Mr. B. Visweswaran, Vice Chairman of Sanmar Engineering Technologies Pvt. Ltd., delivered an inspiring address at the MMA All-India Management Students Convention on thriving in tomorrow’s world.
The theme for this year’s convention has some very interesting keywords: artificial intelligence, human skills, changing world, and agility. Artificial intelligence has really evolved over the decades. It started with rule-based systems, evolved to machine learning, and now we have generative AI.
My own master’s thesis, which was about 30 years ago—I know many of you will feel that I don’t look that old, but it was a very long time back—was on the application of neural networks to wireless technology. At that time, this field was called evolutionary algorithms. Along with neural networks, there was genetic engineering, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, and all of that was clubbed into something called evolutionary algorithms.
During my master’s period, these were all only done by a few academics. There were no real-world applications of these technologies. But I think that has changed in the last few years with the amount of computing power that’s available to all of you and also the way this technology has evolved. Artificial intelligence has now become really a household name, and the pace of progress of these technologies has also been quite significant.
From AI to AI Engineering
I think now, more than artificial intelligence, we are talking about AI engineering. It’s more about finding applications that use in the best possible manner the models and the infrastructure that’s available. This pace of progress brings me to another keyword in the theme, which is the changing world. Artificial intelligence, automation, data—these are transforming our world and industries at a speed that’s never been seen before. And anything that changes so quickly requires all of us to be very agile. The world that you are all entering will require a lot of agility because it’s quite fluid. Job roles are evolving, industries are converging, and the half-life of skills is shrinking. What really distinguishes great managers from the rest is your ability to be agile. It’s more about unlearning and learning at a very quick pace.
If I use my own experience, the neural networks that I used 30 years ago and the applications, the coding that I did 30 years ago, are very, very different from the technologies that are available today. And so there’s a need even for me to unlearn what I did 30 years ago in my graduate days and relearn what’s available today. But this rapid pace of technology also has its own set of problems. There’s misinformation. I’m sure all of you would have heard about bias, a lot of privacy concerns, and job displacement being some of the problems that this fast-changing technology creates. And I think that’s where the other keyword of this theme—human skills—comes into the picture.
The Irreplaceable Value of Human Skills
As future managers, you all need to remember that technology amplifies but cannot replace human strengths. Your emotional intelligence and ethical judgment and the ability to collaborate not only with one another but across cultures will remain one of your most valuable assets. As you lead your teams into the future, what people will remember is not the algorithms that you used, but your ability to be curious, compassionate, and use all of the technology that you have at your disposal responsibly.
At Sanmar Engineering, we experience this on a daily basis. We have a lot of technology that allows us to do precision engineering with a lot of efficiency and scale. But at the end of the day, within the Sanmar group, we believe that our people are our greatest strength. They are the ones who convert all of those opportunities into real-life applications.
All of this technology and your presence in India are creating unparalleled opportunities. As management students, you stand at the intersection of ambition and transformation. Whether you are part of a startup or an existing company—and AI has thrown up quite a bit of startups with valuations which are quite stratospheric—your ability to connect innovation with integrity will define the impact that you have.
The future belongs to those who can balance technological prowess with human wisdom, who can be agile in the face of change while remaining grounded in ethical principles. As you step forward into your careers, remember that your greatest competitive advantage lies not just in mastering the tools of tomorrow, but in cultivating the timeless human qualities that no algorithm can replicate.
