532: In this interview, we dive into several of the book’s themes, including People and Technology. Cynthia shares insight into how she motivates her team, and how robotic process automation can boost morale by automating repetitive tasks. We also discuss Adobe’s journey to become a cloud-native company, the ways in which enterprise architecture can impact culture, and a variety of other topics. 

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530: Northwestern Mutual CIO Neal Sample discusses

• How being a mutual company, as opposed to a public company, allows IT and the broader organization to think with a longer-term perspective in mind and how that impacted the firm’s actions during the pandemic
• The difference the company is making in local communities through initiatives such as Outsource to America and Hi, Tech
• Why Neal decided to join Northwestern Mutual as CIO after having been promoted out of that role to the COO post at Express Scripts
• How the CIO role has evolved to become an immensely influential role
• How being a former national champion debater has served him well in business
• How COVID and changing consumer expectations have massively accelerated the pace of business change
• Why talent mobility is going to have a significant impact going forward

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527: Synchrony Financial Chief Information Officer Carol Juel discusses 

• Two strategic decisions IT made to rebuild its technology at the outset of Synchrony 
• Carol’s talent strategy, including why she looked for individuals who wanted to stay beyond the Synchrony’s IPO and were willing to learn
• How health and safety has become a requirement of digital transformations
• The company’s three pronged AI approach around machine learning, intelligent virtual assistants, and RPA
• How the company uses machine learning models to better understand and detect fraud sooner
• The COVID-19 pandemic, including three steps the company took that helped it move quickly once the pandemic struck
• The massive technology transformation the company undertook to get its associates home in March
• Steps Carol and the company have taken to support its employees throughout the pandemic, including launching a virtual summer camp and an after school program to help Synchrony parents and kids

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523: Stanley Black & Decker CIO Rhonda Gass discusses

• Why Rhonda formed an enterprise IT organization to consolidate all of IT across the company 
• Why Rhonda has aligned IT to the company’s three strategic pillars: financial performance, innovation, and responsibility
• The company’s North Star innovation model, which has the data platform positioned at the core and 4 interconnected platforms
• Ways in which IT’s standardization and modernization helped prepare the company for the pandemic
• The company’s 4 top priorities once the pandemic hit
• Rhonda’s path to a public board
• Her advice to others wishing to do the same

Among a variety of other topics. 

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517: Wells Fargo Head of Technology Saul Van Beurden discusses

• The defensive and offensive roles the technology team runs
• The company’s Six S strategy, which stands for skills, secure, stable, scale, speed, and satisfaction
• Wells Fargo’s three pillared innovation strategy
• Saul’s view on quantum computing
• The natural partnership between big banks and Fintechs
• Wells Fargo’s response to the pandemic
• Some of the indelible marks Saul believes will and won’t remain once we return to normal
• Why we need to be careful that we are using AI ethically
• Saul’s lessons for effective cross-cultural communication

Among a variety of other topics.

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514: Cognizant EVP of strategy and technology Anil Cheriyan discusses 

• Cognizant’s three pillared strategy around accelerating digital, globalizing Cognizant, and increasing its relevance to its clients
• Cognizant’s approach to partnering with other companies
• The pros and cons of being onboarded virtually
• The changes driven by the pandemic that will be permanent
• Some of the emerging technologies Anil is keeping an eye on
• Anil’s experience working for the Federal Government

Among a variety of other topics.

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510: IBM President and former Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst discusses

• The differences in IBM and Red Hat’s culture
• Why they are looking to inject cultural elements from each other into their own operating models
• The three cultural characteristics IBM wants to drive: entrepreneurial spirit, growth mindset, and radical candor
• Why IBM decided to spin out the managed services business
• Why Red Hat is separate from IBM
• The importance and potential of AI
• How IBM thinks about where it’s going to invest versus where it’s going to rely on open source

Among a variety of other topics.

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507: Honeywell Chief Digital Technology Officer Sheila Jordan discusses 

• Why data is the currency of any digital transformation
• How the IT organization moved from being 69% outsourced, to much more heavily insource
• How the pandemic has supplied the market with a significant amount of world class talent
• How Honeywell has successfully identified, hired, and onboarded new employees during the pandemic
• Why video is here to stay
• The increasing importance of security in a remote workforce
• An overview of Honeywell’s connected enterprise
• The state of the union of women in IT
• Sheila’s take on AI

Among a variety of other topics.

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505: Duke Energy CIO Bonnie Titone discusses

• How Duke Energy uses data
• An overview of Lighthouse, the company’s enterprise digital transformation program. 
• How Duke Energy’s people-focused approach towards digital transformation helped set the company up well to deal with COVID 
• How the pandemic has accelerated the digital and technology transformation for many companies
• We discuss Bonnie’s view on the state of women in technology
• How AI and other technologies can be used to modernize the energy sector

Among a variety of other topics.

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504: Allstate CTO Chris Gates & Tenet Healthcare CIO Paola Arbour discuss

• How Allstate matured its approach to AI
• How the company introduced voice technology and machine learning in its claims process
• How Paola and Tenant Healthcare view technology’s role in healthcare
• How the company engages external partners to help it think differently about the speed at which it makes decisions

Among a variety of other topics.

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