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In this interview, we discuss
Among a variety of other topics.
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In this episode, we discuss:
456: Equinix CEO Charles Meyers discusses the trend for organizations to get out of the data center business, which puts Equinix in a solid position to support CIOs in their digital transformation journey. Charles cites that companies are noticing that building, operating, maintaining, and ensuring that data centers are equipped to meet their go-forward needs is not in line with their differentiation and their capability nor is it the best use of their capital. Instead, they have looked for highly distributed IT infrastructure to meet a variety of needs, and the cloud is playing a large role. We also discuss the benefits Equinix gains from being an internal first user, how the CIO role has evolved to be more customer-facing and strategic, Charles’ takes on AI, IoT, the Digital Edge, and 5G, among other topics.
455: Commvault CEO Sanjay Mirchandani covers a variety of topics, including the company’s strategic plan, which focuses on simplification, execution, and innovation, how his time as CIO of EMC prepared him for the CEO role, how data has gone from something companies only use when they absolutely need it to being at the forefront of the business, the tech landscape in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, his take on AI/ML, automation, and DevOps, among other topics.
450: XPRIZE Foundation CEO Anousheh Ansari discusses XPRIZE’s Pandemic Alliance, a global coalition of corporate, academic, and non-governmental partners focused on accelerating solutions to the coronavirus pandemic. In the short-term, that means expanding visibility into solutions underway in areas such as remote care and access to testing. We also discuss the XPRIZE Data Collaborative which provides access to exclusive data sets and AI capabilities, how XPRIZE facilitates resource and idea sharing between alliance members, and why XPRIZE is well positioned to bring together uncommon partners to tackle this historic challenge.
To learn more and get involved, click here
To hear our interview with XPRIZE Founder Peter Diamandis, click here
444: In this interview, David lays out his three strategic pillars as CEO. First, David is focused on driving an organizational and strategy shift from product to platform. Second, he is looking to move the company’s products from on-premise to being cloud-first, and third, he is focused on a business model shift to move from perpetual licensing to a subscription model. We also discuss how Citrix’s technology allows the company to be a virtual organization, the challenges of attracting the right employees and retaining them, the partnerships Citrix has developed over the years, among other topics.
437: In this interview, Adrian Gore discusses why and how he founded Discovery in South Africa in 1992. As the country was going through dramatic changes, Adrian saw an opportunity in the health insurance market as there was a shortage of doctors, extreme inequality, and a dramatic rate of medical inflation. Adrian set his company apart by using concepts of behavioral economics and incentives to create Discovery’s unique business model. Since then, Adrian reaped the advantages of being years ahead in behavioral data collection and has grown his organization beyond health insurance to life insurance and behavioral banking. We also discuss how Discovery went beyond South Africa and into other countries through strategic partnerships starting with expansion into the UK. Beyond that, Adrian shares his outlook and hope for the South African market.
Tekion Founder & CEO Jay Vijayan provides an overview of the fragmented automotive industry, highlights the industry’s shortcomings, and describes how Tekoin is using advanced technology and their automotive retail cloud platform to create a win-win-win situation for the large OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], retailers, and consumers. Additionally, Jay discusses the importance of delivering a seamless customer experience, how his time as CIO of Tesla prepared him for his current role, Tekion’s global ambitions, among other topics.
427: Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman shares stories from his childhood, his time as an undergraduate at Yale, on Wall Street, and business school at Harvard, and his experiences at Lehman Brothers and Blackstone. These stories how he went from nearly failing in an English course in college to the Dean’s List, how he offered constructive criticism to the Dean of Harvard Business School while he was a student, how he led one of the biggest mergers in history to date as a fourth-year associate at Lehman Brothers who had never done a merger, as well as tales from the founding and growth of Blackstone. We also discuss the importance of having a strong culture and hiring the best people, how and why China bought 9.9 percent of the firm when Blackstone was going public, the Schwarzman Scholars program that he has developed in China, among other topics.
423: AES’ President and CEO Andrés Gluski discusses how AES is transitioning into cleaner energy. While the company’s coal technology was among the best in the world, AES realized that was not a sustainable driver of growth. Under Andrés’ leadership, the company has reduced its generation capacity from 60 percent coal to 30 percent, it has become a big builder of renewables, and it is looking to reduce its carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2022. We also discuss the advantages Andrés has enjoyed being from a multicultural family, AES’ work in China and India, the value Andrés gained from his education, among other topics.
