Connecting Dots with Usama

Welcome to Connecting Dots! We all share the desire to contribute positively to our communities. While making a difference individually is meaningful, engaging in politics amplifies our impact. Today, we have the privilege of discussing the experiences and insights into political life with Yasir Naqvi - a Canadian politician, who has served as the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre since the 2...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! Leaders are generally expected to inspire and create a vision for their team or company, and unite people, processes and systems to enable that vision. On the contrary, engineers are typically more focused on creating products and services; taking ideas and making them into reality. However, there are a number of overlapping attributes and experiences that make engineer...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! Today, we are thrilled to welcome our guest, Vidya Krishnan, the Chief Learning Officer at Ericsson, who is steering the helm of the company's global learning and development team. Vidya's life story is nothing short of a mesmerizing odyssey - interwoven with the rich tapestry of diverse cultures, globe-trotting across coastlines, and her remarkable transition f...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! Most people grow up imagining a dream career that encompasses their passion, makes money, and doesn’t feel like, well, work. But then adulthood hits, and most people think that they arrived at their job because that’s how life unrolled for them, and now they feel stuck. If you feel like you’ve also gone down the wrong career path, it’s not too late to make a change. Our...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! Do you remember the times when you wanted to download a movie to watch for a long plane ride? On a 3G network, it would take over an hour to download a Netflix movie. With 5G, that gets cut down to a few seconds. With 6G, you will download 142 hours of Netflix movies in just one second! As 5G is already being deployed worldwide, it is thus a great time to start talking...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! We’d like to think that innovation comes from freewheeling chaos. Think again: it's an extreme order that begets breakthroughs in business. In fact, many of the innovations that have changed the world, including railroads, the Internet, and even language, only succeed because of standardization. Similarly, in the telecommunications industry, standardization through...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! The world is in the middle of a great digital transformation and leading telcos are also embracing digital disruption. From mobile edge computing to creating the next generation of Quantum Internet, and much else besides, telecommunication innovation can be seen everywhere. To dive deeper into how this industry can have a truly transformational impact, we have with us t...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! With the ‘‘Great Resignation’ spreading its tentacles worldwide, companies are beginning to realize the importance of workforce analytics and HR metrics to stem this tide of workers exiting their companies. To further connect the dots on the key performance indicators of HR in an organization, we have Zahid Mubarak with us today, who’s the founder and CEO of HR Metrics...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! As our dependence on technology grows, so does our vulnerability to cyber attacks. Therefore, businesses today are devoting an increasing amount of resources to detecting and preventing cybercrime; hence, resulting in an increasing demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals. To reflect more about this booming field, we have today, Ali Hasnain Rizvi, CTO of ID Ware -...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! With an increasing emphasis on understanding customers, companies today are evolving from the traditional role of being product oriented to focusing on customer solution. While product marketing focus on product, and solution marketing is about marketing solutions, "portfolio marketing" is the term that captures “all of the above" - the product, solution,...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! You would’ve noticed that the fifth generation mobile networking, 5G, is hotly anticipated these days. But how many generations back does your memory stretch? 4G, 3G? 2G, even? Today, we bring to you Paul Challenor - VP of Network Product Solutions for Ericsson North America, who has had the privilege of being on the cutting edge of all the new technologies and has expe...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! Where you start out doesn't predict that's where you'll end up. All you need is the curiosity to explore, the vigor to network, and the ability to tell a great story to make a meaningful change. Having all these skills, our today’s guest - Sarah Collins, started her journey as an English and History major and has now successfully transitioned to be the Head...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! Leadership and management are perhaps the most important aspects of today’s professional world; they are also the key maxims taught in the military. To talk about leadership and digital transformation in defence, we have with us today Derek Dobson, who is a veteran and currently works as the Defence, Intelligence, and Federal Public Safety Leader at Microsoft Canada. Ha...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! A mental blank during an exam. Missing a deadline. Losing a client sale. We all have been through moments of adversity that feel like absolute failures. But our today's guest, Craig DeMartino - an avid rock climber, shares his perspective that despite the magnitude of the challenge, having a strong mental fortitude is key.  In 2002, Craig’s life changed when he too...

Welcome to Connecting Dots (from a new studio)!    Markets, industries, and trends are constantly changing, becoming a complex and competitive landscape only worsened by ever-increasing digitalization and globalization. For many professionals, this means that their job competition is continually expanding, leaving many wondering how they can stand apart and stay on top of all these movin...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   To reflect on what makes working at Microsoft valuable, we have Rubia Latif from Seattle, US who shares with us her experience at the company as a Sr. Product Manager.   In this episode, Rubia reflects on her current role as well as the skills needed to be successful in this position. She also talks about the way Microsoft has provided her opportunities...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   While communication networks have traditionally been associated with infrastructure like towers and fiber, more and more telecom operators are moving off the ground and into the cloud. This application of cloud technology has attracted big tech giants to tap into the telecom industry as well. To further connect the dots on this recent disruption, we have Brian Kr...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   Ever wondered what the world would be like without technological development? Everything that people enjoy now and what they can do in a few minutes is attributed to research. Our today’s guest, Pernilla Bergmark, is a principal researcher of ICT sustainability impacts at Ericsson, Stockholm.   In this episode, Pernilla mentions the way her team explores var...

Welcome to Connecting Dots,   From optimizing Google search rankings and LinkedIn recommendations to transforming all sectors, data science is surely the next big thing. Yet the terms “data science” and “data scientist” aren’t always easily understood, and are used to describe a wide range of data-related work. To demystify these terms for you, we have with us today, Aleena Taufiq -  a p...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   In this episode, Stephanie connects the dots from doing side hustles as a college student to working for a startup, becoming the firm’s CEO, and holding her position in the top leadership as she switched companies. She not only exercised the traditional leadership of being at the top of the pyramid but is a believer in servant leadership, which allows her to shar...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   Friendships forged during college years can fade during the busy years of starting careers and families. In this episode, I rekindled such bond with an old friend, Mansoor Khan and asked him to connect dots from his bachelors degree to currently being a support engineer in Amsterdam, Netherlands.   Alongside sharing what his current role entails and the skil...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!    If you are an employer struggling to retain talent or an individual daunted by the task of building your personal brand, look no further. This episode is packed with tips and advice on branding shared by our guest, Tiffany Aziz, who’s an Employer Branding Specialist at Ericsson, Sweden.    Hailing from school with an event management degree, Tiffa...

Welcome to Connecting Dots! As advocates of adopting diversity and technology at the workplace, we have yet another woman in tech with us today - Ezgi Hız Buyurgan, a technology strategy leader at Microsoft, Istanbul. An absolute powerhouse of energy, Ezgi talks in this episode about what her current role entails and reflects on her decision to pursue an MBA. She also stresses the importance of bu...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   An engineer at her core, Neema began her career as an executive officer in the Indian Navy, followed by stints in key management roles across various industries, and is currently the Head of Engineering for Cloud Data Analytics & AI at one of the most prestigious consulting firms, McKinsey & Company.   In this episode, Neema reflects on her journey f...

Welcome to Connecting Dots!   Bringing to you another mega episode with a business executive, we’ve had the honor of having with us today Aamir Ahsan Khan, President and Key Account Manager of Ericsson, Pakistan. As an engineer, sales executive, and farmer, Aamir is a well-rounded leader who holds adequate knowledge in many fields, ranging from radios and basebands to philosophy and to even p...