The First Ever PolyPaths Workshop

Real Insights from the Field on Embracing All Your Passions

I was incredibly honored to conduct a workshop on “Design a Life Around All Your Passions” for BITSync 2025. BITSync is the global conference for alumni of BITS Pilani university, bringing together leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs from across various industries. This time, they wanted to feature sessions not just focused on tech and AI, but also on holistic life and personal growth. It was a fantastic day of networking, sharing insights, and discussing the future of technology and business.

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What Went Into The Workshop?

I wanted to create something to help multifaceted achievers in their journeys, to open their mind to possibilities and give them actionable insights. Tactically, I spent many hours perfecting my slides with AI images, writing my script and I was especially proud of some of the jokes I crafted — but you will have to attend for yourself to see if you actually find them funny! 😀 I shared my own stories, some compelling research and learnings on multifaceted life.

The most fun part was the live exercises we did, which truly encouraged people to rethink their beliefs and rediscover themselves through new frameworks. For example, a core message I shared, one that often surprises people in our hyper-specialized world, is that:

“You can be a master of many trades”

Against what I have been conditioned to think, I now believe this new truth, exemplified by individuals throughout history and in our modern world.

Consider these incredible PolyPaths:

• Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter | Anatomist | Civil Engineer | Aero Engineer | Sculptor

• Nathan Myhrvold: First CTO of Microsoft | Chef | Paleontologist | Photographer | Astrophysicist

• Mae Jemison: Astronaut | Doctor | Dancer | Linguist | Professor

• John Urschel: Professor of Mathematics | ex NFL Player | Dad

As an exercise, I had all the attendees write their own helix headlines and share them. I was so inspired by the multi-dimensional descriptors that captured the attendees' diverse identities. Here are a few examples that lit up the room:

• Data Scientist | Anthropologist | Music Producer

• Friend | Hiker | Technologist | Investor | Traveler | Futurist

• Entrepreneur | Cricket Player | Giver | Mentor | Dad

• Stand-up Comedian | Author | Product Leader

• Portfolio Manager | Model | Fashion Designer | Engineer | Interior Designer | Investor

• Scientist | Dancer | Mom | Artist | Community Builder | Writer

Share yours in the comments – I'd love to see it!

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Overall Takeaways

Many attendees shared that they've been thinking about how to work towards a more holistic life, how to do more of what brings them joy, but struggled with the concrete next steps. Some were at transition points in their lives and were consciously thinking about what an ideal life for them looks like around all their life paths, and how to actually build that. I was super touched to see that they all found many actionable insights through the workshop.

This theme emerged outside of my workshop as well – In his keynote, Prabhakar Raghavan, chief technologist of Google urged the audience to really pursue things that bring them joy and reiterated that creativity and passion roll over into work as well. His face lit up further as he told everyone about his passion for molecular cooking.

Dheeraj Pandey, a stalwart silicon valley technologist and investor also said in his remarks that most successful founders are actually polyglots who master several fields at once. Again, he gave the examples of Da Vinci and Michelangelo from the Renaissance age. In that era, excelling in multiple domains was actually the norm, embodying the 'Renaissance ideal.

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Why Now?

I talked about the multidimensional renaissance ideal in my talk as well. With the transition to the industrial age, specialization and skilled labor were required for factories to scale and make profits. Our education and job structures, to a large extent, are still remnants of this industrial age thinking, which is why we grew up believing that specialization is the only way.

However, now with the internet, and especially AI, we are entering a new digital age. An age where we simply must rethink the role of specialization. Let’s face it, a vertical agent for every specialization is being pitched and perfected as we speak. So, what’s the human value proposition anymore?

The human experience is characterized by our inherent curiosity, creativity, desire to grow and our values. A multifaceted life is the need of the hour because I truly believe that when we follow our natural paths and our callings we create something unique for ourselves and the world :)

PS: I will be conducting an online version of this workshop in the next few weeks since that’s something many people have requested. If you are interested in attending it, please fill out this form. Through the form, you can indicate your most preferred time, and I will choose a time that works for most of you!