Growth Pathways: Small Business, Technology, & Community

Episode Transcript
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Tonya J. Long (00:00):
Welcome friends.
I'm Tonya Long and this isReset.
Each week, we shareconversations with thought
leaders, innovators and thedreamers and doers who are
reshaping the future of work,technology, longevity and
purpose.
So settle in and let's explorewhat happens when purpose meets

(00:21):
possibility.
Hello everyone, and welcome toReset with Tonya here from the
KPCR 92.9 studios in gorgeous,sunny, beautiful Los Gatos.
It's so wonderful to be withyou today.
It's a blue sky, beautiful day,and I have wonderful and
beautiful but not blue HarbirBhatia.

(00:42):
Harbir is a friend of mine forabout the last year.
We met on a panel for Data forSocial Good at Santa Clara
University and then have beenbumping into each other
intentionally, I would say,since last summer when we served
on that panel.
Harbir is yeah, I need to thinkabout this.

(01:03):
She's one of the mostimpressive people I know.
I call her fierce when Iintroduce her to other people,
and fierce to me is a hugecompliment thank you yeah,
Harbir has been getting it done.
She started out on thatcorporate journey and we'll talk
about that, but from there hasreally I think at a younger age
than most moved, moved into herpassion.

(01:23):
She does humanitarian aideffort for Ukraine and she is
the CEO of the Central SiliconValley Chamber of Commerce and
they are doing some excitingwork.
Entrepreneurship Harbir and Italk fairly often lately about
entrepreneurship becoming muchmore widely recognized in our
communities and much moreheavily utilized as a model for

(01:45):
getting the things done that youwant to, and the chamber's work
is very much focused onenabling those businesses
absolutely, and which keepsharvey very busy.
So I'm really grateful to havegotten her time this on this
beautiful day.
Harvey, you're welcome thankyou.

Harbir Bhatia (02:01):
I'm actually so excited here.
I'm really more excited just tohave a talk with you, because I
think whenever you and I talk,we just have such amazing
conversations.

We're going to have to be calm Our beer and I
ideate we think it's a verycollaborative like what do we do
to solve these big problems?
Yes, save the world together Tosave the world together, and
we've come up with someinteresting ideas that are not
yet patented, so we'll beholding back on those today.
What are you working on rightnow, either, with both your

(02:31):
humanitarian aid work and thechamber that that you'd like to
share?
What are your currentpriorities?

That's a great question.
We are at that time of the year, right now, where we are
reprioritizing or planning forthe next time, yeah so our
fiscal year starts in July, butI will tell you that, just as
you said, we love to ideate.
I think of my legacy, and that Icome from a chamber who has
done so much for our region andfor the city of Santa Clara, but

(02:58):
also for the whole region.
I am reminded how important itis that I'm fearless and think
big, and that is what we arethinking about now.
We're in a very interestingtime, as you've been really
sharing your treasures with allof us and these important
elements for us to consider thatthe future ahead is no longer
the same, and so, with that inmind, what does that mean for

(03:19):
small businesses?
So, that's the kind of stuff I'mthinking about.
What does AI mean for them?
What does the Super Bowl andFIFA World Cup mean for them?
What does the future of worklook like for them?
What is their role now that theenterprises are king and no
longer small business is theking?
So these are the kind of thingsI'm thinking about to really
ensure that I respect the legacyI come from and ensure that the

(03:43):
work we do really continues tobe as magnificent.

I love it, although I will say you said it
as if the focus is all oncorporate and enterprise, and I
think there has been that flowof traffic, if you will for
talent for the last 20 some oddyears, but.
I think the flow is about tomove in the other direction.
I think companies are going tobe much smaller.
I think that entrepreneurs aregoing to build billion-dollar

(04:12):
businesses that have less than100 employees.
I think the big companies likeif you think about the FAANG
companies here in ourtech-focused zone those FAANG
companies will still exist, butI think they will turn down
significantly Google will neverbe 100 people.
That's not possible.
But I think the focus is aboutto shift back to smaller

(04:35):
businesses, simply by definition, because smaller businesses are
going to be able to accomplishso much more with the technology
that's available.

So much more power in their hands.
But I think that's also my jobas a person who comes from
technology and maybe more thanthat, even is innovation mindset
is how do I empower and enableour small businesses to have
that same benefit becausethey're already in that small

(05:04):
entrepreneurial space versus thebig corporations that were
entrepreneurs once upon a time?
Yes, but we need to put thatpower in their hands, because
they are actually the heart ofany community I have some prior
leadership training.

That uses the word enroll and I think we're
going to need to enroll peoplein different ways of thinking.
Your local florist might havebeen happy servicing a very
small area and two or threetypes of client needs, but with
the things that are going to beat that florist's fingertips now
, their ability to scale muchbigger and for their

(05:40):
distribution models to change.
So I used an example of aflorist.
When I'm on stage I talk abouteven a bakery needs AI and they
do and they can use it to.
It's one thing.
Some people who aren't ready,maybe, for those kinds of growth
say I don't need to be big or Idon't need to be a
billion-dollar company.
But what about, on the otherside, how it frees up your

(06:03):
people and you to spend moretime doing the things that you
have.
Purpose around that you can getthe work done, the repeatable,
less appealing tasks done better, faster, and then you turn that
time back over to yourpopulation to.
Maybe you're not going to be aflorist that serves a two state
area, but your people can workon more meaningful things.

Absolutely, and I think it is a mindset shift but
, also, I think that mindsetisn't for the sake of hey, just
think differently.
It's because there's real,tangible outcomes.
People are going to be able todo more yes, right, and that is
powerful.
That might mean that they haveopportunities to come up with

(06:48):
additional product ideas thatthey couldn't put their mind
into.
Maybe they'll have opportunityto spend more time working on
innovation and ideation versusback office operations.
Right, I gotta tell you I hatethat stuff.

Okay, I can appreciate that, I mean.

I enjoy the stuff .
Okay, I can appreciate that.
I mean, I enjoy the.
I enjoy looking at numbers andtelling what and seeing what
they tell me, but really I don'twant to do that as a I have to.
It should be because I want to,right, and I think we're
entering into this time, nowthat we just you and our
conversations is becomingclearer and clearer to me,
there's going to be so much morepower in our hands.

(07:24):
It's just a question do wechoose to use it and do we know?
That do?

we have the skill set to use it and I think that
there's a value for everyone,but not everyone has shares the
same value for it and it's fineif you want to stay smaller, but
free up that time for yourpeople to do more interesting
things.
If you may not want to be atwo-state florist, or however
you'd look at scaling a florist,but the but take away those
mundane tasks that people don'thave to do and I guess also the

(07:49):
thing is that, look, we alsohave to understand the realities
.

If everything was in a vacuum, then some of us
would say I don't want to haveto worry about staff or I don't
want to worry, everything wouldbecome imaginary.
But that's not how realbusiness works.
You have to deal with therealities today.
Reality realities today arethat there are more job openings
for the service industry thanthere are actual employees
resources available.
We had a.
The statistic from our chamberof commerce last year was that

(08:13):
there are 1.7 jobs for every oneperson oh wow, I'm not tech.

Yeah, the other industries I understand now
there.

This is why I'd love to say this, because I'm
such a star trekky or NASAperson, or whatever.
Is that Houston?
We have a problem.
We've got this huge, empty,empty space void of jobs, job
openings who need to be filled,that need to be filled, and then
you've got people who need tofill jobs.
So where is the problem?
Well, one is that they don'tknow how to get to you.

(08:44):
It's too costly to live here.
You can't get here because youhave no pathways.
So what do I do?
This is the powers that I'mseeing unfold as we are having
those ai conversations, and Ithink it's going to be a game
changer for small business andI'll use this as an example.

A friend of mine opened a restaurant.
She was in a one of the verylargest tech companies on the
peninsula for 20 years, exitedand wound up opening up a
beautiful, fine diningrestaurant.
Her husband had a restaurantbefore.
She tried and tried not to bein the family business, but she
had a design, if you will, forhow she wanted to build
something exquisite andbeautiful and she has in Belmont

(09:23):
.
It's beautiful.
The industry forecasters aretelling them that in five to
seven years people aren't goingto go sit down at Chipotle for
dinner.
They're not even going to go tothe locally owned Mexican
restaurant for food.
Dining will be either finedining in really lovely, curated

(09:44):
environments or it will be homedelivery, because people are
going back to family.
You want family together.
People want to spend their timewisely, so they'll have someone
else cook for them and deliverit to them at home.
But who wants to sit at a tablethat?
You know that a bunch of youand I don't have children, so
that a bunch of kids left alltheir crunched up goldfish

(10:05):
underneath the table.
So don't go home if it'sfrictionless for you to order
the meal, whether it's Chipotleor Mexican, from the Mexican
restaurant down the street.
If you can get it to your home,you will.
You won't bother going into afacility and the facilities will
be better for not having tomanage the requirements of a
facility.

I think I'll let me.
I actually agree with the frame, as you, the way you placed it.
I think it's going to be asmuch about experience.

Yes, like you said, you know that I want to
sit in my backyard, that Iworked all weekend on those
flowers or whatever it could bethat you want to go out and
that's why you're going out.

Not because you need to be fed.
Yes, it's because you choose tohave that experience.
And I think I remember NPR hadthis show about maybe five,
seven years ago.
It was about the future.
Economy is no longer productdriven or service driven.
It's experience driven.
And I keep hearing all thesedifferent things and I
synthesize this in my head and Ihave these ideas of the future.
But we are in a veryinteresting time Now.

(11:04):
We have gone through COVID.
We now know that what ispossible.
We don't have to believe intraditional models as we thought
we did, yes.
Second, we know we have thepower of AI.
Third, people are influenced bya lot more globalization in
their service Ubers, theDoorDash.
That's not an American concept.

(11:25):
It's been pretty much all overAsia and even parts of Europe
since eons.
It's just that, as an Americanculture, we think it's ours, but
it really hasn't been the case.
That has not been the case, andso we're adopting these new
concepts that are allowing us tore-evaluate what it means to be
in a particular socialframework or life's framework,
and realizing we're becomingborderless in terms of our

(11:49):
experiences right, we don't haveto go from A to B to achieve
something.
And realizing we're becomingborderless in terms of our
experiences right, we don't haveto go from A to B to achieve
something.
We can be where we are, as yousaid, in our backyard, but still
have that enriching experience.
I may go to the restaurantbecause I want that experience.
I may go to a cafe because Iwant to be out, but I'm not
necessarily going to have to goonly because of the food.
I absolutely agree with you andthat's why I think it's such an
amazing time where largecorporations are becoming

(12:09):
smaller, as you pointed out andhave taught us.
Number two our small businesseswant to continue to have power
and control over their smallspaces and their their destinies
.
They don't, like you said, theydon't all necessarily want to
be the future nvds.
They love that intimacy,intimacy, absolutely.
And then you have all these newways of working, eating,

(12:30):
sleeping, living and playingthat we've never had before.

It's a new world, my friend who opened tomorrow
the restaurant in Belmont.
They're looking at major waysof personalization.
Oh, I think she said 90 oftheir bookings are reservations
made ahead of time, which meansthey're in a crm.
Hello for all of us tech peopleout there and they can and they
know what you ordered.
Now we we've always had thisdata, we've just not really done
things with it.
So when you walk in they cansay, oh, miss Harbeer, welcome

(12:57):
back.
We have your table that youprefer, and then your server is
the person who always takes careof you.
And then your server has takena peek at you before he comes
out to say would you like yourgin and tonic?
Oh wow, totally feeling ofpersonalization, so that people
want to have these experiences.

And just imagine if we work backwards from that.
Yes, what that means for thejust the produce industry, the
supply chain, we we can sobacktrack from that absolutely
so much better planning, rightand hopefully less wastage, is
that right?
Yeah, less wastage just so muchI love data that's what I first
saw you, oh, you remember the?

panel and all you did was spit out numbers I'm so
sorry, you and p use.
I was like I was in between youand p use, malik, and I was
like I'm, I am intentionally notgoing to use a single number
tonight because, because they'vegot so many and I'm going to be
different that way, I'm goingto talk a single number tonight
because they've got so many andI'm going to be different that
way, I'm going to talk about allthe social impacts.

No, but I think that the point is that, whether
it's me using numbers or not,but I think you and I both love
that the value that data bringsto the table, which is it's in
different cultures they call itlike I can read your forecast
and all that.
No, truly, it's people thatlove numbers and crunching them.
Okay, and the secrets that youget.
It's called data insights for areason.

And yes, and those insights you and I both
know, because we've dealt withnumbers for so much of our adult
lives, that numbers can bemanipulated, not just falsified.
But the story that you tellwith numbers is really important
and I think we're democratizingit, where it's not just the one
spreadsheet jockey in thecorner that's telling all the
stories, that we all have accessto see what the stories are

(14:40):
going to be.

That is also a very good point, that
accessibility is also changingand now we have access to the
same stuff that everybody elsedoes.

And it will funnel our entrepreneurship.
That goes back into the smallerbusinesses that are going to be
active with chambers becausethey're going to need community,
yeah, and businesses that arecoming off the ground.
I know from when I made myentrepreneurial pivot, I just
missed going into a room full ofpeople to get validation of the

(15:10):
direction I was going in.
That's true.
It's not like the childlikeapproval, it's more the I need a
sanity check on this.
Is this going the right way?
And you walk into a room andpeople do their edits as people
do, and then you're like okay, Ihave the confidence to press
forward with this because a fewpeople that I respect have
looked at it, had their way inand now I can go and execute you

(15:32):
just gave me another goldnugget.

I have been trying to figure out what am I
missing?
Because I come from corporateand a startup mindset Very two
opposites, yes, but in this case, as small businesses, you don't
have the teams to do that and Ijust think a weight was lifted
off my heart or chest orwhatever.
Now I understand what it is,that thing that I don't have in

(15:59):
my role, because I always had itbefore.

Collaboration validation and you don't need
somebody to do it for you, butwe all need check-in points,
right?

Yeah, man, you got so many nuggets for me.

I swear to god no , we just have a good time now,
10 minutes ago.
But before we do I need to do aquick station id.
Sure, we are at kpcr lpf 92.9fm in las gatos and sister
station kmrt lp 101.9 out ofsanta cruz, and I bet they are
having a gorgeous day at SantaCruz, although I did see some

(16:32):
coastal flood warning warningscome through today, so I don't
know if we're going to get sometide, king tides or what on the
beach.

But it looks like it's going to be a rough day,
which is why we can always gothere.

And drive back inland to our safe little
mid-peninsula abode.
So fun stuff, so good.
So welcome to KPCR LP 92.9.
Ten minutes ago you used theword legacy and I really want to
honor your legacy being here,because you have such rich
heritage, going all the way backto how you were raised and who.

(17:07):
You were raised by your daddyand I don't have my daddy
anymore not on on this plane,but so when you talk about your
daddy I just light up and andyou light up too, because when
you declared to me that you're,that's not the right words, but
when you shared with me thatyour daddy is a feminist, I was

(17:27):
just just like, wow, yeah, andand clearly not surprised big
community activist.
So you were raised from a weelittle thing to stand in your
power and to do it on behalf ofothers.
Yeah, that was part, that's partof your legacy of DNA that a

(17:48):
man, a daddy, with that focushas driven into you.
So how?
Yeah, except that I can.
For you who can't see Harbir,she's really letting that sink
in, and she's I'm processing sheclosed her eyes.
She's letting it in.
So tell me, having that kind ofgrounding as a child and
expectations for what you woulddo for the world compounding as
a child and expectations forwhat you would do for the world

(18:10):
how does that affect how you runthe business of you?
You do several things.
You're CEO of the chamber, ofthe central chamber, you do a
lot of humanitarian aid but ingeneral, how does that
background from a familyperspective drive what?

you do.
I would say that until you saidthat I don't think I put two
and two together.
But yes, I'm getting you acalculator.
Yeah, it should have gone floorbefore, but it feels like it
equals so much.
More Is that Papa always saysthat he's the biggest feminist
because he takes such pride.
His sister was in those days.

(18:47):
I mean, he's obviously a boomerand he comes from a family
which also had extremely modestbeginnings.
But one thing that he said thathe felt, even as a child,
towards his sister was that shewas very talented, very capable,
and I think that stems from hismother.
His mother was the one thatwould kick your stuff if you get

(19:08):
stuff done.
And because his mother was theone that would kick your stuff
if you get stuff done, and andbecause his mother was that
person that allowed him to, orhe saw her as a strong person, I
think that naturally gave himthis, this world view that this
is how it should be, and I owe alot to my parents.
My mom and dad both haveextremely different strengths,

(19:30):
but one thing that they have incommon is this element that you
brought up of the serviceservice aspect and I remember my
first.
I was five years old when thefirst time I went to serve or
make food my grandma, my dad'smother, who was like this
powerful woman you, you do notmess with her, okay she took me

(19:52):
to the our community kitchen atour, in our Sikh tradition, we
have a community kitchen thateverybody gets to come and eat
for free.
I remember making rotis withher.
Rotis is like a flatbread andthat is my first memory of
participating in a communalthing.
And then I remember others forothers, and but that was also
the things that he saw.
So was it by design, who knows?

(20:14):
But I think, as you said, itwas in my DNA.
It has been there from thebeginning and that is the common
thread in everything I do, thatI am not a passive person.
My job is to be activelyengaged, sometimes maybe more
than others, but the traditionof Sikh tradition also is that
you are to or any individual,whatever tradition, you should

(20:37):
practice that.
This is a basic principle, thatyou're an active participant,
not a passive participant.
Okay, and so what happens isthat, when you've been, that's
been bred into your head sincethe beginning, and, having been
a minority, those are the kindof few things we held on to
because we didn't fit anywhereelse we were.
When you've been, that's beenbred into your head since the
beginning, and, having been aminority, those are the kind of
few things we held on to becausewe didn't fit anywhere else.
We were the oddballs.

(20:57):
We were brown.
My brother's hair was to thefeet his feet but his face was
white, his face was light and hehad blue eyes.
So people were like what areyou?
What guys?
What are you guys?
So he got us into volunteerism.
So every weekend we volunteeredas we thought that's what
normal people do, until I wentto college to have a rude
awakening that people don't dothis, it's just our family.
So, whether it was bypurposefulness or the natural

(21:21):
outcome, it became a part of whowe are.
So you cannot just sit by thesidelines when something is not
working well.
You cannot sit by the sidelineswhen somebody's be treating
unfairly.
You cannot sit by the sidelineswhen something is not working
well.
You cannot sit by the sidelineswhen somebody's be treating
unfairly.
You cannot sit by the sidelineswhen there's a problem to be
solved and there's no one tosolve it.
So, that just becomes who youare and you put that in every
realm that you're in.
So there's something that youhad written.

(21:43):
I was trying to get to itbecause I tell this to a lot of
women If you ask a woman to doanything, she will always
deliver.
That goes in many ways.
Whether it's a child, whetherit's a project, whether it's
getting whatever she's owing youto to you, a woman will always
deliver.

(22:04):
Now that is a I'm saying onethat's actively involved.
They will never let you down.
That's just not in their nature.
And I think when we let womenbe truly themselves, without all
these peripheral packagings andexpectations, man, they are a
powerhouse.
And now I know why people areafraid of us.

(22:25):
You give us anything, we'll getit done.

You give us anything, we'll get it done, and
the word agency is what I'mthinking about.
It's women and men but peoplewho have agency.
You were raised from a youngage with an expectation, and
empowerment has to come with anexpectation to let you make

(22:53):
decisions, to let you andencourage you to own and lead
things.
It might be what are weplanning to do on vacation when
we go to two hours away on alittle camp trip?

but you were empowered, you were given agency
from an early age and youlearned that was who you were I
wish papa was listening to thishe can papa, I just want to let
you know you're going to belistening to this a couple times
a day, you're right he did itright yeah, you're right so I'll
jump into my.

It's not politics but my opinions that aren't
necessarily popular, butparenting these days is really
tough it's really I acknowledgethat, but when I see people like
rush to do things for theirchildren.
My mom and daddy did not cometo freshman year college and get
me registered into my first setof classes, and now if you
don't go and help your childregister, it's looked at as like

(23:49):
you're abandoning them.
These transitions are wherepeople learn their strengths.
It starts when they're reallytiny.
You've got to let them break afew glasses that were too big
for them to hold.
For them to learn what weightof glass they can hold, they
have to climb a tree and skintheir knee.

(24:11):
What weight of glass they canhold, they have to climb a tree
and skin their knee.
And parents today so often havehad this conversation with
friends who are just almost intears.
I don't want them to be hurt.
I don't want them to strugglelike I did is the sometimes said
thing, and I'm like but thestruggle is where the growth
happens.
Yeah.

And I will say that I don't think that they did
it with this kind of planning.
I think it was.
They had this belief system andthen they had the sikh
tradition.
That kind of encourages it yeahbut at the same time, because
we were in a foreign country, Iwasn't born here, so I can't be
president.
Sorry you all, I can't bepresident but where were you?
Born india and where in india,north india, it's called

(24:50):
Haridwar.
It's the holy city for thepeople that practice Hinduism.

And how close is it?
Is it near Gurgaon Delhi?
Yeah?

it's about maybe five hours.

Okay, that's close in India terms, maybe five
, six hours.

Yeah, and that is also, by the way, a very
interesting space, becausepeople go there for blessings
all the time.
Okay, so you have that as abackground.
My name means the almighty God.
Wow, that just leaves you upwith so many responsibilities.

And then you have a father that teaches you Live
into that, yeah.

But I think, coming back to that point, is
that I think they were veryafraid.
They, on one hand, encouragedus by putting us out there.
They had social anxiety andsometimes I'll fall back into
that trap, but they pushed andpushed us.
But those are the skills thatare lifelong skills, that are
missing today.
You cannot do that anymoreBecause we were put into

(25:43):
difficult situations At the sametime.
They gave us empowerment.
On the other hand, they wereafraid because we're a new
country.
So it's really contrasting.
But I think back to what yousaid what is making us be
successful today?
I think you're right.
This was rooted in the past.

Yes.

And it's not very available right now for our
future workforce.

Actually no, the current workforce age at the
youngest levels coming into theworkforce very smart and very
natural with technology, becausethey've been since they were
young.
They've had an ipad in theirhands, but the resilience yeah
for making mistakes is low.
I was asked when I was in myearly 30s to go lead india was

(26:27):
one of my territories and I waslike wow, I didn't say where's
my instruction manual and I'dnever been to India.
And I think today there's a lotmore reluctance to do things if
you don't know exactly how it'sgoing to work.

And the benefit is it's a double-edged sword.
On one hand we're so blessed asthe next generation to have had
that foundation to allow themnot to have to worry and have
those experiences, but thenunfortunately they're also not
prepared.
But that just means theirparents have done such a great
job to create this strongfoundation that they're able to

(27:03):
then excel and think about moreaspirational thoughts.
But unfortunately they've beenaway from the basics far too
long.
Yeah.

I agree yeah.

And that's what we're seeing in the small
business industry right now.
They cannot keep workers, theykeep quitting.
They just don't have theresiliency.

There's a lot of movement and with the movement
that is happening so fast andit's such short periods of time
on each job, they're not likereally deeply learning some of
the skills that are not justtech skills, some of the skills
like collaboration, arbitratingideas that are dissimilar, those
kinds of social skills that youdon't learn in college and you

(27:40):
don't learn playing littleleague.
You learn those.
That's part of the adult.
Skinning your knee is to go inand be involved.
That's why I tell a lot ofentrepreneurs young
entrepreneurs, I'm like getexperience in a company, because
you are going to learn so much,some of it what you don't want,
and that is learning as well.
But you've got to build some ofthose tolerances for working

(28:04):
with others in order to launchyour own company.
Absolutely so there you go.
Yeah, it is time for anotherquick station break.
I'm going to talk about beingin Los Gatos at KPCRLP 92.9 and
sister station KMRT 101.9 LP.
Kmrt LP 101.9 out of Santa Cruz.

(28:25):
We're doing something prettycool this summer.
It is looking like summer, it'sfinally going to hit 80 here in
the Bay Area and we are doing asummer camp for radio
broadcasting.
Oh Cool, huh.
Oh yeah, youth I was coming upwith the word youth, because
they're not kids at age 13 to 17is our target.
It starts next week, june 9th.
Is that next week or is thatthe following week?

(28:47):
It starts June 9thth and youcan find out more on kpcrorg
online.
But I think it's a wonderfulway for kids to learn speaking
skills and maybe they're notthinking about being a radio
station personality in life, butmost kids want a podcast, yes.
So it's very transferableskills and what they will learn

(29:08):
in terms of everything from micplacement to creating a run of
show are all things that I thinkare really useful for
industrious 13 to 17 year oldsin the Bay Area, and it will be
held here at the studio.
They'll get to produce a show,which is fun, pretty cool.
I don't have time to be part ofit, but I wish I did, because I
think it'll be very interestingwhat they're doing.

(29:29):
Yeah, I think all kids like thatconcept nowadays yeah, yeah,
everybody wants to be a podcastyes, because it's cool you got
to start and summertime yeah,they're all looking and let's
find something constructive thatwill really enable some skills
turn on some interests.
So we've gone from being ayoutuber to a podcaster.
That's the thing.
Oh, being a youtuber is still athing.

(29:50):
Yes, it's still very much athing.
What's the guy's name?
Oh, I've forgotten.
He has 80 billion views and hedoes these crazy outlandish
things.
We don't need to talk about him, but it is amazing what all
happens on youtube.
How old were you when you movedfrom india to here?

I was just.
I think I just turned seven, orwas about to turn seven, yeah,
so so you probably rememberbeing in India Very much.

Yeah, yeah, definitely shaped a lot of my
personality, but the bulk ofyour life has been in the US
Electrical engineering.
Is that what you studied incollege?
Worked at Lockheed Martin.
I've got some friends that arelistening who went through the
Lockheed Martin tour of duty.

Yes, yes, who went?

through the Lockheed Martin tour of duty.
Yes, yes, big, amazinglybrilliant company.
We are safe, like we are,because of what they do.
But you were at Lockheed Martinand that's also a stuffy job
because they are big, right,they are so big and process is
so necessary.
What took you from electricalengineering Lockheed Martin
those are all in the same bucketright to humanitarian aid.

Where did that come from?
So again, that's where I comeback to it, that it was always
being a community person.
It was just something you did.
I think if I was to write myresume about my community
volunteering experiences, it'dbe at least 45 years long.
That's how much work I've done.
I have more volunteerexperience and skills developed

(31:11):
through that experiencemarketing, problem solving, you
name it.
I've.
I think I've done it okay, andand so the the thread, though,
is that I didn't know what to dowhen I was growing up.
Again, my immigrant experiencehas definitely had a lot to do
with my choices, yeah, and then,of course, being Sikh have
actually shaped a lot of mychoices now, but we you may have

(31:35):
heard this, and maybe Piyushmay say the same thing to you
that when you come to the UnitedStates in those years it was
60s and 70s most migrants cameto the eastern part of the
country, okay, central, which isMidwest, but not Plains.

Mostly to the east.

Okay, I didn't know this yeah, because 1960s
and 70s there was a hugecampaign to bring in
knowledgeable workers from otherparts of the world.
Okay, either to get educatedhere to do their masters, or to
become an engineer, doctor, ascientist, or maybe in, if you
had a business, andentrepreneurship.
All of them, most of them, 75%of them, settled between Midwest

(32:12):
to the East Coast and so, beinga product of those times, we
got off the airport, theystamped your green card and here
you go.
Now you're an American greencard holder.
Go.

Okay, was that easy back then.

Yeah, there was no concept of H1.

That's a more.
That's a 1990s thing.

And we were all about just fitting into America.
Yes, but we don't know what todo, because people have all
types of jobs here.
But for us there was threeoptions A doctor, an engineer, a
scientist and maybe anaccountant slash lawyer, that's
it.
So I didn't know what to do andI was like Papa's an engineer
and he's my role model.
So I'm an engineer.
And.
But he made it very clear to mybrother and sister and I do

(32:53):
whatever you want, if you'regonna be a garbage man, you
better be a dang good garbageman.
I said, okay, so we took ourlife that way.
But I will be very frank, thatjourney you really need to be in
good schools.
I have to say that I did nothave as good of teachers, maybe
that I could have had to be abetter engineer, but at least I

(33:14):
remember a few equations Voltageequals current times resistance
I deserve an A plus for thatand E equals MC squared.
That's about it.
And then I couldn't find a jobin the midwest.
I had options for tires, that'sit.

Okay, I was like I'm not working on tires because
it's a more manufacturingcentric that's it the demand but
then all these things were myjobs, not my life.

Ah, okay, so those are all that's what I'm
saying to you.
It's all piecemeal, becausethat wasn't my purpose.
My purpose was oh, I need tohave a job because that's what
you do, but my love was I lovecommunity, so that's just paying
me, so I can do what I love.
I see, I see, and that's whereLockheed Martin happened.
But I got to tell you, lockheedMartin was so cool, but there

(34:05):
was more information outsideLockheed Martin than there was
inside Lockheed Martin, and thensoftware just became an easier
option, and so that's how I gotout and in the future?

I think you got out at exactly the right time
for you.
That's actually the answer.
But interesting you did.
You got out at exactly theright time for you.
But we're going to need fewerengineers in the future, because
I have friends who areexecutive coaches and have been
executive coaches all theirlives.
Yes, I'm talking to you, pam,and they're unlovable creating
products and almost having likehome competitions with their

(34:34):
college-age children to likevibe code things, even though
they have zero technicalbackground.
Okay, it's well known in our inthe bubble that we live in of
silicon valley, that technologyis simplifying across the board
for everybody.
It'll be ideas that willgenerate.
Engineering won't be like asspecial as it has been, because

(34:56):
everybody will be able to be anengineer if they can articulate
their thoughts into tools thatdo the background work for them.

Interesting Right ?
Yeah, yeah.
So you're going back to makinga lot more product managers.

Actually, yes, yes, a lot more people who can
communicate cross-functionallyand have technical aptitude and
communication skills.
That's where I think we will beheaded, and lots more into
entrepreneurship.
Yeah, yeah, you're right.

And I guess that's a skill think we will be
headed and lots more intoentrepreneurship.
Yeah, yeah, you're right, and Iguess that's a skill set that
we're trying to hone in on youwent from electrical engineering
to humanitarian work.

Now you're leading the chamber.
I can't help but think therewere things that you learned in
your corporate roles that youhave found invaluable and rare
in the work that you do now youare so right.
So what are some of thosethings that, as you made your
resets?
There were things you learnedearly In your corporate boring,

(35:54):
stuffy jobs that still today arevaluable because they help you
make things happen.

You're so right on that I'm a fan of my
corporate life I, and I will sayI try to tell a lot of people
the same thing that these arenot two separate worlds it's all
.

It's a continuum, it's a continue, absolutely.

You're so good at this stuff, I tell you um look
the thing is that at the end ofthe, at the end of the day, we
are all, or who we are, becauseof experiences we have.
We don't block our brain offinto saying, excuse me, that's a
part of the brain that onlyuses this set of skills because
I'm volunteering and not beingpaid for it.
That has nothing to do with it.
My brain is my brain.
I use what I've learned, I moveit along.
I'll give you an example.
I negotiated a deal with a bigNegotiation Exactly, negoti,

(36:44):
negotiated a big deal with agenerator company and I said
here's what you need, what youcan do with what you have, and
here's the impact it will create.
We sent over thousands ofgenerators to Ukraine.
Yeah, and that was a time ofdire need.
I love it.
But that skill set of knowinghow to talk to them, how to
present to them the need, how tofind a business case, that was
a win-win.
Absolutely, and there's not.
That is really missing today.

(37:06):
Actually, we need to do muchmore of that.
We need to apply thoseprofessional skills into the
social world, because at any endof a given day, we're still
living in a society which is notsegmented by this part of the
day, is controlled by thesefeatures of AI and this part of
my day I'm living in a hole.
No, you are the same personthroughout the day.

(37:27):
You're bringing whole selfforward, and my whole self
forward has learned so much withworking in a corporation or it
is a corporation like LockheedMartin, where I learned deep
analytical skills because that'smy brain.
I'm an analytical person, butthen I also moved into software
and, empowered by a woman whoworked in NASA, had her fifth

(37:48):
child at Aspect Communications,gloria Davis but I worked at
Aspect Communications.
I couldn't believe it.
I'm like I knew there was adeeper connection first tech job
that's such a deeper connection.

I didn't know Gloria personally, like closely,
because I was in Tennessee atthe time, but I did some work
that touched Gloria's teams.

And that and that is the kind of things you talk
about is what she brought to ourtable and was very rare in
those days.
Yeah, and I believe thatplatform gave me the mindset to
be able to think big, think outof the box and realize my
solutions don't always have tobe what's expected.
But more recently, whiletalking to you, I've discovered

(38:30):
that my talents were theseunique nuggets versus going
against the grain.
Yeah, and I don't think I wasin the ecosystem that recognized
those talents.

They're enablers for what you're able to help
organizations do.

And I want more women to know this stuff, yes,
that we don't get to be in thoseenvironments, that we have
these nuggets that are able tostand out and be told or
identified as hey, this thing iswhat's helping you do X Y Z.
Because, in the most of thetime, thing is what's helping
you do xyz.
Because in the most of the timemy world being in technology,
there were very few women, so Inever knew what was that.

(39:08):
What I was doing was wrong orright, or because I'm a woman or
because I just don't get it.
We just got things done.
We just got things done.
Yeah, and I am like theultimate problem solver.

Yeah, but those talents problem solving is a
skill as well absolutely becauseit's a mindset.
The other thing I think aboutis crisis resolution.
No matter what part of thebusiness you were in in Lockheed
Martin, you were probablyalways managing some form of
escalation, whether it was alow-level escalation or all the

(39:38):
way up to the CEO, managingcrisis.
Crisis is kind of aninflammatory word, true, but
managing crisis, knowing how tohandle escalations, is a skill.

And I guess I didn't know that at the time, I
thought it was.
Here's another problem I haveto solve and I do also believe
that is a skill set that I'vealso learned and refined as I've
gone is that I mobilize peoplevery quickly.
Yes, I get them behind a commoncause.
Yes, and I will do the research, which again comes from my

(40:15):
background, and put together theprocedures and systems needed
to solve the problem.
Yes, and that's my thread.
You're smiling, like as in.
I told you so I love thatyou're right but you learned it.

You, whether willingly or not, you went into
the corporate beginnings andlearned these practices that
became who you are as a workingadult.
But they spread farther thanjust your work.
It's the work of you being afully functioning adult, the
humanitarian aid pieces that youknow that it's hard, these

(40:55):
people that want to separatework and home.
It's so hard to separate formaybe just for us, but to
separate passion, passion fromwhat you do and it can be aid,
it can be working at the humanesociety, it can be running your
kids little league schedules,absolutely.

But when you have passion behind it and you want
to find better ways of servingthe audience, that depends on
you yes, everything in its way,it's a project, and whether it's
raising children, whether it'sworking in the community garden,
everything takes that intentionand passion from you.
It's true, you can apply it toanything you want, and that's

(41:36):
when I read your notes I wastrying to figure out when you
were saying that I did theseresets, and I realized my
function.

They were functionally resets, but the
underlying thread that ties thewhole story together is about
wanting to create value yes, andthat started at home for you at
a very young age with your Sikhtraditions and your father's
mindset and your mom's aboutservice to the community.

(42:05):
Right Totally, I love it.

I feel like you've got me figured out.
This is a little scary.

I don't have you figured out.
It's a little bit creepy,though, I know.

I feel like somebody's in my brain that
seems to understand me betterthan I do at this moment.
Oh, I love it, I love it.

We're going to do a quick third station ID.
These things come up too quick,they really do.
But we are at pirate cat radiokpcr 92.9 fm, out of los gatos,
with sister station kmrt lp fm101.9, in sunny wave cresting

(42:39):
santa cruz.
I'm remembering when I saidthat when remember when the
waves took out the big pier, yes, it was like a house floating
at the beach.
It was yeah.
Yeah, we're not expecting thatwas.
It was yeah, yeah, we're notexpecting.
That was about a year ago.
We're not expecting that in thenext few days.
I also want to say I have aminute.
I was doing the station id.
We have something interestinghappening here at the station
called the signal society.

(42:59):
We are a community funded radiostation.
We do what we do because welove it, but we also there there
is a keeping the lights onelement of being a community
funded radio station.
You very much understand thatwith the chamber, but we've
created the signal society withmembership tiers for as little
as five dollars a month, likeone of the things that you can
get that is pretty cool is alittle card with discounts buy a

(43:21):
dozen donuts, get a free coffee, kind of thing.
So there's several localbusinesses not just in los gatos
, around the bay area that arehave contributed because they
want you to come into theirbusinesses as well.
So that's a membership cardwith the Signal Society.
There's also a cool thing youcan have your own radio show for
an hour.
You can partner with one of usand then we will work with you

(43:42):
to create your own radio showduring the year.
And of course there's a studiotour and then we're putting
together events like like bands,and our signal society will get
first dibs on thoseperformances.
So invite me to those I lovelive bands oh, then you would
love our station director, youwould?
I've got to get, I've got toget you to him.
So if he's out there listening,yes, I'm getting her to you but

(44:03):
I like this idea of the station.

It's community, the Signal Society.
Yeah, we were discussing thisright that we have gone through
these moments in our communitiesof swings.
We've gone from being smallbusiness centric to enterprise
centric and now starting to comeback.

And coming back, and you know what I think that's
all about Impact.
Yeah, it's about impact.
Impact, yeah, it's about impact.
There was a time and a seasonfor us to make impact at a very
broad global level with theproducts we put into place.
You were at salesforce also bigcompany, big company.
So we did things that touchedthe world, and now we're

(44:41):
touching the world differentlyby using those skills to enable
small businesses, because we'renot just opening up that
proverbial florist or bakery.
We're still leaders.
That's naturally who we are,and I think there's some real
opportunity in the future tohelp ease that path for
entrepreneurs.

And I'd like to also say this to all my
corporate brothers, sisterspeople is that you cannot exist
if the small businesses do notexist.
Yeah, people is that you cannotexist if the small businesses
do not exist.
I believe we've gotten intothese edges of the spectrum
where we think that I'm a smallbusiness owner is not relevant
to me, but I want to tell youthat our corporations cannot

(45:20):
exist if they do not haveservices for their people I'm
gonna make the point of the Ofthe data centers I was going to
say, except for data centers.
Except for data centers, exceptfor data centers, but except for
data centers.
You need a place for yourcommunity and the people that
you employ to be able to createa life, and that is why small

(45:40):
businesses will always be theheart of any community, whether
they are in the Las Gadas, santaClara, cupertino, san Jose,
wherever they are To exist, youmust have a thriving small
business community, otherwiseyou're going to have to create
one.

And who do you think their customers are?
Their enterprise customers areoften small businesses.
When they were trying to Iwon't say this well because I
don't have time to build thestory but when they were really
trying to separate Google'slines of business YouTube versus
Search being separatebusinesses with the Department
of Justice four or five yearsago I was fiercely against that,

(46:21):
not to protect Google, butbecause that would have been a
terrible negative impact onsmall businesses.
Small businesses count onplaces like Google for their
advertising, for their SEO, torun their website.
There are.
It's reciprocal in terms of theneed small businesses have for
enterprises and then howenterprises that's their client

(46:44):
base right.
Yeah, absolutely, and we needeverybody operating at peak
passion and efficiency.
But enterprises, you and I,sometimes, because of where
we've been, we think about thebig multi-million dollar deals.

Yeah, correct, correct.

But a lot of these businesses are based on
serving Sort of small businesses.

They're your customers.

A couple of thousand dollar deals Just
imagine if there wasn't a POIsystem, point of sale system, no
transactions done system, pointof sale system, no transactions
done, and those have to runacross networks, and so we could
go deep here technically and wewon't.
But yeah, yeah.
So I wanted to do something funwith you, wanted to do a little
lightning round and, given thetime we're gonna, we're gonna
leave half our questions foranother day.

(47:20):
But I think lightning roundsare fun because one of the
things that I want to happenwith this show is for
communities to know you better.
Okay, because there's a lot toknow.
I have such high quality peoplethat come and sit in this chair
and it's an honor and aprivilege.
But I think people want to beseen and known as people, not
just as their title and whatthat perception becomes.

(47:43):
So the lightning round has beena fun way.
I I did it last week with a vcthat's one of the top vc firms
here in the valley, so now I'mdoing it with one of the top pro
business supporters in thevalley.
So are you a morning person ora night owl night?
Ah, you're a night owl, okay,how does that enable your global
communications and coordinationwork that?

you do easy everybody's awake.
Everybody's awake by that time.
So, from UK onwards,everybody's awake.
But I also tell you my creative.
I'm most creative at that hour.

Love it, love it.
How late is late for you?

Two oh three.

Three, I'm a one girl, but yeah, we're still past
yeah.
Okay, yeah, all right.
Next Finish this sentence.
The biggest myth about being asingle powerful woman is Crap.

Freedom.

It's a myth.
Freedom is a myth.
Yeah, say more.

Look, you choose where you spend your time.

Yes.

Everything in our life is our choice.
You are just putting that timeand commitment towards something
else.
It does not mean that you don'thave that.
You don't have commitments andobligations.
It's just that there aren'tdifferent things.
I write that.
I say that in a way that it isnot to say that you don't get
freedom.
It's just freedom fromdifferent things.
But at the same time, freedombeing single doesn't mean it's

(49:06):
always a party.
That's probably the other myth,I was going to say it's not a
24-hour party.
No, we work like workhorses.

Yes, yes, because our work is our family and our
children and our all the thingswe wrap our passion around yep,
my passion is my work.
Yes, yeah, agreed, agreed.
What is the most Silicon Valleysolution that you've applied to
a humanitarian problem?

Oh boy, silicon Valley solution, yeah Huh,
interesting.
I think of constantlyinnovating to provide solutions.
So I think that example I gaveyou about one example, was the
generators.

Yeah, it's a great one.
Because that is the SiliconValley way we find
collaborations, we figure outhow to create the win-win, the
business solution and they're inour neighborhoods and I think
people may roll their eyes thatare my Tennessee family people
that are listening, but I thinkthere's a Silicon Valley mindset
that's such a privilege for usto have worked in and understand

(50:07):
you and I think much morebroadly.
Yes, but the way we learn tothink about the customer, about
globalization, about process, isgood.
I will go to my grave sayingprocess enables us to scale,
whatever that means for you.

But we also are the people that always think
about getting the job done.

Yes.

We're always about delivering results.
Yeah, I want to tell yousomething.

We were when we were little girls too, when we
were helping put dinner on thetable, Don't you know?
Yeah, that's who we are.
What were you going to say?

The president of Senegal came to visit us and I
was like you want to meet withme, Wow.
I said I want to teach how tobe Silicon Valley.
We want to do what's happeninghere.
I said you know what SiliconValley isn't just a place, it's
a mindset.
It truly is a mindset, yes, andI wish we could share it with
the world.
We're trying.

And it's a community.
It's a community, it's amindset, it's all that.
This is home now.
It really is an amazing to behere.
So same here.
We both are transplants.
We both are transplants andanyway, I'm not gonna next.
This is easy, it's an becauseit's only a single answer.
If you had to choose, would yourather save one startup or

(51:18):
deliver a thousand laptops tothe ukraine?
A thousand laptops to ukraineyeah, that's something you're
working on right now.
I saw that you posted aboutthat a few days ago, yeah, so.

They can't go back, the Eastern Bloc can't go
to school because they keepbeing bombed and Keeve is being
bombed again and again, and so,unfortunately, we don't want to
stop their education, becausethat means they're not going to
be productive people as theygrow.
So that to me, is more powerful, because maybe I'll create a
thousand more startups.

I love A thousand laptops is the future of a
thousand startups.
Oh, I'm loving it.
I'm loving that messaging.
So do you read or do you dopodcasts?
What's your preference?

I like to hear, I like data, I like facts.
So I've started listening toBlink and Audible.

I've been a Blink account holder for a long time.
For those out there who don'tknow, blink summarizes books and
into 15 minute sound bites,chapter by chapter.
Yeah, when I first started Ihaven't looked lately it was
built out of Germany.
Yeah, it's so amazing.
A lot of the context was it wasfunny to read in the beginning
because they had a lot of Germanstudents doing the translations
and it's not just a translationof the book.

It's a 15 minute.

It's more than a translation read or it's a
interpretation of the book insummary form.

But Blink is amazing but when you ask you
have a podcast and reading, I'lltell you the difference for me
or the similarity for me.
Yeah, they're both peopletelling me stuff that I can hear
when I'm walking around andgetting things done okay, so I,
because the question was goingto be based on your answer.

Then what is the book laying on your nightstand?
Oh, right now or what is thepodcast that played on the way
here?
Oh gosh, that's two things, soyou do both.

I'm going back to read Good to Great.
Yeah, good to Great.
I read that years ago.
I'm just reading that again.

It's a classic.

And the other one is how to Free.

Up your time and the podcast was yours, of course
.
Nice, yeah, how could I not?
I was like I need you preparedfor this.

I have no clue going in what I'm supposed to be
doing.

These are the easiest conversations because
they they just try to tappeople's hearts.
Yeah, for what they want totalk about.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love thisgood.

You're so good you can thank you you it's
nobody paid me to say this forthe second, for the record, it's
a For what they want to talkabout.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love this Good.
You're so good.
You can Thank you.

You.
It's a privilege.
Nobody paid me to say this forthe second, for the record.

It's a privilege To be able to give Such amazing
people A space for them to talk.
Keisha is a friend of mine.
That was the VC that was herelast week.
The first time I've sat withyou that it hasn't been us being
on a panel with an audience ofindustry people and we get to
have the conversation we want.
Now, the way we all, the way wework, is work, is always going

(53:54):
to come into every conversation.
it's a big part of who we areabsolutely but being able to not
be performing for an audiencethat needs certain educational
value out of what we say, Ithink is a really important
space to give to you guys.
So, anyway, what's the nextindustry?
Last question what's the nextindustry that desperately needs

(54:15):
more single, powerful, fiercewomen?

come on, I don't believe in that.
Being one industry, choosing ishard, it's very hard.
Leadership, civic, leadership,civic leadership.

Okay, I will let you.

Yeah, civic leadership, I can agree with
that I think we're not dissingmen here, because obviously we
cannot exist without them, andnor can they exist without us
and we would.
It wouldn't be any fun.
No, it wouldn't be fun.
But civic leadership is a spacein which, by nature, by dna,
whatever you want to call it issomething that we will always

(54:53):
have the first nature, or firstI use the word nature again.

It'd be a first natural instinct, because it is
about caring for more thanyourself yes, I love it, and
we've had some remarkable womenlead countries in the last
decade, except ours, but that'sokay in time in time like I said
, I can't be president, but Ican be governor.

I'm joking guys.
Okay, I'm joking.
I love scary people juststarted.

You just started the rumors.
Fantastic this, really.
It has been fun.
The time went way too quickly.
We can bring you back anytimeyou want, because I've got a
whole list of questions in herethat I wanted to talk about.
So, anytime you want, thescript is already ready.
In the meantime, how would youlike people to get in touch with
you If they want to watch whatyou're doing, if they want to

(55:38):
participate in your support ofUkraine?
How would people find out whatyou're up to?

Go to my LinkedIn page or my Facebook page.

I'm very easily accessible.

It's Harbir Bhatia with a middle initial K,
so Harbir K Bhatia.
Or you can just reach out toany of my staff at the chamber.
They're all being pulled intoall my crazy humanitarian
projects, but it makes lifeworth it.
So I would ask you to pleasesupport your local chamber.
Because of them, you have thebusinesses that can thrive and

(56:07):
your community can thrive.
So join the support the chamberand choose a cause any cause
but when you get involved,things will always be better.
Thank you for listening and I'mhere to take your money if you
want to support ukrainefantastic, all right, really, I
just I'm repeating myself.

It's been a complete joy, so thank you,
harbir, everyone.
This has been Harbir K Bhatia.
We'll put that in the shownotes for people.
Thank you.
This has been Harbir K Bhatiawith Tonya Long on Reset with
Tonya Sending all the good vibeswe can find out into the world.
Have a wonderful day.
We will see you next Thursdayat 11 am.
Ciao.

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Host

Tonya J. Long

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