415: Axon CEO Rick Smith shares his entrepreneurship journey and details how Axon has pursued its mission to protect life without taking life. The company began by selling TASERS to consumers as a way to incapacitate a threat without hurting them. However, when that failed to gain traction, the company began selling the weapon to police officers, which was a huge success. Later, the company pivoted to selling body-worn cameras backed by the cloud as a way to protect police officers and increase transparency between law enforcement and the public. We also discuss the future of facial recognition and AI in law enforcement, the Policing Technology Ethics Board the company has developed, Rick’s new book The End of Killing: How Our Newest Technologies Can Solve Humanity’s Oldest Problem, among other topics.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Podcast Index | Deezer | Youtube Music | RSS | More
414: Comcast CIO Rick Rioboli details Comcast’s heavy focus on the customer experience and the unique focus of Comcast’s digital transformation. In addition to digital sales and e-commerce, the main emphasis of Comcast’s digital transformation is on self-service from a service and support standpoint, which involves enabling digital interactions and providing customers with a frictionless experience. We also discuss Comcast’s use of artificial intelligence, how the IT team partners with the rest of the business, an overview of the new Comcast Technology Center, among other topics.
413: Discovery Bank CEO Barry Hore explains how Discovery Bank looks into behavior to improve people’s financial and overall health. South Africa faces extremely high levels of credit indebtedness, more people have loans than jobs, the country has one of the lowest savings rates in the world, and people are not well prepared for retirement. Barry claims that by improving these behaviors, the bank can help South Africans become financially healthier, and he cites that helping people change their behaviors will improve their physical health and society as a whole. We also discuss how Discovery Bank taps into South Africa’s talent ecosystem, how Discovery Bank is looking to scale its client base smoothly, the specific programs that Discovery Bank uses to incentivize its customers to be healthier, among other topics.
412: Omnitracs CEO Ray Greer discusses innovations in the $800 billion trucking industry. Ray describes the issues that truck drivers face today, and he cites that the single greatest advancement Omnitracs can make for the driver is to automate their life so that they just have to drive. Truck drivers spend too much time finding the loading dock, going in and out of navigation applications, and waiting. To provide a more user-friendly experience, Ray has engaged third parties to accelerate the modernization of Omnitracs’ platform, to bring automation to the driver’s lives, and to migrate Omnitracs’ to a cloud-native platform. We also discuss Omnitracs’ usage of machine learning, why technologist focused on autonomy are not thinking about the potential challenges autonomous trucks would cause, the massive impact Omnitracs is able to have on the industry, among other topics.
411: Greylock Partners general partner Sarah Guo provides perspectives on robotic process automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and more. We also discuss what Sarah looks for when making investments, the benefits of having parents who are entrepreneurs, why Sarah believes that a company’s size and scale can prohibit its ability to remain current, and a variety of other topics.
410: Humu Co-Founder and CEO Laszlo Bock describes the genesis, development, and deployment of Nudges, which were created to address that problem that great numbers of people are miserable in their jobs. Nudges are digital reminders that prompt the small actions that are most impactful when driving five factors: organizational performance, retention, individual happiness, inclusion, and innovation. In addition to using the product themselves, Humu targets large organizations as customers in order to make the greatest impact toward their mission and to ensure that they are developing products around data sets that are representative of the general population of workers. We also discuss the values that Laszlo draws from his time at Google, why he believes analytics, statistics, and computer science will drive a revolution in HR, and how immigrants, such as Laszlo himself, are fundamentally entrepreneurial in character.
409: McAfee CEO Chris Young explains how the cybersecurity industry faces a duel challenge of keeping up with the transformations that happen within core technologies and simultaneously tracking the innovative nature of cyber attackers. Staying current requires consistent research, collaboration within the industry, acquisitions, and partnerships. Chris describes some of the best practices he sees within the cybersecurity space, including red teaming and risk prioritization. We also discuss the future of advanced forms of analytics and AI within cybersecurity, Chris’s career path, the CEO’s advice to individuals on protecting their information, among a variety of other topics.
408: Tenet Healthcare CIO Paola Arbour describes the process of transforming Tenet’s IT organization from a cost focus to an investment focus. The transformation centered around 4 imperatives: enhancing the voice of the customer, changing the language of IT, building an innovation culture, and focusing on talent. Paola highlights the importance of transparency, communication, and collaboration among teams to successfully lead an organizational change of great scale. We also discuss Paola’s prior experiences serving CIOs, the need for greater mentorship for women in technology, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and a variety of other topics.
407: Hunt Consolidated, Inc. CIO and CDO Diane Schwarz describes her methodology for transitioning into new executive roles using her arrival at Hunt to explain the 90-day process. Extensive planning, learning the business and stakeholders, meeting the company, and, lastly, focusing on suppliers develops the extensive knowledge of an organization needed to effectively lead it. Diane emphasizes the importance of understanding company culture to successfully rally support for changes to foundational pieces of IT, which she did at Hunt after careful investigation and planning. We also discuss the agile skills required for employees working in technology today, Diane’s journey to her leadership role as a woman in a male-dominated field, and the future of women in STEM.
406: CBRE CDO/CTO Chandra Dhandapani breaks down the process of digital transformation through her experience of modernizing technology and rapidly creating agile teams at CBRE. She explains that technology is at the core of any business model, making it crucial to insource the talent necessary for software development and understand the ecosystem of technology trends. Dhandapani describes how building collaboration between product designers and clients yields entrepreneurial services, such as the new flexible spaces and tenant experience lines at CBRE. We also discuss a powerful WhatsApp group for women leaders in technology, the difference between digital and technology, the value of efficient leadership teams, and various other topics.
