AI, minus the hype
AI is an amplifier, not a solution. Point it at a broken process and you get a broken process running faster. Fix the data and the workflow first.
Chief product officer · Speaker · Writer
Life is not a
straight line
Thirty years building, breaking and fixing technology inside financial services. I speak and write about what actually works — for leaders who have had enough of buzzwords.
Churni Bhattacharya
CitibankErnst & YoungProxicomAccentureIntuitFirst RepublicAssetMarkAmplifyCitibankErnst & YoungProxicomAccentureIntuitFirst RepublicAssetMarkAmplify
What I talk about
Three convictions, earned the hard way, that run through every keynote and essay.
Transformation that sticks
Core system replacements, platform migrations, data governance. Every transformation is, underneath, a data transformation. Most programmes learn that late.
Leading as yourself
Super teams beat superstars. Your job is not to do the work; it is to build people who can. Nobody needs another borrowed leadership voice.
“Confidence does not make you authentic. Courage does.”
From “Blow Up the Playbook” · Brave Women at Work
Latest writing
Sep 2026
Leadership
Aug 2026Five Different Brains
I hired five brains. If only one of them is working, they have failed me — and the one I least want doing the thinking is mine.
Product
Jun 2026There Is No Question #2
Clients don't want the hundred-page leather-bound plan. They ask one question: how am I doing?
Leadership
The Apology
I was harsh with my team in a meeting I should not have walked into. Then I went back and said so, in front of all of them.
Thirty years, one thread
Not a career ladder. A zigzag.
- 01
Calcutta
Physics
- 02
Tokyo
Derivatives code
- 03
9 months
A hedge fund, launched
- 04
Fortune 100
Data governance
- 05
400 → 1
Agent tools collapsed
- 06
Largest ever
Wealth platform migration
- 07
Now
Chief product officer
Speaking & advisory
Bring the unvarnished version to your stage.
- Keynotes
- Panels & fireside chats
- Board sessions
- Mentoring circles