can give for your viewers. I know from our perspective we are definitely investing in our own AI team, but that may not be for everybody.
Speaker A: So it's yes and right. So you might choose to. I think there'll be a flattening in those companies, LMSS and the CRMs. They'll realize that AI is going to help them be more efficient. So maybe they can pass those efficiency costs on to companies and not everybody's going to lose their jobs because of AI. Right. Pranahav, in fact, you just listed about six categories of humans that are still needed in this game and to work with AI, but that you still need those employees on board. You can't. Uh, my supposition is kind of the C level is pressuring HR into going, can't we just fire everybody because we got AI and you know, labor is the number one line item. You own a business, I own businesses. It's the number one line item. It doesn't mean they're. Everybody's just expendable because AI can do it for them.
Speaker B: In our case, we've actually grown our headcount. It continues to grow every month. I believe that, you know, when a company is saving funds using AI, channel that into sales and marketing. Like, you still need to grow, you still need to take. Yeah. Uh, so the transition of your workforce, as I said earlier, is. May change the makeup of how you have people in sales and marketing versus another department will change. But I think the whole point of it is to grow and you have to find ways to grow. And so that's what we do. We save money in one place, but we're always funneling it into sales and marketing, hiring. So it's been a positive effect on us in terms of our employee headcount.
Speaker A: Oh, I love that. That's a whole nother mindset into versus we don't have. We can just cut to. We can grow because we can redistribute revenue and our savings on cost. Right. I just really. That's a really very cool perspective that needs to get out there. I'm so glad you said that.
Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's. I, I've advocated for that with our clients. So even when before AI using a company like Office Beacon to save. I, uh, mean, ultimately it's labor arbitrage. Right. So you're saving on one place, but ultimately you want to save, use that savings to grow. And so now AI is sort of the new labor arbitrage. So use it. Let us help you deploy it, manage it, save money and grow. And when they grow, we grow. And that's really the cycle, the circle that helps everybody.
Speaker A: Is that the title of your next book that I'm recommending to you? Labor Arbitrage.
Speaker B: I love it.
Speaker A: I. I do too. I'd love to co author that with you.
Speaker B: I'll pick you up on that for sure.
Speaker A: Okay. You know, the world has changed. It's very exciting. And I think too companies are Hiring the young, like we did when social media made it, we thought, well, somebody young will approach that. They'll be a social native and all this. I think everybody has the ability to be an AI adopter and advocate and should be. You know, if you're worried about losing your job and you're 40, there's a really easy way to become valuable, right?
Speaker B: Yes. Pick up those skills, take a course, make yourself learn something that others aren't, and use it in a unique way where companies will value the ideas you're coming up with and how to deploy them. So I definitely encourage that, uh, with our employees, we now have unleashed, I'm going to say unleashed, thousands of employees who are coming up with ideas every single day. And think about that. If you have, in our case, 5,000 employees, you just get one idea from everyone every single day. Like, that's incredible.
Speaker A: I love that. Uh, I have said on this podcast many times, I'm sorry, to my loyal listeners that hear it, but I read a long time ago that CEOs sit there and people bring them problems all the time, and so they're solving all day long. They would just die if somebody would bring them an idea.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: And, uh, you know, a lot of people think, well, who am I to bring the idea? Or, I don't have an idea that works? Well, this is your friend, to your point. You know, just bring a new idea, something to consider, and then the background for why you think it'll work. You know, how valuable you'd be in your organization if you were the one that. And, okay, so it's crazy. You know, I worked at Sprint, now Verizon, but it was in the day of divestiture, and, you know, we were third in line of AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and they hired this person. And I'm young, and I looked at him like he was from the moon or something. He was crazy in my mind. But he believed that there would be holograms, we would transport ourselves. And he had one idea after another that was just over the top, insane. And I won't say his name, but I remember it because I remember looking at him like, I don't get who you are. Well, everybody should have somebody like that on their staff that sees the great future and isn't afraid to dream about what's possible. And especially with the exponential change in AI coming today, it is possible. And frankly, we're not transporting our bodies like in Star Trek or something, but in a lot of ways, in our own way, today, we kind of are
Speaker B: right I'm uh, glad you brought that up actually Wende, because having your idea person in a company is very super important. In my company, it's me, I'm. And actually my employees tell me that's what your job is like. Your job is to do this and our job is to like execute on the ideas we, you know, and companies need that. Especially with AI. Now you, if you're not that person as a business owner, find that person. Right. That's the person. Think of the greatest companies like Apple, obviously that was the visionary and idea person was Steve Jobs. Right. Like you can. That's very clear. That's a key component of growth and using AI now and how to use it and thinking through that. I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker A: Well, and remember all the people that say said Steve Jobs is wacky and out of his mind and he's so demanding and blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, that's probably what some people say about you behind your back. I know they say it to my face and I. One time I remember talking to a client and uh, I mean I do have a strange brain and I'm been through the. Well, I know I can say that now. I recognize that. And one of my clients looks at me and goes, oh, you're thinking big.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: You know, and some, sometimes you gotta realize it's too big for some people and that's okay. So then how do you get to the steps to get to big? But yeah, I love thinking big. I love. That's why I love talking to visionaries like you, Pranav that Your company is 25 years old but you're not dyed in the wool or stuck in the past. Right. You wouldn't be here if you were.
Speaker B: No. In fact I look at how we can disrupt ourselves every day because I know if I don't do it like if we don't do it to ourselves, someone's going to do it to us. And the. Just going back to that thought about ideas, I was actually watching a video recently of Sam Altman when he was with Y Combinator, running Y Combinator and he actually was talking about ideas that they would have these contests for founders and to figure out who was the idea person, the idea founder, because those are the ones that they were going to fund. And that is the most critical thing to have that person and then to disrupt. And the uh, disrupt doesn't have to be always just a big idea. It could be just something that changes your trajectory 1%, just 1% a day. And those ideas 1% a day really separate you from your competitors.
Speaker A: Well, Steve Jobs, right. And I only know this from the movie or the book. I want rounded corners. And that team was like, you nut job. Why does he want us to do that? I mean, look at what I can see on my screen now. We have rounded corners and that might have been a 1%, but look at what we're used to. So I just, I really love that. What's a closing? I don't know. Piece of advice for our audience, you would say about embracing AI. Let's steal Nike's line. Just do it. But how? What do you say to people, Pranav?
Speaker B: Well, there's a couple of things first. I, I uh, the first thing I say, which I've got written on my board here is fortune favors the bold, right? So if you're bold and you're going to be out there trying to, you're going to have success, whatever success looks like for you. Secondly, move fast. Don't worry about breaking things. Like as long as it's not going to bring down your company.
Speaker A: Move fast.
Speaker B: Move fast. It's never going to be perfect. So move fast. Understand there's going to be, you know, some things that break or that are not perfect, but you're going to get that perfected very quickly. And you need to move fast because the world is moving that much faster.
Speaker A: You know, I had a neighbor when I was raising my children, I said, uh, I just so worried. She said, wendy, they're going to make mistakes. You just hope they don't make life altering mistakes. But I think in this day and age, I think that's the beauty of AI too. It helps you recover as quickly as it helped you be bold. I mean in the slow moving crawl of software development, let's go back to that, uh, one year for the next release, you could break something and not recover because the pace was just so excruciating. Oh my gosh. So my fabulous guest is the visionary. He's called a visionary. And I think from these 40 minutes together we can see that Pranav Dalal, he's the CEO and founder of Office Beacon. What a great name. At I think the site's officebeacon.com correct?
Speaker B: Yes. Please visit our site. Check it out. Yes.
Speaker A: Yeah. Easy to find. And he's easy to find. And I'm just so grateful that you spent your valuable time with us today. I love your logo. You have to show people. Cool. It's a little homage to NBC. But I won't tell them that Is there any other parting words you have? Pranav I'm just so grateful for you being with us on UM Talent in the Age of AI Today.
Speaker B: Well, first of all, I want to thank you for your time today and having me on here. And if any of your guests are interested in learning more, just please come contact us and we'd love to chat with you again.
Speaker A: Thank you so much.
Speaker B: Thank you.
Speaker A: Thanks for listening to Talent in the Age of AI. If this conversation gave you new ways to grow in your own work and to better support your people, follow the show and share it with others in your HR and talent Network members get even more full episode transcripts, extended show notes, UM and companion resources to help you put these insights into action. Learn more and join us at Talent in the age of AI.com we're here to help leaders create, curate and connect what's needed to build tomorrow's workforce today. See you next time.
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