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Learn More About Soumitra Dutta
As technology evolves at a faster pace than ever, knowing how to anticipate change – and how to combine technology and humans – has never been more urgent. Optimal application of the latest innovations requires capable and knowledgeable leaders.
With deep experience in technology, business and academia, Soumitra Dutta, dean of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, offers practical frameworks that help leaders optimize the extensive value of technology when it’s applied in business contexts.
“The biggest opportunity I see in business today is for C-Suite leaders to innovatively leverage the emerging tech space,” says Dutta, co-founder of the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness Index and one of the most highly sought-after experts on digital transformation and organizational leadership in the world. “There’s enormous complexity in emerging technology, so it’s vital to simplify an understanding of the terminology, the conceptual anchors and the ways to leverage the innovative potential of technology.”
“Many companies don’t know how to handle big digital disruptions,” explains Dutta. “The whole space is changing rapidly and it’s important to have simple frameworks for analyzing an organization’s digital capabilities and map out action steps. Leaders must understand what it means to be a digital company, to have a digital business model and most importantly, the different dimensions of the transition to win in a digital era.”
Shaping an Organization’s DNA Through Nuanced Leadership
In addition to his current role as dean of Oxford’s business school, Dutta was founding dean of Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, and is co-founder and president of the Washington, DC based think tank, Portulans Institute. He has also been appointed as Chair of the Taskforce of Experts on AI by the Paris based international organization OECD.
His international leadership experience spans the academic, business, non-profit and government sectors giving him a global, multidisciplinary perspective on leadership development, the talent pipeline and the important decisions leaders face every day.
“One of the nuanced decisions a leader has to make is how do you allocate resources across different emerging technologies? Those tough decisions must both build the current business and at the same time create innovative new future business models,” explains Dutta, who helped establish Cornell University’s Cornell Tech Campus in New York City. “I help leaders consider leadership more philosophically and urge them to think about their vision of their company and how they look at the interplay of intelligent technology and innovative people. These decisions shape an organization’s DNA and become about much more than traditional profit motives. It’s about impact and doing good for both the environment and society.”
AI Policies to Benefit Business and Empower Employees
As the innovative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at an exponential pace, it becomes essential to integrate these technologies within an organization’s products and processes.
While it’s important to understand how technologies like large language models (LLMs) and neural networks function, it’s even more vital for leaders to understand how they impact an organization’s core business success today and in the future.
“The successful leader will be one who is able to have a simple yet accurate understanding of how technology is evolving, how it impacts the business and how you combine it with your employees,” explains Dutta, whose Ph.D. specialized in AI and who recently authored a report, “AI Policies for Business,” for the 2023 New Delhi G20 Summit for the B20 group. “The biggest challenge for CEOs right now is putting in place policies to effectively integrate machines and people in a way that both furthers innovation in the business and empowers and upholds the dignity of workers.”
Understand Innovation Trends to Successfully Transition to a Digital Business Model
With the strategic implementation of technology being a critical issue for leaders, Dutta provides practical frameworks for executing digital transitions and leveraging exponential trends. An authority on tracking technological innovations around the world, he founded the Global Innovation Index, which has been published by the United Nations since 2010 and is used by more than 120 countries as a guide to formulate policies for enhancing innovation performance.
“While many organizations have become very good at handling incremental process innovations, they struggle with the challenge of managing disruptive digital innovations”, explains Dutta. “The obstacles are less linked to technical elements and more influenced by the ability of leaders to ask the right questions and to courageously lead an organization through a process of rapid change.”
The Peter Mores Dean of the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, Soumitra Dutta spent more than three decades leading business schools across the Atlantic such as the University of Oxford, INSEAD and Cornell University. Dutta has conducted extensive research in and consulted with leading global firms on building effective technology and innovation strategies.
Dutta has served on the boards of major international corporations including Sodexo, Dassault Systemes and ZS Associates, works with smaller startups and has co-founded two technology startups – Fisheye Analytics (an AI-driven social media analytics firm that was sold to the WPP Communications Group in 2013) and Green Frontier Capital (a VC fund focused on early stage climate tech ventures started in 2020).
Dutta is deeply involved with non-profits and is on the boards of several global business schools including Centrum Catholica (Peru), HEC Montreal (Canada), University of Los Andes (Colombia) and ESADE (Spain). He has chaired the leading global business school accrediting agency, AACSB and is currently the chair of the Global Business School Network. He has also served co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems and is the founder and president of Portulans Institute, a Washington DC based non-partisan non-profit institute focused on research and outreach on technology, talent and innovation.
Dutta earned a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2017, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. In 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Amity University, India’s largest and leading private university.
Soumitra Dutta is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.
Simplify AI to Benefit Business and Bring Out the Best in Your People
Understanding emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), is becoming more complex every day. But according to Soumitra Dutta, dean of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, the key to understating how technology impacts a business is to simplify it. In this revealing presentation, Dutta explains that successful leaders are those who have a simplistic yet accurate understanding of how technology is evolving, how it impacts business, and how to combine it with innovative people. With a practical framework, he illustrates that by making sense of AI trends like generative AI, leaders can effectively integrate intelligent machines and innovative people in a way that benefits business while simultaneously bringing out the best in their people.
AI Policies for Business: Creating a Competitive and Sustainable Future
The rapid rate of progress of AI and the exponential increase in new approaches such as generative AI requires an urgent call for action from governments, policy makers, academics, and business leaders about AI policy and regulation. In this engaging presentation, Saïd Business School Dean Soumitra Dutta draws from his recent paper prepared for the 2023 G20 Summit, “AI Policies for Business,” to inform audiences about important aspects of AI policies in five categories:
- AI and Jobs – The impact of AI on employment and the labor market, including skills requirements and education needs.
- AI and Productivity – How AI can drive productivity through research, development and innovation.
- AI and Sustainability – The influence of AI on environmental sustainability and the challenges involved.
- AI and Privacy & Security – The security issues raised by AI, along with solutions for data access and sharing.
- AI and Social Good – The potential of AI to contribute to societal well-being, touching on aspects such as ethics and inequality.
The Future of AI: Building Your Digital DNA to Leverage Coming Disruptions
Is your organization a digital company? Does your organization truly understand what digital disruption means? According to Soumitra Dutta, dean of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, many companies miss valuable opportunities when faced with big digital disruptions like artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies that are on the horizon. In this eye-opening presentation, Dutta explains the importance of understanding the frontiers of digital innovation and what it means to be a digital company with a strong digital DNA embedded in your core. With a practical framework, he emphasizes the significance of emerging AI trends and their impact on business and people. Through cases and stories, he helps audiences decode global innovation trends to map out actions surrounding exponential technology advancement.
Building Future Ready Organizations: Leading in an Age of Exponential Scientific Change
Organizational leaders are faced with a growing gap between the rate at which science is evolving and the rate at which organizations adapt and change. Dean of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, Soumitra Dutta, says one of the most nuanced decisions leaders must make is how to build future ready organizations that are able to build on current strengths while simultaneously creating potentially disruptive future business models. In this engaging presentation, Dutta reveals the deep importance of leaders being able to ask the right questions, then having the courage to take risks and explore new opportunities. Audiences will learn that the secret of leadership is not necessarily having all the right answers but being able to ask the right questions. Attendees will walk away with an understanding of how critical leadership decisions help organizations become future ready and able to innovate successfully in an age of exponential scientific change.
The Future Of Tech And Leadership: Insights From Oxford
April 16, 2024
AI-Powered Profits: Navigating the New Business Renaissance
October 3, 2023
The History and Future of AI (Audio)
June 8, 2022
Innovation Resilience During the Pandemic – and Beyond
November 17, 2021
Robo Advising (Audio)
March 28, 2021
Global Innovation Index (Audio)
October 12, 2020
How Covid-19 Will Affect Investment in Global Innovation
October 9, 2020
AI Policies for Business
(Confederation of Indian Industry, August, 2023)
Ask Measure Learn: Using Social Media Analytics to Understand and Influence Customer Behavior
(O'Reilly Media, February 2014)
Understanding AI for Business Leaders: Optimally Integrate Humans and Technology to Catalyze Innovation and Growth
Oxford University’s Saïd Business School Dean Soumitra Dutta is one of the leading experts on leadership, AI strategy and digital transformation in the world. A highly sought after authority on global innovation, integrating human workers and technology, and leadership development who has led business schools on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Dutta helps organizations catalyze innovation and drive growth. Founding dean of Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, creator of the Global Innovation index, and co-founder of the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness Index, he’s a business and technology expert who offers a global, multidisciplinary perspective. Dutta is available to discuss any or all the following topics during one-on-one or small group advisory meetings. Each program can be customized to meet the needs and goals of your organization with the added option of meeting virtually or in-person.
- Simplify AI to Benefit Business and Bring Out the Best in Your People
- AI Policies for Business
- The Future of AI
- Building Future Ready Organizations
- Global Perspectives on Talent Development and Leadership