What We’re Listening to: “Take Command: A Leadership Podcast”
After more than 40 years with the Consumer Technology Association, CEO Gary Shapiro doesn’t show signs of slowing down. This month, he published a new book “Pivot or Die: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes,” and he’s making the rounds promoting it, including in a recent appearance on “Take Command,” a Dale Carnegie podcast on leadership.
It’s an apt title for a book, Shapiro’s third, given the evolution of CTA and its annual Consumer Electronics Show over the years. “We want to continue to redefine what consumer technology is,” Shapiro said on the podcast, noting CTA’s involvement now with mobility in cars, robotics, quantum computing and more. “We even cut a deal with the United Nations a few years ago that continues to expand about promoting fundamental human securities—the right to healthcare, food, clean air, clean water and community. They actually even recognized a year ago at the opening of the General Assembly that technology is also a fundamental human security—access to technology—because it is vital for connecting our lives and making the world better.”
Shapiro also highlighted CTA’s ongoing efforts to prioritize diversity in an ever-changing tech landscape and amid shifting public policies. “Diversity has been one of the criteria for our board members for over 20 years. We really want to engage women and underrepresented groups. We actually do things that help with groups like that, including investments at the startup level, because it’s just the right thing to do,” he said. “We do it with the disability community as well because we think technology is the answer there.”
With CES 2025 just months away, Shapiro gave listeners a glimpse into what the world’s largest electronics show may look like, noting that artificial intelligence will be a key focus at the event. Other solutions and technology to be showcased involve telemedicine, agriculture and accessibility.
“Generative AI has fundamentally changed the world in a big way. Everyone has something to do with that and [to] talk about—where they’re going, who they need to partner with, and what they’re doing,” he said.
Shapiro recounted the challenges of shifting the event to a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic and navigating the challenges the following year as well. “We had major companies at the CEO level, Fortune 500 companies, announcing they wouldn’t be in our event. They were just running from it and that was difficult,” he said. “But I also had the benefit of advice from a number of CEOs, like the head of Abbott, Robert Ford, or the head of Qualcomm, who said, ‘Gary, stick with it because we’ve got to get back to normal. We’ll survive it. Let’s go forward.’”
He said it ultimately was the right decision, though a tough one to make. Despite CES 2021 being held virtually and CES 2022 ending a day early due to COVID-19, momentum has continued to build. With more than 117,000 attendees in 2023 and 138,739 in 2024, CES 2025 looks to continue that upward trend. – Noah Odige