What do Cindy Crawford, Big Data, AI, Robotics and Innovation have in common? Aside from being subjects of keen interest to many, each was on the featured agenda at the recent Wall Street Journal D.LIVE/D.LUXE getaway held at the Montage Resort at Laguna Beach, CA. The event was billed as an “exclusive gathering of CEOs, founders, investors and luminaries from around the world." The 3-day program brought together leaders and influencers from the worlds of technology, fashion, leisure and entertainment, philanthropy and art for a discussion of how ideas in business and technology innovation are shaping the business, fashion and leisure landscapes.
Among the notable tech and business leaders participating in the program were chief executives and line-of business heads representing firms including Alibaba, Cisco, Facebook, General Motors, Intel, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Oracle, Qualcomm and Walmart. In addition, storied entertainment and media industry figures, such as Jeffrey Katzenberg, Barry Diller and Ariana Huffington, held forth on some of the innovative and disruptive changes that are reshaping business and markets today.
Some of the memorable quotes and takeaways from the program included:
- Entertainment industry legend Barry Diller on innovation: “If you really want a company to innovate, they’ve got to be on their own melting ice cube. Incumbents never invent anything new. Incumbents protect their ground. Other people come in with new ideas”.
- General Motors President Dan Ammann on autonomous cars: “Every year 40,000 people are killed in traffic accidents in the U.S. Regulators will tell you 95% of those fatalities are caused by human error. Replacing the human driver with a better driver almost becomes an obligation to deploy this technology for the betterment of society.”
- Intel CEO Brian Krzanich on artificial intelligence: “Artificial intelligence is going to be similar to what the internet was back in the 1990’s. You’re going to be using artificial intelligence or be outpaced by people who are.”
- Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai on artificial intelligence, Big Data, and trust: “I have a cigar theory on AI – C-U-B-A. “C” stands for cloud computing. “U” means use cases. “B” means Big Data. “A” is an algorithm. It is very important that those who preside over large troves of data are very mindful of consumer trust. The difference between trust and non-trust is a very thin wall. So, we feel we are treading on thin ice all the time. ”
- Microsoft Executive Vice President Peggy Johnson on the challenges facing women in the tech and business worlds: “I’m an electrical engineer, and when I first started out, there was nobody who looked like me out there. I could never get the floor. I thought at one point, “I’m just going to drop out.” My manager at the time said, “Don’t do that.” That’s when my career really took off. I’ve tried to make sure everybody is heard. It’s very important, whether you’re a quiet man or a quiet woman”.
- Uncharted Play Founder and CEO Jessica Matthews on Africa’s tech rush: “I think what’s going to define Africa’s tech rush is whether or not it is controlled by the people of Africa or it's simply happening to the people of Africa”.
The final afternoon of the Wall Street Journal program focused on entrepreneurship and the intersection of new business models within lifestyle and fashion, and featured discussions with actor and entrepreneur Jared Leto (“I have always been entrepreneurial, ever since I sold dope as a kid.”) and supermodel and businesswoman Cindy Crawford (“Modeling is the only profession where women make more money than men.”).
The closing discussion of the three-day program, an interview by the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay of recording industry producer Scooter Braun (manager of recording artists Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Ariana Grande), proved to be unexpectedly powerful, moving and relevant. As the manager for the singer Ariana Grande, Braun recalled in very personal terms the May 2017 terror attack at Manchester Arena in England that left 23 dead and 250 injured following an Ariana Grande concert. Three weeks following the terror attack, Braun helped organize the One Love Manchester concert to benefit families and victims of the attack. Recalling that the May terror attack occurred as concert-goers were filing out of the Manchester concert, Braun recounted how as the crowds filed out of the One Love benefit concert, they sang in unison, at the top of their lungs, the anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in a spirit of courage and defiance.
Three days of thought-provoking discussion and stimulating ideas about the impacts of Big Data, AI, Robotics and Innovation ended with a poignant reminder and beneficial perspective, that amidst the discussions of disruption and innovation and its impact on our lives, we live in turbulent times where it is our common humanity that binds us together.
Randy Bean is an industry thought-leader and author, and CEO of NewVantage Partners, a strategic advisory and management consulting firm which he founded in 2001. He is a contributor to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and The Wall Street Journal, and founder of the Big Data for Social Justice Foundation. You can follow him at @RandyBeanNVP.
