566: In this interview, we discuss the state of American politics and the role that technology plays. Dr. Fukuyama describes what he sees as the rise of populism in the U.S., the deepening polarization between voters, and how platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google have facilitated this polarization. He proposes the application of middleware to these platforms and provides possible benefits to such applications as well as criticisms that it has received. Additionally, Dr. Fukuyama gives his perspective on challenges arising from both Russia and China and provides an analysis of the current Biden Administration.
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564: In this interview, we discuss The Premonition and how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention evolved into an organization ill equipped to manage a pandemic. Michael shares anecdotes from the interviews he conducted and how the problems that the pandemic wrought began long before the Trump Administration. We also discuss how he developed the stories for his book, what his career as an author is like between books and a variety of other topics.
561: In this interview, Ken Lamneck, President and CEO of Insight, discusses how cyber attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated, and four ways companies can protect themselves from these attacks. He discusses the importance of companies embracing the seriousness of cybersecurity, why cyber has to go from being buried in IT to being part of the fabric of the organization, and how governments are starting to take on a greater role in cybersecurity. Lastly, Ken discusses why he thinks IT is going to explode in the next 10 years, how all companies are becoming IT companies, among a variety of other topics.
560: In this interview, Hubert Joly, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy, discusses his personal philosophy on the goal of a business and why he viewed Best Buy as being more than just a technology retailer. Hubert goes on to share insight from his book such as how he identified weaknesses in Best Buy’s strategy and transformed the company to focus on collaboration with suppliers, alignment of interests of all stakeholders, and what he calls “human magic”.
546: General Stanley McChrystal has decades of leadership experience. In this interview, we discuss the importance of adaptability and agility, and General MyChrystal’s view that nimbleness is a continuous journey. He notes that cross-functional collaboration is not automatic, and organizations must be deliberate in fostering trust in a distributed environment. To do this, he suggests that transparency, vulnerability, individual empowerment, and a common purpose are all critical ingredients. We also discuss the characteristics of a resilient organization and which lessons from the military he sees as most applicable to the business realm, among a variety of other topics.
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544: Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of GE, spent over 15 years running one of the world’s largest companies. In this interview, Jeff discusses his experience growing up professionally at GE, Jeff’s relationship with his predecessor and legendary CEO, Jack Welch, and Jeff’s story ascending to the CEO role. We discuss why Jeff decided to write the book about his time at GE, two things Jeff would have done differently if he had the chance to do them over again, and the digital push Jeff made as CEO. Lastly, we discuss what Jeff misses most about his time at GE, Jeff’s views on the global economy going forward, Jeff’s advice to younger individuals at the beginning of their careers, among a variety of other topics.
510: IBM President and former Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst discusses
Among a variety of other topics.
Our 500th episode features a wide-ranging with David Rubenstein, The Carlyle Group’s co-founder and co-Executive Chairman. We discuss:
In this interview, we discuss Kevin’s upbringing in rural Virginia and why he felt he had to leave his hometown to pursue opportunity, how people can have successful careers by using sophisticated technological tools without having to move to technology hubs like Silicon Valley, Kevin’s thoughts on improving technology knowledge and expertise, the importance of teaching kids technology, how COVID-19 will make distance learning and working more prevalent, how AI and ML can be used for positive benefit with healthcare applications, such as disease detection, why everyone must play a role in shaping technologies future, not just a select privileged few, Scott’s take on synthetic biology, among other topics.
440: In this interview, Gene Kim elaborates on each of the five ideals the book introduces, which are locality and simplicity, focus, flow, and joy, the improvement of daily work, psychological safety, and customer focus. For each one, he provides his definition, examples of it working and not working, and explains why it is important. We also discuss why the days of taylorism, project management, and people treating others as fungible and replaceable resources is coming to an end, why he writes his books as novels, among other topics.
