Lessons from Tom Siebel

On Digital Transformation and Technology

On the pace of change: "The scale and velocity of the change we are experiencing today is unlike anything we have seen before in the Information Age. It is more disruptive than the smart phone and more impactful than the internet." [1]
The imperative to transform: "Businesses—and governments—that do not overhaul their core to digitally transform will not survive, while those that grasp the true meaning, urgency, and promise of digital transformation can unlock a multi-trillion-dollar digital future." [1]
The Innovator's Dilemma in the digital age: "Companies must shift their focus from what they know works and invest instead in alternatives they view as risky and unproven. Many companies simply refuse to believe they are facing a life-or-death situation." [2][3]
The four key drivers of digital transformation: The confluence of elastic cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things is fundamentally changing how business and government will operate in the 21st century. [4][5]
Digital transformation is a profound change: It "is a more caterpillar-to-butterfly process, moving gracefully from one way of working to an entirely new one, replacing corporate body parts and ways of functioning completely in some cases to capture far more value than was possible using low-scale, low-leverage legacy business.” [3]
The future of IT: "Information technology is not going to be about computers. It's more fundamental than that. It's going to be about food, it's going to be about water, it's going to be about healthcare and it's going to be about energy." [6]
Adapting to new technology is essential for survival: "Every company needs to adapt to new tech or face extinction." [7]
The biological parallel to business evolution: Siebel views digital transformation as the business-world equivalent of evolutionary biology, where businesses must adapt to new technology to survive. [7]
The risk of obsolescence: "Those that don't develop a working knowledge of new technology will not only become ineffective, they also won't be able to function in tomorrow's business landscape." [7]
The convergence of technologies: "We are approaching a similar tipping point—where cloud computing, big data, IoT, and AI are converging to drive network effects and create exponential change." [3]
The Second Machine Age: In the era of digital transformation, we will master mental power, just as the first Industrial Revolution allowed us to master mechanical power. [3]
The impact of sensor-enabled value chains: "One of the biggest technology vectors this century is the sensoring of value chains; that is, adding a level of detailed instrumentation never before possible or affordable." [8]
The data explosion: "When you sensor one of these value chains, the amount of data increases by, in this case, nine orders of magnitude. You can't process that data using twentieth-century computation and communication technology." [8]
The necessity of a new tech stack: To handle the massive increase in data from IoT, companies need elastic cloud computing, big data, and AI. [8]
The power of predictive analytics: "We can predict with high levels of precision, 80% or 90% precision, events that were heretofore unpredictable, like device failure, disease onset, and heart failure." [8]

On Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The potential of AI: The convergence of elastic cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things will become a quarter of a trillion-dollar software market by 2023. [9]
AI for problem-solving: New technologies, including AI, will lead to transformations in the economy and solve problems that had never been solved before. [10]
The reality of AI applications: "Really what we're doing with the data is predictive analytics. We're doing AI." [11]
The importance of AI leadership: Maintaining a leadership role in AI is an "urgent matter of national security" for the United States. [12]
The broad applicability of Enterprise AI: C3.ai's applications span across various industries for uses like supply chain optimization, fraud detection, and anti-money laundering. [13]

On Leadership and Business Strategy

The reality of business plans: "The idea that you can just write a business plan and then execute it is a bunch of bunk. That's not the way the world works." [9]
The evolution of successful companies: "Microsoft today is nothing like the business plan that Bill Gates had when he dropped out of Harvard. Oracle today is nothing like the company that Larry Ellison founded in 1979. Apple is nothing like the idea that Steve Jobs envisioned in his garage in Palo Alto." [9]
The importance of continuous evolution: "In order to stay on top, you need to be continuously evolving." [7]
The role of experience in leadership: "I think that leadership and management come through hard knocks and mistakes and learning by experience." [9]
The changing nature of corporate culture: Culture is "absolutely everything." The motivational factors for employees have shifted from the baby boomer generation to the current workforce. [9]
The value of continuing education: At C3.ai, the corporate culture reinforces the belief that learning is essential to staying relevant, with the company offering bonuses for completing continuing education. [7]
Focusing on large-scale impact: Siebel has consistently focused on serving large multinational corporations to drive significant change. [9]
The importance of a clear market message: Siebel changed the name of his company from C3IoT to C3.ai to avoid confusing the market, as AI and predictive analytics were the core of their business. [11]
Navigating economic downturns: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Siebel acknowledged the significant impact on business, describing it as hitting "a speed bump the size of the Empire State Building." [11]
Building a structurally profitable company: "If we succeed at that objective, establishing a market position in enterprise AI, this will be a large and hugely successful enterprise application software company. And we'll build a company that is structurally profitable and cash flow positive." [11]
The customer is the ultimate focus: His pioneering work in CRM transformed how businesses interact with their customers. [14]
The power of a strong partner ecosystem: "I believe we have the largest partner distribution ecosystem on the planet... in enterprise AI." [13]
Investing in partner success: A key focus is to provide the necessary support infrastructure to ensure partners are successful. [13]
The high stakes of pilot projects: "You just it can't not succeed okay it has to succeed. So So we will invest you know virtually anything to make sure that these pilots succeed." [13]
Accelerating growth through learning: After initial projects, subsequent implementations become more efficient, like a "cookie cutter" process. [13]

On Philanthropy and Giving Back

The privilege of giving back: "It's a great privilege to be able to give back and contribute to a great institution... I just happen to be in a position to make a positive contribution." [9]
An entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy: "I'm very engaged in entrepreneurial philanthropy. We create things. We don't tend to contribute to things." [9]
Education as the key to solving societal problems: "Do you want to fight poverty, do you want to fight homelessness, or do you want to fight hunger? What is the key?... It's education, and that's what has been the motivation.” [15]
Leaving a positive legacy: "I want to leave my neighborhood in a better place than I found it." [15]
Supporting historical understanding of science and technology: Siebel endowed a professorship in the history of science at MIT, believing it's critical to have a solid understanding of this history to support technological advancement. [12]
The impact of his foundation: The Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, established in 1996, supports a range of charitable organizations in education and healthcare. [14]
Advocacy for STEM education: Siebel has been a vocal advocate for the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math in driving innovation and economic growth. [14]
Investing in future generations: His philanthropic efforts are aimed at inspiring future generations with the lessons of history. [12]
The importance of unlimited resources for students: "You are at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. You have died and gone to heaven, but you may not know it. The resources that you have at your disposal are unlimited." [15]
Encouraging students to break the rules: "If they tell you can't get there, figure out how to break the rules and get there. There is nothing that is not at your disposal." [15]

On Personal Philosophy and Learning

The value of a diverse education: Siebel's background includes a B.A. in history, an M.B.A., and an M.S. in computer science, which has informed his business decisions. [9][16]
The role of history in predicting the future: "All of my decisions were informed by my interest in the history of science, and so far, we've been in the right place at the right time.” [12]
Learning from adversity: "To the extent that I learned to overcome adversity, to be doggedly persistent, to strive for excellence every day, and to try to attain the unattainable, I learned that at Illinois.” [15]
The goal of his book "Digital Transformation": "I would like to believe that, as people think about what's going on with information technology in the 21st century, this book will help them put it into historical context and help them understand what the components are and figure out how to take advantage of them..." [9]
The cultures of Oracle and Siebel Systems: "The cultures are not as different as people on the outside may think." [17]

Learn more:

Lessons from Tom Siebel

On Digital Transformation and Technology

On Artificial Intelligence (AI)

On Leadership and Business Strategy

On Philanthropy and Giving Back

On Personal Philosophy and Learning

Written by Antoine Buteau

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