Bridge Wins Where AI Can’t
I am obsessed both with the game of bridge and with the desire to better understand AI. I was playing 14 straight days of intense bridge at the International Congress Centre (MCK), a dramatic angular building in Katowice, Poland — home to the World Bridge Series, championships conducted by the World Bridge Federation. The seven-minute […]
Gems of Silicon Valley!
I am a product of fast-moving Silicon Valley. The talk here goes from semiconductors to software to the internet, and now to AI. At 76, I am still wrapped up in this high-octane culture, and I quite like it. My thinking now comes from the sidelines, as so much is available online — especially the […]
What AI Won’t Tell You
When Anthropic claimed that Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI in revenues and valuation, I wasn’t surprised. I’ve grown wary of CEOs who talk up their own companies — their motives are rarely pure. But something about Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, struck me differently: ahead of the company’s IPO, expected as early as this October, he openly […]
Reflecting on Naren and My Adventures
It was the afternoon of July 19th this year when I was returning from Minneapolis after a ten-day bridge tournament. Randomly, memories of Naren flashed back as I was thinking about my upcoming birthday on July 25th and then his, to see how old he would have been this October 3rd. When the airplane took […]
Entanglement, Not Just Engagement
At a dinner conversation, the newly elected president of TiE Silicon Valley, seated next to me, asked a pointed question: “What is required of being on the boards of a not‑for‑profit?” It was a gathering of first‑generation Indian stewards of Silicon Valley — a humble bunch — honoring another self‑made Indian businessman. We hoped to […]
How to Hire Right
“What advice would you give for hiring good people?” This was the question asked by the head of the engineering department during my recent UCLA book tour. The question took me back 35 years, to when I was hiring executives at Digital Link. Back then, my thinking was simple: how do I recruit aggressive people […]
The Unrehearsed Life
For the past nine months, I have been performing on stage — in front of audiences, on my book tour. A new trait. A new field. Brand new exposure. Exhilarating, yes. Also nerve-wracking. More than I expected, honestly. But then again — what else is new? This is how I have lived time and again. […]
Still Moving
Seven months ago, I released my memoir, The Woman in Deed, into the world with no publisher, no marketing team, and no roadmap. A publisher had told me I would be a hard sell — a first‑time author at seventy‑five, with a headline from thirty years ago. I didn’t argue. I simply did what I have always […]
Becoming “The Woman in Deed”
As I mention in my memoir “The Woman in Deed: Road to IPO, Bridge Tables, and Beyond”—yes, mine is a Silicon Valley success story. But Silicon Valley success stories are never solo performances. They need to be told more often and more honestly, not as hero narratives but with their entire cast. The valley has […]
The Discipline of Ignoring
In March, I arrived in St. Louis for a bridge tournament with my usual Danish and part‑Swedish team, but my head was elsewhere. My memoir had been published five months earlier, and the PR demands were consuming me. I did not feel mentally geared to summon what I call my “bridge brain” for a high‑level […]