From competitive to curious: A conversation with Ankur Mathur

In this episode of Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Ankur Mathur, founder and Chief Experience Officer of REVEL Moments, a live storytelling platform connecting athletes and fans. Previously, Ankur led teams at companies like Accenture and Fjord, where he built a track record of launching startups inside large organizations. Together, Ankur and Tammy discuss the power of influence and how AI could impact traditional consulting and professional services companies.

Highlights from the episode include:

• Don’t wait to be told yes. Too many good ideas die waiting for permission. Ankur’s advice: build coalitions, use humor to disarm defensiveness and most importantly — act. Get results and the buy-in will follow.
• Resource constraints sharpen focus. In a startup, you can’t scatter your energy. You pick one or two priorities and execute with discipline. It’s faster, but less forgiving.
• AI is making soft skills matter more. As tools handle more of the grunt work, what stands out is emotional intelligence. The people getting the best results from AI are the ones who bring context, intent and empathy to their prompts, and the tools respond in kind.

Check out the full episode for more on how to balance stability and change in large organizations and what jobs of the future might look like for AI-natives.

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The views expressed in this episode may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA.