Working Remotely with Trust, Productivity & Privacy

Punit 00:00

 How do you work remotely with trust, productivity, and privacy? Yes, we all are working remotely these days. That is offline or online, but not in person. I mean that usually there's a challenge. Is the person really doing work? And from person's perspective is my privacy protected? And then there's the dimension of productivity because employer want productivity. They want to make sure that work is getting done. Now, all this requires a hands-on or a basic human approach. So going back to human values, going back to human behavior, addressing the questions of trust of privacy, of productivity. And for that, who would be better suited than someone who has been a senior manager or in senior leadership position in motion pictures in technology companies. And has set up a foundation or rather a company of his own and is helping improve productivity when working remotely. And I'm talking about Steven Puri, who's going to be with us and talking about all these aspects. And before we start, I think one more thing. We recently partnered with PECB and are offering now ISO courses, ISO standard courses. Do visit www.fit4privacy.com/pecb to explore what courses are available and take advantage of these.

FIT4Privacy 01:28

Hello and welcome to the FIT4Privacy Podcast with Punit Bhatia. This is the podcast for those who care about their privacy. Here, your host, Punit Bhatia has conversations with industry leaders about their perspectives, ideas, and opinions relating to privacy, data protection, and related matters. Be aware that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are not legal advice. Let us get started.

Punit 01:57

 So, hello and welcome to another episode of the FIT4Privacy podcast. And today we have a special guest, Steven Puri. Welcome Steven to the FIT4Privacy podcast.

Steven 02:07

 I hope we can have some fun today.

Punit 02:09

 Absolutely. So, let's maybe start with a little bit of a change that has gone on in last 15-20 years. Face-to-face and then came the websites, and now the AI. And it's becoming more digital, more remote, more hybrid or more not in person, if I call it. And in that new world, there's something we are starting to talk about, saying, how do I trust the other person? Is it real? And nowadays, is it fake? Is it deep, fake, or whatever and this context how would you defined this element of trust or digital trust as people are saying?

Steven 02:45

It's interesting because in the platform that I built, we have an LLM assistant that helps you, and that is one of the things we wrestled with was to say as the world has become more remote and you and I are not sitting in the same conference room looking at each other, talking sometimes we're on Zoom. Sometimes we're in Slack or teams, and sometimes I'm dealing with an AI agent of some sort, right? So how do you take the things that engender trust? In that room when I look at you, I go oh Punit you're like yes I'll build that by Friday. And then you'll be enabled to build your thing by Monday. I trust you'll do that. And when you break that down into essentially the contracts that we have because we have social contracts, I will not drive on your side of the road and kill you. It's a social contract that we mostly observe, right? And there are work contracts, which is, I know you have a dependency on something I'm doing, I will make sure you are unblocked by this time in this way, and then I know I can do my work. So, there are a lot of contracts and when we were developing our platform and I can speak to this part of it because you have had very smart people on your podcast that have gotten very technical on this. This is the thing I can speak of is the human part of it is it was really about looking at what are the contracts we have about, if I look to our smart assistant in our platform and say, I want help with this task, or I want help organizing my tasks, what contracts are implicit in that? What do I assume will happen? Like my tasks are private to me. Because I would never entrust them in a public forum and that the way in which they're being managed prioritizes my priorities. Not a system priority, not a platform priority. It's really in my mind, the digital trust, as it applies in my world, is about looking what are the social contracts, what are the work contracts, and how do we take those and say they need to apply in this specific instance, which is, how can I be productive? How can you help me be more productive?

Punit 04:34

That's a very good definition, I would say, because

Steven 04:37

 Oh, I passed the first test. This is great. Okay.

Punit 04:41

 Because end of the day when we talk about trust is a human thing. Even when we talk trust, it's human and humans usually have some I wouldn't say written, but unwritten rules based on which they trust. And everybody is unique in that sense. And you call that social contract and in our technical language, in the legal world, or we call that the privacy or trust or digital trust. And that's what you're talking in this world when it's deep fakes and AI and everything happening around us. And more importantly, if I link it to the kind of work you do, there is this dimension when people are working, especially after Corona in a remote world, in a remote our hybrid world, people are at different places. Like it's been here since I recorded an in-person podcast.

Steven 05:32

 Yeah.

Punit 05:32

 And before Corona I was doing, so I was going to people's offices, we were setting up the camera and all, but it's much more convenient to do it on the pc. So the same thing is happening with meetings. Same thing is happening with hiring. Same thing is happening with working workplace. When people are working in this remote sense. How would somebody establish trust? Because there are two dimensions. One is the productivity angle, which we will come to, but the starting point is, can I trust this person to do this job? How would you define or create trust in a remote environment? Even before we start talking productivity?

Steven 06:07

 I'm going to give you actually a slightly more broad answer that narrows into the answer you're asking, and I'll tell you this. As I mentioned, I have worked for 20 years in film. In between my engineering careers, so a lot of film and storytelling is trying to deeply understand. What is the truth about another person and how do I tell that truth? And when you do it well, a billion people see it on screen and go, I feel that I may not be that superhero. I may not be that swimmer in that movie. I may not be that, astronaut, but there is a truth about being human who is in that person, and I feel you can feel in your chest, right? So very often when we're developing that. It does come down to these ideas of how does that character, in the beginning of the movie establish the relationships around him or her? And that means building trust. So, when that character says, I have to go fight the dragon, and he goes to his friend Punit and says, come with me. We're gonna fight the dragon. That Punit has to somehow establish trust going, we're not gonna get killed, I believe. That you have the sword or you have the secret to the dragon's heart or something so that you'll come with me. So, a very similar thing is this is where I'm gonna narrow this is that same technique of saying what are the small things you can do that then build into larger trust? The same thing you know we want to do in our platform, which is say as you accumulate small bits of trust, that you validate, you then can offer bigger ideas of now trust me with this. So, if right out of the gate in a platform you say I need your social security number, I need to have your visa number, I need your passport. Unless you're a government website that's asking for too much trust, right? But if I were using a website that said, Hey, you know what? Trust me with this data on your schedule for today. I'm gonna optimize your calendar. Okay. If it does that, we're all great. And then if it later says, you know what? Trust me with your credit card and I can execute these transactions for you, or I can line up transactions that you'll approve. Like I may be agentic AI, but you'll still have the approval step, right? And as you build that, you may very well get to the point where you say to it, Hey, book me that trip to India and it has my passport number and it has my credit card because it's built the trust. And I'm like, yes, approve. Go book it. But I wouldn't say that on the first day.

Punit 08:20

 That makes sense. So, we talked about the trust being about me, the person and then me, the other side. The other person also has a me and the two people have to connect. And that connection happens through a story because the new person is telling a story. This is I, who I am. This is what I do, and the other person is asking some questions. That's with the social contract. But social contract is set of unwritten rules. You are asking something else, trying to validate something else, and then you build up a perception, build up the trust perspective in the mind. And then you say, as you give an example, the passport and a trip to somewhere and something those things. The question is, in a remote world, as you help people create or gain productivity, first question I would like to ask is, how do you help build this trust in unwritten scenario because there's no written rules. You have to say this, you have to say that at that speed. Don't do this, don't do that. So how do you take those mini baby steps to create that trust?

Steven 09:18

 I think there are two parts to that. It's two sides. One side is understanding fundamentally, what are the smallest steps to build trust, right? Which we've talked about is before you ask for your passport number, you prove you could do something on a lower level like the calendar. The other side is you have to make sure that the person who needs to trust you has a need to trust you. So, if it is to extend that example, if it is you are an AI, you're an agent, AI agent interacting with a human right and you need to get that passport number, that credit card to book a flight. You need to know that the human you're interacting with needs to book a flight. Those that push and pull need to be matched. And I'll tell you this is one of the things that, that I've learned a lot in developing this platform in the last six years, which is the more you understand the problem, and most, the biggest cohort in my community is developers is engineers. The more you understand the problems that they have, the more they're willing to participate. Because if you solve that, the trust is very meaningful. It's not random trust like I trust you'll get my mail. It is trust saying, oh, I have this. A good example I hear this a lot. I have either cold start problem in the morning. Sometimes I know I need to get going at nine, I'm working remotely and I procrastinate. I'm gonna check my email, or I pick up my phone or I know I have to put in a load of laundry or do the dishes or something. There's something that comes up that stops that procrastinates in the morning, right? If you solve that, which is what we work at. Then people trust you because they're like, oh, you actually helped me get going in the morning. I don't feel overwhelmed. I don't procrastinate. It's fun to get going. And the same thing at the end of the day, the number of members who have told me. I used to have these days where at six o'clock I feel down on myself, I look at my task list at what didn't get done, and I promise I'll get up early tomorrow and get a jump on the stuff I didn't get done and then do my stuff for tomorrow. And that's a lie. You tell yourself, the days tumble one into the other when you do that. So, when you have a solution to those things, people are much more incentivized to trust you and say, oh, let me tell you what tasks I have to get done. Talk to the smartest in the platform and say, I need to do these five things today. Tell me the most efficient way to get through them, because I would like to be done at 3o'clock, not at 6. And you do that.

Punit 11:36

 That makes sense.

Steven 11:36

 And trust is built.

Punit 11:38

 Okay, so that basically goes down to the basics of human behavior because I think it's the “Just Listen” book. The book called “Just Listen”, which said if you have to tell somebody something and you want them to listen to you, I think there are three elements. Like you said, they believe they have a need for that. They believe you have a solution for that. And they're confident. That means they trust you, that you are the one to help them fulfill that need. So, it's exactly the same thing you're saying. So, it goes down to the basics, even in the AI or the digital world, but your forte, your competence is to help people gain productivity in the remote world or the remote working.

Steven 12:16

 Yes. Healthy productivity.

Punit 12:18

 Healthy productivity. So how do you define this healthy productivity? What is it about?

Steven 12:23

 I'll tell you, there is a culture I've spent a number of years working in San Francisco since I got back tech. And there's a culture there that celebrates pushing yourself too hard. There is a badge of honor to say, oh, I worked until 2:00 AM I slept at the office. I think I'm, I think I'm working with Mark in the early days of Facebook. Oh, this feels like working for Elon. This feels, and sometimes it's not necessarily about the output, it is about a celebration of how hard you're working and. The thing that I have been working to do to promote is the idea that work is what you do. It is your output. It is not how many hours you put in. It is not where you do it. It is not even what time of day you do it is to say, if I did something meaningful today in six hours, that moved my company forward, I built the feature that is suddenly delighting users in a B2C, fashion or I built the integration that saves us. One penny on a billion transactions a day. That's great. If you did in 6 hours, and you know what? I don't want you to take 12 hours to do it. I don't want you to have the exhaustion of 12 hours. I want to empower you to have the tools to do it in six and be refreshed, and the next day I do it again, not the next day. Tell me you're burned out and you're quitting and you're going to another company.

Punit 13:35

Okay , so you focus on outcome rather than input, because traditionally the method has been you need to be here in the office at 8 or 9 and you need to stay at 5 to 12o’clock till lunchtime and in a remote scenario, it's very hard to find out where you are, what you're doing. Of course, there are some people tracking screens and all, but that's invasion of privacy and that's then leading to lack of trust and not helping.

Steven 13:59

 I'm glad you said that. Yes.

Punit 14:01

 This is the outcome I want. As long as you deliver this outcome today that's good for me, or this week that's good for me. These are the outcomes I want. That's very nice and very interesting if you can focus work in that sense. But our companies are people willing to buy that because we also see, while there's the challenge of controlling people, there's also the intent to control. So, people wanna feel in control. And factor of fear of missing out. That also plays because people, some of the managers are so used to maintaining or managing people that they feel like, what do I do now?

Steven 14:34

 Yes, let's talk about leadership. Because there is no tool that can overcome bad hiring. If you have hired the wrong people, you may say, oh, I'm gonna have this surveillance slot where I'm going to, get a click monitoring service and a bad employee's gonna have a mouse jiggler or, you know what I mean? If you are trying to make a bad employee the wrong hire work, you're going to fail. So, nothing that I offer, nothing anyone offers is going to change that. But let's suppose, for example, you do actually hire people who are the right people. Then it is a question of leadership and there is a book that I will mention to you that is not necessarily about leadership. But it is very important if you want to be an engineering leader, and the book is called “Flow” it is by Hungarian Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. And in it he named this concept of a Flow State. Flow states are so incredibly powerful when you're a developer it is that feeling of I look up at noon, I've done a whole day's worth of work. I didn't go to the bathroom, I didn't fidget, I didn't get something from the kitchen but look at what I created and that if you could inspire that in your team, you're going to win. Yeah, and part of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote when he said, okay, I've studied like Michael Jordan, I've studied all these like high performers that there is a commonality to how they get in this state. And one of them, we can go over the others if you'd like, but one of them that's very relevant to leading engineering is you have to believe the work is meaningful.

Punit 16:03

Yeah.

Steven 16:03

 So if you as a leader can connect this Jira ticket, this Asana linear ticket. With the meaning of the company. We are here to solve the problem of the air quality in Delhi. We are here to solve, some problem that you connect with and you go, this may just be today's journey. Today's journey is this, but where it's leading is this thing that we all want. That's leadership. Because then people are like, yeah, give me the tools I want to go solve.

Punit 16:29

 Yeah, I think even in sports, they're talking about the state of flow and talking about when you're fully connected in the other part they say connected with the universe, connected with the energy, connected with the electromagnetic field or whatever. There are different names and people are giving spiritual people have a different way of looking at it.

Steven 16:51

Can I tell you one thing? The first time I experienced this was before I knew the term flow state. I was on American Airlines flight. I had some designs to do, some simple mockups to do to illustrate this feature that I wanted, m plane takes off. I'm working on my little laptop and the Wi-Fi is out and we land. And I was like what happened? We just took off. We've been in the air, like 30 minutes. We'd been in the air. Two hours and 50 minutes. That's San Francisco.

Punit 17:16

Yeah.

Steven 17:16

 It was almost 3 hour flight. If you had asked me, I would've said, we just took off. I remember taking off because all my designs were done. It's the only thing I thought about. And when I landed, there's actually a favorite restaurant of mine that's very close to San Francisco Airport. I could go there and not feel the weight of I have to get back to the hotel room to finish the designs. I could go there and say, I'd like a lobster roll, please, and enjoy my dinner, which was great. And that's one of those things that when you have experienced it, whether as a leader, you've seen it in your team or you are an IC who has experienced it, you want that again. You go how can I do that in 2 hours and 50 minutes? Do something I thought would take me all night.

Punit 17:52

 Absolutely and people say, and it works. There's a dedicated process to creating it. If you watch tennis matches and Rafael Nadal placing his bottles, one of the examples.

Steven 18:04

Yes.

Punit 18:05

 And before adjusting his knickers and the headband and so on. So, there's a dedicated process. I do this, the mind starts to follow. This is going to happen. And I'm in a flow and 99 hours.

Steven 18:15

 I love that.

Punit 18:16

 It happens when you have those anchors in place. So yes, that's a real thing. And if you can put that into the practice of corporate world, and especially in the remote world, there's nothing like that.

Steven 18:27

 Can I tell you a funny film story about that?

Punit 18:30

Sure.

Steven 18:31

 One of the hacks around how to train your brain to get into that is what you said. It's the ritual. I do this, I adjust my headband, I do the thing. You train your brain. We're going into that state, right? One part of that's pretty well documented now is physical space.

Punit 18:47

 Yeah.

Steven 18:47

 And one of the big pitfalls, one of the dangers of working at home, working remotely, and I was guilty of this, is that sometimes you blur your physical space. Like I would be in the kitchen in the morning making breakfast, and then I'd have my laptop and work at the kitchen table for a while. Then I'd come upstairs to my office later at the end of the day. I would look at the sofa in the living room and say, oh, it looks comfortable. And I put my laptop on my lap and I'd work there. And it didn't train my brain to say, I'm going to that state. And I'll tell you, when I was working I produced the Digital Effects for Independence Day. Got along very well with the writer, director, producer, and we set up a company together to do digital effects. They had trained their brains to do the creative state in this particular villa in Puerto Deva to Mexico. Apparently, I've never been there. Beautiful white villa pool. And they said there's a room there where the light comes in a certain way in the morning and we've ridden universal soldier there. We've ridden Stargate there. And they went Roland told his assistant Joey. We have to go write the next movie, go rent that villa. And Joey came back on Friday and said, someone rented it already. And it was like around the office, it was this, human cry. And Roland called his attorney. This guy John Demer, is a fantastic attorney and said John buy the Villa. By Monday, Roland owned that villa. I don't know what happened to the people that were renting it, but they were gone and they went down there and wrote Independence Day.

Punit 20:10

Wow.

Steven 20:11

 And I've seen that repeatedly, especially with writers, with the creative process, whether you're creating code, I imagine, or definitely I've seen with the writers there is that sense of that is one way to help your brain drop in is like I now am very disciplined when I'm doing a certain kind of work, I'm working coding. I sit here in my office and my brain says, we're in that state. Got it.

Punit 20:31

 Yeah absolutely. Now we talked about the trust dimension. And we talked about the productivity dimension. Yeah. But there's also this aspect of privacy. Because sometimes, of course, that's in a state or that's in a relationship when there's lack of trust or it's early on. When employee feels, because you mentioned the kitchen, you mentioned the home environment and that home environment. There's my dog or my cat or my kid coming around.

Steven 20:58

Yeah.

Punit 20:59

 And that creates a sense of vulnerability, a sense of is my privacy protected? So how do you manage, or how do you handle that dimension? Because you can have the trust you want the productivity. So that's from the side of things. The one who wants work, but the one who's doing work, he wants to be in the flow. He also wants to be accepting or being okay to let himself be vulnerable.

Steven 21:24

 Yeah, it's funny you bring this up because here in the US something happened this week. There was a in the NFL there was a draft. And one of the coaches, and I'm not a big sports person, but this was like front page news. One of the coaches of one of these professional teams apparently was on the sofa on his iPad as the draft is going on, and his son saw the phone number of one of the guys being drafted on television. He's looking at his dad's iPad. He took the phone number and prank called the NFL player while he's on tv.

Punit 21:58

Wow.

Steven 21:59

 The team was fined $250,000. That coach was fined a hundred thousand dollars. And you can imagine the coach is sitting there on his iPad and he was just not conscious of, oh, my son is sitting here. What are the chances he's going to prank call an NFL player on television right now? I can't tell you that I've heard of any system that has not been breached, that there hasn't been some mouse that's smarter than the mousetrap. And what you bring up I'm not the brilliant mind that's gonna say oh, this encoding or this security system this key is going to solve that. I think it is we just have to do the best that we can relative to the sensitivity of the data. If I were holding nuclear launch codes, I would not be on this podcast.

Punit 22:40

 No, I agree with you. I think it's a lot to do with personal responsibility.

Steven 22:45

Yeah.

Punit 22:45

 The, we can, we do talk about a lot on privacy, the technical side, the legal side, and end of it, explain all the scenarios, what we can imagine. But what you will encounter in the real life will be completely different. And then when you're caught off guard and in that situation, that's when you have to make your decision and protect privacy because of course we tell don't access the Wi-Fi on your boat, but everybody does. We tell, don't give you a passwords or payments when you're on the unsecured networks. But many people do. So, there are rules, there are guidelines, but then there is, there are realities, and that's where the privacy or trust dimension needs to be protected. And that's where we count on people to make the right choices at the right moment.

Steven 23:28

Nice.

Punit 23:29

 The example you're talking of iPad. And somebody looking at nowadays we have privacy protected screens. So only you and C, nobody from left or top and C.

Steven 23:38

 Yeah. And your access.

Punit 23:40

 Yeah. So, solutions like those are there, but it's up to you to choose how say relevant it is in your situation. Of course, it's relevant in every situation, but you have to judge how exposed you are in your environment. If I may ask, in the Sukha company that you have what exactly do you do? Because it's wonderful to talk about this trust this dimension of productivity and remote working. But what exactly do you do, and what can people reach out to you for?

Steven 24:07

 There's a very kind question for you to ask. What we did was we took a lot of these concepts around how to get into a flow state. There's a body of research on different things that can help. For example, music. There's a lot of research around 60 to 90 beats per minute. Certain key signatures, non-vocal music. There are a bunch of people who believe very strongly in Pomodoro timers and certain kinds of timers. Time boxing is a really important idea monotasking. So, what we did is we put all these things together that, the top 12 books talk about. We said don't buy the top 12 books necessarily. We took the concepts, we put them into a simple web app. It's 30 cents a day and it provides you what you need. There's a smart assistant, an LM based assistant that greets you, helps you organize your tasks, helps suggest things. When it says, oh, Punit and I've been watching you happen to work best in the mornings, and by the way, this playlist of music, you're the most efficient when you listen to sonic caffeine or ambient atmosphere. Do you want me to put that on for you? And it helps you optimize day over day, week over week as it gets to know you and says, oh maybe put it, you're a writer, right? And it says, oh the blog posts that you do a daily blog, your blog posts, you actually write best in the afternoon. Maybe in the afternoons you've formulated your thoughts. In the morning you have writer's blog. Let me book the afternoon slot for your blog. So that assistant then guides you through the music, the timers. Assigning times to things because when you time box, you generally do finish within the time you box. And also, notifies you, when you open up Facebook or something in the middle of working or YouTube, it nudges you and says, do you really need to be in Facebook right now? And the result is, Sukha is a Sanskrit word. And why that was important to me is I met my wife in yoga for our honeymoon. We went to Bali and there's a lot of yoga to do there. It's an important part of my life. My dad has practiced since he was 8 years old in Ong and he's 80 something now. And when we were going on our honeymoon, I said to Laura, we have this early version of the platform running with a temporary name. I want to name it something proper, not focus app or flu state app or productivity made. Just some those awful names, right? And I said, I think during this period of time no one's gonna bother me because they know I'm on my honeymoon. Maybe my unconscious mind will come up with that weird idea when we're doing something. Would you be okay if on the first day I speak to a couple of our early users and ask them, what do you love about this? Why? Why are you here? She said, great. If that feeds your mind, do it. So, I spoke to a couple of them. The first day, 3 of them, the third person I spoke to, and I said, I only want 10 minutes, just short conversation. I asked the questions and about 8 minutes in I was wrapping up. I was like, Punit, thank you so much for your time. This was really helpful. And he said to me, you asked the wrong questions. And I was like, okay what's the right question? He said, you should have asked me why do I pay you? And I said, only 30 cents a day. I wasn't really thinking, that's a big thing, but okay, why do you pay me? And he said, at 3o'clock I can be playing with my children who are 2 and 4, or it's 6o'clock, I can feel where did the day go? He said the difference is, did I open your app in the morning? Because it stops me from just doing those little things that make my whole day go, my kids are knocking me two and four forever. I wanna be here. I wanna read books with them. I wanna watch videos with them, and that's why I pay you. So at 3o'clock I have that time with them. And that, when I was talking to Laura that night, I said, there's this guy I spoke to who is more articulate about what I do than I am. She said, that's Sukha. We hear that concept along with Prana and Jama and Karma and everything. She's that is self-fulfillment. That is a feeling of I'm doing the thing I'm meant to do. I'm very good at it and I can do it with ease. And that's why I called my company The Happiness Company. This is the Sukha company. So that is ultimately what I do is help people give them the tools, but the tools are just the path to walk on. The goal is Sukha.

Punit 27:57

 That's nice. That's so nice and so touching. Nudging me to use the app and we will see now if somebody needs to find the app and contact or contact you, what's the best way?

Steven 28:09

 It's really easy. The Sukha company website is T-H-E-S-U-K-H A.co. The Sukha company. And by the way. If there is anyone that wants to learn more about anything, I said, they don't even have to be interested in my platform. My email address is very public. It's Steven at the Sukha company. They can email me if they're like, oh, I'd love to read that book by the Hungarian guy. What was the name? Email me if they wanna know some blog post about Cal Newport, or tell me more about time boxing. I work very hard to return all my emails in 24 hours if I'm not traveling or sick. And I will not promise a 19-paragraph email with the story of my life, but if someone asks me, tell me more about that book, I'll happily send them a link to the book.

Punit 28:52

Perfect. So, with that, I would say it was a time well spent and in a very good direction. A lot of deep insightful conversation, touching philosophy, spiritualism, flow, you name it, human behavior, and of course the world of AI and privacy and trust all coming. So, I can only say for now, thank you so much for your time and it's been a wonderful conversation.

Steven 29:18

 It was an honor to be here. Thank you. 

FIT4Privacy 29:22 
Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, feel free to share it with a friend and write a review if you have already done so. Thank you so much. And if you did not like the show, don't bother and forget about it. Take care and stay safe. Fit4privacy helps you to create a culture of privacy and manage risks by creating, defining and implementing a privacy strategy that includes delivering scenario based training for your staff. We also help those who are looking to get certified in CIPPE, CIPM and CIPT through on demand courses that help you prepare and practice for certification exam. If you want to know more, visit www.fit4privacy.com. If you have questions or suggestions, drop an email at hello@fit4privacy.com. 

The way we work has changed—and it’s still changing. Remote work isn’t just a temporary trend; it’s become a big part of how many of us live and work every day. And with that shift comes a lot of new questions. How do we stay productive when we’re not in an office? How do we build trust with people we may never meet in person? And how do we protect our privacy when work follows us into our homes?

In this episode of the FIT4PRIVACY Podcast, Steven Puri reminds us that even in a digital world, human values still matter the most. Trust, for example, doesn’t come from fancy tools or constant check-ins—it comes from doing what we say we’ll do, being honest, and showing up consistently. Little actions build big trust. And when people feel trusted, they do better work and feel more connected.

Steven also talks about a different way to look at productivity—not as just being busy, but as doing meaningful work without burning out. It’s not about working more hours. It’s about working smarter, finding focus, and knowing when to pause. That kind of healthy productivity helps us feel accomplished and keeps us well.

Privacy is another big part of remote work. When your kitchen table becomes your office, it’s easy to feel like work is taking over your life. That’s why it’s so important to set boundaries, choose the right tools, and stay mindful about what we share and how we work. Privacy isn’t just about data—it’s about respect.

And finally, leadership plays a huge role. Good leaders don’t just assign tasks—they share the bigger picture. They help people understand why their work matters. When teams feel connected to a purpose, they’re more motivated and more engaged.

So as we move forward in this new world of work, let’s not just focus on tools and tech. Let’s focus on what really matters: trust, purpose, balance, and respect. If we get those right, remote work won’t just be possible—it will be powerful.

Steven Puri is the Founder and CEO of The Sukha Company with the mission to help millions of people find their focus, achieve more and have a healthy work life. Steven's career started as a newscaster/interviewer for the #1 youth news show in the DC/Baltimore market (on WTTG-TV) and then as a junior software engineer & Thomas J. Watson Scholar at IBM. After attending USC in Los Angeles, he began working in film production and produced computer-generated visual effects for 14 movies including Independence Day which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects.  Steven’s first tech company was Centropolis Effects that produced those CGI effects, and he eventually sold it to the German media conglomerate Das Werk when he was 28. 

Steven then produced some indie films and eventually went studio-side to develop and produce live-action features as a VP of Development & Production at 20th Century Fox (running the Die Hard and Wolverine franchises) and an EVP at DreamWorks Pictures for Kurtzman-Orci Productions where he worked on Star Trek, Transformers and more. After Fox, Steven returned to building tech companies and founded The Sukha Company - ‘sukha’ means ‘happiness from self-fulfillment’ in Sanskrit. The Sukha is a focus app that bundles all the tools necessary to have a focused experience and a healthy, productive workday. Steven lives in Austin, TX now. 

Punit Bhatia is one of the leading privacy experts who works independently and has worked with professionals in over 30 countries. Punit works with business and privacy leaders to create an organization culture with high AI & privacy awareness and compliance as a business priority by creating and implementing a AI & privacy strategy and policy.

Punit is the author of books “Be Ready for GDPR” which was rated as the best GDPR Book, “AI & Privacy – How to Find Balance”, “Intro To GDPR”, and “Be an Effective DPO”. Punit is a global speaker who has spoken at over 50 global events. Punit is the creator and host of the FIT4PRIVACY Podcast. This podcast has been featured amongst top GDPR and privacy podcasts.

As a person, Punit is an avid thinker and believes in thinking, believing, and acting in line with one’s value to have joy in life. He has developed the philosophy named ‘ABC for joy of life’ which passionately shares. Punit is based out of Belgium, the heart of Europe.

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