This is the Way… It’s How I Learn and Why I Teach
Last week, I shared my general keynote at Outperform on generative AI. This week, I want to focus on the airline industry a bit and talk about why I’ve built the airline keynote.
If you’ve known me for a while, you might know that I’ve been very fortunate to have a very diverse educational background (with a triple major in Applied Math, Physics, and Molecular Cell Biology followed by a Ph.D. in Biophysics, all at UC Berkeley). Although my career is mostly focused on data science (filled with extensive experience in ML and AI), the transition from academia to industry forced me to learn many subjects in which I have no background. For instance, to master the broader technologies relating to social media and gamification in my previous roles, I had to learn Behavioral Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, and Psychology, etc. I’ve learned so much that I even published 2 e-books: The Science of Social and The Science of Social 2.
Today, this history is repeating itself, in a good way! When I join PROS, I have absolutely zero background in revenue management (RM) and pricing, which happens to be the core business of PROS. Not only was I completely clueless about B2B pricing, I didn’t even know what RM stands for. So coming to PROS is definitely another journey of learning and discovery for me.
And whenever I learn a new subject, I always follow a very simple principle to test my own understanding of the subject.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t know it well enough.
Albert Einstein
This is why I enjoy teaching, and it’s because I love learning even more. Teaching forces me to learn the subject well. And I must learn it so well that I should be able to explain it simply to any layman. So I am going to attempt to explain what I’ve learned about the complex business of airlines in simple terms. As I am no expert in RM or pricing, I learned everything about airlines from my esteemed colleagues at PROS, and I am still learning constantly from our wonderful customers and partners.
Although I won’t be writing an e-book on this subject anytime soon, I invite you to take flight with me! Let’s all take a step toward this AI-augmented airline retail while I share what I’ve learned with you. Every journey starts with a single step. And we can all take this first step together.
TAKE FL(AI)GHT: A Journey Toward a Customer-Centric Airline Retail
Abstract: AI is poised to revolutionize the airline industry. By predicting customer preferences, optimizing pricing and inventories, and delivering personalized offers, airlines can enhance customer experience while improving revenue, and potentially reducing operational costs. In this keynote, I will share a personal story that was never told publicly about how I came to be where I am today. This will pave the way for us to explore the building blocks of an AI-augmented retail system for airlines, which will enable a more customer-centric approach to travel in the future. Join me on this journey of discovery and explore how AI is going to transform the airline industry. Let’s take FlAIght together and unfold the future of airline retail.
I hope you enjoyed my adventure! Now it’s your turn. This is the way!