Abstract

GenAI promises to deliver unprecedented economic value to businesses. However, the field is still young, and the adoption failures outweigh implementations that promise significant business value to the firms. Unfortunately, the models offered by extant research are inadequate, and the state of practice doesn’t offer any robust frameworks supported by rigorous research and grounded in practice.

In my research, I have uncovered Cognitive Mindset as a key moderator for successful GenAI adoptions. In this talk, I will introduce the concept of Cognitive Mindset, describe the four key attitudes and beliefs, and discuss how it fits in the overall adoption framework.

The talk will broadly focus on the following key objectives:
1. Identify the key challenges with GenAI adoption state of practice
2. Discuss the limitations of extant research frameworks
3. Introduce Theory of Cognitive Chasms
4. Describe key antecedents, moderators and consequents of GenAI adoption
5. Introduce the idea of Cognitive Mindset
6. Describe the four key cognitive mindsets
7. Discuss the managerial implications

About the speaker

Tathagat is an accomplished C-level software executive, entrepreneur, and established thought leader with over thirty years of progressive experience in global strategic, leadership, product, and technical roles with Fortune 1-500 firms and Silicon Valley unicorns across the USA, Europe, China, and India. He has built multiple “1.0” software products with revenues exceeding billions of dollars, built four GCCs in hi-tech product development ground-up, scaled P/L operations to over 10,000+ sizes, and led global teams in hi-tech domains, including retail, e-commerce, fintech, consumer internet, network management, datacom, consumer electronics, healthcare, and telecom.

Tathagat recently completed PhD from the Indian School of Business (ISB) on “Cognitive Chasms: A Grounded Theory of GenAI Adoption”. His research identifies antecedents, moderators, and consequents of GenAI adoption for a firm and proposes a grounded theory-based framework. His research bridges the critical gaps between theory and practice and makes several key theoretical contributions to adopting cognitive technologies such as GenAI, which can also be extended to dynamic and evolving general-purpose technologies.

Tathagat is an award-winning thought leader. He was recognized as LinkedIn Top Voice 2024. He has written over 1,000 articles and blogs and delivered over 750+ keynotes and talks on agile and lean product development, design thinking, leadership, culture, program management, business ethics, creativity, and innovation at conferences, corporates, and colleges. He has authored two books: “Agile Product Development” (Apress, 2015) and “Agile Software Development” (Kindle, 2017), and is currently working on his next book on “Cognitive Chasms” based on his doctoral research. He has delivered lectures at ISB, IIMB, IIMU, IIFT, etc., and taught courses at UCLA’s PGPx program, Upgrad, Symbiosis, St. Josephs and the Institute of Product Leadership, among others.

Tathagat is a Senior Member of ACM and IEEE and has volunteered with PMI, PDMA, and various other professional and volunteer organizations. He also holds the unique distinction of being the youngest Indian scientist to spend 16 months at the permanent Indian Antarctica Station “Maitri” as part of the 13th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica during 1993-95. He is a life member of Mensa India and currently a member of American Mensa.