Tonya J. Long: 0:06

Welcome home, friends. I'm Tonya Long, and this is RESET, where purpose meets possibility. Each week, we share conversations with thought leaders, innovators and the dreamers and doers who are reshaping the future of work, technology, longevity and purpose. Whether you're navigating AI's impact, reimagining your career or searching for deeper meaning, you're in the right place. So settle in, open your mind and let's explore what happens when purpose meets possibility. Explore what happens when purpose meets possibility. Hello everyone, and welcome to RESET, where purpose meets possibility.

Tonya J. Long: 0:51

I'm Tonya Long and today I am just delighted, honored and so excited to bring my new friend, Enoch Allotey, to the table. I met Enoch what I met you about a month ago, I think, and Enoch is so remarkable I'm going to let him tell you who he is and what he does. But when I think about Enoch, I think about ancient wisdom and I think I've titled this episode something like Ancient Wisdom Meets Artificial Intelligence, because Enoch is a tech-minded strategist, he's also an attorney and he works in the medical field, in AI and data and, I would say, futures, future looking trends. So he's fascinating from a technical perspective. But I think Enoch and I we bonded over culture. We bonded over, if I could say, spiritualness and family, and Enoch just taken a big trip back home. We'll talk about that as we move along. So, Enoch, welcome to RESET. I'm so so happy that you're here and that our audience gets to meet you. Would you please tell them about what you're working on right now?

Enoch Allotey: 2:11

First of all, thank you, Tonya. I'm so excited for this conversation and I'm also very pleased by this opportunity to meet your audience, interact with them and present myself to them as well. In terms of what I'm doing now at work, that is, I'm still strategizing for my company, but now I'm very cautiously looking at the opportunities that exist in the digital space that aren't leveraged yet by my company, right.

Enoch Allotey: 2:47

And generally in healthcare, all the opportunities that can enable other communities to benefit from the inventions and the wonderful change that our organization has put out there that is untapped. Channeling that energy into some of our strategy work and primarily, generally that's a broad theme. That's what I'm doing at work Personally looking to grow, looking to connect with wonderful people like myself and also being able to share some of the values that I have come to possess of the time with everyone else. I connect.

Tonya J. Long: 3:29

Yeah, values. Values are often informed from home, right, we grow and develop and modify them as we mature, but they start at home, and you just had a trip. You live on the east coast of the United States have for 16 or 20 years, as I recall, the home is somewhere else. Tell us about where home is for you.

Enoch Allotey: 3:55

Well, the home is this place that was formerly known as the Gold Coast until 1987. It's a British colony until they gained independence and in modern day it's known as Ghana, the gateway to Africa, we call it. It's in the Gulf of Guinea, borders the Gulf of Guinea, the western part of Africa. That's where I was born and raised and, like you said, values are inculcated from all and I am very proud to say I sourced a good amount of that from my loving family, my community and Ghana at home.

Tonya J. Long: 4:34

I've had several friends from Ghana and Nigeria, and, and culture is so strong in those people, the culture of where they came from and it and it. I think it compels them to be intentional about creating culture in their present day, in a different setting. And so those, those friends are really interesting people, and now I am privileged to add you to that list. So so you just came back from a two or three week trip. You've been home. Just came back from a two or three week trip. You've been home.

Tonya J. Long: 5:05

This podcast is about RESET. It's about making changes and transitions, and so you've had lots of opportunities to start new things. But if we go all the way back to your childhood in what's now Ghana, one of the interesting things when we think about you setting your values is that you learn to live in differences. I had notes from when we talked that you were the only Christian family in a Muslim neighborhood, and I look at that with the wisdom of 50 years to say so. You learned tolerance. You learned not just tolerance, but to embrace differences and be curious, because you are incredibly curious. So what was it like when little Enoch was running around on his bike? What was it like? Or did you even have awareness of an experience where there were differences in beliefs that are pretty significant, and did you notice that as a child, when you were the only Christian family in the neighborhood, or how did that impact you?

Enoch Allotey: 6:28

did that impact you? Yeah, it's. I think it's a common place to find that level of diversity. I, you will, in Ghana, at least in my family and in my environment. And so, yes, I was aware that we went to church on Sunday.

Enoch Allotey: 6:39

My cousins, my friends and folks that lived around us prayed a couple of times a day, especially on Fridays. They went to the mosque right and, and at certain times throughout the year they would fast, and so they'll wake up really early to have their meals before the sun came up, and at a certain time, after the fasting period is over, there'd be a big feast to celebrate and they would bring over some of the you know, celebratory feasts over, including, you know, to share, right. I remember my neighbors were a huge family. They would slaughter a cow for the celebration. They would bring us to my house a portion of that slaughter, and so for a good portion of my life my friends were all Muslims and it wasn't necessarily a difference in the way you get brought up.

Enoch Allotey: 7:33

We just approached the divine differently, and that was put into me very early on. We ate the same kinds of food. We respected our elders, we had every single value you could think of, except when we went to church and we ate bread, and so not until I moved into broader society and most prominently the US. That difference was prominent Because in my family I had uncles and relatives who had married Christians and vice versa. Right, it wasn't a huge distinction. We were just people who approached our divine pericles and our appreciation for divinity different.

Tonya J. Long: 8:22

We think a lot these days about religion being divisive, but I think you and I both had upbringings where we were fortunate to realize early on that it's just. You know, you said it very simply. But they go to church at a different time, they have some different traditions, but that doesn't divide us, or it doesn't have to divide us, and I love that there are people like you and me walking around that promote that, that it doesn't have to divide us, that those textures in society are what make us all interesting. So you were what around 20 when you came to the US.

Enoch Allotey: 9:03

The fun fact about it I arrived at JFK on my 20th birthday.

Tonya J. Long: 9:09

What an amazing birthday present.

Enoch Allotey: 9:11

Can't forget it, Will never forget it Right on the money. But then I just realized an interesting fact that I didn't reach it earlier. I went to boarding school high school in Ghana which is boarding school and it was built by the Catholic Missionary League, so it was still a Catholic boarding school. The cool thing about that is we had a mosque on campus for the Muslim students. There was a mosque on campus that allowed them to practice.

Tonya J. Long: 9:42

At a Catholic institution, at a Catholic boarding school. That's wonderful yeah.

Enoch Allotey: 9:46

And so that's the level of tolerance that I'm used to, the level of kind of mixing and accepting that I'm used to, compared to Martin, my 20th birthday, 2007, I arrived in J&A and that in itself will sort of be sad, and you know, talk more about it. That that that begun a different avenue, if you will. If you're looking at my life as a roadmap, that's like a different avenue. That that that propelled into a different version of myself different values In addition to what I held, some contradicting, which still different, um, but also, you know, I'm still a little bit of myself. Different values In addition to what I held, some contradicting was still different, but also an opportunity to present a better version of myself to the world in the long run, and I've appreciated every single aspect of this journey so far.

Tonya J. Long: 10:42

Yeah Well, you've been a striver, you know, since you landed here at 20. You've taken several turns. We may or may not, it's your choice to go through that. But what is remarkable to me is that you kept hitting on things until you went to law school. You know you were, so tell us a little about that so that we can bridge that to all the different things you've learned and how those contribute to the fullness of what you're able to do now.

Enoch Allotey: 11:15

Yeah, so you know, my ambition initially was to be a banker.

Tonya J. Long: 11:20

I thought my dad was a banker.

Enoch Allotey: 11:22

I wanted to be a banker. Yeah, what you need I thought my dad was a banker.

Enoch Allotey: 11:26

I wanted to be a banker and then it started off. I didn't have a good sense of what it entailed or what that journey would be like. The resources available to me were folks in the medical field that I had been introduced to, and so that idea started to shift over time, where I'm realizing perhaps I'll be more suited for something else. It looked at the time very far away and so when I started off I went to community college and I wanted to still see what else I could do. Can I be a banker? I'm not sure. I wanted to still see what else I could do. Can I be a banker? I'm not sure I wanted to go to nursing school and so maybe be a doctor. But you know that was still a possibility.

Enoch Allotey: 12:15

So I took liberal arts courses and then I ended up having to take a science course. I took biology. I thought this is fascinating and this isn't too hard. I ended up doing biology as a liberal arts option at the Bronx Community College and then when I moved on to college I realized maybe medicine it is. So I went on pre-med, did biology Still not entirely convinced, but I was inspired because my upbringing and my culture were very few. I joke about this all the time. There are only four things you could be in my setting. Right, you could be a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer or useless like everything else.

Tonya J. Long: 13:07

That work category Okay.

Enoch Allotey: 13:10

It's like a catch-all, and so being a doctor was, you know, much preferable, at least for me, than to be a nurse.

Tonya J. Long: 13:18

So I went to Stony Brook.

Enoch Allotey: 13:19

I decided to take a break in between going from undergraduate to that. You'd see what the world would look like if you started to work. The first job I had landed was in a lab, in a pharmaceutical, nutraceutical lab, and they wanted a quality control chemist and I kind of hit all of the benchmarks in terms of education. So they hired me and I learned a ton about human health, the impact of medicine, the interactivity of medicine, the different genetic makeups. It was fascinating.

Enoch Allotey: 13:59

But then one year became two, two became three, three became four and you know, time was fast spent Because I had to make a choice of what to do to further my education. But I wasn't really sold on medical school and at that time I was doing reverse engineering, where I was taking these jobs that were almost about to hit their patent expiration, figuring out what was in it and then share with the organization what we needed to do on the science then to produce it. But there was a whole business discussion outside of what I was doing that I wasn't aware of. That entailed the finances but also the intellectual property that was going to resolve from that.

Enoch Allotey: 14:44

And so in one of those meetings I was fortunate enough to have overcurred the mention of IP. What are these folks talking about? I want to go to medical school and I thought I knew everything that had to do with making medicine. So that night I investigated what IP was and discovered it was intellectual property. And it is actually at the crossroad, or the apex, of law and science. That's where they met. Ip is where they met.

Enoch Allotey: 15:13

And in that moment I decided you know what? I don't think I want to go to my. I want to know more about this IP stuff. It's enabling access. This is the one thing. Like I did the science, I gave all the data. But there is something else that is actually pushing the drug to the last mile, which is the business decision and the intellectual property around it. I focused on that and that day I switched my mind, my mind, my path, and went to law school, and that's how I became a lawyer in pursuit of intellectual property and improving access for all.

Tonya J. Long: 15:51

What a bold, audacious vision you had and how quickly it turned. You overheard someone talking about IP and you said I want to know more about that.

Enoch Allotey: 16:01

Right.

Tonya J. Long: 16:02

And you looked at it and the way you described it just now, it's like it just it just hit you that this, this interests me, and this is also an accumulation of the things that I've been working toward and the things that I enjoy. So you know how blessed lucky choose your word, but how wonderful that you, that you bumped into that conversation. Otherwise you might've been a miserable podiatrist, um, but, but um, you know you really do. It seems like you've landed on a career that takes the best of all of your talent, skills and and joy things that create joy within you, and I love your mission statement. Thank, you.

Enoch Allotey: 16:48

It's ever evolving right. I think. I'm learning every day, and my single most consistent prayer is that I still continue to get the divine revelation of my purpose right, what it is that I'm designed and destined to do. And it's it reveals itself in multiple stages.

Enoch Allotey: 17:09

I I embrace it in all forms, but I think, as I evolve, the values that I'm bringing are also evolving and at the time that's what I saw. It hit me like in bad bricks, like this is it? This is what you need to do to move on. And then, once I was done with law school I'm not, you know, like I said, going in was for IP and access I wasn't necessarily keen on practicing in a traditional sense going to court and you know, um? So I ended up going into public policy and government affairs. So that was the first, you know, entry back into pharmaceuticals.

Enoch Allotey: 17:52

But I did public policy, both in the US and in the Middle East and Africa, all those things, government affairs and then. But prior to that, whilst I was in law school, I had the opportunity to work for the Department of State even in terms of the Department of State, doing AI research, and that's what gave birth to my interest. It was a special project that wanted someone who had experience in bio pharma but also had a leg into the legal regulatory space. I was recruited by the division that I worked with to do that and that also started another avenue, or maybe a bullet for her in my journey. That kind of led this way Love it, love it. That kind of led this way.

Tonya J. Long: 18:43

Love it, love it. You just introduced the word AI, which we knew we would get to, but I can't help but think that you didn't grow up thinking about AI. You probably didn't grow up thinking a lot about tech Similar for me. Most people that know me know that I was born and raised on a tobacco farm in Tennessee, and so we didn't grow up in cultures or at a time when tech was as prevalent as it is now. So how do you think AI? Well, I'm curious how it's working in Ghana now. You know, because Ghana has grown up, just like the world has grown up. You bring with your values from Ghana that were not technologically driven, that have influenced how you work in AI, and really emerging technologies now?

Enoch Allotey: 19:56

Yeah, so you know like, culturally, no single person is an island. My dad reminds me of that all the time. We're all connected, whether we like it or not.

Enoch Allotey: 20:12

There's no way it can exist as an island. And when you look at artificial intelligence, what I choose to look at or focus on is the ability to deepening those relationships. It's the ability for us to connect. It's the ability for us to reap the benefits that would have cost us a ton of the investment. And in places like Ghana, because it's kind of ingrained, the culture requires that connection. Adding on the layer of our cultural intelligence as an enabler to these cultural outcomes is indeed, to me, the best that you can ask for. So I'll give you an example. When we look at currency right, the Ghanaian currency, the cities in Ghana, there are a lot more people using a telecommunication platform, a fintech transaction, than there are people actually using the currency. And so you can pay. You know the way it works is the telephone company or the cell phone company has your phone number and that phone number is, in essence, a bank account.

Enoch Allotey: 21:35

Wow and so you can deposit money on that account, you can redraw money from that account, you can loan folks from that account, you can take a loan from that account and you can use the system to make purchases as well. And so, when I was near last, you could pay food at the restaurant at the market, buy gas, fill your water, pay for utility all on your phone. But just recently, ghana was recognized as number one globally by the NMRI, an organization that does ranking for financial platform and usage.

Enoch Allotey: 22:12

It's been ranked number one globally for using mobile money, mobile money transactions, and this is a technology that wasn't necessarily built with that in mind, but the usage has changed lives and so now compound that with something that artificial intelligence could enable, because the adoption, once it gets a hold, which is being used more than anywhere else with places like that, once we find the benefit of it and the utility is there, it sees a lot more advantage and it gets more appreciation over time.

Tonya J. Long: 22:52

So that's interesting to me and I want to be respectful when I say this, but I wouldn't have thought of the Ghana culture, society being like, you know, like the valley, like the Bay Area. Right, there's just a difference in focus and values. What do you think, culturally, societally, enabled them to want to make this leap? Because you know we're struggling, because you know we're struggling, you know we're struggling with AI adoption here, in more technologically advanced organizational groups in society, and you know we're fighting AI in a lot of respects and slow walking it. And Ghana jumped in headfirst. They're the number one ranked global mobile payments money or digital money adoption. What do you think about their culture? Helped that to occur, that they were so willing to embrace something new.

Enoch Allotey: 23:57

I think one is. It's just a matter of convenience convenience but what I think is the secret ingredient is that there is an ability to connect with people using already existing technologies that doesn't have to be intricate, but also provides them a chance to do business without having the big fancy. You know banks and all of these things. Literally, this is your bank account. You don't even need to go to the bank. You can put money on there. They have these kiosks and offices. You can go If you have cash, you can have them deposit that on your phone. And this is not just a banking place, it's a shop. It's a way to contribute to your whatever you need to, and so all of that convenience, enabling them to keep their connections, is what makes the difference.

Tonya J. Long: 25:01

Oh, now, that's an interesting statement.

Enoch Allotey: 25:03

Yeah, if you live in the city and you need to send home money, you can just do that. You don't need to go to a Western Union or anything else, you can just do that on your phone.

Enoch Allotey: 25:15

And even when you live in the United States and you want to send remittance to someone, you can easily send it to their phone number right Like, these systems have allowed us to stay connected without inviting unnecessary bureaucracy and all of the things that you know kind of put a burden and a strain on building relationships and taking care of business in the traditional way that we've already done before, in the traditional way that we've already done before.

Tonya J. Long: 25:45

I mean that's really, it's beautiful, because I have to believe that the people who created that technology, they weren't trying to bridge connection between families. They were trying to make the movement of financial transactions simplified and less friction. Correct. Simplified and less friction, but to have the impact of keeping people more simply connected to do what they need to do, you know, to do the transactional things that occur in families. That's remarkable and another example of the technology having unintended consequences that are really positive.

Enoch Allotey: 26:25

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. And I use that example to highlight possibilities, because you think of this and this actually has some amount of cost involved, like you have to put in money to take it out some amount of cost involved, like you, have to put in money to take it out. But imagine technology that is for education, technology that shares knowledge and stuff where you don't necessarily have to deposit your knowledge. This gives you access to the knowledge and it's helping medical professionals access a world of knowledge to better diagnose their patient.

Enoch Allotey: 27:04

Like that level of adoption will change the world eventually, because the cultural context will still be harnessed by the people. But having access to a broader library of knowledge for better diagnoses would even improve the services that professionals are rendering. I think that is a big you know, for me, that's what I advocate for when I think of technology, about sharing in places like Ghana.

Tonya J. Long: 27:44

I have to tell a story. I'm on this, but I saw a presentation from the city of Amarillo a few months ago and they had used AI and because to me it's just such a beautiful story of helping people in unintended ways, they have tons of languages spoken in the city of Amarillo. So from a city services perspective, that was really complex to be able to service you know 15 languages, with a human who picks up the phone to say you know, I'm here to help you pay your water bill. So they consolidated all of their city services into a single voice line. That was AI. Llm large language model enabled to cover the languages and to get some synergies and efficiencies, with people being able to call in and be able to, in a more automated way, handle their city transactions.

Tonya J. Long: 28:39

There is also a very aged population, an elderly population in Amarillo and the voice capabilities in the system were so conversational and so good.

Tonya J. Long: 28:54

Seniors started calling into the system just to talk, Just to visit with a voice, Because it was programmed to be very conversational and welcoming and it was a trend with elderly people calling in. So the city of Amarillo looked at it and said and I'm paraphrasing, of course, but and said this is a service and it really doesn't cost us that much, and it's not costing us really anything extra that's material at all but it's doing something for our peoples. They started planting like Easter eggs in the system to give to people who don't necessarily have, you know, the connections that we've talked about, as they've aged and or they're relegated to being home, and so I love that. It was something completely unintended, like the bank payment system in Ghana via phone, via mobile. But I love how the city of Amarillo saw this as an opportunity. They didn't see it as, oh, that's not why we developed this, All right. They saw it as making the world a better place through something completely not designed for that, yes, and I'm so excited not designed for that.

Enoch Allotey: 30:05

Yes, yes, and I'm so excited by examples like that.

Tonya J. Long: 30:09

Yeah.

Enoch Allotey: 30:10

I personally advocate for outcomes that are outside of corporate productivity. When it comes to businesses employing AI and what I mean by that is if you're a business that's supposed to bring I don't know educate people, for example your use of AI should be geared towards people learning something, not your employees being able to send emails efficiently.

Enoch Allotey: 30:41

Right If you're an organization and your purpose at the end, adopting AI, of course, downstream, if your employees have more time to spend on other things, it's possible that it will transcend onto the customers. Goal should be the initial assessment, because I have noticed overwhelmingly, corporate productivity has been funded, researched and developed at a faster rate than any of the outcomes of the same organization Of course.

Enoch Allotey: 31:18

And that's troubling. But then I think of places like Ghana and why and how developing AI and large language models internally or culturally fitting is beneficial about taking what some company did to help employees do better. But it'll be well-suited to the context and if the context, I believe, is family-oriented, people-oriented, it translates and it'll be much easier for them to deploy systems that are not just about the individual productivity but the communities that it did now from the cell. So I'm very big on advocating for deploying and developing local Red, local systems for these local centers.

Tonya J. Long: 32:14

Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm. I'm reflecting on your statement, which is a fact, and it's common sense as well, that the majority of the development is in business, in corporate settings, and intended and designed to fund improvements to how we do business right, right, what are you going to say?

Enoch Allotey: 32:48

Go ahead. We know health AI, right, and they developed a large language model that is able to help exponentially the capacity of healthcare workers. Right, if they were to develop this system, that could more than answer questions, but it could also interpret radiology images, it could be set up onto a microscope and it could look at slides to determine if this slide has malaria or whatever in it. Now we're talking about places that have one doctor for every 1,500 people, or one doctor for every 1,000 people, yeah, right.

Tonya J. Long: 33:34

Yeah.

Enoch Allotey: 33:34

And I would be the systems accounts for those deficiencies and when they do it correctly, like how this company is doing, I believe once there is wide adoption of technologies like that, the health inequity gap was going to diminish drastically 100%. Yes, not even one doctor could essentially function as eight or six or five because of these tools. We're starting to see a quality of health improvement, and that also lends itself to better economic opportunities for the people, and so saw and so forth. I'm an avid believer in that as well.

Tonya J. Long: 34:21

Healthcare is one of my biggest hopes for the future. With AI, I think we're just scratching the surface because here in the US there's so much overhead regulatory overhead to push through. So I understand that, but I really, for me, I see the predictive traits that AI excels at. I also see, you know the burden that you mentioned of the ratio of patients to doctors, and so much can be scaled and, frankly, what one doctor knows is a fraction of what one human brain knows, is a fraction of the corpus of information that's available.

Tonya J. Long: 35:07

I'm excited for the medical community about the ability to help doctors by prescribing treatment plans. You know, and people would say, oh, but that's letting the machine do the work of the doctor. Actually, no, that's enabling the doctor, because if there are patterns in that patient's health history and it's obvious, you know, because you know, I would venture to guess and you're the expert on medical data but I would venture to guess that the majority of conditions are routine. I mean even chronic diseases, like I'm a type 1 diabetic, but as a well-managed type 1 diabetic, it's a pretty routine. This blood work means make this course correction.

Tonya J. Long: 35:50

Doctors don't have to independently determine that. I mean the systems can do it Spit out a treatment plan that a doctor then says, yep, that feels right, sounds right, appropriate, and moves it on and I think that is going to help medicine scale. My anxiety is around scaling that to all of society right In a world I don't know what the medical system is in Ghana, but in a world in the US where insurance is a privilege. Good insurance, good care, is often a factor of the type of insurance you're able to carry and afford. I think some of these availabilities that are going to enhance the efficiency of doctors needs to result in better coverage of care for everyone, and that's a policy level change that will take time.

Enoch Allotey: 36:52

You've articulated it so well. It's 100% true. The difference, though, in certain places is that there is a governmental assumption of that responsibility that translates into universal health care, right Like there's a big assumption that the health care of these people is partly the responsibility of the government and providing that is also the responsibility of the government. That doesn't mean there aren't different tiers and you couldn't get private healthcare. That might be better.

Enoch Allotey: 37:30

But, there's a universality around the base healthcare that we don't have here in the United States, and so I think that's what the difference becomes, right, because if the government in a country like that that has universal health adopts and starts to implement these systems, we're going to see a much faster improvement in the quality of healthcare across the board, versus places like the US, where it's very subjective, based on what you can afford, who your HCP is and all of those complicated stuff. But all that to say, the opportunity still exists, right? Yes, and that is what gives me goosebumps every day. Right, it's like we still have so much opportunity to do this at a level that is impressive, at a level that is broad and comprehensive, and perhaps it's just the matter of policy changes, but the opportunity exists and I'm hopeful that one day, a lot more people will benefit from it than we are to them.

Tonya J. Long: 38:43

Yeah Well, I think this naturally leads to a conversation on longevity. There's four principles. If you will that I focus this podcast on it's work changes in work, changes in technology, changes in longevity and then changes in purpose. So this health conversation moves into longevity. With all the data that you touch all the time that you have visibility to macro trends, what do you see? Things like changes in the actual treatment of patients and diagnosis and all those individual level improvements. How do you see that affecting us from a longevity perspective as a population?

Enoch Allotey: 39:25

I think overall the US population, we're seeing a trend of people living longer getting older people are living longer and it's the result of a lot of things food, life, lifestyle, working out and all of those things. But now there's a new trend, or a newer trend, which is physician medicine right, and personalized medicine. So then now we're not looking at treatment on a general scale anymore, we're not looking at treatment, at least for personalized medicine on everybody who shares characteristics that you have.

Enoch Allotey: 40:12

But now we're looking at Tonya Based on you, who you are, where you live, your diet and everything else that is the composition. How will this treatment look like for you? And I think we're at the very, very, very, very early stages of this, but there are companies looking at that so that we can personalize the treatment to you, so that we know this might be a painkiller for everyone else, but for you because of X, y and Z we need this amount of dose accompanied with this other ingredient, but just for you, and we'll deliver that to you as a dose of the treatment.

Enoch Allotey: 40:51

And that's where I think the new trend is falling to full longevity. We're close there. We are all the major um healthcare companies are looking at ways to deliver personalized medicine. I think, yes, that's where we can start to look at, if we're looking at the ability of the kind Mm-hmm Mm-hmm To add to what you're talking about and make it maybe more appreciated at an individual level.

Tonya J. Long: 41:23

One of the startups that I've done some work with is making an insulin pump that's about the size of a nickel. It's amazing. It uses nanopump technology, but it is the beginning of a delivery device for personalized medicine, because they're going to cut that pump into sections and it'll require a reformulation of injectable medications medications but if you have migraines if you have, you know if you get sore after you play pickleball to be able to load multiple medications for the recurring issues that you experience and be able to treat those, or have sensors that realize what's happening in your body even before you do. If my blood sugar goes low as a type one diabetic, everybody knows because it's beeping on my phone.

Tonya J. Long: 42:16

But we're going to get to those sensors being able to be worn by average, normal people who just played pickleball too hard and be able to measure what's happening in the body and be able to use devices to live better, because they'll get the warnings and then they'll have access to easy administration of these medications, and I think that is a very exciting way to move forward. And of course, then you of course hook that into reporting to the doctors what's happening so that those trends can be addressed, if they need to be addressed, at a higher level with your physician. But it's moving. Technology is moving us into an amazing space.

Enoch Allotey: 43:00

It's fantastic and I think you know that's driving every single touch point of the treatment process.

Enoch Allotey: 43:09

Yes, it is, the doctor is going to get the information faster, but now we're manufacturing the specific dosage you need, so now the manufacturers have to start to come up with systems that would enable them to capture the information and produce at a considerably fast rate. So then you can get it. So then it's not like you go to your doctor one week and then you have to wait three months to get it like a car. They have to speed up processing and production.

Enoch Allotey: 43:38

So, that is, allowing every clutch point of this process to get some innovation, to produce some ways to do things better so we can get things right. I think that's the exciting part. Right, it's the part that the average person doesn't believe and fit, but it's going to get you a time where it's going to be considerably faster than it is today.

Tonya J. Long: 44:04

Yeah, my mind races with all the applications of this kind of technology to change people's lives. You know, I have a few friends who have chronic migraines that come on frequently and unannounced.

Tonya J. Long: 44:21

And to be able to wear something the size of a nickel with other sensors that might be on your body to say, oh you know, elevated X you know, whatever that is and to help you, you know, get ahead of the curve on losing a day to a bad migraine is I think most people would wear a device that's the size of a nickel.

Enoch Allotey: 44:44

I agree. I agree, that's the blessing of technology. Right it is. It's the big thing that we have this moment, for no matter who you are, there is some kind of technology that you're grateful for, and perhaps for me, because of my work, technology that gives people better quality of their lives is what I'm always excited about.

Tonya J. Long: 45:13

Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm Are there because you're very technologically aware at a broad level, not just healthcare. Are there other areas that you think AI will have a significant impact on the world with that you're looking forward to?

Enoch Allotey: 45:29

I think the biggest aspect is education. Mm-hmm, I think the biggest aspect is education, and you know, when I was growing up, right, the kinds of access you had to education and knowledge was pretty much the library and the books that were there, and so the books in the library were outdated. Access to knowledge concerning this subject matter is most likely outdated, and so, for me, being able to compute all of this knowledge that's relevant, that's RESET into a device like a laptop, is one of the biggest, because there are inspirations that I've gotten from reading books from John Grisham and all of these great authors that I just stumbled upon by accident in a library somewhere, and the same way, when I'm using my Chad GC or Gemini that I stumble upon pieces of knowledge just by asking curious questions.

Tonya J. Long: 46:47

And.

Enoch Allotey: 46:47

I think, of education for children to explore their environment, to learn about their history and their culture and to explore ideas of what they can do with that knowledge, to be the most powerful thing ever. Right, that access readily available in the palm of your hand if used correctly, will definitely elevate our intelligence Like.

Enoch Allotey: 47:17

I don't know what the metric is, but whatever it is now, if we're able to consistently develop that, our children will all begin at a level higher than we were when we were their age, and I think that's exciting age and I think that's exciting Big question for you related to this.

Tonya J. Long: 47:40

Yes, how do we teach or encourage people to be curious?

Enoch Allotey: 47:50

I think curious people never left their childhood behind.

Tonya J. Long: 47:56

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Oh, that's an interesting visual I have.

Enoch Allotey: 48:01

Yeah, curious people never left their childhood behind. Wait, children, babies. Everything you see is the most curious version of yourself.

Tonya J. Long: 48:12

Okay.

Enoch Allotey: 48:13

Like you want everything to taste your fingers, but you just put your fingers in their mouth.

Enoch Allotey: 48:17

You're so curious about every single thing, and the more you grow out of that, the less curious you're becoming. And so what I think of curious people there is a childlike version of themselves that never dies, and if you can always have people connect to that, they will remain curious. And some people lose that because of trauma or they lose that because of their perception of the world they live in now. But if you can rekindle that connection and if you can keep people in touch with a version of themselves that is still a child, they will remain curious. And there might be different ways to do that, but on a very broad level, that's how I create curious minds with lifespan.

Tonya J. Long: 49:13

Yeah, I think there's something in there about communal societies I'm going back to Ghana again but communal societies being able to promote value more broadly, because everybody's listening and everybody wants to take advantage in a good way of what's available to them, and I think there's something to be learned from. I say organizations, but it's societies that operate with a different mindset. That keeps people curious, because there's an intrinsic reward in that behavior because of what you get to do or accomplish. Do you see that with the differences between Ghana and, let's say, naysayers about AI in the US?

Enoch Allotey: 50:11

Do you see?

Tonya J. Long: 50:12

kind of a difference in and it's a personal value societal input yes.

Enoch Allotey: 50:20

So when I think of that concept, right like a double-edged sword right societies the reward tends to be for specialists who are still contributing or still remaining within their certain defined parameter, like this is your role as part of this organization. If you can do that exceptionally well, you get additional reward. But all of that is kind of based in an understood system of value. What I mean by that is, if the group agrees that this is our structure, you play this role, that person plays this role. It's fine. However, with technology such as AI in itself is disruptive and it hasn't settled into the group.

Enoch Allotey: 51:22

And so the individuals in their specializations can leverage AI to bring more value for that role that they play, and that's how I see it working. And so, if you're the designated part of this big tree, that's growing through and you're getting more nutrients. You're just going to grow bigger fruits. There's going to be a part that's just supposed to grow the leaves and they're getting their leveraging technology or their nutrients. They're going to grow bigger, broader leaves.

Tonya J. Long: 51:55

Right.

Enoch Allotey: 51:56

And I think in a way, that's what I mean by a double-edged sword, because not all of the society is leveraging the benefits at the same time, but the few that are that are using it for the benefit of the society will allow that amplified benefit to reach everyone else.

Tonya J. Long: 52:29

You heard everything you said and I agree with it, but the challenge we keep having in the conversations here are a genuine fear of losing human connection. In Ghana, it's increasing community and human connection. In Ghana it's increasing community and human connection. And here that is the excuse for not embracing and being more curious about these technologies. Do you think it's more difficult to maintain human connection as our world becomes more global and more digital? Is there a way around that? If it does separate people, what ways have you seen potentially?

Enoch Allotey: 53:27

based on how.

Tonya J. Long: 53:28

Ghana responds to technology to make it easier to maintain human connectivity.

Enoch Allotey: 53:30

I look at it this way. Human connectivity, I look at it this way it becomes the best of what you want for it to be, or the worst of what you wish it would be.

Tonya J. Long: 53:44

A lot of white people like that.

Enoch Allotey: 53:46

Right it's whether you are employing it for good or you're wishing it for worse, and so if you already have a weak foundation, technology is not going to necessarily prove that. Okay, excuse me. And what I mean is this If you're in a society that is individualistic, in a society that thrives and promotes individual ideas and individualism, your employment of technology will not do the contrary. It is just going to enhance that system and it's going to make the individual even better to maintain any dependencies on other people, at least at the very default. In the other way around, if you have a system that encourages community, that encourages interdependency and celebrates connection, when you employ technology that is suitable for that, it is just going to enhance how we connect. It's just going to enhance how we operate in a community rather than dividing, unless we wish for it to do otherwise right.

Enoch Allotey: 55:06

And so if you wish for the technology to do something, otherwise that wouldn't be the default setting and that would require a lot more work. So in the individualistic system, if they want technology to bring them together, it'll require more work. It won't be the default technology they have. In the communal system, if they wanted to be individual, whatever they get, it'll require more work and it won't be the default. And that's what we have to be mindful of is what we want to achieve and how we use the technology to achieve the goal. But by default it will enhance whatever system exists.

Tonya J. Long: 55:50

I think most people listening to you talk would agree that we want to be more communal, more society oriented, but they don't know how and with a lot that's happening in the US now with the division that exists, but I think people are overwhelmed by the scale and the breadth of the differences. It's just too big. You know, I can't fix this because it's not my street or my neighborhood. It's such a big divide and so many people are involved that it's harder to think communally. So do you have any wisdom or advice about?

Enoch Allotey: 56:39

I've heard good, you know, unless you're looking at it holistically.

Tonya J. Long: 56:45

Yeah.

Enoch Allotey: 56:46

Assuming only certain aspects of communal living doesn't work Like it's an all or nothing kind of lifestyle and system, and so in places like that our families still live together. You don't necessarily have to leave your family house. You don't have to leave your father's house unless you want to, but there's going to be opportunity for you to still remain connected with your family. There are families that have enough resources that it's a huge compliment, and if you wish to not live in the same building that you were born in, you can put up a building right next door to your dad and it still belongs to your family.

Enoch Allotey: 57:32

So, then you're not that far away, right, these are deliberate cultural elements and unless you have these deliberate elements, you can only aspire to the benefits like I want to do this. But if you go to school and at the age of 18, you're in college by 21, 22, it's kind of a normal thing to move out of the house and start your own family. Already, that disconnect is that communal right. And if your children do that, there's going to be a continuous distance. Where I'm from, we don't have nursing homes. Like the elderly people live with the family. Nobody's sending anybody to a nurse. We don't have nursing homes. They're part live with the family. Nobody's sending anybody to a nursing home. We don't have a nursing home. They're part of the family, right. And those are what I mean by holistic approach. You don't just want to be communal when you're young or when you're in the wardens.

Enoch Allotey: 58:27

You want to be communal from birth to death. That's an all or nothing approach. That's the only way it works.

Tonya J. Long: 58:38

In the meantime, it occurs to me in my US limited mindset, that one of the best ways for people who can not everyone can, One of the best ways for people who can not everyone can, but one of the best ways to expand how you think about communal ways of being is when you're able to travel, Like you were just home in Ghana for two or three weeks and I think, before we started recording, your words were that it was. Was it inspiring or I?

Tonya J. Long: 59:13

can't remember but it was. You were so happy for the change in scenery to be home.

Enoch Allotey: 59:21

It filled me up it filled you up.

Enoch Allotey: 59:24

It filled me up and I think that it gives me an opportunity to appreciate the differences in the lifestyles, but also the opportunities that can be leveraged by the two different systems. Right, and there are so much synergies that could be leveraged. There are things that we can learn from, you know societies that are communal and their advantages that it could also glean from how we approach light here in the West, and being able to build that bridge is exceptionally exciting. Right To take back a mindset of improving systems using artificial intelligence or improving systems or just a design thinking mindset. Yes, I'm with you that individuals are not just treated in a way that they get in a vacuum, but the connection to a larger group also has its benefits, and being able to identify those things you know always fills me up and it inspires me to continue the work I do on a daily basis.

Enoch Allotey: 1:00:49

I know it's going to impact the direction of these ideas.

Tonya J. Long: 1:00:54

In my history. I led Asia for several years and so I would go to India like every four to six weeks. But if I went too long, like over Christmas break, and I had to extend the time, I found myself getting antsy Because being in most of my travel was to India. I had a large team in Bangalore and did a bunch of acquisitions in Hyderabad, so that was like my home base, if you will, in Asia.

Tonya J. Long: 1:01:21

But when I had distance in between the trips I got edgy and I knew it was because I needed to go, get back in touch with how I felt when I was in such a remarkably different place different pace, different values but also to be able to see humanity in a whole different way and love it Like almost, almost be attached, to have a dependency on, on being fed by being there, by societies that had way different, I'm going to say I don't know how to say it well, but standards of living, right, you know how people live physically, indoor plumbing, those things is radically different for the majority of India than it is for here. But I saw such a sweetness in people and such an accepting and tolerant people of everything from religion to ideas to how to raise your kids, and being close to that gave me so much gratitude.

Tonya J. Long: 1:02:29

Yes, and it filled me up, to use your word, so that I could come back here and face this rat race. Yes, I was rejuvenated and I needed it. You're making me think. I haven't been back to India in a while. So I you know, as my corporate situation, my work situation, changed, so I don't go to India. But it's important to me to experience those changes in our daily routines that allow us to think more broadly and put more different kinds of love in our hearts.

Enoch Allotey: 1:03:04

It's a million percent right, and the fact that we can have the exact same experience in different places goes to show that what we're talking about is real. This is only in God or only in India? It is a human connection. In God or only in India? It is a human connection. And there is a vacuum that exists if you stay in one place for so long. Yes, and so whenever you change that environment, you kill that side, right. So then you become whole again, whether you've been born there or live there.

Enoch Allotey: 1:03:41

The human connections that exist in different parts of the world are essential for your being, whether you know it or not. Right? Whether you acknowledge it or not, I am almost certain that every human being living everywhere in the world does get some benefit from just interacting with other people, whether they're from their culture or not. And the minute I realized that, I found myself having more clarity in direction and purpose. Right, it's like people are people wherever you go, but people touch you differently wherever you go. Yes, and the minute you accept and take that and fill yourself with that and align your purpose to the benefits that the divine has positioned for you through those interactions, the better suited you are for your own personal fulfillment, but also it contributes to the betterment of society.

Tonya J. Long: 1:04:42

Yeah.

Enoch Allotey: 1:04:44

You know I'm a firm deliverer of that.

Tonya J. Long: 1:04:48

Well, and I feel like it informs your purpose, Our the broader you, but definitely for you, I think your purpose is tied to humanity. Right? You're not just thinking about the softball game this weekend, you know. You are definitely thinking much more broadly, about how what you do serves mankind.

Enoch Allotey: 1:05:13

And you know, I think that's the benefit of growing up in a culture that appreciates connectivity and collectiveness, right. And so, by default, you know their sole role is what does that bring to my community? Like what does this bring to my community, Kind of the default yeah Right, Rhyme set.

Tonya J. Long: 1:05:39

Right.

Enoch Allotey: 1:05:41

If you do anything contrary, it'll actually take more effort Because by default, you're thinking of, you know, bringing the benefit to the collecting of growing up, being in Calcadry Meats values and sharing a family experience that I have today.

Tonya J. Long: 1:06:10

I love it. As we wind down, you know we've talked just a tad about purpose. Where do you think your purpose leads you next? Generally speaking, Because you know you are always going to be growing. You could be an 85-year-old man and still be growing Exactly. Do you see your next milestone? Where that's headed?

Enoch Allotey: 1:06:34

For me and this is being a prayer point for me, you know, speaking candidly, it's that I'm openly keen the direction that the divine pushes me toward, and so you know, I try to avail myself to God's purpose. But one thing I know for certain is that celebrity is going to be really an improving access to quality inventions and medical treatments for people, in whatever form it comes. Maybe it might be as a general counsel, it might be as a regulatory person, a policy person, a tech specialist, a scientist in the lab, but I have come to accept that and I all continue to pray to be aligned to a different version of that. But on the broader scale of things, I think it's enabling the quality access to medicine and treatments. I think that is the underlying, and I can't say for certain what the next thing will be, but it will be a long time.

Tonya J. Long: 1:07:56

Well then, we will have to keep an eye on you. The thing that I think of, based on what you said, is how you are mindful about purpose, but doing or finding or being clear on your purpose is is. Is it? It is not driving you, it is. There is a, there is a deep confidence that you will be shown the next milestone and step, and so you're patient, for that is the simple way I would say it. There's no. Oh, I've got to figure this out, Right.

Tonya J. Long: 1:08:31

If you don't figure it out, it will come. What you are destined to do will be put in front of you to do.

Enoch Allotey: 1:08:39

Yeah will be put in front of you to do yeah. And 100% of the time it has not failed me when I put my faith in this idea and in the divine knowledge and the revelation. 100% of the time it hasn't failed me, and so I get more confident every time I think about what the next step will be, knowing that in the right time it's going to be revealed to me. I just have to keep going towards the goal, and that is all the motivation I need daily when I pray about this and get that sense settled in me and I just keep going.

Tonya J. Long: 1:09:18

I think it's beautiful and I think we all can learn just by listening to you. I mean, it's you're an incredibly influential soul to to share with us about moving forward in the world. And then your view of how we do it together right, because I think that is a consistent thread for you is that that communal upbringing has made your mindset very societal we, instead of the individualistic trends that we've seen.

Enoch Allotey: 1:10:00

So, yeah, I appreciate you, Tonya. I think you know you've given me this opportunity and just given me a chance to share and actually kind of helping me bring out these ideas. Some of these things I have not thought about. I didn't write any of this, but it is just the natural conversation we've had since day one. There is a very incredible chemistry that allows me to, you know, bring out these good qualities and I'm able to articulate these ideas. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

Tonya J. Long: 1:10:39

No, it's actually a gift to our audience because for them to be able to have exposure to you that they would not otherwise get. And even you know, I think even for you. You know friends, family, you know you probably, we, we societal, are so you know. We're so stuck in our boxes of work and work and purpose are very closely tied. But we tend to stay in in the transactional. You know what I'm working on? My last promotion, my last big sale. We, we tend to stay transactional and I think what you and I have have been able to do is get a few layers under that into why we do what we do and what we want for the future 100% Layers are very true, and I appreciate it.

Enoch Allotey: 1:11:29

I think this is a very healthy conversation for me. You know, I'm looking forward to sharing this and getting perceptions and perspectives from other people and how these, because I think there is a lot of these questions and these things that we all need to think about. We all need to share perspectives and ideas and exchange views on, and I'm very happy we've managed to start this conversation, because I'm very, very, very sure someone is going to listen to this conversation and say I haven't thought about this, and I think that is the beauty of having a RESET, that is the greatness of having a platform that shines the light on things that matter to people and matter to the world. So thank you very much for this opportunity.

Tonya J. Long: 1:12:24

You are most welcome If people do feel so compelled that they want to follow you or be in touch with you about your ideas, because wouldn't it be interesting if you and I were able to put together a cohort of people who want to talk about these things? I mean, I'll throw that out there, I think that would be a dream. That would be a dream, a mastermind of people who just want to talk about what could be and how to make it happen that would be a dream.

Enoch Allotey: 1:12:57

That would be a dream. I'm very active on LinkedIn. My name is not allocated on LinkedIn. I'm not selected anywhere else.

Tonya J. Long: 1:13:07

Good, that's enough.

Enoch Allotey: 1:13:10

I'm very active on LinkedIn. I can reach out and we can have conversations. Like I said, my dad always says no man is an island. No one has ever been able to achieve anything by themselves, you know like I said, my dad always says no man is an island. That's right, and so no one has ever been able to achieve anything great by themselves. I don't care what the narrative was.

Enoch Allotey: 1:13:29

No one is able to do it by themselves. Whether they acknowledge the people they meet on the way up or not, there are people they meet on the way out, and so I'm always open and welcoming to all the interesting, very diverse and intelligent people who want to engage and find some kind of commonplace for peace, for development, for you know great things to happen, and I'm always open and feel free to reach out. Wonderful for development for you know great things to happen and I'm always open.

Tonya J. Long: 1:14:06

Feel free to reach out Wonderful and that's a generous offer and selfishly. I hope it leads you back to me, because I would love to be in partnership with you to have these interesting conversations with people who want to be actively creating better lives, better communities, whatever way we can. Maybe we can all put a trip together to go to Ghana.

Enoch Allotey: 1:14:33

Let's do it. That would be great. I guarantee you you're going to have so much fun you might not want to come back. That's a possibility. Yes, it is, yes, it is.

Tonya J. Long: 1:14:45

Wonderful Enoch, you are just amazing and I feel so so fortunate that our paths crossed. They've not crossed, they've merged, because we are now walking that yellow brick road. I wrote a book called AI and the New Oz, so I sometimes throw and the New Oz. So I sometimes throw out the new Oz, you know, and I'm like, oh, there's no context here. But we are walking that yellow brick road together and I'm grateful and I look forward to the next time I'm able to have a conversation with you.

Enoch Allotey: 1:15:16

The feeling is absolutely mutual. Thank you very much, and thank you for your audience sticking out with us.

Tonya J. Long: 1:15:22

Perfect. So, everyone, this is RESET, where purpose meets possibility and walks arm in arm down that yellow brick road so we can build a better world together. So thank you from Enoch and Tonya signing off have a wonderful week, take care, goodbye. Thanks for joining us on RESET. Remember, transformation is a journey, not a destination. So until next time, keep exploring what's possible. I'm Tonya Long and this is home. This is RESET.