Kumud Kalia's guest appearances

Kumud Kalia

Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

IT Visionaries

Bold stories. Future focused.

Brian Lillie

Mickey Boodaei

Stuart McGuigan

David Bray

Atticus Tysen

Vittorio Cretella

Jim Fowler

Brian Hoyt

Jeanne Ross

Tim Campos

Saul Van Beurden

Paul Chapman

Norm Fjeldheim

Prakash Kota

Mark Settle

OwlTail

More than ever, brands are conducting bigger-picture business. Besides the bottom line, the importance of leading with purpose, fulfilling their workforce, and making a real impact on the world are driving decisions. But in the hierarchy of decision-making, what does leading with a mission really mean, and are businesses willing to sacrifice to uphold it? Organization theorist Jeanne Ross decided to find out and talks about her findings in discussion with Kumud Kalia, Chief Information Officer at Guardant Health.   Key Takeaways: [0:53] Mobile technology, AI, and the internet have dramatically increased the speed of interaction. As a result, customer expectations have skyrocketed. One fast-growing industry is BioTech, and what more urgent need for digital transformation than saving lives? [3:04] Kumud is a High-Tech Veteran and has led IT departments at major companies such as Cylance, Inc. and Akamai Technologies. Now, as CIO of Guardant Health, he is part of a team leading the efforts to serve millions of patients around the world. [4:31] Adoption is one of the main challenges in any new technology. At Guardant Health, there is an urgency for doctors and oncologists to adopt their offerings. Kumud talks about building trust with doctors through data and FDA approvals, so they can see that investing time and effort into learning will pay dividends as a result. [6:51] Kumud describes the cross-functional teams at Guardant working as fast as possible to save lives. Although the people come from different departments, they each know their clearly defined mission and common objective. They can also work independently and accept accountability for setting their own goals and outlines. [9:25] Why don’t they hire more people? It’s still hard to find the right people to join the team. [10:11] Kumud talks about what he looks for in recruitment. There is still a war for talent, pandemic or not. [13:51] Growing cross-functional teams that are autonomous but aligned takes management a long time to get right. [16:01] Kumud and Jo discuss technical debt in fast-growing companies. There is a balance to getting off the ground initially, but using systems that won’t create too big of an obstacle in the future. [18:44] People and culture can also be an aspect of technical dept. Kumud remarks that our agile teams will help us with technical debt, but it may be tough to recognize. [20:26] Kumud and his team at Guardant are always thinking about how to have the largest social impact. [21:41] Jeanne is optimistic that leaders will thrive in a new environment that relies on digital technology, and we should be excited about learning and opportunities ahead. [23:12] What makes your work meaningful to you? What is the mission behind your work and does it define your company’s choices from the top executives to the janitor?   Quotes:  “People don’t do things just because you tell them. They need to feel it. They need to believe it.” - Jo “For us, value is defined by the patient experience.” - Kumud “If you are going to hire smart people, you’ve got to let them do smart things.” - Kumud “The war for talent is only half the challenge of scaling a rapidly growing company.” - Jeanie “The fastest path is not always best for future long term scaling.” - Kumud    Continue On Your Journey: www.pega.com www.pega.com/podcast Guardant Health

More than ever, brands are conducting bigger-picture business. Besides the bottom line, the importance of leading with purpose, fulfilling their workforce, and making a real impact on the world are driving decisions. But in the hierarchy of decision-making, what does leading with a mission really mean, and are businesses willing to sacrifice to uphold it? Organization theorist Jeanne Ross decided to find out and talks about her findings in discussion with Kumud Kalia, Chief Information Officer at Guardant Health. Key Takeaways: [0:53] Mobile technology, AI, and the internet have dramatically increased the speed of interaction. As a result, customer expectations have skyrocketed. One fast-growing industry is BioTech, and what more urgent need for digital transformation than saving lives? [3:04] Kumud is a High-Tech Veteran and has led IT departments at major companies such as Cylance, Inc. and Akamai Technologies. Now, as CIO of Guardant Health, he is part of a team leading the efforts to serve millions of patients around the world. [4:31] Adoption is one of the main challenges in any new technology. At Guardant Health, there is an urgency for doctors and oncologists to adopt their offerings. Kumud talks about building trust with doctors through data and FDA approvals, so they can see that investing time and effort into learning will pay dividends as a result. [6:51] Kumud describes the cross-functional teams at Guardant working as fast as possible to save lives. Although the people come from different departments, they each know their clearly defined mission and common objective. They can also work independently and accept accountability for setting their own goals and outlines. [9:25] Why don’t they hire more people? It’s still hard to find the right people to join the team. [10:11] Kumud talks about what he looks for in recruitment. There is still a war for talent, pandemic or not. [13:51] Growing cross-functional teams that are autonomous but aligned takes management a long time to get right. [16:01] Kumud and Jo discuss technical debt in fast-growing companies. There is a balance to getting off the ground initially, but using systems that won’t create too big of an obstacle in the future. [18:44] People and culture can also be an aspect of technical dept. Kumud remarks that our agile teams will help us with technical debt, but it may be tough to recognize. [20:26] Kumud and his team at Guardant are always thinking about how to have the largest social impact. [21:41] Jeanne is optimistic that leaders will thrive in a new environment that relies on digital technology, and we should be excited about learning and opportunities ahead. [23:12] What makes your work meaningful to you? What is the mission behind your work and does it define your company’s choices from the top executives to the janitor? Quotes: <ul> <li>“People don’t do things just because you tell them. They need to feel it. They need to believe it.” - Jo</li> <li>“For us, value is defined by the patient experience.” - Kumud</li> <li>“If you are going to hire smart people, you’ve got to let them do smart things.” - Kumud</li> <li>“The war for talent is only half the challenge of scaling a rapidly growing company.” - Jeanie</li> <li>“The fastest path is not always best for future long term scaling.” - Kumud</li> </ul> Continue On Your Journey: <a href="https://www.pega.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.pega.com</a> <a href="http://www.pega.com/podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.pega.com/podcast</a> <a href="https://guardanthealth.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Guardant Health</a>

The real cost of conducting mission-driven business ft. Jeanne Ross and Kumud Kalia

Welcome to our third CIO Roundtable. Joining us at the table this time are Brian Lillie (LinkedIn), who won CIO of the Year for Silicon Valley in 2014 while he was in the role for Equinix, and Kumud Kalia (LinkedIn), a multiple-time CIO who most recently held the title at Cylance. Together with Ian they discuss having a sounding board of other CIOs to talk to, leveraging your network to get things done internally, work-life balance, and how to be both a good CIO and a good person, and so much more.   If you’d like to check out our previous CIO Roundtables click here and here or any of our other episodes check out Mission.org/ITVisionaries. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM.  Read: AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper This podcast is sponsored by Salesforce. Did you know Salesforce isn't just for Sales? Using Salesforce as an Employee Experience Platform helps make every employee across your organization more productive thanks to a common, mobile-first platform for getting work done faster. Find out more at salesforce.com/EmployeeExperiencece

Welcome to our third CIO Roundtable. Joining us at the table this time are Brian Lillie (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachlillie/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>), who won CIO of the Year for Silicon Valley in 2014 while he was in the role for Equinix, and Kumud Kalia (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumudkalia/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>), a multiple-time CIO who most recently held the title at Cylance. Together with Ian they discuss having a sounding board of other CIOs to talk to, leveraging your network to get things done internally, work-life balance, and how to be both a good CIO and a good person, and so much more.   If you’d like to check out our previous CIO Roundtables click <a href="http://bit.ly/2Sxm6JX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/2troRSz" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> or any of our other episodes check out <a href="http://bit.ly/30iYuxo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mission.org/ITVisionaries</a>. Salesforce and MIT recently teamed up to create a whitepaper exploring what happens when AI meets CRM. Read: <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/collection/ai-meets-crm-transforming-customer-experiences/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AI Meets CRM: An MIT Tech Review Whitepaper</a> This podcast is sponsored by Salesforce. Did you know Salesforce isn't just for Sales? Using Salesforce as an Employee Experience Platform helps make every employee across your organization more productive thanks to a common, mobile-first platform for getting work done faster. Find out more at <a href="salesforce.com/EmployeeExperience" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">salesforce.com/EmployeeExperiencece</a>

CIO Roundtable No. 3 with Kumud Kalia and Brian Lillie

Among other topics, Kumud discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:  The challenges and advantages of being a CIO in a tech company Agility in a fast-growing, evolving organization verses agility in a mature organization The partnership between Akamai’s IT and product teams in developing and testing new solutions Adding higher value as a CIO: developing internal solutions that can be adopted by the end- customer Driving enterprise strategy by leveraging a culture of expansive thinking Eye on the trends: disrupting infrastructure paradigms    Kumud Kalia is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Information Officer of Akamai Technologies, a $2.3 billion global content delivery network services firm. Kumud is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and operation of the applications and infrastructure that support the company’s business operations. Prior to joining Akamai, Kumud served as CIO at Direct Energy, Qwest Communications, and the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Kumud holds a Bachelor of Science in electronic engineering from Bangor University.

Among other topics, Kumud discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: <ul> <li>The challenges and advantages of being a CIO in a tech company</li> <li>Agility in a fast-growing, evolving organization verses agility in a mature organization</li> <li>The partnership between Akamai’s IT and product teams in developing and testing new solutions</li> <li>Adding higher value as a CIO: developing internal solutions that can be adopted by the end- customer</li> <li>Driving enterprise strategy by leveraging a culture of expansive thinking</li> <li>Eye on the trends: disrupting infrastructure paradigms</li> </ul> Kumud Kalia is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Information Officer of Akamai Technologies, a $2.3 billion global content delivery network services firm. Kumud is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and operation of the applications and infrastructure that support the company’s business operations. Prior to joining Akamai, Kumud served as CIO at Direct Energy, Qwest Communications, and the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Kumud holds a Bachelor of Science in electronic engineering from Bangor University.

Kumud Kalia, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Akamai Technologies