written by
Sudesh Girdhari

What's Trending: “tech” curiosity, learning, & listening to your market.

Technology Leadership 2 min read

I started my college career in downtown Atlanta at Georgia State University and it's always a great opportunity to get get back on campus. A shout out to Jason Winston for the invite. When I started down the path of university I did not know where I would end up. I had great mentors, four great internships, and land my first job before I graduated. What would have been a good primer when I was an undergraduate? The knowledge that choosing “Technology” as an industry means your always learning. Listening to your market and stakeholders including business, customers, partners, and investors. At the end of the day keeping a pulse on “What's Trending” is critical to understanding your focus and which ideas and strategies to prioritize.

The Panthers hear them Roar!

I spend some time every year speaking to college students. I find it a great way to get some new ideas. I also get direct feedback on my communication. I learn if its is effective and content relevant to a diverse audience of folks.

Learning: Help build leaders & share your experience: Always ask what your audience learned. (See Link below)
Want to see what everyone learned? Check out the report on what we covered.

Back in Class

Back in the General Education Building at GSU

Understanding what's trending in tech.

For my discussion with the students at GSU, I focused on the B2B social marketing space. My goal was to focus on the trends and marketing focus in that space. I quickly realized how complex the ecosystem was for our solutions. It quickly spiraled into a long list of stakeholders.

To simplify I highlighted key learning below:

Learning 1- Simplify the themes you focus on following and focus on the outcomes to drive.

Tools here that help me are the Thoughts Work Radar and news/social sites including (WSJ, Newstack, & Reddit)

Learning 2 - Apply your knowledge and stay close to your stakeholders.

The best conversations I have are with folks who don’t understand what our software does. (Like a room full or college students) Being able to ask them questions about perception and awareness is great for determining where I may want to focus efforts for brand, marketing, and product feature impact.

Learning 3 - Growth means experimenting and driving new patterns

Often reaching our customers means providing new methods for them to understand the value, changing their perspective on how their tools and technology work together, and introducing innovations that may disrupt their organizational structure. All of these elements mean understanding the risk and appetite for change in our customer organizations.

If you find this interesting see my last talk with the Graduate Students at Georgia Tech Technology Change for Modern Organizations

I work helping customers globally find solutions for complex business & technology challenges. I focus on the People, Processes, and Software that create value for businesses to run. Please do feel free to reach out to me should you desire to learn more. Be Well - Sudesh

Questions? Find me @servicexen.com or click to connect on Linkedin