The Crossings
I had written about the crossings between many different worlds before. And all the little bubbles we live in.
This past week was fun because of the bubbles I burst.
It’s week 20 of independent life. But I think I will stop counting now.
The new. A room of folks at an ATx Summit workshop, and at an insurance dinner. A veteran researcher in town on a Gates-funded study trip. A veteran multi-hyphenate. Two accounting professors. An ex-civil servant now in a cutting edge AI company. A veteran fintech operator. Folks from an online community that I joined a year ago, but that I was meeting in real life for the first time. The head of AI safety at a bank.
The familiar. A Masters in Fintech class I taught last week. Some folks from a union that I did a talk for in 2024. An ex-boss. A programme director to discuss an adjunct role I am doing later in the year.
I’m not one for socializing. In fact one of my realizations recently was that I prefer events where I had to speak, even if it was way more work than just turning up. Simply because it allows me to have a topic to chat with folks at the event. Otherwise, I would have to network! And I’m awkward at that.
The crossings this week
I was asked to share some points on gaps in AI governance, assurance and testing at an AI Assurance & Quality Roundtable at the ATx Summit last week. It was organized by Resaro and the Partnership on AI . I was pleasantly surprised to meet Elham Tabassi , who spoke after me. She’s strongly associated with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. And her work was something that influenced me when I wrote the AI risk management guidelines for Singapore’s financial sector. That alone made my week. I’d never crossed into the world of US AI governance and risk management before this.
The next day, I had coffee with someone who has crossed more worlds than almost anyone I’ve met. Academic. Economist. Stockbroker. Real estate. REIT founder. Author. Chairman at an exchange and a global fintech institute. I thought I was rojak before. No longer. I’d never crossed into most of the worlds he has been in. Speaking to him made me feel like I’ve not really lived life yet.
The day after, I had the insurance world as bookends. I started the day meeting an ex-boss who wanted to discuss a briefing and training for one of his boards. And the day ended with an appreciation dinner for insurance professionals and trainers. At the dinner, I was in a conversation with someone I assumed was a fellow trainer. He had introduced himself as being from an insurer. I thought it was amusing and slightly embarrassing for me that he replied “CEO” when I asked him what he did there. Kind of showed how little I knew of that world.
Three days. Three very different rooms. Three worlds I had never been in before, or had only seen from the outside.
In an earlier week, I wrote that the value is in the crossings. I think what I didn’t say then is that you have to actually cross. Not observe. Cross.
Awkwardly, if necessary. With a topic to talk about, even at risk of embarrassment, if that helps.