Dr Ankoor Dasguupta: How AI Is Disrupting Our Industry, and What We Can Do About It

An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti

Prepare to Unlearn

Artificial Intelligence is no longer the future; it is the present. It’s reshaping landscapes, altering industries, and transforming the way we live and work. With its rapid advancement, AI is causing disruption — for better or worse — in every field imaginable. While it promises efficiency and growth, it also brings challenges and uncertainties that professionals and businesses must navigate. What can one do to pivot if AI is disrupting their industry? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ankoor Dasguupta.

A select Member of Leaders Excellence [MLE] at Harvard Square, Dr. Ankoor Dasguupta is ICF accredited Professional Certified Coach (PCC), a CMO and a Thought Leader. An active speaker and writer with close to 100 published works and multiple regular columns in global publications, Ankoor has been covered in multiple international magazine Cover Stories, multiple prestigious awards and winner of the coveted national level D. A.P.J Abdul Kalam Inspiration award 2024 and also recipient of Man of Excellence by the prestigious Indian Achievers’ Forum, while with 24 years’ work experience, Dr. Dasguupta believes in building delightful, sustainable and powerful teams bringing amazing experiences for people. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankoordasguupta/

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

Regarding my area of work, I consider marketing and advertising as a romance rather than just a subject. It is an ocean with fast evolution and hence I also spend my time reading voraciously. I have been going with the flow, being an average student in school and college and the best part is I have never had a problem with being average as it has always acted a blessing in disguise for me to become more disciplined each day and not take life too seriously. I feel good about how my life has evolved and I am grateful to have got an opportunity to watch this digital evolution

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We as a team believe in not only building but nurturing relationships with our customers. It is actually a simple story that we play on repeat mode which makes us better as getting better. We often go out to eat together, we brainstorm for free-flowing ideas, and we are extremely good with ‘how’ we solve for our clients. So, we usually tend to find stories within stories during our conversations. That helps in keeping your team inspired and this reflects very well externally as well.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

If I’d pick three-character traits, -

1. Being in the moment — the simple art of listening well and being in the moment with that person. Be it team member, boss, clients, or networking at an event. If I have one minute to just say hello to someone, I will say it meaningfully, by looking in the eye and using that moment effectively.
2. Discipline — This is something that was imbibed from my grandfather. It all started with starting my day early. I realized from early childhood that there is no shortcut to discipline and this trait till date helps me to perform optimally daily and helps me achieve my goals with clarity of thought. Infact while doing my thinking, I always ask the ‘why’ to myself.
3. Organized — this stems from my being disciplined. I start my day with making my bed, having a tall glass of water, making myself tea, reflecting on the previous day, making a to-do list bifurcated into priority 1 and priority 2 and then reading few chapters from my mini library. Also, I love keeping everything at my desk both office and home organized. It helps me to find my things easily. Being in senior leadership it is important that I start with an inside out approach and start with myself.

Let’s now move to the main point of our discussion about AI. Can you explain how AI is disrupting your industry? Is this disruption hurting or helping your bottom line?

I won’t use a word like disruption (seems more of a negative connotation). I would rather use ‘evolution (with cognizance). There are companies and people who are using AI to actually solve for humanity and healthcare.

There are music artists who are integrating AI and aspects of sustainability. Coming to our bottom line, we only use AI to get inspired for creative and if we want to experiment and challenge ourselves on content. And yes, data automation is something AI is super for considering the big data pools.

Which specific AI technology has had the most significant impact on your industry?

Well, quite a few but I observe Chatbots, Conversational AI, Voice Search optimization, Sentiment Analysis, Personalization & Recommendation has been catalysts in marketing digitally. For instance, a host of companies globally use chatbots on their websites to guide users through purchasing processes or to help with quick answers to questions that customers may, acting as another touchpoint in consumer journey

Can you share a pivotal moment when you recognized the profound impact AI would have on your sector?

Ah, yes when in my career I moved from India Today Group to Yahoo! India. From an office which was full of paper and fax machines, to a paperless environment. I knew that machine learning, big data were all on the move!

I recall that I took time to get accustomed to some complex software platforms at Yahoo! In a nutshell- moving from print to digital…. I felt it !

How are you preparing your workforce for the integration of AI, and what skills do you believe will be most valuable in an AI-enhanced future?

The only easy way to prepare is practical experience. Personally, I usually try and use different AI tools and experiment with the nuances and capabilities.

Skill wise, I submit the below points in order must be taken into consideration –

• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders clearly and concisely.
• Experiment, unlearn and learn what can inspire you rather than achieve the end objective with AI
• Learning ethical usage and implication of AI, including privacy and bias

What are the biggest challenges in upskilling your workforce for an AI-centric future?

Good question. The biggest challenge is superficial learning and using AI to get the wok done while better as I say is to take inspiration from and still solve with the human aspect. Our brain is an amazing and powerful organ, So don’t leave it to only generating AI prompts! But yes, as I also have mentioned industries where technology is advancing for saving human lives (healthcare), it is a boon for us.

What ethical considerations does AI introduce into your industry, and how are you tackling these concerns?

We must work towards having ethical committees within our organizations, for AI usage. Documenting guidelines will help.AI applications must respect the user consent and autonomy. My last key point here is training of data must be representative of different demographics and also include cultural nuances. Also, for instance, in my PCC practice journey as a Coach, we follow sacrosanct ethical guidelines by ICF even while using any technology. For us confidentiality and respecting privacy and transparency are the keys.

What are your “Five Things You Need To Do, If AI Is Disrupting Your Industry”?

1. Collaborate deeper
2. Prepare to Unlearn
3. Prepare to Upskill
4. Prepare to Experiment
5. Filter and Apply

What are the most common misconceptions about AI within your industry, and how do you address them?

1. If you are not using AI, you will perish. Now this is a misconception according to me because it is not about using AI, it is about staying relevant to your profession, evolving for which unlearning and learning to use in control is important.
2. AI is one time implementation. The reality I see is AI systems need continuous updating and maintenance. As data updates and new challenges, bugs may arise, AI models may be retrained; and adjusted. Basically, this is an ongoing process that requires consistency in effort and high focus on eye for detail.
3. AI is for everyone. Although we call it open source etc., we are still scratching the surface. A simple metaphor I can say is if you want to be a pilot, go through the rigour of also learning how to take off and how to land the place. Else be the passenger and enjoy the flight. Just keying in prompts may not make someone more capable.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

• It’s quite simple actually — giving means receiving.
• The second one is- believe and prepare for what you desire.

Off-topic, but I’m curious. As someone steering the ship, what thoughts or concerns often keep you awake at night? How do those thoughts influence your daily decision-making process?

This is perhaps the easiest question for me to answer. Nothing keeps me awake at night…nothing. I sleep like a newborn baby

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My movement will be to inspire both — our teams and our customers to take action which translates to a purpose weaved by sustainability at its core. We as leaders and companies may be talking a lot about sustainability in our purpose and I see some action as well taken by various companies, but those companies are only a handful. We need to not only celebrate World Environment Day when it comes once a year, but it must be a part of our daily routine. I am working at it every day :-). And yes, I would love to take the strength of AI to create positive social impact.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Would love to connect on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankoordasguupta/

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

Thank you so much for making time for this interview. You are an amazing host.

About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.