Bridging Ancient Wisdom and Innovation in a Globalized World

Episode Transcript
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Tonya J. Long (00:06):
Welcome home, friends.
I'm Tonya Long, and this isRESET, where purpose meets
possibility.
Each week, we shareconversations with thought
leaders, innovators and thedreamers and doers who are
reshaping the future of work,technology, longevity and
purpose.
Whether you're navigating AI'simpact, reimagining your career

(00:31):
or searching for deeper meaning,you're in the right place.
So settle in, open your mindand let's explore what happens
when purpose meets possibility.
Explore what happens whenpurpose meets possibility.
Hello everyone, and welcome toRESET, where purpose meets
possibility.

(00:51):
I'm Tonya Long and today I amjust delighted, honored and so
excited to bring my new friend,Enoch Allotey, to the table.
I met Enoch what I met youabout a month ago, I think, and
Enoch is so remarkable I'm goingto let him tell you who he is

(01:14):
and what he does.
But when I think about Enoch, Ithink about ancient wisdom and
I think I've titled this episodesomething like Ancient Wisdom
Meets Artificial Intelligence,because Enoch is a tech-minded
strategist, he's also anattorney and he works in the

(01:35):
medical field, in AI and dataand, I would say, futures,
future looking trends.
So he's fascinating from atechnical perspective.
But I think Enoch and I webonded over culture.
We bonded over, if I could say,spiritualness and family, and

(01:57):
Enoch just taken a big trip backhome.
We'll talk about that as wemove along.
So, Enoch, welcome to RESET.
I'm so so happy that you'rehere and that our audience gets
to meet you.
Would you please tell themabout what you're working on
right now?

Enoch Allotey (02:11):
First of all, thank you, Tonya.
I'm so excited for thisconversation and I'm also very
pleased by this opportunity tomeet your audience, interact
with them and present myself tothem as well.
In terms of what I'm doing nowat work, that is, I'm still

(02:32):
strategizing for my company, butnow I'm very cautiously looking
at the opportunities that existin the digital space that
aren't leveraged yet by mycompany, right.
And generally in healthcare, allthe opportunities that can
enable other communities tobenefit from the inventions and

(02:56):
the wonderful change that ourorganization has put out there
that is untapped.
Channeling that energy intosome of our strategy work and
primarily, generally that's abroad theme.
That's what I'm doing at workPersonally looking to grow,
looking to connect withwonderful people like myself and

(03:18):
also being able to share someof the values that I have come
to possess of the time witheveryone else.
I connect.

Yeah, values.
Values are often informed fromhome, right, we grow and develop
and modify them as we mature,but they start at home, and you
just had a trip.
You live on the east coast ofthe United States have for 16 or
20 years, as I recall, the homeis somewhere else.

(03:51):
Tell us about where home is foryou.

Well, the home is this place that was formerly
known as the Gold Coast until1987.
It's a British colony untilthey gained independence and in
modern day it's known as Ghana,the gateway to Africa, we call
it.
It's in the Gulf of Guinea,borders the Gulf of Guinea, the
western part of Africa.
That's where I was born andraised and, like you said,

(04:19):
values are inculcated from alland I am very proud to say I
sourced a good amount of thatfrom my loving family, my
community and Ghana at home.

I've had several friends from Ghana and Nigeria,
and, and culture is so strong inthose people, the culture of
where they came from and it andit.
I think it compels them to beintentional about creating
culture in their present day, ina different setting.
And so those, those friends arereally interesting people, and

(04:54):
now I am privileged to add youto that list.
So so you just came back from atwo or three week trip.
You've been home.
Just came back from a two orthree week trip.
You've been home.
This podcast is about RESET.
It's about making changes andtransitions, and so you've had

(05:18):
lots of opportunities to startnew things.
But if we go all the way backto your childhood in what's now
Ghana, one of the interestingthings when we think about you
setting your values is that youlearn to live in differences.
I had notes from when we talkedthat you were the only
Christian family in a Muslimneighborhood, and I look at that

(05:40):
with the wisdom of 50 years tosay so.
You learned tolerance.
You learned not just tolerance,but to embrace differences and
be curious, because you areincredibly curious.
So what was it like when littleEnoch was running around on his
bike?
What was it like?

(06:00):
Or did you even have awarenessof an experience where there
were differences in beliefs thatare pretty significant, and did
you notice that as a child,when you were the only Christian
family in the neighborhood, orhow did that impact you?

did that impact you?
Yeah, it's.
I think it's a common place tofind that level of diversity.
I, you will, in Ghana, at leastin my family and in my
environment.
And so, yes, I was aware thatwe went to church on Sunday.
My cousins, my friends and folksthat lived around us prayed a
couple of times a day,especially on Fridays.
They went to the mosque rightand, and at certain times

(06:50):
throughout the year they wouldfast, and so they'll wake up
really early to have their mealsbefore the sun came up, and at
a certain time, after thefasting period is over, there'd
be a big feast to celebrate andthey would bring over some of
the you know, celebratory feastsover, including, you know, to

(07:12):
share, right.
I remember my neighbors were ahuge family.
They would slaughter a cow forthe celebration.
They would bring us to my housea portion of that slaughter,
and so for a good portion of mylife my friends were all Muslims
and it wasn't necessarily adifference in the way you get

(07:32):
brought up.
We just approached the divinedifferently, and that was put
into me very early on.
We ate the same kinds of food.
We respected our elders, we hadevery single value you could
think of, except when we went tochurch and we ate bread, and so
not until I moved into broadersociety and most prominently the

(07:56):
US.
That difference was prominentBecause in my family I had
uncles and relatives who hadmarried Christians and vice
versa.
Right, it wasn't a hugedistinction.
We were just people whoapproached our divine pericles
and our appreciation fordivinity different.

We think a lot these days about religion being
divisive, but I think you and Iboth had upbringings where we
were fortunate to realize earlyon that it's just.
You know, you said it verysimply.
But they go to church at adifferent time, they have some
different traditions, but thatdoesn't divide us, or it doesn't

(08:43):
have to divide us, and I lovethat there are people like you
and me walking around thatpromote that, that it doesn't
have to divide us, that thosetextures in society are what
make us all interesting.
So you were what around 20 whenyou came to the US.

The fun fact about it I arrived at JFK on my
20th birthday.

What an amazing birthday present.

Can't forget it, Will never forget it Right on
the money.
But then I just realized aninteresting fact that I didn't
reach it earlier.
I went to boarding school highschool in Ghana which is
boarding school and it was builtby the Catholic Missionary
League, so it was still aCatholic boarding school.

(09:32):
The cool thing about that is wehad a mosque on campus for the
Muslim students.
There was a mosque on campusthat allowed them to practice.

At a Catholic institution, at a Catholic
boarding school.
That's wonderful yeah.

And so that's the level of tolerance that I'm
used to, the level of kind ofmixing and accepting that I'm
used to, compared to Martin, my20th birthday, 2007, I arrived
in J&A and that in itself willsort of be sad, and you know,

(10:07):
talk more about it.
That that that begun adifferent avenue, if you will.
If you're looking at my life asa roadmap, that's like a
different avenue.
That that that propelled into adifferent version of myself
different values In addition towhat I held, some contradicting,
which still different, um, butalso, you know, I'm still a
little bit of myself.
Different values In addition towhat I held, some contradicting

(10:27):
was still different, but alsoan opportunity to present a
better version of myself to theworld in the long run, and I've
appreciated every single aspectof this journey so far.

Yeah Well, you've been a striver, you know, since
you landed here at 20.
You've taken several turns.
We may or may not, it's yourchoice to go through that.
But what is remarkable to me isthat you kept hitting on things
until you went to law school.
You know you were, so tell us alittle about that so that we

(11:06):
can bridge that to all thedifferent things you've learned
and how those contribute to thefullness of what you're able to
do now.

Yeah, so you know , my ambition initially was to
be a banker.

I thought my dad was a banker.

I wanted to be a banker.
Yeah, what you need I thoughtmy dad was a banker.
I wanted to be a banker and thenit started off.
I didn't have a good sense ofwhat it entailed or what that
journey would be like.
The resources available to mewere folks in the medical field
that I had been introduced to,and so that idea started to

(11:46):
shift over time, where I'mrealizing perhaps I'll be more
suited for something else.
It looked at the time very faraway and so when I started off I
went to community college and Iwanted to still see what else I
could do.
Can I be a banker?
I'm not sure.
I wanted to still see what elseI could do.
Can I be a banker?
I'm not sure I wanted to go tonursing school and so maybe be a

(12:11):
doctor.
But you know that was still apossibility.
So I took liberal arts coursesand then I ended up having to
take a science course.
I took biology.
I thought this is fascinatingand this isn't too hard.
I ended up doing biology as aliberal arts option at the Bronx

(12:35):
Community College and then whenI moved on to college I
realized maybe medicine it is.
So I went on pre-med, didbiology Still not entirely
convinced, but I was inspiredbecause my upbringing and my
culture were very few.
I joke about this all the time.

(12:57):
There are only four things youcould be in my setting.
Right, you could be a doctor,an engineer, a lawyer or useless
like everything else.

That work category Okay.

It's like a catch-all, and so being a doctor
was, you know, much preferable,at least for me, than to be a
nurse.

So I went to Stony Brook.

I decided to take a break in between going from
undergraduate to that.
You'd see what the world wouldlook like if you started to work
.
The first job I had landed wasin a lab, in a pharmaceutical,
nutraceutical lab, and theywanted a quality control chemist

(13:40):
and I kind of hit all of thebenchmarks in terms of education
.
So they hired me and I learneda ton about human health, the
impact of medicine, theinteractivity of medicine, the
different genetic makeups.
It was fascinating.
But then one year became two,two became three, three became

(14:02):
four and you know, time was fastspent Because I had to make a
choice of what to do to furthermy education.
But I wasn't really sold onmedical school and at that time
I was doing reverse engineering,where I was taking these jobs
that were almost about to hittheir patent expiration,

(14:23):
figuring out what was in it andthen share with the organization
what we needed to do on thescience then to produce it.
But there was a whole businessdiscussion outside of what I was
doing that I wasn't aware of.
That entailed the finances butalso the intellectual property
that was going to resolve fromthat.

(14:44):
And so in one of those meetingsI was fortunate enough to have
overcurred the mention of IP.
What are these folks talkingabout?
I want to go to medical schooland I thought I knew everything
that had to do with makingmedicine.
So that night I investigatedwhat IP was and discovered it
was intellectual property.
And it is actually at thecrossroad, or the apex, of law

(15:10):
and science.
That's where they met.
Ip is where they met.
And in that moment I decided youknow what?
I don't think I want to go tomy.
I want to know more about thisIP stuff.
It's enabling access.
This is the one thing.
Like I did the science, I gaveall the data.
But there is something elsethat is actually pushing the

(15:31):
drug to the last mile, which isthe business decision and the
intellectual property around it.
I focused on that and that dayI switched my mind, my mind, my
path, and went to law school,and that's how I became a lawyer
in pursuit of intellectualproperty and improving access
for all.

What a bold, audacious vision you had and how
quickly it turned.
You overheard someone talkingabout IP and you said I want to
know more about that.

Right.

And you looked at it and the way you described it
just now, it's like it just itjust hit you that this, this
interests me, and this is alsoan accumulation of the things
that I've been working towardand the things that I enjoy.
So you know how blessed luckychoose your word, but how
wonderful that you, that youbumped into that conversation.

(16:26):
Otherwise you might've been amiserable podiatrist, um, but,
but um, you know you really do.
It seems like you've landed ona career that takes the best of
all of your talent, skills andand joy things that create joy
within you, and I love yourmission statement.

(16:46):
Thank, you.

It's ever evolving right.
I think.
I'm learning every day, and mysingle most consistent prayer is
that I still continue to getthe divine revelation of my
purpose right, what it is thatI'm designed and destined to do.
And it's it reveals itself inmultiple stages.

(17:09):
I I embrace it in all forms, butI think, as I evolve, the
values that I'm bringing arealso evolving and at the time
that's what I saw.
It hit me like in bad bricks,like this is it?
This is what you need to do tomove on.
And then, once I was done withlaw school I'm not, you know,

(17:31):
like I said, going in was for IPand access I wasn't necessarily
keen on practicing in atraditional sense going to court
and you know, um?
So I ended up going into publicpolicy and government affairs.
So that was the first, you know, entry back into
pharmaceuticals.

(17:52):
But I did public policy, both inthe US and in the Middle East
and Africa, all those things,government affairs and then.
But prior to that, whilst I wasin law school, I had the
opportunity to work for theDepartment of State even in
terms of the Department of State, doing AI research, and that's

(18:12):
what gave birth to my interest.
It was a special project thatwanted someone who had
experience in bio pharma butalso had a leg into the legal
regulatory space.
I was recruited by the divisionthat I worked with to do that

(18:33):
and that also started anotheravenue, or maybe a bullet for
her in my journey.
That kind of led this way Loveit, love it.
That kind of led this way.

Love it, love it.
You just introduced the word AI, which we knew we would get to,
but I can't help but think thatyou didn't grow up thinking
about AI.
You probably didn't grow upthinking a lot about tech
Similar for me.
Most people that know me knowthat I was born and raised on a

(19:09):
tobacco farm in Tennessee, andso we didn't grow up in cultures
or at a time when tech was asprevalent as it is now.
So how do you think AI?

(19:49):
Well, I'm curious how it'sworking in Ghana now.
You know, because Ghana hasgrown up, just like the world
has grown up.
You bring with your values fromGhana that were not
technologically driven, thathave influenced how you work in
AI, and really emergingtechnologies now?

Yeah, so you know like, culturally, no single
person is an island.
My dad reminds me of that allthe time.
We're all connected, whether welike it or not.
There's no way it can exist asan island.
And when you look at artificialintelligence, what I choose to

(20:20):
look at or focus on is theability to deepening those
relationships.
It's the ability for us toconnect.
It's the ability for us to reapthe benefits that would have
cost us a ton of the investment.
And in places like Ghana,because it's kind of ingrained,

(20:43):
the culture requires thatconnection.
Adding on the layer of ourcultural intelligence as an
enabler to these culturaloutcomes is indeed, to me, the
best that you can ask for.
So I'll give you an example.
When we look at currency right,the Ghanaian currency, the

(21:06):
cities in Ghana, there are a lotmore people using a
telecommunication platform, afintech transaction, than there
are people actually using thecurrency.
And so you can pay.

(21:28):
You know the way it works isthe telephone company or the
cell phone company has yourphone number and that phone
number is, in essence, a bankaccount.
Wow and so you can deposit moneyon that account, you can redraw
money from that account, youcan loan folks from that account
, you can take a loan from thataccount and you can use the
system to make purchases as well.

(21:49):
And so, when I was near last,you could pay food at the
restaurant at the market, buygas, fill your water, pay for
utility all on your phone.
But just recently, ghana wasrecognized as number one
globally by the NMRI, anorganization that does ranking
for financial platform and usage.

(22:12):
It's been ranked number oneglobally for using mobile money,
mobile money transactions, andthis is a technology that wasn't
necessarily built with that inmind, but the usage has changed
lives and so now compound thatwith something that artificial
intelligence could enable,because the adoption, once it

(22:34):
gets a hold, which is being usedmore than anywhere else with
places like that, once we findthe benefit of it and the
utility is there, it sees a lotmore advantage and it gets more
appreciation over time.

So that's interesting to me and I want to
be respectful when I say this,but I wouldn't have thought of
the Ghana culture, society beinglike, you know, like the valley
, like the Bay Area.
Right, there's just adifference in focus and values.
What do you think, culturally,societally, enabled them to want

(23:18):
to make this leap?
Because you know we'restruggling, because you know
we're struggling, you know we'restruggling with AI adoption
here, in more technologicallyadvanced organizational groups
in society, and you know we'refighting AI in a lot of respects
and slow walking it.
And Ghana jumped in headfirst.

(23:40):
They're the number one rankedglobal mobile payments money or
digital money adoption.
What do you think about theirculture?
Helped that to occur, that theywere so willing to embrace
something new.

I think one is.
It's just a matter ofconvenience convenience but what
I think is the secretingredient is that there is an
ability to connect with peopleusing already existing
technologies that doesn't haveto be intricate, but also

(24:20):
provides them a chance to dobusiness without having the big
fancy.
You know banks and all of thesethings.
Literally, this is your bankaccount.
You don't even need to go tothe bank.
You can put money on there.
They have these kiosks andoffices.
You can go If you have cash,you can have them deposit that

(24:42):
on your phone.
And this is not just a bankingplace, it's a shop.
It's a way to contribute toyour whatever you need to, and
so all of that convenience,enabling them to keep their
connections, is what makes thedifference.

Oh, now, that's an interesting statement.

Yeah, if you live in the city and you need to
send home money, you can just dothat.
You don't need to go to aWestern Union or anything else,
you can just do that on yourphone.
And even when you live in theUnited States and you want to
send remittance to someone, youcan easily send it to their
phone number right Like, thesesystems have allowed us to stay

(25:26):
connected without invitingunnecessary bureaucracy and all
of the things that you know kindof put a burden and a strain on
building relationships andtaking care of business in the
traditional way that we'vealready done before, in the
traditional way that we'vealready done before.

I mean that's really, it's beautiful, because
I have to believe that thepeople who created that
technology, they weren't tryingto bridge connection between
families.
They were trying to make themovement of financial
transactions simplified and lessfriction.
Correct.

(26:08):
Simplified and less friction,but to have the impact of
keeping people more simplyconnected to do what they need
to do, you know, to do thetransactional things that occur
in families.
That's remarkable and anotherexample of the technology having
unintended consequences thatare really positive.

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
And I use that example tohighlight possibilities, because
you think of this and thisactually has some amount of cost
involved, like you have to putin money to take it out some
amount of cost involved, likeyou, have to put in money to

(26:46):
take it out.
But imagine technology that isfor education, technology that
shares knowledge and stuff whereyou don't necessarily have to
deposit your knowledge.
This gives you access to theknowledge and it's helping
medical professionals access aworld of knowledge to better
diagnose their patient.
Like that level of adoption willchange the world eventually,

(27:11):
because the cultural contextwill still be harnessed by the
people.
But having access to a broaderlibrary of knowledge for better
diagnoses would even improve theservices that professionals are
rendering.
I think that is a big you know,for me, that's what I advocate

(27:32):
for when I think of technology,about sharing in places like
Ghana.

I have to tell a story.
I'm on this, but I saw apresentation from the city of
Amarillo a few months ago andthey had used AI and because to
me it's just such a beautifulstory of helping people in
unintended ways, they have tonsof languages spoken in the city

(28:04):
of Amarillo.
So from a city servicesperspective, that was really
complex to be able to serviceyou know 15 languages, with a
human who picks up the phone tosay you know, I'm here to help
you pay your water bill.
So they consolidated all oftheir city services into a
single voice line.
That was AI.

(28:25):
Llm large language modelenabled to cover the languages
and to get some synergies andefficiencies, with people being
able to call in and be able to,in a more automated way, handle
their city transactions.
There is also a very agedpopulation, an elderly
population in Amarillo and thevoice capabilities in the system

(28:50):
were so conversational and sogood.
Seniors started calling into thesystem just to talk, Just to
visit with a voice, Because itwas programmed to be very
conversational and welcoming andit was a trend with elderly
people calling in.
So the city of Amarillo lookedat it and said and I'm

(29:13):
paraphrasing, of course, but andsaid this is a service and it
really doesn't cost us that much, and it's not costing us really
anything extra that's materialat all but it's doing something
for our peoples.
They started planting likeEaster eggs in the system to
give to people who don'tnecessarily have, you know, the

(29:35):
connections that we've talkedabout, as they've aged and or
they're relegated to being home,and so I love that.
It was something completelyunintended, like the bank
payment system in Ghana viaphone, via mobile.
But I love how the city ofAmarillo saw this as an
opportunity.
They didn't see it as, oh,that's not why we developed this

(29:56):
, All right.
They saw it as making the worlda better place through
something completely notdesigned for that, yes, and I'm
so excited not designed for that.

Yes, yes, and I'm so excited by examples like
that.

Yeah.

I personally advocate for outcomes that are
outside of corporateproductivity.
When it comes to businessesemploying AI and what I mean by
that is if you're a businessthat's supposed to bring I don't
know educate people, forexample your use of AI should be

(30:33):
geared towards people learningsomething, not your employees
being able to send emailsefficiently.
Right If you're an organizationand your purpose at the end,
adopting AI, of course,downstream, if your employees
have more time to spend on otherthings, it's possible that it

(30:54):
will transcend onto thecustomers.
Goal should be the initialassessment, because I have
noticed overwhelmingly,corporate productivity has been
funded, researched and developedat a faster rate than any of

(31:14):
the outcomes of the sameorganization Of course.
And that's troubling.
But then I think of places likeGhana and why and how
developing AI and large languagemodels internally or culturally
fitting is beneficial abouttaking what some company did to

(31:43):
help employees do better.
But it'll be well-suited to thecontext and if the context, I
believe, is family-oriented,people-oriented, it translates
and it'll be much easier forthem to deploy systems that are
not just about the individualproductivity but the communities
that it did now from the cell.
So I'm very big on advocatingfor deploying and developing

(32:08):
local Red, local systems forthese local centers.

Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm.
I'm reflecting on yourstatement, which is a fact, and
it's common sense as well, thatthe majority of the development
is in business, in corporatesettings, and intended and
designed to fund improvements tohow we do business right, right

(32:39):
, what are you going to say?

Go ahead.
We know health AI, right, andthey developed a large language
model that is able to helpexponentially the capacity of
healthcare workers.
Right, if they were to developthis system, that could more
than answer questions, but itcould also interpret radiology

(33:13):
images, it could be set up ontoa microscope and it could look
at slides to determine if thisslide has malaria or whatever in
it.
Now we're talking about placesthat have one doctor for every
1,500 people, or one doctor forevery 1,000 people, yeah, right.

Yeah.

And I would be the systems accounts for those
deficiencies and when they do itcorrectly, like how this
company is doing, I believe oncethere is wide adoption of
technologies like that, thehealth inequity gap was going to
diminish drastically 100%.

(33:55):
Yes, not even one doctor couldessentially function as eight or
six or five because of thesetools.
We're starting to see a qualityof health improvement, and that
also lends itself to bettereconomic opportunities for the
people, and so saw and so forth.
I'm an avid believer in that aswell.

Healthcare is one of my biggest hopes for the
future.
With AI, I think we're justscratching the surface because
here in the US there's so muchoverhead regulatory overhead to
push through.
So I understand that, but Ireally, for me, I see the
predictive traits that AI excelsat.

(34:44):
I also see, you know the burdenthat you mentioned of the ratio
of patients to doctors, and somuch can be scaled and, frankly,
what one doctor knows is afraction of what one human brain
knows, is a fraction of thecorpus of information that's

(35:05):
available.
I'm excited for the medicalcommunity about the ability to
help doctors by prescribingtreatment plans.
You know, and people would say,oh, but that's letting the
machine do the work of thedoctor.
Actually, no, that's enablingthe doctor, because if there are
patterns in that patient'shealth history and it's obvious,

(35:26):
you know, because you know, Iwould venture to guess and
you're the expert on medicaldata but I would venture to
guess that the majority ofconditions are routine.
I mean even chronic diseases,like I'm a type 1 diabetic, but
as a well-managed type 1diabetic, it's a pretty routine.
This blood work means make thiscourse correction.

(35:50):
Doctors don't have toindependently determine that.
I mean the systems can do itSpit out a treatment plan that a
doctor then says, yep, thatfeels right, sounds right,
appropriate, and moves it on andI think that is going to help
medicine scale.
My anxiety is around scalingthat to all of society right In

(36:17):
a world I don't know what themedical system is in Ghana, but
in a world in the US whereinsurance is a privilege.
Good insurance, good care, isoften a factor of the type of
insurance you're able to carryand afford.
I think some of theseavailabilities that are going to

(36:38):
enhance the efficiency ofdoctors needs to result in
better coverage of care foreveryone, and that's a policy
level change that will take time.

You've articulated it so well.
It's 100% true.
The difference, though, incertain places is that there is
a governmental assumption ofthat responsibility that
translates into universal healthcare, right Like there's a big
assumption that the health careof these people is partly the

(37:16):
responsibility of the governmentand providing that is also the
responsibility of the government.
That doesn't mean there aren'tdifferent tiers and you couldn't
get private healthcare.
That might be better.
But, there's a universalityaround the base healthcare that
we don't have here in the UnitedStates, and so I think that's

(37:39):
what the difference becomes,right, because if the government
in a country like that that hasuniversal health adopts and
starts to implement thesesystems, we're going to see a
much faster improvement in thequality of healthcare across the
board, versus places like theUS, where it's very subjective,

(38:00):
based on what you can afford,who your HCP is and all of those
complicated stuff.
But all that to say, theopportunity still exists, right?
Yes, and that is what gives megoosebumps every day.
Right, it's like we still haveso much opportunity to do this

(38:22):
at a level that is impressive,at a level that is broad and
comprehensive, and perhaps it'sjust the matter of policy
changes, but the opportunityexists and I'm hopeful that one
day, a lot more people willbenefit from it than we are to
them.

Yeah Well, I think this naturally leads to a
conversation on longevity.
There's four principles.
If you will that I focus thispodcast on it's work changes in
work, changes in technology,changes in longevity and then
changes in purpose.
So this health conversationmoves into longevity.
With all the data that youtouch all the time that you have

(39:07):
visibility to macro trends,what do you see?
Things like changes in theactual treatment of patients and
diagnosis and all thoseindividual level improvements.
How do you see that affectingus from a longevity perspective
as a population?

I think overall the US population, we're seeing
a trend of people living longergetting older people are living
longer and it's the result of alot of things food, life,
lifestyle, working out and allof those things.

(39:46):
But now there's a new trend, ora newer trend, which is
physician medicine right, andpersonalized medicine.
So then now we're not lookingat treatment on a general scale
anymore, we're not looking attreatment, at least for

(40:07):
personalized medicine oneverybody who shares
characteristics that you have.
But now we're looking at TonyaBased on you, who you are, where
you live, your diet andeverything else that is the
composition.
How will this treatment looklike for you?
And I think we're at the very,very, very, very early stages of

(40:29):
this, but there are companieslooking at that so that we can
personalize the treatment to you, so that we know this might be
a painkiller for everyone else,but for you because of X, y and
Z we need this amount of doseaccompanied with this other
ingredient, but just for you,and we'll deliver that to you as

(40:51):
a dose of the treatment.
And that's where I think the newtrend is falling to full
longevity.
We're close there.
We are all the major umhealthcare companies are looking
at ways to deliver personalizedmedicine.
I think, yes, that's where wecan start to look at, if we're
looking at the ability of thekind Mm-hmm Mm-hmm To add to

(41:17):
what you're talking about andmake it maybe more appreciated
at an individual level.

One of the startups that I've done some
work with is making an insulinpump that's about the size of a
nickel.
It's amazing.
It uses nanopump technology,but it is the beginning of a
delivery device for personalizedmedicine, because they're going
to cut that pump into sectionsand it'll require a

(41:46):
reformulation of injectablemedications medications but if
you have migraines if you have,you know if you get sore after
you play pickleball to be ableto load multiple medications for
the recurring issues that youexperience and be able to treat
those, or have sensors thatrealize what's happening in your

(42:08):
body even before you do.
If my blood sugar goes low as atype one diabetic, everybody
knows because it's beeping on myphone.
But we're going to get to thosesensors being able to be worn by
average, normal people who justplayed pickleball too hard and
be able to measure what'shappening in the body and be
able to use devices to livebetter, because they'll get the

(42:32):
warnings and then they'll haveaccess to easy administration of
these medications, and I thinkthat is a very exciting way to
move forward.
And of course, then you ofcourse hook that into reporting
to the doctors what's happeningso that those trends can be
addressed, if they need to beaddressed, at a higher level

(42:55):
with your physician.
But it's moving.
Technology is moving us into anamazing space.

It's fantastic and I think you know that's
driving every single touch pointof the treatment process.
Yes, it is, the doctor is goingto get the information faster,
but now we're manufacturing thespecific dosage you need, so now
the manufacturers have to startto come up with systems that

(43:20):
would enable them to capture theinformation and produce at a
considerably fast rate.
So then you can get it.
So then it's not like you go toyour doctor one week and then
you have to wait three months toget it like a car.
They have to speed upprocessing and production.
So, that is, allowing everyclutch point of this process to

(43:43):
get some innovation, to producesome ways to do things better so
we can get things right.
I think that's the excitingpart.
Right, it's the part that theaverage person doesn't believe
and fit, but it's going to getyou a time where it's going to
be considerably faster than itis today.

Yeah, my mind races with all the applications
of this kind of technology tochange people's lives.
You know, I have a few friendswho have chronic migraines that
come on frequently andunannounced.
And to be able to wear somethingthe size of a nickel with other

(44:26):
sensors that might be on yourbody to say, oh you know,
elevated X you know, whateverthat is and to help you, you
know, get ahead of the curve onlosing a day to a bad migraine
is I think most people wouldwear a device that's the size of
a nickel.

I agree.
I agree, that's the blessing oftechnology.
Right it is.
It's the big thing that we havethis moment, for no matter who
you are, there is some kind oftechnology that you're grateful
for, and perhaps for me, becauseof my work, technology that

(45:07):
gives people better quality oftheir lives is what I'm always
excited about.

Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm Are there because you're
very technologically aware at abroad level, not just healthcare
.
Are there other areas that youthink AI will have a significant
impact on the world with thatyou're looking forward to?

I think the biggest aspect is education.
Mm-hmm, I think the biggestaspect is education, and you
know, when I was growing up,right, the kinds of access you
had to education and knowledgewas pretty much the library and

(45:50):
the books that were there, andso the books in the library were
outdated.
Access to knowledge concerningthis subject matter is most
likely outdated, and so, for me,being able to compute all of
this knowledge that's relevant,that's RESET into a device like

(46:16):
a laptop, is one of the biggest,because there are inspirations
that I've gotten from readingbooks from John Grisham and all
of these great authors that Ijust stumbled upon by accident
in a library somewhere, and thesame way, when I'm using my Chad

(46:37):
GC or Gemini that I stumbleupon pieces of knowledge just by
asking curious questions.

And.

I think, of education for children to
explore their environment, tolearn about their history and
their culture and to exploreideas of what they can do with
that knowledge, to be the mostpowerful thing ever.
Right, that access readilyavailable in the palm of your

(47:10):
hand if used correctly, willdefinitely elevate our
intelligence Like.
I don't know what the metric is,but whatever it is now, if
we're able to consistentlydevelop that, our children will
all begin at a level higher thanwe were when we were their age,
and I think that's exciting ageand I think that's exciting Big

(47:38):
question for you related tothis.

Yes, how do we teach or encourage people to be
curious?

I think curious people never left their
childhood behind.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Oh, that's an interestingvisual I have.

Yeah, curious people never left their
childhood behind.
Wait, children, babies.
Everything you see is the mostcurious version of yourself.

Okay.

Like you want everything to taste your fingers
, but you just put your fingersin their mouth.
You're so curious about everysingle thing, and the more you
grow out of that, the lesscurious you're becoming.
And so what I think of curiouspeople there is a childlike
version of themselves that neverdies, and if you can always

(48:36):
have people connect to that,they will remain curious.
And some people lose thatbecause of trauma or they lose
that because of their perceptionof the world they live in now.
But if you can rekindle thatconnection and if you can keep
people in touch with a versionof themselves that is still a

(49:00):
child, they will remain curious.
And there might be differentways to do that, but on a very
broad level, that's how I createcurious minds with lifespan.

Yeah, I think there's something in there about
communal societies I'm goingback to Ghana again but communal
societies being able to promotevalue more broadly, because

(49:34):
everybody's listening andeverybody wants to take
advantage in a good way ofwhat's available to them, and I
think there's something to belearned from.
I say organizations, but it'ssocieties that operate with a
different mindset.
That keeps people curious,because there's an intrinsic

(49:57):
reward in that behavior becauseof what you get to do or
accomplish.
Do you see that with thedifferences between Ghana and,
let's say, naysayers about AI inthe US?

Do you see?

kind of a difference in and it's a
personal value societal inputyes.

So when I think of that concept, right like a
double-edged sword rightsocieties the reward tends to be
for specialists who are stillcontributing or still remaining

(50:46):
within their certain definedparameter, like this is your
role as part of thisorganization.
If you can do thatexceptionally well, you get
additional reward.
But all of that is kind ofbased in an understood system of
value.
What I mean by that is, if thegroup agrees that this is our

(51:09):
structure, you play this role,that person plays this role.
It's fine.
However, with technology suchas AI in itself is disruptive
and it hasn't settled into thegroup.
And so the individuals in theirspecializations can leverage AI
to bring more value for thatrole that they play, and that's

(51:32):
how I see it working.
And so, if you're thedesignated part of this big tree
, that's growing through andyou're getting more nutrients.
You're just going to growbigger fruits.
There's going to be a partthat's just supposed to grow the
leaves and they're gettingtheir leveraging technology or

(51:52):
their nutrients.
They're going to grow bigger,broader leaves.

Right.

And I think in a way, that's what I mean by a
double-edged sword, because notall of the society is leveraging
the benefits at the same time,but the few that are that are
using it for the benefit of thesociety will allow that
amplified benefit to reacheveryone else.

You heard everything you said and I agree
with it, but the challenge wekeep having in the conversations
here are a genuine fear oflosing human connection.
In Ghana, it's increasingcommunity and human connection.

(52:53):
In Ghana it's increasingcommunity and human connection.
And here that is the excuse fornot embracing and being more
curious about these technologies.
Do you think it's moredifficult to maintain human
connection as our world becomesmore global and more digital?

(53:13):
Is there a way around that?
If it does separate people,what ways have you seen
potentially?

based on how.

Ghana responds to technology to make it easier to
maintain human connectivity.

I look at it this way.
Human connectivity, I look atit this way it becomes the best
of what you want for it to be,or the worst of what you wish it
would be.

A lot of white people like that.

Right it's whether you are employing it for
good or you're wishing it forworse, and so if you already
have a weak foundation,technology is not going to
necessarily prove that.
Okay, excuse me.
And what I mean is this Ifyou're in a society that is

(54:07):
individualistic, in a societythat thrives and promotes
individual ideas andindividualism, your employment
of technology will not do thecontrary.
It is just going to enhancethat system and it's going to

(54:27):
make the individual even betterto maintain any dependencies on
other people, at least at thevery default.
In the other way around, if youhave a system that encourages
community, that encouragesinterdependency and celebrates
connection, when you employtechnology that is suitable for

(54:51):
that, it is just going toenhance how we connect.
It's just going to enhance howwe operate in a community rather
than dividing, unless we wishfor it to do otherwise right.
And so if you wish for thetechnology to do something,
otherwise that wouldn't be thedefault setting and that would

(55:13):
require a lot more work.
So in the individualisticsystem, if they want technology
to bring them together, it'llrequire more work.
It won't be the defaulttechnology they have.
In the communal system, if theywanted to be individual,
whatever they get, it'll requiremore work and it won't be the
default.
And that's what we have to bemindful of is what we want to

(55:37):
achieve and how we use thetechnology to achieve the goal.
But by default it will enhancewhatever system exists.

I think most people listening to you talk
would agree that we want to bemore communal, more society
oriented, but they don't knowhow and with a lot that's
happening in the US now with thedivision that exists, but I

(56:13):
think people are overwhelmed bythe scale and the breadth of the
differences.
It's just too big.
You know, I can't fix thisbecause it's not my street or my
neighborhood.
It's such a big divide and somany people are involved that
it's harder to think communally.

(56:34):
So do you have any wisdom oradvice about?

I've heard good, you know, unless you're looking
at it holistically.

Yeah.

Assuming only certain aspects of communal
living doesn't work Like it's anall or nothing kind of
lifestyle and system, and so inplaces like that our families
still live together.
You don't necessarily have toleave your family house.
You don't have to leave yourfather's house unless you want

(57:08):
to, but there's going to beopportunity for you to still
remain connected with yourfamily.
There are families that haveenough resources that it's a
huge compliment, and if you wishto not live in the same
building that you were born in,you can put up a building right
next door to your dad and itstill belongs to your family.

(57:32):
So, then you're not that faraway, right, these are
deliberate cultural elements andunless you have these
deliberate elements, you canonly aspire to the benefits like
I want to do this.
But if you go to school and atthe age of 18, you're in college

(57:52):
by 21, 22, it's kind of anormal thing to move out of the
house and start your own family.
Already, that disconnect isthat communal right.
And if your children do that,there's going to be a continuous
distance.
Where I'm from, we don't havenursing homes.
Like the elderly people livewith the family.
Nobody's sending anybody to anurse.

(58:13):
We don't have nursing homes.
They're part live with thefamily.
Nobody's sending anybody to anursing home.
We don't have a nursing home.
They're part of the family,right.
And those are what I mean byholistic approach.
You don't just want to becommunal when you're young or
when you're in the wardens.
You want to be communal frombirth to death.
That's an all or nothingapproach.
That's the only way it works.

In the meantime, it occurs to me in my US limited
mindset, that one of the bestways for people who can not
everyone can, One of the bestways for people who can not
everyone can, but one of thebest ways to expand how you
think about communal ways ofbeing is when you're able to

(59:04):
travel, Like you were just homein Ghana for two or three weeks
and I think, before we startedrecording, your words were that
it was.
Was it inspiring or I?
can't remember but it was.
You were so happy for thechange in scenery to be home.

It filled me up it filled you up.
It filled me up and I think thatit gives me an opportunity to
appreciate the differences inthe lifestyles, but also the
opportunities that can beleveraged by the two different

(59:42):
systems.
Right, and there are so muchsynergies that could be
leveraged.
There are things that we canlearn from, you know societies
that are communal and theiradvantages that it could also
glean from how we approach lighthere in the West, and being
able to build that bridge isexceptionally exciting.

(01:00:04):
Right To take back a mindset ofimproving systems using
artificial intelligence orimproving systems or just a
design thinking mindset.
Yes, I'm with you thatindividuals are not just treated

(01:00:37):
in a way that they get in avacuum, but the connection to a
larger group also has itsbenefits, and being able to
identify those things you knowalways fills me up and it
inspires me to continue the workI do on a daily basis.
I know it's going to impact thedirection of these ideas.

Tonya J. Long (01:00:54):
In my history.
I led Asia for several yearsand so I would go to India like
every four to six weeks.
But if I went too long, likeover Christmas break, and I had
to extend the time, I foundmyself getting antsy Because
being in most of my travel wasto India.
I had a large team in Bangaloreand did a bunch of acquisitions

(01:01:16):
in Hyderabad, so that was likemy home base, if you will, in
Asia.
But when I had distance inbetween the trips I got edgy and
I knew it was because I neededto go, get back in touch with
how I felt when I was in such aremarkably different place

(01:01:36):
different pace, different valuesbut also to be able to see
humanity in a whole differentway and love it Like almost,
almost be attached, to have adependency on, on being fed by
being there, by societies thathad way different, I'm going to

(01:01:57):
say I don't know how to say itwell, but standards of living,
right, you know how people livephysically, indoor plumbing,
those things is radicallydifferent for the majority of
India than it is for here.
But I saw such a sweetness inpeople and such an accepting and
tolerant people of everythingfrom religion to ideas to how to

(01:02:23):
raise your kids, and beingclose to that gave me so much
gratitude.
Yes, and it filled me up, to useyour word, so that I could come
back here and face this ratrace.
Yes, I was rejuvenated and Ineeded it.
You're making me think.

(01:02:43):
I haven't been back to India ina while.
So I you know, as my corporatesituation, my work situation,
changed, so I don't go to India.
But it's important to me toexperience those changes in our
daily routines that allow us tothink more broadly and put more
different kinds of love in ourhearts.

Enoch Allotey (01:03:04):
It's a million percent right, and the fact that
we can have the exact sameexperience in different places
goes to show that what we'retalking about is real.
This is only in God or only inIndia?
It is a human connection.
In God or only in India?
It is a human connection.
And there is a vacuum thatexists if you stay in one place

(01:03:26):
for so long.
Yes, and so whenever you changethat environment, you kill that
side, right.
So then you become whole again,whether you've been born there
or live there.
The human connections that existin different parts of the world
are essential for your being,whether you know it or not.
Right?
Whether you acknowledge it ornot, I am almost certain that

(01:03:50):
every human being livingeverywhere in the world does get
some benefit from justinteracting with other people,
whether they're from theirculture or not.
And the minute I realized that,I found myself having more
clarity in direction and purpose.
Right, it's like people arepeople wherever you go, but

(01:04:14):
people touch you differentlywherever you go.
Yes, and the minute you acceptand take that and fill yourself
with that and align your purposeto the benefits that the divine
has positioned for you throughthose interactions, the better

(01:04:35):
suited you are for your ownpersonal fulfillment, but also
it contributes to the bettermentof society.

Yeah.

You know I'm a firm deliverer of that.

Well, and I feel like it informs your purpose,
Our the broader you, butdefinitely for you, I think your
purpose is tied to humanity.
Right?
You're not just thinking aboutthe softball game this weekend,
you know.
You are definitely thinkingmuch more broadly, about how

(01:05:10):
what you do serves mankind.

And you know, I think that's the benefit of
growing up in a culture thatappreciates connectivity and
collectiveness, right.
And so, by default, you knowtheir sole role is what does
that bring to my community?
Like what does this bring to mycommunity, Kind of the default

(01:05:37):
yeah Right, Rhyme set.

Right.

If you do anything contrary, it'll
actually take more effortBecause by default, you're
thinking of, you know, bringingthe benefit to the collecting of
growing up, being in CalcadryMeats values and sharing a

(01:06:03):
family experience that I havetoday.

I love it.
As we wind down, you know we'vetalked just a tad about purpose
.
Where do you think your purposeleads you next?
Generally speaking, Because youknow you are always going to be
growing.
You could be an 85-year-old manand still be growing Exactly.
Do you see your next milestone?

(01:06:31):
Where that's headed?

For me and this is being a prayer point for me,
you know, speaking candidly,it's that I'm openly keen the
direction that the divine pushesme toward, and so you know, I

(01:06:55):
try to avail myself to God'spurpose.
But one thing I know forcertain is that celebrity is
going to be really an improvingaccess to quality inventions and
medical treatments for people,in whatever form it comes.

(01:07:16):
Maybe it might be as a generalcounsel, it might be as a
regulatory person, a policyperson, a tech specialist, a
scientist in the lab, but I havecome to accept that and I all
continue to pray to be alignedto a different version of that.
But on the broader scale ofthings, I think it's enabling

(01:07:40):
the quality access to medicineand treatments.
I think that is the underlying,and I can't say for certain
what the next thing will be, butit will be a long time.

Well then, we will have to keep an eye on you.
The thing that I think of,based on what you said, is how
you are mindful about purpose,but doing or finding or being
clear on your purpose is is.
Is it?
It is not driving you, it is.

(01:08:17):
There is a, there is a deepconfidence that you will be
shown the next milestone andstep, and so you're patient, for
that is the simple way I wouldsay it.
There's no.
Oh, I've got to figure this out, Right.
If you don't figure it out, itwill come.
What you are destined to dowill be put in front of you to

(01:08:39):
do.

Yeah will be put in front of you to do yeah.
And 100% of the time it has notfailed me when I put my faith
in this idea and in the divineknowledge and the revelation.
100% of the time it hasn'tfailed me, and so I get more
confident every time I thinkabout what the next step will be

(01:08:59):
, knowing that in the right timeit's going to be revealed to me
.
I just have to keep goingtowards the goal, and that is
all the motivation I need dailywhen I pray about this and get
that sense settled in me and Ijust keep going.

I think it's beautiful and I think we all can
learn just by listening to you.
I mean, it's you're anincredibly influential soul to
to share with us about movingforward in the world.
And then your view of how we doit together right, because I

(01:09:45):
think that is a consistentthread for you is that that
communal upbringing has madeyour mindset very societal we,
instead of the individualistictrends that we've seen.

So, yeah, I appreciate you, Tonya.
I think you know you've givenme this opportunity and just
given me a chance to share andactually kind of helping me
bring out these ideas.
Some of these things I have notthought about.
I didn't write any of this, butit is just the natural

(01:10:23):
conversation we've had since dayone.
There is a very incrediblechemistry that allows me to, you
know, bring out these goodqualities and I'm able to
articulate these ideas.
Thank you very much for thisopportunity.

No, it's actually a gift to our audience because
for them to be able to haveexposure to you that they would
not otherwise get.
And even you know, I think evenfor you.
You know friends, family, youknow you probably, we, we
societal, are so you know.
We're so stuck in our boxes ofwork and work and purpose are

(01:11:03):
very closely tied.
But we tend to stay in in thetransactional.
You know what I'm working on?
My last promotion, my last bigsale.
We, we tend to staytransactional and I think what
you and I have have been able todo is get a few layers under
that into why we do what we doand what we want for the future

(01:11:25):
100% Layers are very true, and Iappreciate it.

I think this is a very healthy conversation for
me.
You know, I'm looking forwardto sharing this and getting
perceptions and perspectivesfrom other people and how these,
because I think there is a lotof these questions and these
things that we all need to thinkabout.

(01:11:50):
We all need to shareperspectives and ideas and
exchange views on, and I'm veryhappy we've managed to start
this conversation, because I'mvery, very, very sure someone is
going to listen to thisconversation and say I haven't
thought about this, and I thinkthat is the beauty of having a

(01:12:11):
RESET, that is the greatness ofhaving a platform that shines
the light on things that matterto people and matter to the
world.
So thank you very much for thisopportunity.

You are most welcome If people do feel so
compelled that they want tofollow you or be in touch with
you about your ideas, becausewouldn't it be interesting if
you and I were able to puttogether a cohort of people who
want to talk about these things?
I mean, I'll throw that outthere, I think that would be a

(01:12:47):
dream.
That would be a dream, amastermind of people who just
want to talk about what could beand how to make it happen that
would be a dream.

That would be a dream.
I'm very active on LinkedIn.
My name is not allocated onLinkedIn.
I'm not selected anywhere else.

Good, that's enough.

I'm very active on LinkedIn.
I can reach out and we can haveconversations.
Like I said, my dad always saysno man is an island.
No one has ever been able toachieve anything by themselves,
you know like I said, my dadalways says no man is an island.
That's right, and so no one hasever been able to achieve
anything great by themselves.
I don't care what the narrativewas.
No one is able to do it bythemselves.

(01:13:31):
Whether they acknowledge thepeople they meet on the way up
or not, there are people theymeet on the way out, and so I'm
always open and welcoming to allthe interesting, very diverse

(01:13:51):
and intelligent people who wantto engage and find some kind of
commonplace for peace, fordevelopment, for you know great
things to happen, and I'm alwaysopen and feel free to reach out
.
Wonderful for development foryou know great things to happen
and I'm always open.

Feel free to reach out Wonderful and that's a
generous offer and selfishly.
I hope it leads you back to me,because I would love to be in
partnership with you to havethese interesting conversations
with people who want to beactively creating better lives,
better communities, whatever waywe can.

(01:14:29):
Maybe we can all put a triptogether to go to Ghana.

Let's do it.
That would be great.
I guarantee you you're going tohave so much fun you might not
want to come back.
That's a possibility.
Yes, it is, yes, it is.

Wonderful Enoch, you are just amazing and I feel
so so fortunate that our pathscrossed.
They've not crossed, they'vemerged, because we are now
walking that yellow brick road.
I wrote a book called AI andthe New Oz, so I sometimes throw
and the New Oz.
So I sometimes throw out thenew Oz, you know, and I'm like,
oh, there's no context here.

(01:15:06):
But we are walking that yellowbrick road together and I'm
grateful and I look forward tothe next time I'm able to have a
conversation with you.

The feeling is absolutely mutual.
Thank you very much, and thankyou for your audience sticking
out with us.

Perfect.
So, everyone, this is RESET,where purpose meets possibility
and walks arm in arm down thatyellow brick road so we can
build a better world together.
So thank you from Enoch andTonya signing off have a
wonderful week, take care,goodbye.
Thanks for joining us on RESET.

(01:15:48):
Remember, transformation is ajourney, not a destination.
So until next time, keepexploring what's possible.
I'm Tonya Long and this is home.
This is RESET.

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Tonya J. Long

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