Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Dr. Random podcast. I'm Dr. Sarah and here's the deal, we don't do boxes here. Every episode is different, every conversation has its own flavor, and no topic is off limits. If you're looking for predictable, this isn't it. But if you want real conversations, honest takes and a touch of intellect in the best way, you're in the right place. This is Dr. Random podcast.
Hello, welcome to the Dr. Random podcast. I'm Dr. Sarah and today I'm thrilled because I have a very amazing, powerful woman here today and I have Emma and Emma, will you pronounce your last name for the audience?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Of course. It's Arakelyan.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Ara Kellyan. And Emma Arakelyan.
She. Her main role that she kind of identifies herself is as a venture capitalist with a portfolio of 27 companies invested in six years, which is just amazing.
And.
Sorry, did you hear that? The dog.
Sorry about that.
So you're the CEO and founder of Orion Worldwide Innovations and venture partner and Covenant Venture Capital co founding partner, baj accelerator and author of the business Caring Formula and host of your own podcast, the Business Caring Formula.
And so Emma, so you want to go ahead and just kind of do a brief introduction of yourself for the audience before we dive into our conversation?
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Sarah.
I was looking forward to this conversation to share not only what I've done in my career, but also how I used what I've done in my career to build more value, build ecosystems, built next gen population with being able to be successful in this new environment in the 21st century.
So for that reason I actually started to do multiple things because one thing was not enough to take care of all of that objectives that I had. So I am Emma Arakelian.
I'm based in New York more than three decades, I'm living here. I love this city and I love the geography of where it is. And then you just go to the east or the west and then you're still feeling very connected. It's almost like in the center of the world. Plus it's an empire state, which I love it. It just gets the.
The big dreams kind of a place to have and to execute on them.
I am an author. That's correct. The book that I published in 2018 about leadership. I'm a management consultant executive of more than 20 years experience that I did with two global major companies, probably well known to many.
It's an Ernst and Young professional services where I was a partner in advisory, bringing technology, digital and business transformations to the world.
I worked in more than 47 countries. I had the blessing to interact and work with so many people and so many countries and see so many cultures.
Then I did my couple of years with Accenture as the innovation Managing director in financial services and in major new technologies such as blockchain, DevOps and test automation and so on.
I also spent 21 years doing the adjunct professor which goes aligned with what I said earlier, the next generation training, next generation, preparing, giving, the foundation, how to build up on what we are giving them as of today.
So I taught at New York University as an adjunct professor and also at Columbia University.
What happened with Orion Worldwide Innovations was the cumulative growth and maturity in innovation in business and technology, in knowing the world.
Then I decided to combine all of these experiences and knowledge and my desire to do more impact is I created the Oran Worldwide Innovations.
So all of this together we, we're going to have some very insightful conversations of what it means and what I do and what is the impact.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: That's amazing. And you know, and I would say what would you say was a pivotal moment that made you leave big consulting to create, you know, your own ecosystem? And how does the caring leadership lifestyle that you teach on your website and in your book show up in the way you run Orion today?
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Those are all well connected and something that I would like my listeners to take away from this conversation is everything you do in your life, it's all well connected.
There is never the situation when you say I'm living this and I'm doing this new thing.
No, you are building up on what you've done.
It's never anything throw away, it's actually taking it with you as a tool, as a experience, as a use case, as a good experience, as a bad experience, it doesn't matter. But it is an experience. It's part of your life, it's part of you.
So consulting of many years taught me a lot and gave me this really strong foundation of listening, knowing how to understand somebody else's problem and somebody else's big strategy, how to get there. And it's a pride, it's an amazing feeling when you help somebody else to get there.
So I've done it for more than two decades with big corporations in financial services, in automotive industry, in mergers and acquisitions. So I dealt with so many different opportunities, I'm not going to even call them problems because the companies were trying to do more different to get to the next transformation level in their human capital to start using new technologies because it was going to make them do more and bring more benefits to the society. So I'm just going to put everything into this positive light because that's what they are trying to do. But then there are challenges, there are issues, and this is where the consulting comes with their experience.
So that helped me to create this full package of knowing people, knowing some businesses, knowing regulations, knowing compliance, knowing how companies get together, how they diverse from each other or separate, how you bring the company to the next level or make it global, or bring new solutions that helps people to lead better around the world.
And then I pinpointed innovation. I learned and I saw that innovation is something needs to be taken care of at its early stage. You want to make sure that founders or this creative and daring or taking risks people, they actually have the proper guidance and the proper approach and really make the best out of their idea. So that's how Orion came on board.
So it was for me not leaving anything or consulting or companies. It's actually moving on based on the package that the portfolio that I had to do more because I could, because that gave me that energy and that knowledge and the capability.
So that's how I created the Orion worldwide innovation. So it's all connected.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: And if you were to describe Orion itself to somebody who's maybe not familiar, how would you just describe Orion to somebody?
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Orion is all about helping the society, civilization, use the innovation to move forward and to make a difference.
Especially with all these amazing new exponential technologies that are available. So now we can do things faster.
And I am just fascinated how fast things can change.
Not only thinking that, how fast people can become millionaires, billionaires, but then that opportunity that you are making a difference and the capital comes with it.
And then you're not only thinking about your own capital, now you start becoming the investor for other startups because that's what Orion does. We create that ecosystem where you become the unicorn and then you start helping the ecosystem to actually bring more unicorns to light. And a lot of the countries took this effort, this approach. I'm going to name specifically Estonia that they even have a Skype effect phrase where the Skype company founders immediately or very shortly created a fundamental, it's called actual metaplanet to invest in startups. They started only with their own local investments, but then they started to become global and support startups believe in startups like that, somebody believed in them. So that's the effect that we want to create. And it will take the health care, it will take the energy industry, it will take the robotics and AI now that's agentic. The agents are now even making it even faster.
We will talk a little bit more about how I interpret AI, but that's a different question. But overall Orion is all about building opportunities for innovation to grow and to build ecosystems in countries and also in regions and globally.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Amazing that. I mean just I'll be like just reading all about you and kind of studying you. Before you came on the podcast, I was, it got me motivated to where I'm like, oh, I want to get out there and do my own startup. And then you know, it gets. Got me pumped.
So I think that that's, that just shows amazing like you know, and you know, you help me a little bit too on some things and I just love that, appreciate it and yeah, and so. But we can talk about that later. But so I was gonna ask you about, you know, just your amazing success and key initiatives and Digital Jolfa. Is that how you say it or how do you say digital?
Digital one of your flagship efforts and reviving American historic global trade role. Can you walk us through the vision and what success looks like for the new Jolfin family?
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Wonderful question and I'm happy that you're bringing this up at the beginning of our conversation.
So Digital Julfa was built upon the 350 year history of trade that was called Silk Road, Armenian merchants trade network that was global.
Global. In that time it was Eurasia is like from Amsterdam to London and all the way to all Europe, Asia, Oceania, all of this entire India, Middle east, all of this included the entire Europe.
At that time it was global. And then I think close to 18th and 19th, 18th century the network also expanded to America and to Mexico.
What was it? It was about innovation, believe it or not, based on how do you sustain the trade.
Keep innovating the processes. Keep innovating doing the partnership. Keep innovating how you sign contracts with different countries, with different merchants, with different organizations in all these regions and countries and then everything built on trust.
That's what I took this 350 year amazing story that there is so much legacy, there is so much, so many artifacts across the museums and history books. And if people didn't have a chance to know about it, you can visit Digital Julfa J U L F a dot com and see the history, what we are bringing and connecting to Orion and connecting to this innovation ecosystems is. Trust is important for longevity. Trust is important for building company building solutions.
When people trust your product, when partners trust each other, then channel partners, which is something new in the new Nowadays that startups collaborate with clients and then they become their channel partners. That's all about trust. So we try to bring this back on a global level with the innovation specific, with corporations that whatever we do, we need to build that trust.
Doing the partnership, collaboration, building something that brings goodwill and good solutions and doesn't hurt or harm anything.
This is very critical for pharma industry, this is very critical for space and defense industry where we need to think about those things as an innovator, as an entrepreneur, as someone who is building new solutions. So Julfa is, is all about building an ecosystem based on trust and we're bringing back that concept. How is it connected to Orion and to my book of the business caring formula?
It's all based on family type mentality, which is part of my book when I wrote it. It's like you treat your business, you're your family, you treat your people who work for you or work with you like your family members. Which means you don't think about hurting anybody. You think about how we can collaborate, how we can use each other's strengths to get to the best outcome. So it's all connected. Like I said, it feels like what has to do with 300 years ago trade network with today's innovation? Well, it's a concept. Trust is critical to, to bring it because it worked and it built and created so much that we are using as a foundation today.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: That's amazing.
I love that. I wish I was just having flashbacks to some companies I've worked for and I wish they had more of that mentality like you have.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: It's also like Amazon with history, Amazon with purpose.
You can actually go there and then meet businesses. Exactly what Neo Jewel Fund did, now it's digital. Whatever they did with camels and with ships, now we are doing it digitally available, which is faster, which is amazingly reachable, accessible without traveling. And it just comes to you.
So it brings this concept of doing trade, doing business, selling and buying.
But we are putting it connected to the trust network that companies help each other to grow. They become channel partners to each other and it creates more opportunities for small businesses or for large businesses to meet the small businesses and collaborate. So it creates new ecosystem of digitally connected with that concept of trust and doing business.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Love that.
And you know, as far as the digital aspect, I'm not sure if I shared with you if you were, but I actually did my dissertation on digital artifacts for the purposes of cultural preservation, historic preservation of artifacts, you know, due to the threat of possibly, you know, theft grand Theft, war, just the destruction of time. So I feel like what you're speaking of could tie in really well with my study.
So I think that's amazing.
And then, and then you've spoken and judged at major events and often gift your book as a symbol of shared purpose. And how do you define success at this stage beyond capital raised or companies accelerated? And how would you say has the hosting the Business Caring Formula podcast shaped the definition?
[00:19:00] Speaker B: Very insightful question.
Success has its layers.
Success.
I see that it's a success for the individual. Whatever plan or desire or dream or execution they had in mind, it was successful. So they got to somewhere that they were planning when they started this effort of this initiative. So it's an individual satisfaction, individual achievement, individual capital that they gained.
That's only part of the success.
Then the success goes beyond that. Individual success goes into your family, how that success impacted your family.
Then it goes beyond the family, how that success somehow impacted or at least made it known or created some additional value for the community and then for the country and then for the region and then for the globe. And recently, not recently, but it's been last couple of years. I also added, what is it doing for space?
Like, if you think about what is the overall impact in all these categories and if you can click on something and say, oh, it was helpful for this that much, and it's not about 100% in all of these categories or pillars, but something even it touches. The key is how are you thinking about your own success? This is just a individual and that's it. Or you go beyond that.
So to me, success is I have to make sure that whatever I do touches all of these aspects.
For the space part, for my personal change that I made to make sure that I also touch space, I started to invest in the past two years in space tech.
I said, I have to be aware of what's going on. So if I am successful by IT supporting companies that are in energy, that are in AI, in fintech, in health tech, which I have in my portfolio, all of this representing what am I doing for space, because that was on my list of how far my success goes.
So then I made this decision that now I'm going to start looking into what am I doing in space tech technology.
Space tech also means defense.
So by as soon as I made that decision, I actually got into that area where space tech is more about also defense industry, Department of War, department of Defense type area. And then I said, well, I really need to be educated by investing in those you Also educate yourself what's coming and then eventually start talking about it, then educating the next generation.
So it's all connected. So success to me is all layers of that I mentioned. Are you touching or your project?
What is more powerful when you start planning a project having those categories, is there an impact of what I'm doing here? It's good for me. Because of this I'm going to make money, I'm going to multiple my investment and so forth or I'm going to get a good job. And then next is what does it mean to my family? What does it mean to my community? Can I just go and sit on one of the panels and said because I was successful here, this is what the community at least was informed about. At least they knew somebody was successful. How am I touching the community, the country, the region, the globe and the space.
So start thinking about this structure of success versus just saying I graduated, I'm successful, I found this job, I'm successful. Start analyzing your success and the impact.
But you have to start from you. It has to make sense to you and then others.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the right. Great words of wisdom.
And as far as now, you know, it looks, you know, as a adjunct professor and you know, I would say big roles, you've been a powerful mentor to many and I like to think, you know, I'm added to that list of mentee for you but and including interns and professionals, you know who craft credit you with foundational wisdom.
And as someone who personally experienced your mentorship while transitioning, you know, into bigger roles, what is your approach when guiding people ready to step into leadership as a founder or high stake investment positions.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Right.
As you and I noted earlier in our questions and answers, it is very important to what we do today is something can be continued tomorrow in the exact format or in a revised format or in a better format. But it needs to continue.
Succession plan has to exist somewhere. What you do is meaningful, there is some continuation or it can be not continued, but it will be taken as a foundation to become transitioning or transforming to something else. So whatever we do, that's part of the success factor, like what's in it for everybody else. So then how are you impacting that continuation? For that reason, I do mentor all ages, people who just graduate in the school or even at the 10th grade. So I have mentees from that age because people are now growing much faster because that's what the environment is. They have to come more prepared.
The high schooler has to now even show internships before they even graduate the school, not even at the college. So how do they do that? They have to start building network. They have to know where they want to take an internship or who they want to meet, where they go to do volunteering, because that's some different version of the internship. Like they volunteer in different organizations and industries and companies and farms, and you name it, the opportunities are all there.
And I also mentor people who are just starting their career, they're in the middle of their growth, and also people who want to change their careers, they want to move on to do something else that they always desired, or there is a better financial opportunity if they make the change into different industry and so forth, different reasons, or relocating another country for a job or for family or for personal reasons or for building knowledge of that region or country or nation.
Every age that I mentor, there is a foundational two things that regardless of the age group or regardless of their stage of their career, I have. I start with two things. One is their identity. Who are they? You need to know yourself.
You need to know your belonging.
And when you do that, you build this value system in you. What's important to you, what's. What's valuable to you as a person. You need to always stay honest or you always have to help somebody. So it's that value system that you built in you. Like, who are you and your identity?
Do you know your family story? Do you know your mom's side and that side? Do you know what your name means, why you were named like that? So you need to know yourself very well. You need to position yourself like you need to exist as an person, as Persona, as an individual, before you put yourself into a network, into events, or into a job.
So I help people to define who they are, what kind of person you are. You can, you can be a leader or you can be a follower. It's not bad or good. It's just you need to know which way you feel more motivated or having.
Define your dreams based on, on your Persona. So that's one, Your identity.
You need to know who you are. You can't just say, I'm American. Well, American, your identity. Like, are you. Your ancestors are from Europe, from South America, from Asia, from what did they do, how, who you are and what's your dream? So identity is key. Without that, it's hard to become even a manager. Like, what are you managing and who are you managing? You have to have some standards and values that you will follow. Like, you're all. You're being direct to People or you're not being direct with people. Again, it's not wrong or right. You just need to know.
Second thing that I advise, regardless of age and regardless of the stage of their career, is knowing your strengths as a person. Now that you know who you are, you need to clearly understand what is your strength. Are you good with numbers?
And you love numbers. Being good at numbers, not loving you, still, it's considered as a strength. You're good with numbers and it's not about, I, I'm good at math, but I hate math. Doing math job, I understand. But you need to know your strengths.
You're good with writing, you're good with innovating. You're good with following processes or reading documentation. Are you good with details and analytical. So you need to know your strengths. In the resumes, when we put names or even say, what are your strengths? By the way, that's one of the questions always ask to any interviewee. Regardless of what you want to get to, even to be hired as an entry level, to be hired as an executive, to be joining a university as a student, they always ask you, what is your strength? You need to know your strengths. And strengths are not just technical. I know how to code. That's a tool. I'm talking about strength. Like when you code, are you more creative or you more like following the process? That's the strength. We're talking about two things. Identity and strength is key. Without those two, there is no way to know what is the right thing for you to do next.
You need to know that.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: So know yourself, know your strengths.
Yeah, sounds like to. Yeah, that's.
And, and as you were speaking on that, I was questioning myself like, do I know these things? I think I know myself very well, but which is good. So I guess that's a good thing. And then as far as knowing my strengths, it's funny because I think that it's so funny, you get that voice in your head that you don't even know is there. Sometimes when you're trying to evaluate your own strengths, it's almost like that little doubt pops in because it's like you want to say, oh, this is my strength. And you're like, wait, what is it? Or is it more that one? You know, it's interesting how what our minds can go through when answering that particular question.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: I feel like it helps to make decisions about you and others. And at any stage of your life, your strengths can be adding more. Like you were this. Now because you studied or you work somewhere, your strengths get more the list gets longer.
The important thing is you need to know, and it's an easy answer. No matter where I ask you at the birthday party, at the network event, at the. On the panel that you are talking about something else, and they ask.
So you, You. You just need to know all the time and add to the list.
But knowing makes you stronger. Knowing makes you position yourself anywhere in any situation, even in the elevator pitch like you give. You kind of. It easily can say, well, I'm strong by speaking. That's my strength. I'm a. I can be public speaker. Like tomorrow you decide to not. It doesn't matter. But, you know, you're good at it. You're. That's your strength. You speak well, you project well. You're not afraid, looking into somebody's eyes all the time and saying the difficult things or easy things.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I. And you know, just to get your thoughts on something, I just heard it was about people who are authentic in the corporate world, that sometimes somebody who is authentic in the wrong hands can kind of be stepped over because of the fact that they are authentic. And I think that causes a fear in others. But I think that in the right environment, you know, you're not really going to deal with that. And I would also say to the audience that, um, Emma helped me with some things, some career advice, you could say. And one thing that she brought out about me that I wasn't even thinking about is here on this podcast. Like, I have communication skills now that, you know, are there. And I, like, I don't know, I just didn't think about that. I was like, oh, yeah, so amazing. Sometimes it just takes a second pair of eyes looking at us and what we do to kind of also bring out that confidence or make us aware of certain things, too, I would say, and I think that's the value of a mentor, talking to somebody who's very successful and so on. On that. Would you say.
What would you say is some practical advice you give under the caring leadership lifestyle that you outline?
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Since we set the foundation of knowing yourself and then building on anything that you do based on your strength.
Because if you build on your strengths, your success is going to come solid. It's not going to play, because then you work on it. It happens. And this is a true straight statement because I tried it so many times in my career. Not once, not twice, all the time.
When you come across knowing what you're good at, people trust you and then give you the opportunity to do what you're really trying to do.
Then if you're creative that's great. But if you're not creative, you can just follow and say, okay, I can help you here, but I'm gonna do an amazing job.
And then they trust it, they let do it.
So now that we set that foundation, the leadership lifestyle means you do that all the time.
Lifestyle means you repeat. It's the style you leave every day, anywhere, any job.
You do that when you are with your friends, you do that with your, your family members. You do that when you are at work.
And you do that in any setting that is like you don't know anybody but you act that as that person with your identity, with your strength everywhere. And then you make decisions same way using that framework that I gave. Like what's in it for me? What's in it for my family? What's in it for my community, country, region and universe, the space, everything. What's in it for them? When I do this and with that mentality and doing it all the time, then that's the style you leave every day and that's how you make decisions every day.
And people see consistency in you because they understand where you're coming from.
They will say Emma is always someone who you can trust. When she gives you feedback. That's the image you have about you because you are consistent. My style of leading is to be honest, to be direct. And of course sometimes I would say I have feedback. But I'm going to give you in doses like today I'm going to give you this much because I don't want you to be overwhelmed or get upset or anything. Instead I'm helping you to that small dosage issues like the medication. And then at the end we achieve the outcome that we got him or her got out of this fear that they had not to say certain things, fear of performing certain texts, thinking that they will not be good at.
Fear of expressing themselves at the meetings, always being silent and because they were afraid to speak up. So there are certain things, it's not a one time advice you give them and then they just change.
So those, those.
So leadership lifestyle is something becomes you. You are not just talking about it, you're doing it because that's you, you already became that person. So that's what I'm giving in my book. And there are certain several ingredients like what you need to work on to have that lifestyle them is take accountability of things that you do, decisions you made, you have to be accountable for them because it makes a decision and it starts blaming others. That's not good leadership. That's actually not at all.
And. Or the other one responsibility. You're responsible to make decision. You can't just outsource and say somebody else makes decision. I'm not going to make the decision because it's a hard decision. Again, that's the part of their leadership.
And as a matter of fact, it's not even leadership. It's managing your life, your own life, it's managing the family or leading your family members to grow into some successful people.
And the same way you lead and manage people in your organization to grow and become somebody. So the same approach, it's the mindset that I'm trying to give. And there are other ingredients. You can actually take a look at the website mrakilian.com it talks about the ingredients.
If you're really interested, you can obtain the book as well. But if not, it's there. You can actually see the ingredients that are critical that all together make a.
Make you.
It's not one thing and it's not two things. And it's not to do it one day and not to do the other day. Like you cannot be honest one day and not be honest next day.
You just decide the value is that. And there are some values are not negotiable no matter what they offer. You just stick to your values. That means it's already your lifestyle. It's. It's like you cannot not do it because it's you. So it's a value.
Once that happens, it's a value that I call it non negotiable.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's amazing advice. And I would say that, you know, coaching and you teaching at nyu, I'm sure that you've done many lectures on this topic and you know, kind of and so everybody listen to her podcast, get her book, check out her website.
Emma Arakalian and so now living in New York, which we kind of talked about and you're, you know, you mentioned the Empire State Building and just the whole vibe and everything being in New York and that ecosystem. So you've been there in New York for many years and Orion is headquartered there. And how would you say his living and operating in New York, you know, shaped your, your work and the way you bridge Armenia and the global diaspora and how, how do you protect the family rooted and you know, the caring values that are central to both your book and your website and the city's intensity of New York,
[00:40:34] Speaker B: The pace in New York, the speed because things can be done faster because the impact can reach people and communities and country and space, all of this. You see, I keep saying it the same way because that's how I think for everything. You ask me a question or I build a project. I always have these characters like, okay, if I do this, then it's not that I'm going to stop doing it if it doesn't fit. All I'm saying, why this is not touching that that means my plan is not complete. I need to add certain things to then touch that as well. Then my success will be meaningful not only to me, but to the rest.
So New York gives the opportunity. New York is also a place where I feel home. Though I'm originally from Armenia, so I have that home. I also feel this is home because we can create these projects together that can be done faster, that can be done using different talents from different countries. So there is this.
Even food diplomacy here is amazing. It's like New York is known for hundreds of different types of cuisines. And then it's not only food, it's actually culture that you feel.
It's. It also helps you with your. Some projects that, oh, I didn't think about this. So then if I include that as well. So even the food ingredients and spices said, oh, I never thought about adding this many into something.
The same way you actually spice up your project, you add more because you've seen, you experienced. So New York gives you that not only pace, but the deep content, the relevance.
Because when you do it in New York, it's almost like you're doing for the world because there's so many different nationalities and you create a project that helps you to become somewhat global because you can. And if not, you actually go to this embassy, you go to this school. There are different types of school, different nationalities, different cultural centers, museums. It gives you all this different, this very rich thinking process because it's there, it's available to you and you can use it or it's your choice, but it's there.
How I related to Armenia, I.
I love this innovative perspective to take all of that mindset back to my current. Why? Because there is big potential. So I want to instill that mindset of global thinking. Instilled mindset of whatever you built. See if it can actually benefit many, not just a small group or big group. So it. Because it's possible, the technology, the. That gives you that opportunity.
And by the way, very recent, like last week, New York became number one in as a innovation technology center, passing California or San Francisco.
Wow, that just happened. It was in the news. You can go and check yourself everybody.
But it is not surprising and it's not about just competing who is first, who is second. All I'm saying is now people started to use this beautiful energy, speed, innovation, innovative approach.
And I think New York City and New York State put a lot of money into innovation space the way I know it because the Cornell Tech is Bij co founding partner and then that's only 10 years ago it didn't exist. Now it is a center of innovation. They have programs, postdoc startup programs and we also partnered with them in 2020.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: Wow, that's.
Yeah, it's, that's, that's a big deal. A picture of the map and now looks like New York is on the map for innovation and tech. That's pretty cool.
[00:45:02] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: And you know, and that whole, you know, the lifestyle day to day, you know, for you in New York while running Oreon and then investing through Covenant and hosting your podcast, what would you say the lifestyle is like kind of for on a fun side? I don't know. I think there's probably a lot of what word am I looking for?
Like I don't know, there's probably a lot of dreamt up ideas about what it's like, you know, for people who are kind of looking in from the outside.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: Yes.
Yeah, it's. It's a helpful question to highlight a couple of things that on a daily basis I see myself. It's been now six years if you ask me who am I today my identity will be I'm a venture capitalist, I'm an investor and I promote innovation with different projects like with the ones that we listed the BAJ accelerator Orion Score which helps product that helps to evaluate investability for startups. It's built for investors, by investors and then startups also get really big benefit by scoring themselves on there to understand how the investor looks at them from an outside.
So that's a perspective that helps them to pitch, helps them to be more prepared and have a good conversation with investors knowing how they look at their portfolio, at their product.
So every day for me is having calls with startup founders, the ones that are new and the ones that I already invested. We do some follow ups, we stay connected.
They come with requests introduced to this investor, introduced to this new person that could be an advisor. So there is a constant portfolio management, I'm going to just say portfolio management and monitoring process that I go through almost every day now.
And I'm also co founding partner with Mount Global which is an angel syndicate on angellist platform that we have more than 300 angel investors that invest in startups in early stage, all the way through pre ipo.
So that's a big range, but that's the beauty. It's possible.
So that's my daily and of course the events podcast like this, my own podcast inviting some people who have made a big difference in their life by building some value to different audiences or to different even countries or one country. But the major impact and I invite people like you do to hear their stories.
One other thing is my family.
Family is on top of my list.
Manage and monitor and track the success of my family.
That everything that I do is also good for my family. Remember what is good for me but family and then the rest.
The same formula, the same approach.
Every time when I try to make any decision, I, I use that, that staged list like what is that? Is this still in the. In that frame or I'm missing something. It's so helpful.
It actually helps a lot. Helps you to think bigger, to reach your own dream. Even, even if you put a dream you put into that scale of the 1 to 5 and said, oh actually I missed this one. I didn't think about it. So dream to add to, to make it complete. So then it happens. The success is complete. Remember then everything touched and thought through.
[00:49:11] Speaker A: That's like I said, just listening to you, I get so excited.
Would you say like somebody who wants to break into this world, they're just determined, they're excited, they're motivated?
I mean, what would you say are some steps you would tell someone who's doing the transition, say from another world, but they want to kind of break into this world of entrepreneurship and startups and I mean, I know I'm throwing a bunch of questions at you, but if somebody wanted to say obtain an angel investor, I mean, what would you say are some approaches you could tell the audience that possibly be helpful if you think
[00:50:00] Speaker B: depending on the question, if I don't know them, I will go through the same learning about the person conversation like tell me about you, what's important to you, what are your values, what are your dreams, how far you want to go?
And then we talk specifically, what are your strengths? Of course, what you build up your portfolio, portfolio of strengths and portfolio of things that you've done.
And then the question will be why you want to change?
What is your expectation or what is your dream? Expectation is too hard because then it's a dream, it's a plan.
What you are hoping to get out of this change and then go into the Conversation do I need this change or not? So I help them to come up with the decision framework, which means whatever is important to you, you list it and say what you have today, do you have all those or not? And then if you make a move, are you going to have all things that you think are important? Do you have them or not? And then when you go through this exercise, which by the way, we do this in consulting, when we do scenarios of mergers and acquisitions, targets, divestiture or projects, do we want to do this project? And the question would be why? What are the benefits of doing it and what are the benefits of not doing it? Because sometimes it's been more beneficial not to do it because it's not the best next step or it's not the choice that's going to deliver anything.
So it's interesting that whatever you learned in life, at work or at the university, or doing your internship or doing some projects, you did all of the things that you decide to do for business. It's interesting you can actually use it for your own personal project.
Because vision is a project. It has a start and finish. When you want to start this transition, why you want to start this, what do you need for to start this transition and how is it going to dependencies? Is it dependent on what to start?
And then the impact if you do this, what is it impacting others? So same way you do a project planning, it's the same thing for your life. You want to change. So ask all these questions. So I mentor them to go through a process with educated decision to be made, not because I want to. And then you do it and you say, ah, I wish somebody told me not to do this because of all of these things.
So you up front.
[00:52:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:54] Speaker B: And it's a dream like, I don't know, very far dream. Still you do that because that far dream may not be that far once you go through this exercise.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I.
It's.
Yeah. And I know that that's a truth with you speak the truth. Because I recently was accepted, which you were aware, to the New York Academy of Art and it was for their certificate in Fine Arts program. It would be an amazing opportunity for me as an artist.
And you know, making that move to New York is, you know, kind of, it's a, it's a transition. So that is something that I had to think about, make decisions on, of weighing everything out. But you know, it was, it's just amazing the fact I feel like in my art career that I was accepted even and offered a Scholarship. So that was amazing. That's my little connection to New York recently.
And I know that, you know, with my next hopeful career moves here coming up, I mean, who knows where I'm going to end up, but we'll see.
But it's exciting to think about, you know, like as they say, the world is your oyster. So and then you know, you have connections. Recently on the podcast we had doctor's arc and that's how we connected. And I had the privilege of speaking with him about his Imagine always philosophy and NASA and his rock climbing Mount Raw and then building with Armenian talent. And you both move in the, you know, our meaning innovation and Dyspora like circles.
So just curious for the audience, how have your guys's paths crossed and what do you guys appreciate most about each other's approaches, would you say?
[00:54:53] Speaker B: Well, my special greetings to Zarik Bogosian because he, he introduced us to each other and this see where we are today. We're doing a podcast already. So Zarek and I are friends of many years.
First we are very good close friends and then we also colleagues and in investment space. So he's one of the investors that he invested in startups that are part of our portfolio.
We had some not so good situations, but we also have some growing opportunities right now in the portfolio which is very much expected in the startup ecosystem in investment space, especially as an angel investor.
So what connects us really strongly is our identity as Armenian people.
We.
We take it very seriously to see living in different countries because the Armenian diaspora is really spread almost in every country on the planet.
We always remember our identity. And this is what I'm saying it's so important that part of your and part of my projects is connect with other Armenians, align our desires which we did with Zarek as well. So I'm an investor. He. He's also investor and we invested in companies together.
We guide companies, we guide founders and that makes that goal so meaningful.
And then like I said we had in Covenant and in Mount Global Syndicate we have a group of Armenian investors who are in the same very strong plan of doing something for our country. Innovation, our founders but drive to make it global and that's even more aligns with Zarek is doing what I'm doing and what other Armenian investors are doing so that it's a dual connection. It's the national identity to make sure that Armenian founders get there when they are planning to give them the guidance on a global arena, give them the capital, content and clients. Because we know we have Big networks, Zarik and myself as well.
And the second one is to make a difference for the humanity in general, to do development work that his companies are doing for me to reach out. BJ has 23 countries that we have startups that are joined that joined us. We have close to 200 companies that graduated the BAJ. And it's a global presence with a very special care and attention to Armenian startups. 35% of our portfolio are Armenian startups. So we found them, we actually went there, introduced to each other. So there's that special care because of that identity. Remember earlier our conversation, I said identity is important. So that helped me to even consider how am I going to do that for my community. Remember the number three? My community and the country.
And then of course the globe and then the space. So everything lines. And I'm happy when it's a success, then it's a success for all those areas.
So Zarik and I share that local, global, national identity, all of those great values and it helps us to make a difference.
[00:58:52] Speaker A: That's amazing. And you said 23 countries and 200 startup, is that correct? Wow. Yeah, that's a lot.
It's amazing. That's a big reach.
And you know, I think that what is so just amazing about you too, that I kind of want to focus on with the audience is just that it's like, you know, I feel like, you know, you're a woman boss, babe, like you're say badass. So it's like. And you know, and embodying that and just, you know, for a lot of women who are probably looking up to all your doing right now, would you say that like as far as some decisions on a daily basis, like probably like health and you know, fitness, things like that, would you say you and incorporate all that into your everyday too as a, you know, CEO entrepreneur, how would you say that? You know, your balance of life as a woman? Like when you told me that you did 27 companies right. In six years.
Correct. I just picture like you don't sleep.
But I mean, just. Just curious like, you know, do you mind sharing a little bit about like personally what it's been like as a woman in the role and you know, just kind of that balance of life.
[01:00:22] Speaker B: You're absolutely right. They're doing so much because it's. We started to list there are a couple of companies that I lead, the investments, the teaching. I stopped only 2022 just recently because I started to travel more. There was not possible to continue that, but I still have a Lot of mentees from this and they preferred other new people to talk.
So there was no lack of that relationship or connection at all.
I also do a lot of work with the universities in Armenia. Let's say I made the connection with Cornell Tech and Yerevan State University, which is the Princeton University for them with Yerevan city municipality. So there is a lot of that. Education has to always be available and structured a little bit too to give this young generation more stronger foundation. Not that they don't have foundation, it's a stronger foundation. So they can build not two story building, but 100 story building. Because foundation is once. If it's stronger then you can build up on it anything and all the way to becoming CEOs of global companies or scientists and get Nobel Prize and all of this. It's all possible when the foundation is strong, strong. So all of our efforts are towards that as well. For next gen, for starting from the not even a high school, starting even a mid school that we actually had four students from Yerevan just two weeks ago in Princeton getting robotics training at here to kind of show what, what is possible, what can be done and learn from the best professors and school what is really helping.
Having a support system at home.
So young ladies or already people who already have families, strengthen your system within the family. Which means you can structure, let's say say specific times of the year or specific times of the week that you need more support. Negotiate with your significant other, negotiate with family members, with mother, with father, with brother, sister or even neighbor. Create a support system because it's not possible to do all by yourself. And there is no need to do it that way. So find out or if nothing works then make a little bit more money to have a nanny. I mean that's the. Of course there is payment there, but at least you have to create support system.
There were times my career that I had a little bit less sleep. Yes, that, that's true. However you start managing it back. So then make sure that your health is not. Remember part of the identity is also taking care of your body.
So identity is not only soft skills and the brain, but it's also your body, your physical body. And make sure that you control your good food or enough sleep. I'm not going to say a lot of sleep, but enough sleep like five to six hours is bare, bare minimum to have not to get into trouble for your body physically you need to be mobile and active and actually look enthusiastic, look happy so you can listen to people with the bright eyes versus like tired eyes or so Forth. So yes, I built that system support system for me with my family members that helped a lot and is still continuing to help. So think about that. And life work balance to me is a formula like this.
Life plus work equals happiness, not equals 100% because the percentages be different.
Let's say you're happy when you are busy with work because it's satisfaction, you're happy. You all always have to ask you what, what balance do I have to have? It's not 50 50. Because if it's 50 50, you're still not happy, then it's not a good balance. The balance is that equals I'm happy.
And try to put that formula in anybody's brain.
It's not about 90% travel is bad. No, but if you enjoy that travel, then it's happy.
That balance is good for you. Other people don't like travel. So if 10% travel for them is a challenge, so they are not happy, which means 10% travel, 90% non travel, still not a balance. So balance is not a percentage or a number. Balance equals to me happiness. Are you happy with the percentages of the work life balance you have?
But it's not a number at the end. 50 plus 50 equals.
So instead of putting a number there, put the word I happy with this balance. And that balance changes very often.
Like year this balance was good for you, this year it's not good anymore. So change it. It's in your hands.
Then do new negotiations with your family to establish that new balance. Like I'm not available anymore over the weekends because I have to have five events the next three months. So somebody has to cover the weekends instead of coming and apologizing. Sorry, I'm gonna be away weekend. No, no, apologize because it's part of the what needs to be done, but negotiate front. So with that, I'm not saying it was always 100% perfect. That's not the case. When you have a method of managing that upcoming couple of weeks, couple of months, couple of days, couple of years. Then you sit down and plan how am I going to do this and what kind of negotiations I have to make. So negotiation in the family is as critical as negotiations at work.
[01:06:45] Speaker A: Yes, I, I, Yep, that's, I can see that already. I'm already thinking.
[01:06:52] Speaker B: So yes, just negotiate, put it on your list.
But you need to know what you want and what will make you happy. Just don't do things and then keep complaining. I'm not happy. After you did all the negotiations, that means you didn't target right so don't blame others when it doesn't work. Blame yourself. You didn't that the right structure. So yeah, take, remember, take responsibility and accountability for your decisions.
Don't blame others.
[01:07:21] Speaker A: Yes, great words of wisdom here everybody. And it sounds like also those are kind of the shared principles or that probably appear throughout the business caring formula on your podcast and probably stand out. When you think about speaking, strengthening even the global Armenian innovation community. Is there anything else that you want to add to that that you want to share with the audience with the Armenian innovation community
[01:07:50] Speaker B: with specific to Armenian innovation team or people because they are all over there are Armenian innovators, but live in different countries. So different environments, different challenges, different opportunities.
I'm gonna say something that when you know your identity, it's a strength.
When you add other technical soft skill and knowledge, experience all these strengths, then you become a powerhouse.
So Armenian innovators, wherever you are, just make sure you know and people know your identity because that's a very good way to start. People kind of know what to expect from you. And if they don't know who Armenians are, tell them who they are that we know. We've been in innovative nations all the time.
And if you're not Armenian, then find some something about your nation that is strong and then you should communicate it because people may not have a chance to learn about this or that nation. So when you are saying I am this nationality know what is really good about that they need to know because then you are actually vouching for yourself like I'm that person that this nation represents. So talk, think about it. And for specifically to Armenians we actually are known being an innovative, creative, creative and nation that builds. So those are strengths that everybody will appreciate to hire you into their company, to invest in your company because you, you represent all these values and identity is key. And I'm going to extend this advice to any person on this planet. Same thing how you represent yourself.
You build that trust in anything you want to do. As an innovator, as a founder, as a business person, as a banker, as a manufacturer. Whatever area or industry you're in, once you walk in with that identity, I pay attention to it. I connect people much faster when I see they kind of know what who they are. And then I can build that trust of doing business with them, investing in them, helping them, monitoring them, that investment to grow and. And then it creates this big value. So that's my overall advice to people. Respect yourself, know yourself, respect others, know others. And then that whole system just starts Moving, that's life.
It creates enormous energy and enormous outcome. That's amazing. And that keeps me going and the pace of New York also helped me addition. It gets done a little bit faster but regardless it's happening so things positive way. So positive leadership is also key.
Know the negative. Understanding what makes, makes sure that negative doesn't create more obstacles. Manage the negative, but build positive. Build on opportunities, build on your beautiful identity. Whatever it is, know it and know yourself and connect.
That's yeah.
[01:11:34] Speaker A: And you know, out of the 27 companies, do you mind sharing one or two of them with the audience?
[01:11:45] Speaker B: Of course, of course. So my portfolio, some of them that I would like to highlight, especially the ones that are, that grew tremendously, they're successful, great companies and they will continue growing further.
I'm going to start with my first investment which was Skyla. It's a security company. It's an S C Y L L A dot AI.
It's a security in all aspects. It actually does security software and they also have hardware components that does protect people in any environments, protect businesses.
Doing the surveillance through cameras and the face recognition that was even spoken years ago. They, they were one of the first ones to have that very well designed and, and sold.
So Skyla AI you can learn more about it so you can, you can actually look at it. They're gonna do a series, series a round I think in couple of months, in 2, 3 months you will hear that they, they're gonna be raising money. So if there are any investors interested, talk to me.
The next I would highlight is Cognase. It's a C O G N A I Z e dot com. It's a fintech company.
Amazing portfolio. When you go to a website they are serving top scoring companies on this planet and banks, insurance companies, they grew tremendously. And both companies have an Armenian founder and Armenian co founders.
Amazing, amazing portfolio for those two companies. The third one that I'm going to highlight is, is that Armenian is a co founder and we have a non Armenian co founder. It's Gecko Robotics. It's in the climbing robots that is creating tremendous value for the human capital actually for the AI. We didn't have time to talk deeper in AI. I have very strong perspective on what AI does to our society and to planet and to space.
I say it's not just a tool to cut costs or to get people's jobs away. Absolutely not. AI is here to transform human capital efficiency, to transform human activity in everyday life.
So Gecko Robotics is a perfect example of that, that it does prediction of the corrosion on any metal construction especially large scale like planes, bridges, submarine.
And like a large, large, massive metal infrastructure.
It does the corrosion and prediction. How is there any corrosion coming? Something that people had to do it manually. And it. It's. It was such a daunting, extremely risky job and sometimes was so expensive many companies didn't even do. Which would create a problem for bridges to collapse, for planes to fall, for submarines to actually dive into the ocean. So and.
And get bad.
So deep in the ocean. Not the dark because that's what they do. But to. To become so deep in corrosion that they have to live it out. It's just. They cannot be used anymore. So with those like this is a perfect example that this brings all of these chapters. Wasn't it good for me? What's any good for family?
Like family security. Right. That bridges will be standing because they were taken care of properly at the right time. Community.
Everybody's safe travel with planes and bridges and everything. So even it goes beyond the the space because spaceships also are made of metal. Most of the parts. Is there any corrosion happening and it will be safe.
I'm hoping that one day we all go to have vacation in the space and then we're flying there. So those equipments have to be maintained.
Yeah. That's my dream. So I'm waiting for it. When is it time to come.
But these technologies will make it happen.
[01:16:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:16:41] Speaker B: So Gecko Robotics and there is a Earth Grid who is a US guy who is running it. It's called Earth Grid. One word.
The Earth Grid is doing a tunnel opening tunnels with this special plasma equipment that they have.
It's so new technology innovation and we invested in them in 2024 and I'm one of the investors as well. And we had several angels also to invest in the company.
There are many more to mention.
There are a couple in a space tech that and in the defense industry that those are recent new ones those months. I will. I will say go and check my portfolio on Angel List and you will see mountglobal.com it's in there. You can actually go and check the. Where we invested. All all these companies are listed there.
[01:17:48] Speaker A: Okay. That's. Wow. A lot of them are like what they sound very intriguing. Interesting. The first one you mentioned made me think of like a Mission Impossible or James Bond movie probably. You know.
I know there's always more, you know technologies and tech out there that so many government entities and top security clearance are using way before the public knows about it.
So yeah And I was gonna. Oh, sorry, go ahead.
[01:18:24] Speaker B: One more thing. The one more company that I'd like to. It's a pre IPO Pixart.
[01:18:28] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:18:29] Speaker B: That we're gonna. We have secondaries available in case people want to Invest. It's Pixart pic s a r t Pixart.
It's actually ranked number six with the downloads at number six. When OpenAI and others are in the two digit numbers, it's number six. So take a look at it. It's a, it's a. It's actually open for. For secondaries right now and we do it through a special secondary trust company through UK that's another opportunity and we are going to open up with Anthropic and OpenAI Deals are coming.
They submitted their.
And this is going to be done through Covenant Venture Capital and we did SpaceX by the way we were part of the SpaceX exit in a couple of months ago and now we are getting prepared.
We're looking for also investors interest in Anthropic because they're. They and OpenAI both of them submitted their application for going IPO.
[01:19:44] Speaker A: Okay.
Interesting. Yeah. I've been.
It's interesting to me all the different things that are opening up out there career wise and AI. So yes.
[01:19:58] Speaker B: I'm not just saying things that is nice to have. It's real. The real deals come move. Take risks. The worst risk you take is taking no risk.
That's. I'm just gonna. Yeah. Finalize my thinking about this and because I went through that transformation myself.
[01:20:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:20:24] Speaker B: That learning how to take risks and I'm thankful of that transition that I made myself for me, family, for my community, for the country, for the globe and for universe. So yeah, you can just check boxes. I'm glad I did that risk because it impacted all of the above.
[01:20:45] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:20:46] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:20:47] Speaker A: Amazing.
And you know, I had a train of thought. I kind of lost it now. Sorry. I do that sometimes because I'm thinking about a million things at once.
But yeah, I just, I feel like, you know, looking ahead, I think that's, you know, important to have a good attitude about it and there's you know, a lot of different views on AI right now.
So. Yeah. In fact I've seen things in the news recently where it gets pretty heated and I know some people who feel very strongly one way or the other. But I also think that, you know, I don't think that being angry or not talking to people or disassociating with people whether they believe one way or the other is not going to help us either, you know, moving forward as a nation, as a world or globally. As you said, like the universe.
But yeah. And then as far as integration and looking ahead Orion Score, the BAJ cohorts digital expansion.
I think you kind of went over the stuff you're most excited about coming up and any of the conversations on the podcast or content from your website that you feel like you want to share. Do you think you feel like you already kind of shared the exciting and upcoming.
[01:22:26] Speaker B: Yes, I would. I would probably conclude this conversation saying that there are certain things that are available for you to take advantage of to learn.
On my mrakalian.com I have blogs about AI, how to respond, about Gen Z, what to do today to be prepared for tomorrow, what is the impact of all these new industry approaches of agents to be used in the workspace, what it means and what you need to do. And this is not only for new beginners or but professionals who are in in the industries and all this is happening around them. So I have blogs, take a look at them. Those are very short couple of pages.
Research and analysis of what is happening and what is that you can do for your life, for your profession, for your future.
Regardless of what age or what industry you're in. Those are.
It's a knowledge base that helps you to make new decisions and plan.
So that's one area you can take a look at it. If you are a startup that you're listening to this podcast, go and score for free. That scoring for startups is free of charge. Go to orionscore.com and score your company.
You learn how the investor will think about you, where you're strong, where you are not strong and what would you be doing to make that scoring higher. So there is a recommendation. One liner, two liner, small paragraph, it's not long to read.
Plus you can make some changes and score yourself again and see your progress. So you can monitor your progress from the investor perspective.
So if you're a startup, do that there is no risk to take. It's your report, nobody's looking at it. Your looking at it and then you can score yourself, show it to your team, discuss why this number comes low when we thought we are really good at this. Analyze because that's how when you tell your story about your company, that's what the impression is going to be with the investor and then you will be questioning why didn't he invest or why there was no interest. It tells you why.
So that's another thing for the businesses that you have Never had a chance to see or buy stuff that you didn't even know they exist. Go to digitaljulfa.com and there are some interesting products that all over the world we just put it there.
There is also fashion, art, music, ceramics, also the innovation, some of the startups we listed there. And also the Mount Global is there, government is there. So you can actually go and find some references that I was making as we were discussing.
Plus read the history.
That's a history of trade that was happening 17th to 19th centuries. Did you know the details? If not, go and check. There is an interesting one that you will find out and it helps you to get more informed in any decision you make or any story you tell. You know more than you knew. They say yesterday and it helps you with your today's decisions. It's not disjointed. It helps you to understand the mankind. 300 years ago is not actually that different. We just have same human brain and we got more useful only because the education is in a different stage for everybody.
At that time it was very selective. Now it's more people have access. Now, especially with the online, with AI, it's even more available.
So now we have pace that we can use and do astonishing things and very fast.
So I would say take a look at those. You can go to bajaccelerator.com and see all of the companies that I mentioned. You can find them.
Pixart is not there because it's already pre IPO company, not listed there. But it is listed in the cognate venture because we invested first through there. So there is a lot of actions you can take.
Learn more because it's available.
Take more actions because you can take risks. If you want to do really calculated risk, it's fine, do that too. But not taking no risk at all. Saying that I don't understand this. Well, then you don't understand. Then learn why you don't understand it. Then understand and then decide after understanding it's not mine. That's fine. Saying no without.
And also getting angry. Get angry to do more. Like how come I'm not. I'm angry I didn't do this before. Why get angry on that one?
Don't get up, get excited that you have that opportunity. You can.
You just decided not to do it, not because you couldn't. You decided not to do it because you didn't have enough information. So educate yourself as well and then make decisions not to do certain things. But I call them educated decisions.
[01:28:06] Speaker A: Mm.
Okay.
Okay. Everybody write that down.
[01:28:13] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:28:14] Speaker A: In your brain and. Yeah. So. Or score. Everybody go do that. It sounds like an amazing tool to use and utilize, and it's basically for your journey. Mentorship, leadership, lifestyle building, and teaching. It's been amazing listening to you today.
Is there anything specific you'd like to close with the audience today?
Emma?
[01:28:44] Speaker B: Yes. I'm gonna say a sentence. I love people.
I love people, especially when they have dreams. Please dream, dream. And while you're dreaming, dream big.
And while you're dreaming big, have those five categories because it will force you to be big.
If it's not big, then it doesn't fit it. It stops since, let's say, with your second layer, the other three didn't touch. So dream big and see what you can do as of today towards that dream.
[01:29:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:29:25] Speaker B: And then all these new technologies are amazing. See the positive side of those technologies, because when you see the positive, you do something about it. And you are part of that change. You're not outside. You are in it.
So embrace the change, learn the change, Participate, and then participate so much that you start managing and driving, and then eventually you lead in that change. That's crazy good. What's stopping you?
Yourself?
Have you done all of this that I said? Not yet. So do it. And then whatever role you end up doing, you can stop just participating, but not managing, your leading. But if you have that capability, your strengths, if you're good at managing and leading, why wouldn't you? So be part of the change.
Embrace it. Get angry that you don't understand, and try to understand. So that's my message to everybody, to all ages.
Even if you're close to 70 or 80, it doesn't matter. Learn because you be part of it. Enjoy this great transformation that the humanity is going through.
[01:30:40] Speaker A: All right, everybody, so this has been an amazing conversation.
You know, just taking everything in on Emma Ar Kian.
And yes. So I know that a lot of you will probably now have a new leader you're looking up to after listening to this podcast. So, you know, go dive into her podcast, her book, her website, and. Yeah, and thank you so much for being here, Emma. And I hope that this won't be the last time that we collaborate and connect on something.
[01:31:14] Speaker B: My pleasure. And thank you for being with me. Thank you for your questions, and thank you all listeners for staying with us.
[01:31:21] Speaker A: Yes. All right, as always, on the Dr. Random podcast, we say, ciao,
[01:31:27] Speaker B: ciao soon, stay soon.
