166: Sunita Parasuraman – Shaping the Future: Insights on Human Values and Innovation from Silicon Valley and Beyond

In this episode, we're joined by Sunita Parasuraman, a Board
Member at Iris Energy and The Baldwin Group. A seasoned finance
and venture capital leader, Sunita spent 12 years at Meta
(Facebook), where she served as Head of Investments for New
Product Experimentation from 2020 to 2023, leading early-stage
corporate venture initiatives. She also helped shape Meta's
blockchain strategy and built its Treasury team, overseeing
capital markets, treasury operations, and insurance with teams in
Menlo Park, Dublin, Singapore, and São Paulo. Previously, she was
Treasury Manager at Apple. Sunita is also a bestselling author,
particularly known for her book The Panchatantra: Wisdom for
Today from the Timeless Classic. “Silicon Valley is truly a
melting pot, a true meritocracy. And I think any system where you
have people with all these backgrounds, you have to measure
people by impact and what they do versus how they look like and
where they come from, what their connections are. Which is why
this place is so successful” Sunita grew up in India and has
spent many years living in the US and working in Silicon Valley,
blending her unique engineering and finance expertise. She holds
a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering from the Indian
Institute of Technology, Bombay, where she was the only woman in
her class, and a Master in Materials Science and Engineering from
the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned an MBA in Finance
from UC Berkeley and holds an NACD certificate in Cyber-Risk
Oversight from Carnegie Mellon University. In this inspiring
conversation, Sunita shares her thoughts on the secrets to
innovation, lessons from Silicon Valley, the future of AI, and
essential skills for the coming years. She also offers insights
into personal growth and how it ties into shaping a clear future
plan both for oneself and for being innovative. From fostering
innovative interaction and knowledge transfer in diverse
environments, highlighting skills AI cannot replace and the role
of values in personal and professional growth via values are
crucial for both personal development and cultivating an
innovative mindset through to the "story within a story"
framework promoting multi-perspective thinking, . A key takeaway
is that the value of working for world-changing companies and
pursuing personal and spiritual growth cannot be measured in
dollars; both can thrive together. By the way, what was it like
to be in the town hall meeting at Apple when Steve Jobs unveiled
the iPod? And who was the child who regularly wrote letters to
the editor of the local newspaper by snail mail, thrilled each
time one was published in the "Letters to the Editor" column?
Tune in