pooja-sund-2020-03-18.mp3 Pooja Sund: [00:00:01] The way that you guys analyze data science. Applied that same thinking to analyze your own mind then you are self aware of the situations in terms of how would you react? What do we want to achieve? If you're thinking about these questions and define for yourself, you can actually change your mindset and actually amplify it to always match it to that wavelength, which is screened to take you to the positive landscape. Anybody can do it is you do not need a coach. You do not need someone as to tell you what do you need to work on. You can start working between your mind and soul and then bring it together and change your mindset. Harpreet Sahota: [00:00:54] What's up, everyone? Thank you so much for tuning in to the artists of Data Science podcast. My goal with this podcast is to share the stories and journeys of the top leaders in Data science. The artists who are creating value for our field,to the content they're creating, the work they're doing and the positive impact they're having within their organizations, industries, society and the art of Data science as a whole. I can't even begin to express how excited I am that you're joining me today. My name is Harpreet Sahota and I'll be your host as we talk to some of the most amazing people in Data science. Today's episode is brought to you by Data Science Dream Job. If you're wondering what it takes to break into the field of Data science, check out Dstj.co/Artists with an S or an invitation to a free webinar where we'll give you tips on how to land your first job in Data Science. Also, get a free, open, Mastermind slack community called the Artists of Data Science Loft that I encourage everyone listening to join. I'll make myself available to you for questions on all things data science and keep me posted on the biweekly Open Office hours that I'll be hosting for our community. Check that out at ArtofDatascienceloft.slack.com. Community is super important and I'm hoping you guys will join the community where we can keep each other motivated, keep each other in the loop on what's going on with our own journeys so that we can learn, grow and get better together. Let's ride this beat out into another awesome episode. And don't forget to subscribe, follow like, love, rate and review the show. Harpreet Sahota: [00:02:47] Our guest today has two decades of global technology and financial experience delivering business and organizational impact across a variety of roles. Harpreet Sahota: [00:02:56] Her completeness of vision and ability to communicate, organize and lead her teams to execute on that vision is powered by her capacity to generate positive energy on any team that she's a part of. In fact, she's distilled her principles into what she calls the 3P's. Passion for the latest technology and data analytics and business intelligence. Power to fix things and generate positive energy and alignment on her teams and putting people first by setting her teams up for success. Her wide diversity of experiences has been an energizing factor in her career, allowing her to focus on impacting her stakeholders, the many different roles she's held in her organization over the last 14 years. And if you're wondering what organization that is? It's a tiny operation in the Pacific Northwest that you may have heard of on Microsoft. During her 14 years at Microsoft, she's held various leadership positions within the finance department and in 2016 was promoted to the head of technology and data analytics. As of February 2020, she's moved even further up the ladder and is currently the director of technology and analytics. Harpreet Sahota: [00:03:59] She's spoken at many national and international events and conferences over the last two decades on topics ranging from executive Data science, the future of Data science, leadership, motivation, managing communication and visualization and storytelling to name a few. She's a leader with a vision and has a contagious passion and enthusiasm for her work. She's an outstanding speaker, excellent collaborator, energizer motivator and idealtor. So please help me and welcome me. Our guest today, a technology leader, speaker, coach, artist and volunteer, Pooja Sung. Pooja, thank you so much for being so generous with your time and being on the show today. I really appreciate you being here. Pooja Sund: [00:04:38] Oh, thank you for you to have the introduction that you gave me was really impressive and I was like, oh, is it really me or do I need to give credit to all those people who have inspired me.So I'm here today to share my experiences and my journey with my audience and I'm ready to contribute to your success. Harpreet Sahota: [00:04:57] Awesome. Thank you so much. I'm sure that everybody listening, even if it's just my nanny will learn so much from you and your story. But you've had quite an interesting path into the world of Data, when you initially graduate with your MBA, your goal was to be a financial analyst. Talk to me about the path you took from finance to data analytics and can you share some tips on those making a similar transition? Pooja Sund: [00:05:22] Yes, and actually, I would like to take us back on this journey. Initially, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor and I tried my best. I did not get into the best university that I wanted to getting. So then I had a discussion with my mom and she said, you know what? It's never end of the world. The passion, the energy that you have if you really applied that mindset to any other profession, you would excel in. I took that advice to my heart. I changed my profession. And then I went in and I decided to do my MBA. And when I was doing MBA, I realized that, you know what, I'm up since the time that I was a kid, I was really good in math and science. And I was like, wait, I didn't think to be become an engineer at that time. I was so focused on becoming a doctor to serve the broader community. I said, maybe, you know what? I can still serve the community by being a Data scientist or by being a data analytics manager and by being the person who can liason to bring both of these things into the equation.And I set my goal and my goal was to be a financial analyst, in a word, right and left the number one company and back then was Microsoft. And I remember one day in our college, our director of MBA Institute, she came and she was having the script discussion with students and she asked each and every one of us, she was like, where do you see yourself in the next five years from getting MBA? And at that time, I was just dreaming. I was dreaming and I had that mission and vision ready in front of me. And I said to her, I want to join Microsoft one day and I truly think that that skill set that I have and uncompromising and unflinching faith in my capabilities would get me closer to that role. And here I am. Fast forward fifteen years being with Microsoft. I love this company and I would just say that you need to really look at the things that are in front of you, decide what are the things that excites you more? What are the different, let's say, times slots on your day to day basis? Did you find yourself in your excellence zone? I'm not talking about the time when you are in your great mode, zone or let's say this is a best zone. I'm talking about the zone where you can call yourself as being an excellent person because you're just lose track of time and I feel that when I am working on the projects, setting was analytics and technology, I just lost track of time. So I found my passion and they embraced it with open heart. Harpreet Sahota: [00:07:44] That reminds me of that flow state. I don't know if you familiar with that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to me how he talks about that state of flow. Just hearing you talk about that. Oh, my God gives me chills like hearing your passion and enthusiasm for what you do. And it's awesome that I mean, I'm coming from an Indian background having parents who really only think there's two careers, right, doctor or engineer. So it's awesome that you had parents that was like, hey, man, just do whatever it is that fulfills you and makes you happy. That was an awesome story. Thank you. Thanks for sharing that. Harpreet Sahota: [00:08:17] Whats up artists, check out our free, open Mastermind Slack channel, the artists of data science loft,@artistsofdatascienceloft.slack.com. I'll keep you posted on the bi weekly open office hours that I'll be hosting and it's a great environment and community for all of us to talk all things Data science and what's in there. Harpreet Sahota: [00:08:43] Throughout your tenure at Microsoft, you've got some awesome experience building and leading analytics teams from the ground up. So what are some things that aren't taught in school about leadership that you want to share with our listeners? Pooja Sund: [00:08:57] I would say truly goes back to the things that can make any person be a leader because leadership is not a title that's been given to you. It's a role. It's a responsibility that you play. So no matter what role do you have to play in your current team's startup company or even in nonprofits. You can still be a leader by working on some of the skills that I really worked on. Number one was ability to see the big picture and I'll be honest, I did not have that skill set before when I started. I really fucked on it like ability to look beyond thinking outside the box. How can you bring your company goals into your look at the team goals connected to your bigger organizational goals, and then grow your company goals and then building that network of people not just around you, with your team members, but with people outside. So the things that school didn't teach me, but I really worked on it by myself were strategic thinking, negotiation, ability to network in and out and building this network of allies. And if you are passionate about your business, if you're curious about data you have this influencing capability without authority and you have that problem solver mindshare mindset, you wouldn't be able to achieve exponential success in life. Harpreet Sahota: [00:10:15] Excellent. Excellent advice. Pooja Sund: [00:10:16] Thank you. Harpreet Sahota: [00:10:16] So apart from the technical skills, what do you look for in a Data professional? I mean, you've mentioned a few, the key tips for leadership. Do you have any tips on how someone can cultivate those qualities within themselves? Pooja Sund: [00:10:29] Yes, I would. And that's a great question, because I often get asked this question by all of my mentees who are in Microsoft or who are outside. A couple of things that really stood out or that really stood out when I have interviewed candidates. Number one is having that curiosity, curiosity to learn. If a candidate can demonstrate that in an interview that they are ready to learn, they are open, they have been open in their career in terms of learning from different projects and how they are able to connect the dots, I think that skill set would take them farther down in the professional career because why I'm saying it then you are curious about the Data, passion is one thing. Pooja Sund: [00:11:10] Ability to connect the dots and having that problem solving mindset and you are proactive and you are creative and innovative and you can collaborate well with the different team members, whether they are in finance or in HR or in legal. Those skills are the ones that every single interview or having managers looking for. Pooja Sund: [00:11:28] So make sure in your discussions, in your interviews, even if that interview is going to be for a data scientist, or an engineer or even I would say that list manager. Make sure you take time to think about creating your story that can demonstrate to the hiring manager, that your cuious mindset, mindshare mindset, problem solver. You are a person who can influence without authority. You are proactive, creative, collaborative and innovative. Harpreet Sahota: [00:11:52] Wow. That is some amazing advice. I'm going to have to listen to this about 10 more times. that was so much valuable information there. Pooja Sund: [00:12:01] Thank you.You are too generous Harpreet Sahota: [00:12:01] Kind of connect you back to the previous question I've heard in one of the other interviews that I've heard with you that insights aren't useful without understanding the key question to be answered. What are some ways or some probing questions we could ask our stakeholders so that we can cut through the BS and figure out exactly what the key problem to be solved is? Pooja Sund: [00:12:22] And that's an excellent question, because often times we have seen individuals who are either in the high performing quadrant and or even the low performing, good meeting the bar quadrant. They would just like to go in and start working on their project. Pooja Sund: [00:12:36] And my honest advice, my open, candid advice to all of those people who are listening to this session, would be rather than jumping in, take time to understand the problem. Think about what is a plan that is going to help you solve the problem from a different angle and think about the questions that are going to help you get closer to the goal because you do not want to be in a situation where you are already halfway along the project and then the new questions would come up or things would have changed and you were like, oh, we didn't think of that dependency. So the key question, the three key questions that I often ask my users and I make sure that my team are aware, my team members are aware of it. The first one is around. What is that thing that we are trying to solve? Help us paint the picture in terms of the problems. So when you're talking to your business partners, understand. I would say spent 20 to 30 percent of the time to understand the problem at a deeper level. Ask your business partners, help me paint the picture. I want to see what you want to be solved. Pooja Sund: [00:13:36] If the problem is solved, what would be in the future? How would the future shape up? Get that picture in your head, number one. Number two, ask him the questions about risk. What is the risk involved here if we do not do it this way, what would be the other way? What would we miss if we really noid this week compared to that? And the third is, I would say specifically around crackdown on investment. There are many projects that we often get to work on. And at the end of the day, depends upon the prioritization. Do you have to really look at the projects that are going to help you drive incremental impact so you can actually contribute not just to your team but to the broader finance world, or HR, legal, or whichever retail or manufacturing org and to the broader company pick those projects and along the way, make sure you reach out to your stakeholders and ask for continues feedback because that would impede the cycle and would close the gaps that are there between your understanding and what they would think you would end up producing. Harpreet Sahota: [00:14:37] I tend to spend the vast majority of the time on facing a new problem, just thinking about how I'm going to proceed with it. I just kind of, i won't say ruminating, but just really doing thought experiments and thinking through possible solutions. So it seems like it's quite in line with your process, which I'm happy to hear it. Maybe I'm on the way to becoming a thought leader and Data science? Pooja Sund: [00:14:59] Yes. Yes. Definitely have set a high bar for yourself, for your team members and for everyone around, because the moment you will think of taking a step further, you are actually bringing everybody's acumen up. Harpreet Sahota: [00:15:10] So what is your take on what it means to be a thought leader in data analytics? And how could one go from or how could one be a thought leader even if they're operating out of the individual contributor type of role? Pooja Sund: [00:15:23] That's a brilliant question. I would say for me, my list of hallmarks of success includes number one, projects that can help you create new knowledge for yourself, for your team and for your company. Number two, if you are able to actually have a report presentation or an app, and that app has been created with an impact. And then the third and fourth most would be like looking at the outcomes. Can you quantify then? If you can quantify your outcomes, you would be able to actually let the users know that they are not just working on a project. You have actually helped paint the picture. So one of the great thing that I really proud about in my professional career was not just rocking when the data analytics project that I did in my professional career, I would say 15 years. Actually, the thing that I'm most proud about was about the project that I did last year, beginning last year, which was thinking about the future of my broader group. Where do I want to take my group to in the next two to five years? So if you look at it, it's not a project that could have a timeline, meaning it will not be done within three months or six months or nine months. Here I'm talking about a project that might take us either 3 years, 4 years or five years. And what we are trying to do is we are trying to just look at let's say, analytical projects, we are looking at what are the different pain points that my group is pressing. There are different pockets of opportunities and how can I leverage technology and analytics to solve those pain points? So there are going to be projects that are tied to processes. There are going to be projects trying to people and then technology. Pooja Sund: [00:16:54] So people, process and technology are going to create this ecosystem or platform that is going to unify these three things together. And then you are able to unify these three things together, along with industry knowledge and you know how to share best practices and learn and share. You are already putting yourself into that top leader quadrant. Harpreet Sahota: [00:17:14] That's awesome advice. Kind of shifting gears a little bit here. One thing I love hearing you say is talking about mindset. I think mindset is so important and really underrated. I don't know if you could talk to me a bit about how one can change their mindset from the impossible to the possible mindset and maybe how having this mindset has helped shape your success in your career? Pooja Sund: [00:17:38] I would say you can actually ask this question to my kids, too, because I often like to be the person who can bring the learnings from professional world and I'll bring it to the personal world and then I'll take the learnings back from personal to professional. So to me, I'm trying to have this balance most of the times, and I want to make sure that people are aware that the way that you guys analyze data science, applied that same thinking to analyze your own mind then you are self aware of the situations in terms of how would you react and what is the best possible outcome. What do we want to achieve? If you keep thinking about these questions and to find for yourself, you can actually change your mindset and tune it or actually amplify it to always match it to that wavelength, which is going to take you to the positive landscape. So here is an example. There had been multiple opportunities that had been offered to me in the last 15 years and back then when I was young, I used to say yes to each and every opportunity, because I'm like, oh, I'm gonna be able to learn new things and I'm going to dig into a new one and I'm going to take this opportunity, learn from it, and then share it with us. Pooja Sund: [00:18:50] Then literally idealized. If I keep on saying yes, yes, yes, yes, I have this open mindset which is opposite to this fixed mindset but if I keep on saying yes to every single opportunity, I'm not actually prioritizing and strategizing that things that can be done by me compared to others, I can actually develop others on the team by passing those opportunities to them. Pooja Sund: [00:19:13] So by doing that, I have been able to open the mindset of few people who are in my mentee circle and they are able to join their mindset or being more positive, inclusive compared to what their thinking was originally. Pooja Sund: [00:19:27] So it's just, it's really a habit, I would say if you do not know how to dance, you can start picking the cross and you can learn the basics. Then you can take on a next class and can get to the next level. And it's similar to other classes if you don't know anything about data science, I would say you enjoy yourself of course, Coursera that and then you start building onto that the foundation and you start building onto that. It's similar to that but for your mindset, you do not have to take any classes. You just need to start taking aim for yourself and start observing you and where do you and I stick you. If you want to take yourself to, let's say, 10 years down the road, you would be the CVP of an organization and you want to be a thoughtful leader, you need to start creating your mission vision and you need to start having those goals. But guess what? You would not be able to achieve all of this if you do not frame your mind to start thinking like that. Think like you are doing that future position right now. If you have to ask yourself, what did you do to be here where you are? What are the questions that you would ask yourself? And what are the things that you would say to yourself? Yes, I did a good job because I thought about it and that's why I'm here. And then big those learning still your mind that if I do it, I would be here and I would make this future stake a real stake. So anybody can do it. It's just like you do not need a court. Pooja Sund: [00:20:45] You do not need someone else to tell you what do you need to work on. You can start working between your mind and soul and then bring it together and change your mindset. Harpreet Sahota: [00:20:55] That's a very, very powerful everything you said. Now, again, I've got chills all over my body because I read so much with me cause, you know, I had up until just a few years ago, I had the most terribly fixed mindset. And it does take a lot of work for you to break out of that fixed mindset. Right. So it's I shifted my central kind of belief now to the fact that, OK, I'm roughly average and a lot of roughly average people have gone on to do amazing things. means that human potential is pretty much nearly limitless right. And so it's just a matter of putting in the hard work, that effort and realizing that even if you fail along the way, that all the hard work you put in is eventually going to be rewarded in the form of new skills, in the form of gains in professional career. Pooja Sund: [00:21:43] for sure, for sure. Harpreet Sahota: [00:21:43] Your effort will be rewarded. It's never, never for nothing. Pooja Sund: [00:21:48] Yeah Harpreet Sahota: [00:21:48] Once I broke out of that mindset, made it my life has changed completely. For me, it was after reading the book by Stanford professor Carol Dweck. Pooja Sund: [00:22:00] I was about to mention it, but I'm glad that you spoke that, yeah, you read my mind. Harpreet Sahota: [00:22:05] Yes,such a good book and just that work at most important book, I think of the English language that really changed my life completely. Pooja Sund: [00:22:14] Awesome Harpreet Sahota: [00:22:14] And like you said, it's about habits, too, right? If you catch yourself in that negative thought pattern, then let that be the catalyst to a new thought process that's the exact opposite from a fixed thought process, right? So have that negative thought. Be the catalyst for a new habit loop and then new habit loop. This is to remind yourself that I'm roughly average. The roughly average people go on to do amazing things. Therefore, I can go on to do amazing things. I just need to work and put in the effort. Oh, man, that was so great. Thank you so much for that. Pooja Sund: [00:22:42] you are welcome. Great and actually, the point that you just mentioned, I love it and you're like average person.So think about it when we have this mind shared mindset. If you can train your mind to have this mindshare and growth mindset, you are not only calling on your achievements or you are not only leveraging your experiences, but actually you are when you're working in a team, you are leveraging the best out of each person and then collecting your success becomes bigger than what you originally thought about. So gone are the days when people wanted to just get lost position in their class or first rank, let's say, in their universities, or even know like they are going to be an excellent performer. I want to win that back them or. Pooja Sund: [00:23:20] Gone are the days when you walked towards the woods, you walked towards the team project, you work collectively and brought the lines between your org and, other orgs, and then you'll see the success would just follow you along. Harpreet Sahota: [00:23:32] I love that. I love that. Yeah, absolutely love that. I think it's really awesome that you are speaking to kids about having this growth mindset and taking the teachings from the business world and bringing them home and and vice versa. My wife and I are expecting our first child. Pooja Sund: [00:23:49] Congratulations. Harpreet Sahota: [00:23:50] Thank you. Thank you. She's laughing at me because I just bought a ton of children's books that my children's books are written by Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, Ray Dalio. I got all my favorite authors. I went and bought their children's books, so that i can read them to my . So go back to something you were saying earlier.I saw this actually in a recent post of yours and LinkedIn saying that achieving personal growth starts with being self-aware. I actually love that. And I found that to be a central theme in my life recently, something that I'm really striving towards. Can you share some tips with our listeners on what it means to be self-aware and how one can develop their own self-awareness? Pooja Sund: [00:24:32] So oftentimes we all have heard of this buzz word, executive presence. What is executive presence? Executive presence is just a capability for you to have that innate power over yourself and others. And in order to conquer, let's say the world, you have to conquer your self so that's what I mean by self awareness. I have seen people, including me, thinking that i need to do these courses, these courses, I need to keep on learning, keep on learning just there's nothing wrong with it but at times you'll need to really look at already the arsenal that you have created for yourself. You already had the tool kit. You have things that are looking out for you. It's always good to be in a mode of continuous learning but often times we need to take a pause and look at evaluate ourselves and see, you know, what do you have every thing that is needed to make you successful and others successful. So bringing back that capability to be self aware of the things that you are really good at. If you know your super powers and you know how to capitalize them, then you can be really successful. So that's what I mean by being self aware is the key to success, because when you are self-aware, you already have that executive presence, you know yourself, Pooja Sund: [00:25:48] the presentations, the communication that you're going to have would resonate more with people because people can judge who is real and who is not real, you are going to be the person who is not going to talk, talk, talk who is going to walk the talk. and they would appreciate that servant-leadership, the genuine leadership that they would bring and that's what I mean, that we need to spend time as individuals in this technology era on our selves in addition to upgrading our skill sets. Harpreet Sahota: [00:26:16] I don't know why this quote just came in my head, but, you know, you're only a leader if people want to follow you and typically, people want to follow people who are, like you said, servant-leaders. And part of being a servant leader is being self-aware enough to recognize that when you're on a team, it's not about you. It's about helping everyone around you. Lifting everybody up so that everyone can be successful. Pooja Sund: [00:26:35] Yes Harpreet Sahota: [00:26:35] Because, yes, everybody gets a bigger piece of the pie when the pie is bigger itself, right? Pooja Sund: [00:26:41] Oh, I love it. Harpreet, you are actually making a point which is similar to the point that one of my mentor, virtual mentor, Marshall Goldsmith, who is in the Hall of Fame as a thinker, as the leader of modern century. And one of his comment around this servant-leadership was like there are people who would keep on having success in their life, they do not realize it, that after one point, the success is not limited to just their own success. Pooja Sund: [00:27:10] Success means bringing, making others on their teams, in their bigger groups, in other organizations as winners. So make sure when you reach that level, you have to play a bigger role. And that role is beyond the role that had been given to you. Harpreet Sahota: [00:27:25] I was wondering if you could speak to your experience being a woman in tech and if you have any advice or words of encouragement for our listeners? Pooja Sund: [00:27:31] The best advice that I'll have for you would be be you, not somebody else. Make sure you know your own work, be assertive and do not hesitate if you have an idea to bring it across. Harpreet Sahota: [00:27:45] So before we jump into our lightning round here, I got my last question, what's the one thing you want people to learn from your story? Pooja Sund: [00:27:52] Passion. Combine your passion, with your leadership persona and create your brand, know your superpower. What is your superpower, that is going to help you create your own brand and my brand is 3P and this is who I am. At home, at work with my friends outside in the bigger community, that's who I am. Harpreet Sahota: [00:28:21] Are you an aspiring Data scientist struggling to break into the field? Well, then check out dsdj.co/artists to reserve your spot for a free informational webinar on how you can break into the field.That's going to be filled with amazing tips that are specifically designed to help you land your first job. Check it out, dsdj.co/artists Harpreet Sahota: [00:28:47] I love it. So let's jump into the lightning round here real quick., just quick answer for these questions. What's the weirdest question you've been asked in an interview? Pooja Sund: [00:28:55] Now since you have two kids, would you stop traveling? Harpreet Sahota: [00:28:59] Really? Somebody actually asked that, huh? I don't know if that's appropriate? Pooja Sund: [00:29:04] Yes. Harpreet Sahota: [00:29:05] Does not sound appropriate. Yeah, that's definitely the weirdest answer to that question that I've got from all of my guests so far. Pooja Sund: [00:29:13] And the other one that I can think about, it was a question that we were trapped on when after doing our MBA, which was, hey, how many stairs were there when you came up through the elevator to this conference room and we were like what would be done so real would say that Hey! We took the elevator up. No. What were their number of say? So at that time, they're looking for how a person behaves in a situation when there is ambiguity and complexity, when there is no answer that has been given. So you can just be confident that you can just make up a number and say it and this is based on the assumptions that you can do that or you can say, I don't know, I don't know I can ask someone. So it was down to which skill we are demonstrating by giving that kind of answer. Harpreet Sahota: [00:30:02] What's your favorite question to ask during an interview? Pooja Sund: [00:30:05] What does your superpowers. Harpreet Sahota: [00:30:07] Awesome! And what's your superpower? Pooja Sund: [00:30:10] I don't know I would expect Harpreet that you would know. You're telling me what's my superpower? And then you're telling our audience, what is your superpower? Harpreet Sahota: [00:30:19] And I think just from our conversation here, your superpower is definitely just your passion and enthusiasm for everything you do. Like your work. You really do treat your work. Just by the way you're talking to me. I feel like you treat it like an art form, like it really is an expression of not just work, but emotional labor. Like you're putting everything you've got into what you're doing and it's so inspiring to me. Pooja Sund: [00:30:41] What is your superpower? Harpreet Sahota: [00:30:47] My superpower? That's a good question. I'd say my superpower is I just want to help people. So I guess that would be my superpower is just helping people somehow in any way possible, see that there is a better version of them that they can strive to achieve. And, you know, sharing other people's story, I think is one way I can do that because Pooja Sund: [00:31:07] very good. Harpreet Sahota: [00:31:08] I'm hoping that's whoever's listening to this podcast. Here's the interview I had with one of my guests and that guest story resonates with them enough that it becomes kind of like a a Roger Bannister effect for them, right? I'm not sure if you are familiar with with Roger? Pooja Sund: [00:31:21] I'm not. Harpreet Sahota: [00:31:22] he was the first human ever to break the four minute mile mark. So he did a four minute mile in like three minutes, 59 seconds, like 14 seconds . Pooja Sund: [00:31:34] Amazing Harpreet Sahota: [00:31:34] Before he did that, scientists thought it was humanly impossible but then once he beat that four minute mark just within the year, I think like a dozen people beat his record, all because he showed them what's possible. So that's what I'm hoping to do with this podcast, just to show people what's possible by sharing other people's story. Pooja Sund: [00:31:53] And that's so powerful and encouraging, Harpreet. So kudos to you for taking time to contribute to other success, to other people's success and whom you have never not even met yet. So that's encouraging. Harpreet Sahota: [00:32:05] Thank you. So what's Satya Nadella like in real life? Pooja Sund: [00:32:09] He is a person and that's what's best about him. He is an empathetic leader. He is there and without any boundaries, he would just share things and oh my God, that the knowledge, that brain power that he has and how simply he just conveys his ideas. So I am just a huge admirer of Satya Nadella leadership around,and i am creating clarity, generating energy and delivering success. And he is strongly creating that environment where everyone can give their best work. So that's him in real life. Harpreet Sahota: [00:32:44] That's amazing. And he sounds a lot like you. That's all. Pooja Sund: [00:32:47] Oh, thank you. Harpreet Sahota: [00:32:49] So what's your non-fiction book that you think everybody should read? Pooja Sund: [00:32:53] A non-fiction you mean the Data science book? Harpreet Sahota: [00:32:56] Oh, just just any book doesn't have to be specific to Data science, but just, you know, any non-fiction book? Pooja Sund: [00:33:02] You know since this podcast is about about the data scientist.I would actually be mindful and in the non-fiction book example that I can give would be around Data scientists but I would say that the science from scratch. So people who want to build their acumen and want to enter into this profession, they can start reading the books that are at level one to one. So Data science from scratch. Harpreet Sahota: [00:33:23] Yeah, that's a great book. Yeah, definitely. I'll drop that one in the show notes that people know which one we're talking about. So what about a fiction book that you think every data scientist should read? Pooja Sund: [00:33:33] I don't have any. Which one would you recommend? Harpreet Sahota: [00:33:36] So I'd recommend for you since I think you'd really enjoy this book. There's two books I recommend for you. And I think you just based on our conversation, I think you'd really, really enjoy them. One of them is called Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the other names called The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo. I forgot who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull, but that's a short, quick, short read. And then Paulo Cohelo the Alchemist. Pooja Sund: [00:33:58] Sounds good. I'll give it a read here. Harpreet Sahota: [00:34:00] All right. So how do people connect with you? Pooja Sund: [00:34:02] If you have specific questions, sent me a message or LinkedIn, if you are looking for advice in terms of entering the profession or entering into this profession or leadership skills or traits, just let me know the topics and I'll cover it in my future post on LinkedIn so I can not only just get out when you need, but I can get it to the broader industry. Harpreet Sahota: [00:34:23] Awesome. So I'll leave your LinkedIn profile information on the show notes as well and people can go ahead and follow you on their.Pooja, thank you so much for being so generous with their time. I really appreciate all the insights you've shared with our audience today and I know that there is so much that people can learn from you. Thank you. Pooja Sund: [00:34:40] You're very welcome, Harpreet and thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my experiences with others because there are so many people in my life who have inspired me. So if in any way, shape and form, I can inspire just a bit and let me be the best version of themselves and feel that I get by, I played my role.