Everyone says “follow your passion.” Ajay Malik says follow your curiosity instead. The prolific inventor behind more than 100 patents explains why passion fades but curiosity compounds — fueling innovation, leadership, and lifelong creativity.

In this episode of Executive Connect, host Melissa Aarskaug dives deep into how Ajay turns curiosity into invention and reinvention. From building teams that thrive on freedom to leading turnarounds across industries, Ajay reveals how asking “why” and “what if” can change your life, your career, and your company.

You’ll hear how curiosity drives breakthrough thinking, why randomness is often your best teacher, and what daily habits keep Ajay inspired to create.

If you’ve ever wondered what separates innovators who sustain success from those who burn out — this conversation gives you the blueprint.

Chapters:
00:00 | The Power of Curiosity and Creation
03:00 | How AI and Personalization Are Changing Innovation
07:00 | Embracing Randomness and Opportunity
09:00 | Lessons from Turnarounds and Reinvention
12:00 | Building and Leading High-Caliber Teams
17:00 | Leadership Lessons from Great Bosses
22:00 | Gratitude, Growth, and Perspective
27:00 | Ajay’s Creative Process and Daily Habits
30:00 | Reflections and Advice to His Younger Self

Ajay

(0:00) My favorite word in life is create. (0:03) I live on that word. (0:04) And to me, that is the ultimate satisfaction.

(0:07) Thinking, creating something. (0:09) I got into it like initially patent. (0:11) The company I worked for, they had a good reward system for creating patents.

(0:16) So that was so cool. (0:18) It was like, whoa, I can make more money by just thinking more. (0:21) I just have to write it and work on it.

(0:23) Patents do get approved. (0:25) So I tasted that. (0:26) It’s not difficult as long as…

Melissa

(0:29) What do you get when you mix a hundred patents, two books, a can-do attitude, and an obsession with customer experience? (0:39) You get today’s guest, A.J. Malik. (0:43) He’s led innovation from hardware to cloud, turned around companies, built high caliber teams, and wrote a book literally on RTLS and AI for wireless networks.

(0:57) If you think AI is just for data scientists or Silicon Valley dreamers, buckle up. (1:05) This conversation is about to reshape how AI reshapes products, companies, and entire user experiences. (1:15) Welcome, A.J. Thank you.

Ajay

(1:17) Thank you for having me.

Melissa

(1:19) I’m so excited to talk to you today. (1:22) Now, you talk a lot about user experiences being central to innovation. (1:28) In the world where AI is taking over pretty much everything from personalization to predictive analytics, what does true customer obsession look like today?

Ajay

(1:41) Make sure you are… (1:43) This is the thing. (1:44) AI is there to personalize the experience and not be boring and aligned with how the person is.

(1:54) Like my son, he wants to use a product, a company website or person. (2:01) He has his own way. (2:03) He wants to delete in his own way.

(2:04) I want to delete it in my own way. (2:07) My wife wants to delete it in her own way. (2:09) People work like this.

(2:11) There is no one set formula, but we have been in the past, we were doing like one size fits all, like Costco. (2:20) Costco has these socks, size 6 to 12, one size fits all. (2:28) It’s useless.

(2:30) Come on. (2:32) It’s useless. (2:33) One size never fits all.

(2:35) It’s just a way of… (2:38) It’s like we do. (2:39) There are 12 horoscopes.

(2:41) People are in 12 categories. (2:43) That’s it. (2:43) We fit it.

(2:44) It’s not the right way. (2:46) Customer experience. (2:47) AI is all about personalizing the experience to the micro level so that the person actually feels satisfied, happy, and feels good that they went for that service.

Melissa

(3:02) That’s so spot on. (3:04) That’s a great analogy. (3:05) We all use it differently.

(3:07) Now, in our house, we debate which one’s better. (3:09) Is it Gemini? (3:10) Is it chat?

(3:11) GPT? (3:12) We have this debate in our homes. (3:14) I love your background.

(3:16) It spans real-time location systems to neutral networks. (3:21) You have a huge and varied background. (3:26) What principles carry over from this diverse background of yours no matter what in the industry of tech as it relates to tech?

Ajay

(3:34) I think curiosity. (3:40) Sometimes people say follow your passion. (3:44) I don’t know what is passion, and how do you know what is your passion, and follow your curiosity.

(3:51) If as long as you follow it, you enjoy, you have fun, you can give time to it. (3:57) It is like work. (4:01) I genuinely, although my son always says you are different, but I never ever feel that I’m working.

(4:11) To me, I sometimes actually get stressed out that maybe I’m having too much fun. (4:16) What am I doing with life? (4:18) I’m having too much fun, but if you ask my people around me, they say, oh, you are working all the time.

(4:24) Because the work is so much fun for me. (4:27) When I’m sitting next to my laptop, I’m working, coding, typing, it never feels like work. (4:33) I think that is the key thing is you have to follow what you really like, enjoy, and be curious about things.

(4:40) Just keep exploring. (4:42) It doesn’t matter whether it’s RTLS or AI, they are just different areas of technology or something. (4:50) It’s just you will enjoy and have a good fun life.

Melissa

(4:55) That’s such a good nugget. (4:57) I think you’re spot on. (4:58) There’s so many different pieces inside of all of us.

(5:03) I’m an engineer, but I’m not only an engineer. (5:12) I’m part of my life, AJ, because of exactly what you just said. (5:16) I was curious to understand what this thing called yoga was.

(5:20) I was curious to understand engineering. (5:24) I love that you brought that up because I think it’s such an important point. (5:27) If you find things that you enjoy and you’re curious about, you’re spot on.

(5:33) It never feels like work because it’s blissful to do the things that are passionate and bring you joy. (5:40) It’s very blissful. (5:41) I love that you brought that up.

Ajay

(5:43) It is. (5:43) I am also so blessed. (5:45) I am honestly, everything in life is random.

(5:51) From the birth, whether you are being born, that’s random. (5:55) Then where you are born, who your parents will be, where you will study, who your friends will be, your career, your first job, your first project, your boss, your bosses, everything is such random. (6:12) But the beauty is like all that random leads to something you are so happy.

(6:16) And that’s fun. (6:17) And I am so blessed. (6:19) So much random.

(6:20) But hey, here I am. (6:22) And I’m having a good time.

Melissa

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(6:49) Just visit money ripples.com forward slash secrets and enter the promo code E X E C. (6:59) And another nugget of wisdom there, randomness, like in how you lean into the things that happen to the random people you meet the experiences that you come around the schools that you go to. (7:12) So I think that’s another great point is, is leaning into the random things that happen to you and really looking at the positive side of things.

(7:22) Um, I joke, I would have never in a million years met my husband had I randomly not sat next to somebody on a plane on a plane. (7:31) And so random, right? (7:33) Like you said, things just happen and being curious enough, you know, in my case to take the date.

(7:40) Um, and so I think I love that you said that. (7:43) And now I want to get into a total pivot for you is talking about the grid of turnarounds. (7:50) You’ve led multiple turnarounds and successful exits.

(7:55) What’s talk to me a little bit about what’s the first thing that you look at when you’re stepping into a situation that needs reinvention.

Ajay

(8:04) You know, it’s, uh, when I, I do not know if something I am stepping into it and it needs reinvention, you know, once you are there, you figure out automatically it’s like, Hey, where, you know, like my personality is I hate following processes. (8:24) If you want me to not do something, tell me, do this. (8:29) Okay.

(8:29) It will be very easy for me to follow that path because I will go in the opposite direction or I will do something else. (8:36) But you know what? (8:37) I have also created processes and then I create processes and I’m like, Oh, let’s define it.

(8:44) And this is how you should do. (8:45) This is how we will do. (8:46) So I think turnarounds and, uh, changing the direction of the theme is all based on like where you are, how you see things, and then what is the vision where you want to go.

(9:02) And then you start figuring it out. (9:06) I think one thing I have always been, I’ve learned from my bosses over the time, right? (9:13) Most of me is basically what I have learned from people, I think.

(9:17) And you know, like I was working with them and I was absorbing their skills, copying their skills, becoming a different version of myself, right? (9:28) Every time. (9:29) And few things like visualizing, right?

(9:32) Figuring it out. (9:33) What is the top down view? (9:36) What do I want to go?

(9:37) Where is, what is the ultimate goal? (9:39) Thinking like that. (9:40) What’s the big picture?

(9:42) And you know, and that, and then course correcting. (9:44) And then sometimes you really do a course correct. (9:47) You know, I have learned in my life and projects, you know, typically people are like, Oh, we are six months into a project.

(9:54) We had picked this technology. (9:55) It was a bad idea, but you know, we have only six months to deliver. (9:59) So we have to just continue.

(10:01) We don’t have a choice and let’s continue. (10:03) And we will think, and I have learned, no, you can change the houses in middle of the race. (10:08) It’s okay.

(10:08) Don’t be afraid. (10:09) And I think that’s what it is. (10:11) It’s like you figure out and you go forward.

(10:15) And if you are lucky, you will be successful. (10:18) If you’re not, you will learn.

Melissa

(10:21) You know, it’s funny, as you were saying that I’m thinking back to all the terrible process followers in my career that I can think about that never follow the processes. (10:32) They were the most innovative people. (10:36) I know they would find problems in the process and they would create better processes and better systems and more innovation.

(10:45) So that must be the secret is, you know, solving the problems via just doing the work, right? (10:53) I think, you know, sometimes it’s, we don’t know what the problems are until we start executing whatever we’re executing, right?

Ajay

(11:03) 100%. (11:03) You do not know. (11:05) You know what?

(11:05) It’s very easy to look from outside. (11:08) Ah, that’s how it is. (11:10) You know what?

(11:10) And we should fix this. (11:12) No, you have to understand the people. (11:14) You have to talk to them.

(11:16) You have to feel it, you know, like what simple sayings, right? (11:19) Only the person who is wearing the shoe knows where it pinches. (11:24) You have to get a little bit into it, okay?

(11:27) Because even if you have seen something in the past, if you keep doing it like the way you have seen, that won’t work. (11:40) It’s like, you know, if you have never asked a girl out, you will never ask a girl out because no, you have to explore. (11:47) You have to go outside.

(11:48) So you have to, every circumstance has to be different and you have to learn and you move from there. (11:54) It’s fun.

Melissa

(11:56) You know, and I think innovation needs more than just a good idea. (11:59) It needs also the right team. (12:02) So I’m curious your approach to building top caliber talent around emerging tech like AI and maybe even IoT.

Ajay

(12:12) I think that’s, I tell you, it’s all about the team. (12:20) I will be nobody without the team. (12:22) It’s a fact, okay?

(12:23) The people who are doing the work, the people who are thinking, they are so much better than me, okay? (12:29) And I know that they are better than me. (12:31) They are like 10x, 100x better than me, and I know it.

(12:35) But we have discussions, arguments, and we work together. (12:42) I think the key thing about building a team is you have to really not focus on who is at what level or who knows what, or hey, you are young, so you may have no experience, you are a senior, you have more experience. (13:03) No, nothing.

(13:04) Assume nothing. (13:06) Start fresh with everybody. (13:08) And you know what?

(13:09) And give everybody a full freedom and chance to demonstrate what they are talking about it, what they are thinking about it, and listen. (13:18) And once you start doing that, you build a relationship with them. (13:23) And you know what?

(13:23) Good teams are not about very super smart people working individually. (13:30) Good teams are actually about teamwork, people working together, people helping each other, enabling each other, or thinking, and other people listening to others, okay? (13:40) If people don’t do all those things, big companies will never be formed.

(13:44) And I think so what you do is you enable them, and your role, the biggest thing you do is, your role is you have to understand you are the reverse boss. (13:53) You are not their boss. (13:56) You are the, they are the actual boss.

(13:58) If they don’t produce, you are screwed. (14:03) They are the real thing. (14:05) It’s like, you know, you are the, if the restaurant owner thinks, oh, it’s my restaurant, if the servers do not serve properly, guess what?

(14:16) Restaurant will get closed, okay? (14:18) And so you have to think that you are the ultimate receiver. (14:24) You have to.

(14:26) And it is because of their work, their effort, their thinking, you have to know it in your heart. (14:31) If you believe in your heart that you are successful because of them, I think you will figure out how the team will work. (14:37) And I think teams produce.

(14:39) Most people actually want to do good. (14:41) They are hardworking. (14:42) They are smart, creative.

(14:45) But you have to just enable or create an environment where they can actually be producing infinitely for you. (14:56) But you have to be the reverse boss. (14:58) Do not think that you are their boss.

(15:00) I think it will never work.

Melissa

(15:01) Yeah, I love that you said that. (15:03) And I appreciate that you said that. (15:06) I know when I started in my career, I often thought that I had to have all the answers.

(15:11) And, you know, I was too young, so I couldn’t bring my perspectives forward. (15:16) But I think there’s something to be said about teams with all different types of ages, all different cultural backgrounds, all different, you know, experiences. (15:26) I think it really brings magic to any team when you all have different backgrounds.

(15:34) And finding a way to work together as a team is, you know, the sweet spot. (15:40) Because when everybody’s working as a team, it feels like a family. (15:44) And when one of the family members is down, the other ones pick up for them.

(15:49) And so when you’re working in that kind of environment, you’re working in a way that’s non-transactional. (15:58) You’re supporting each other not only personally, but professionally. (16:03) And people that are leading teams that understand that, it’s amazing how much more productive these teams are versus the ones that are micromanaging, you know, non-compassionate, do not listen to their employees.

(16:19) And let me tell you, early in my career, I had a lot of those that didn’t listen or think that I knew what the heck I was talking about. (16:29) So it’s a blessing when, you know, people get to work for people such as yourself that have that attitude. (16:39) You’re rare and you’re a special unicorn because I am not special.

Ajay

(16:44) I tell you, I can guarantee you. (16:46) Okay. (16:48) But I tell you, I had so many bosses.

(16:51) Okay. (16:51) And I’ve changed so many jobs. (16:53) Okay.

(16:54) And I tell you, my first boss, Madhuresh, amazing. (17:03) Okay. (17:03) My second boss, Shiva, Jane Lee.

(17:06) Okay. (17:07) And then Basil, Alwan. (17:10) Then Sujay, Anthony Bartolo, Amandip.

(17:15) My god. (17:16) Like, in Google, I had Kamran. (17:18) Oh my god.

(17:19) I’ve been lucky. (17:20) And I tell you, that is the biggest luck. (17:22) You know, when I was saying random, that’s the luck.

(17:25) You get so good bosses that you are like, oh, you just learned. (17:31) They actually do things for you. (17:36) You thank them years later.

(17:39) Oh my god. (17:40) He did this for me. (17:41) He did that for me.

(17:42) Or she did this for me. (17:43) We still, like, I worked with Jane Lee and I’m not even in touch with her, damn. (17:48) But she was my boss in 1998, 1999, 2000.

(17:53) Amazing. (17:55) Amazing. (17:55) Even at my home, my wife and I, even if we talk about her, we say, oh, she was so good.

(18:01) And she did this for us. (18:02) She did. (18:03) That’s the thing.

(18:03) Once you have that, I think you learn and you know, like, you just naturally want to copy them. (18:10) You know, there was one boss I had, this guy, Sasan Temuri. (18:14) Okay.

(18:15) This was in, when I was in Adaptec. (18:18) This guy resigned. (18:19) Okay.

(18:19) I had just joined that company. (18:21) He was, he joined. (18:24) He was there and he was very nice guy.

(18:27) And a few months later, Sasan Temuri resigned. (18:31) And I didn’t know him very well also right at that. (18:34) But you know what?

(18:35) Over 600 people signed for him for senior management, make him an offer he can’t refuse. (18:43) Wow. (18:44) That’s, that’s the boss you want to be.

(18:46) Nobody has done that for me, but 600 people signing for you. (18:53) Wow. (18:53) That shows like how much people can be loved, you know, and how much the bosses can be loved.

(18:59) So this whole thing of the bad boss is there, but good boss thing is also there. (19:04) It’s out there. (19:05) There are a lot of good bosses.

(19:07) If you’re randomly lucky, you will find them.

Melissa

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(19:48) For sure. (19:50) And it’s, I think they up your game. (19:52) They bring out pieces within each of us that we didn’t see were there.

(19:57) They bring out maybe areas that we didn’t have the confidence in. (20:03) They give us the confidence to take on a challenge, take on a task, to do something that maybe we didn’t have the confidence for. (20:12) So I think, I always think, you know, guilty by association when you’re around these really great bosses, really sharp bosses, really compassionate bosses, you learn how to be those people for other people.

Ajay

(20:25) Yes. (20:26) A hundred percent. (20:27) And that’s how it grows.

(20:28) You become better. (20:30) It rubs on so much. (20:32) It’s not, although all the sayings are like, you know, one bad apple destroys the basket and all, but now one good apple can actually do so much good to everybody else around it.

(20:42) We grow, we get, we learn how to become better person, better manager, you know, like this random thing, I will tell you this, he was my boss in Google. (20:51) Okay. (20:52) And he was, he said that we should always count our blessings.

(20:58) And he explained to me, he was, he’s, and he, he, he, he, he’s the one who would explain to me a lot of times. (21:06) We had many good conversations that we have so much and some people don’t have many things. (21:13) And, you know, everything is all about, what do you say, random, why they don’t have it and why you have so much, you know, you have to appreciate it.

(21:24) You have to thank the God for it and respect the fact that you have it. (21:29) And if you think like this, I think you will always, you know, you do better. (21:33) He was, of course he was, Cameron is super perfect.

(21:36) I’m not there yet, but you know, like, yes, that’s the thing.

Melissa

(21:40) Well, we’re all a work in progress. (21:42) And I think, you know, another great point is we naturally think about what’s not working or what’s broken or what we don’t have. (21:54) It’s easy to look, you know, with social media and TV and magazines and books that, oh, they have this and I don’t.

(22:01) So therefore I lack in this area. (22:04) But when, when we look at what we do have in our lives, so much more of it and many more blessings come forward when you’re grateful for the, the things you have and the challenges you have. (22:17) I know for me personally, I always, all the challenges I’m grateful for because of who I become in the process and the things I learn.

(22:27) And I tend to try not to dwell on, you know, life as it happens to us all.

Ajay

(22:33) It is very nice. (22:36) Good conversation. (22:36) Very nice.

(22:37) I’m very happy to be here today.

Melissa

(22:39) Well, we’re, we’re happy to talk to you now. (22:42) A hundred patents is no joke. (22:45) And I got to unpack that a lot here.

(22:49) What drives your creativity and how do you decide which ones are worth pursuing and which ones are, you know, maybe for later or ones you, you know, you throw away. (23:01) Okay.

Ajay

(23:02) So, well, I will tell you this. (23:05) My favorite word in life is create. (23:08) I live on that word.

(23:10) Okay. (23:11) And to me, that is the ultimate satisfaction, thinking, creating something. (23:18) And that is how it is.

(23:22) And I have, I got into it like initially patent, the company I worked for, they had a good reward system for creating patents. (23:32) So that was so cool. (23:34) You know, it was like, wow, I can make more money by just thinking more.

(23:39) Okay. (23:40) And this is, and I enjoy it. (23:42) It is like, to me, I just have to write it and work on it and, and patents do get approved.

(23:49) So I tasted that it’s not difficult as long as you are thinking in whatever, creating something useful. (23:57) Right. (23:58) And that has been a good experience.

(24:01) And I enjoyed, I, I got into it. (24:04) I just got into it that, you know, you should, if it’s your good idea, make time for it, spend some time on it and write it up and patent it, you know, it will be useful in so many ways. (24:17) And you can, you make money.

(24:19) It’s a resume builder. (24:21) It has so many benefits and it’s ego booster. (24:28) You know, it’s a differentiator.

(24:30) So I think it, that’s all, you know, there’s so many things that drive it and you keep doing it. (24:36) What you, how to pick, there is no formula. (24:40) You go for it and you slowly learn that what will work, what will not work in the area you are working on.

(24:46) If you have a creative idea to anybody who is listening, I would say start with file a provisional patent. (24:53) It costs like few hundred dollars and you are, then it gives you one year to think. (24:58) And once you think about it, maybe it will be, and maybe it will create some good money, revenue stream for you for life.

(25:05) Or if nothing else, it looks so good on resume.

Melissa

(25:11) Now walk me through your creative process. (25:14) Like I know for me personally, I start my mornings, kind of what we talked a little bit about at the beginning is in gratitude and, and writing different things that are on my mind, what I learned today. (25:28) So do you have a specific creative process that you work?

(25:31) Is this like a meditation thing? (25:34) Is it something that you just, as you’re walking around the earth, you just, Oh, that’s a great idea. (25:40) I should patent that.

Ajay

(25:44) I do not have a specific process. (25:47) I can tell you that it is like, it is part of the moment thing. (25:51) You are working on it and you think it, and you think, Oh, this looks like a good idea.

(25:56) And you see, Oh, this is indeed a good idea, very useful. (26:00) And then you move, pursue it. (26:03) But process wise, I do have a process when I wake up, I just take stock of all the things I have to do.

(26:10) And I always spend like 30 minutes to one hour planning my day and I sleep very less. (26:16) So which gives me more time and I enjoy it. (26:21) Thank God I have that habit.

(26:24) It’s like, I use that I don’t need eight hours. (26:29) That’s, you know, but that’s the world has better. (26:33) Those are averages, right?

(26:35) For the world, right? (26:36) So I’m happy with what I have. (26:38) And I need four or five hours.

(26:40) In fact, I can skip a night once in a while easily. (26:43) So, so I’m fine. (26:45) And that gives me more time.

(26:46) And I use it.

Melissa

(26:48) Oh, I love it. (26:48) If only I could sleep four hours a night. (26:51) If only I am, I am one of those numbers, the eight hour, I work hard, play hard, sleep hard.

(26:59) And my eight hours, I need it all the time.

Ajay

(27:03) Yeah, sleeping is such a waste of time. (27:11) If you need it, you need it. (27:14) Okay.

(27:15) And it’s like every minute feels like, oh, but you know what I do like I do a lot. (27:21) I think I have seen all of Netflix. (27:24) So, you know, I do all other things.

(27:30) So it’s okay.

Melissa

(27:31) Yeah. (27:32) And there’s something to be said about that. (27:33) I think I love what you said about planning your morning.

(27:38) I think in the world we live in today, everything’s coming at us so quick, so fast. (27:42) So we’re responding to everything that happens versus you leading yourself. (27:49) I think that’s a really important piece of advice to the listeners is putting together a plan when you start your day on what you need to accomplish and where you need to go.

(27:59) Otherwise, the day is going to take you for a ride in multiple different directions.

Ajay

(28:05) Yes, you have to plan. (28:07) You have to control your day. (28:11) I’m telling you, otherwise it will, because I still do things which I should not.

(28:16) I waste time on things. (28:18) I enjoy so many things which I just because I’m a geek and I’m enjoying it and I waste time in Adobe vectors, graphics, this, that, which may or may not be even my top skill, but I enjoy and I do them. (28:35) You know, so I will waste time, but you need that time to waste.

(28:38) So you have to plan so that, you know, you don’t miss the most important things. (28:43) You know, you have to make time for the things that really matter for that day or next day or two days. (28:48) I think using your calendar is a very important skill.

(28:52) I really am still surprised that a lot of people live without calendars and continue and it, well, it works out for them, but I think calendar makes it easy. (29:02) You can plan better.

Melissa

(29:03) I think you’re spot on. (29:05) I think people often ask me like, how do you get so much done? (29:08) And it’s exactly what you just said.

(29:11) It’s calendared. (29:12) It’s scheduled. (29:13) It’s planned.

(29:13) And we look at the year in full in January and we move accordingly and we change accordingly. (29:21) But if there’s no calendar, there’s no plan. (29:23) And if there’s no plan, it’s hard to accomplish the things you want to accomplish.

Ajay

(29:27) I’m very nicely set.

Melissa

(29:30) Now I’m curious if you looking back at your career and all the different companies you’ve worked for and all the different tech companies, different divisions, different bosses, different managers, if you could give your younger self any advice, AJ, what advice would you give yourself?

Ajay

(29:49) Wow. (29:52) Advice to my younger self? (29:55) I don’t know.

(29:56) I want to be young again. (30:05) I do not know what advice I will give to my younger self. (30:11) You know, one of my colleagues, he reported to me and he would say, oh, Ajay, I hate like you shoot from the hip and you say whatever or do whatever and you go and sometimes I really, really hate it and everything.

(30:32) And I asked him, okay, so what should I change? (30:34) Tell me. (30:34) Give me your advice.

(30:35) He was a friend also. (30:37) He’s a friend still. (30:38) And I said, tell me, what should I change?

(30:41) And he thought about it. (30:43) And then he said, okay, let me think about it. (30:45) He took time.

(30:46) And then he came back. (30:48) He said, no, it’s okay. (30:49) Continue the way you are.

(30:50) At least I know where you stand and you know, it works for me. (30:54) It works for us because we can actually we have, there is no filter. (30:58) You have no filter and it works for us also.

(31:00) Actually, we have a benefit also of this. (31:03) So I don’t know. (31:04) I think it is okay.

(31:05) I think I’m happy. (31:06) Whatever happened in life and where I am, I’m happy.

Melissa

(31:11) I love it. (31:11) Now would you have done anything differently?

Ajay

(31:15) Like what?

Melissa

(31:18) I don’t maybe 150 patents.

Ajay

(31:21) I don’t know. (31:22) I think everything is some total wherever I am. (31:25) And thank God, I’m okay.

(31:28) I would not change anything. (31:30) Who knows? (31:31) Yeah, who knows where I end up?

(31:33) Have you seen that movie? (31:35) It’s an old movie. (31:38) The train.

(31:40) What is the train? (31:41) She’s like this whole movie is about like she enters a train or doesn’t and her life is like splitting doors or something like that. (31:48) It’s very good movie.

(31:50) So, you know, like how are the decisions you make and the paths you take? (31:53) I don’t want to change any second. (31:54) Then I may not be here talking to you.

(31:56) So I’m happy with whatever happened so far.

Melissa

(32:00) Good advice. (32:01) Ajay, this was a masterclass in turning complexity into clarity. (32:08) Where can our listeners go to learn more about your work and stay connected to you?

Ajay

(32:14) LinkedIn. (32:15) LinkedIn. (32:15) Talk to me.

(32:16) Send me a message. (32:17) I always make time. (32:18) I use AI for a lot of things I do.

(32:21) So I do have a lot of time in my hand. (32:23) I can talk to you. (32:24) I can give you if you need some advice or just like a sounding board.

(32:29) Talk to me. (32:30) I’m here.

Melissa

(32:30) Thank you so much for being here today, Ajay and sharing your knowledge in your time. (32:37) That is the Executive Connect podcast.