Ground Floor Mindset: How Adversity Powers Innovation

Nathan Trail sits down with Onkar Birk, EVP and Chief Technology Officer at Hilton Grand Vacations, for a raw and deeply personal conversation about the choices that define a career in tech leadership. Onkar shares the story of leaving the UK at 18 with nothing but his savings and rebuilding his path through education, resilience, and relentless drive. The conversation shifts to the early experimental days of emerging technology, when Onkar and his team were building houses of the future with fake walls and ideas that didn’t yet have the infrastructure to support them. It’s a candid look at betting on innovation before the world is ready, accepting failure as part of the process, and building a career on the conviction that your circumstances don’t get to write your story.