Episode 61: Ray Wang, CEO and Founder of Constellation Research, On The Business Impact of Technology

R “Ray” Wang is the Founder, Chairman and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley based Constellation Research Inc., a research and advisory firm which studies disruptive business and exponential technology trends.

You very likely have heard of Ray before. He is active on social media (follow him here). He is also frequently interviewed in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, CGTN, Tech Crunch, ZDNet, Forbes, and Fortune.

Ray is the co-host and co-founder of the widely watched DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode. He’s also the author of the popular business strategy and technology blog “A Software Insider’s Point of View”. Since 2005, Ray has delivered hundreds of live and virtual keynotes around the world that are inspiring and legendary. Wang has spoken at almost every major tech related conference, including Salesforce’s Dreamforce, Adobe Summit, IBM Think, HR Tech Conference, Microsoft’s Conferences, Google Next, and the sessions at Davos for various clients.

Ray is a great leader, evidenced by the people he has attracted to his firm. I know many of his team and can say for a fact that they are people who can do just about anything they want (which means they are in a position to pick their boss). Ray is also an entrepreneur, and in this OODAcast provides context anyone thinking of starting out on their own should consider. One of many anecdotes he provided was an insightful recap of a conversation he had with his then boss at Forrester Research, George Forrester Colony, which made it clear to Ray that he faced a choice. He could work at a place that wanted to motivate him to be as average as possible or he could go out on his own and create his future himself.

Ray is one of the most prolific writers and thinkers in this space, which includes bestselling books. His 2015 "Disrupting Digital Business" provided insights into ways businesses could create authentic, trustable experiences for clients and optimal experiences for employees in an age where the economy focuses less on products and services and more on experiences and outcomes. We also ask Ray for early context on his latest book, "Everybody Wants to Rule The World", which brings new lessons on surviving and thriving in a world of digital giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook. The book may help you steer your business to success in an age where many will be crushed by the powerful forces unleashed by large firms like these.

Why read this book? Because if you don't, you may well be crushed. Imagine the incredibly tech savvy Dominos Pizza, who really should be lauded for their embracing new technologies and disrupting the pizza business through technology. But now are in total danger of being crushed by an amazing, but previously unforseen model, which enables firms by companies that don't have stores, that don't sell pizzas, and don't have their own drivers, but that can deliver. The food aggregators, like postmates , Doordash etc, don't have to invest the capital to make pizza in order to make money from the transaction. This is just one of many examples, Ray also tells us how to crush LG and Samsung, for example, using the new approaches to platform based dynamics.

We ask Ray for his insights on many other tech topics, including quantum computing, quantum security (he says it is like running a bulldozer over a thatch hut), Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies.

Additional Resources:

Constellation Research

Ray Wang on LinkedIn

Everybody Wants to Rule The World

Disrupting Digital Business