The speed of change is no longer constant: it is exponential.

That’s why it was a pleasure to host an intimate dinner on the opening night of Slush and to slow down for a second before the madness began.

Bringing together brilliant minds in tech to spark meaningful connections and the start of a new chapter.

During the evening we put some of our guests on the spot which led to amazing stories.

Our good friend Parneet Pal, the Chief Science Officer at Wisdom Labs, shared an impromptu story from the Bhagavad Gita:

The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between the warrior Prince Arjuna and his charioteer Lord Krishna (an incarnation of God) on the battlefield. Arjuna is grappling with the moral conundrum of having to kill his evil rival cousins to win the throne for the good of all. Krishna’s advice can be considered a manual on how to live your best life through four types of yoga: seeking and acquiring self-knowledge (Jnana Yoga); disciplining and training the mind through meditation (Raja Yoga); devotion and trust to a higher power (Bhakti Yoga); and taking skilled action in the world (Karma Yoga).

One of the most well-known lessons of the BG is that of taking action without attachment to the outcome or results - as long as the action is taken with the highest intention keeping the welfare of all concerned in mind. This is the ethical compass we can use to navigate our daily lives - from the mundane to the most consequential decisions we need to make in our personal and work lives.

The dinner is part of a series of dinners that have been hosted across the planet, always with the same intention: to break open closed circles in tech and gather for a celebration of technology and to facilitate purposeful connections.