What does it mean to be a leader? It depends on who you ask. There are many ways to lead. One can lead in a palpable manner by overseeing a project, or a team. Others lead generations…
Thought leadership is typically harder concept to define. But in a broad-spectrum it means individuals with the ability to aggregate followers around ideas to educate, influence, and inspire. There will always be people both ahead of and behind you. The key is to learn how to inspire others no matter where you are on the career ladder. Thought leaders have a vision for the future and passionately pursue it. They generously commit their time, energy, and resources. They actively participate in knowledge exchanges. They go the extra mile to both identify and fill in gaps. Lastly, they both challenge others to think big and empower them to follow through.
Geospatial World Forum 2017, the global geospatial technology and business conference kicked off here today in Hyderabad, India. It witnessed the two geospatial industry moguls come together on one common platform.
Charlie Trimble, Founder of Trimble Inc., and Jack Dangermond, Founder, Esri Inc., delivered Visionary talks, during the event.
People are amazed and inspired by the vision and leadership that Jack Dangermond provides to the geospatial industry for a long time. Jack has a personal and global vision for planetary stewardship and pursues that vision with remarkable energy and persistence. Addressing the visionary session he said, “This is a very interesting meet (GWF). Different technologies – forces have come here to collaborate and create a better world.”
Giving a prevailing presentation over how smart GIS will integrate everything he elaborated, “You and I are living in a fasting moving world. Location, Mapping and GIS are becoming essential. We need to know what’s going on – nearly about everything. It is becoming a fundamental language for understanding and managing our world. GIS is getting smarter – it is collaborating with other technologies and leveraging them. It is integrating everything – people, processes, things and data about them.”
Smart GIS provides a system of insights. Once the technology gets matured it is made available to people. “Humans have never been more capable of sharing and applying geographic knowledge. Smart GIS applications are already changing how we think and act,” said Dangermond.
Raising a concern over the climate change and depletion of planet, he said thoughtfully, “We need to understand our plant. Climate change, loss of nature – we need to see if we are going in wrong direction. We need to bring the science of where to life. We need to think are we doing enough.”
Charlie Trimble’s vision towards creating and nurturing Trimble Inc. to be company of culture, technologies, innovation and social relevance has made him the true pioneer of the GPS industry. During 1980s, Charlie saw the potential of GPS technology and started working on development part. Today, Trimble is a pioneer in location and positioning technologies and has offerings for various commercial and scientific applications with revenue of $2.3 billion. “I am convinced that geospatial industry has greater growth and capability in India. India is at the forefront… The ideas and trends, which are important, are visible here at GWF 2017.”
Giving a perspective he said, “There are drivers and observers in the industry. As an observer, I see that mega trends of today can shape a better tomorrow. They are actually transforming the industry and world. Science of positioning is in everything. I see a GIS industry that is providing solutions to increase productivity by unleashing the power of geospatial.”
Expounding the trends of future, Charlie said “We are several ways away from machines making the decisions in a manner humans do. Deep learning – AI have raised the standard of living though. It is one the mega trends. I believe that virtual reality, AI, automation, social media will play important role in society.”
The concluding message by Charlie was an upbeat, “We may not be able to predict future but we can defiantly shape it. My driving is to make the world a better place.”
Jack Dangermond and Charlie Trimble are iconic and their statements are inspiring. In a world where location is becoming fundamental to all decision-making, these individuals have not only taken our industry to new heights, but have also made the term ‘geospatial’ a term of common man. They inspire us to innovate, and motivate us to work towards making the world a better place.
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