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.
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422: General Electric CIO Chris Drumgoole discusses the changes GE has made through a period of great change for the company. While the company led the way in outsourcing technology, Chris points out that that is not aligned with the digital world. Because of this, the company has decided to invest in IT talent and grow that capability within the company. Also, in an effort to modernize IT, the company has spent a great deal of time transforming end-user technology. We also discuss GE’s two-fold approach to attracting talent, how Chris looks to ride the fine line between standardization across business unit IT versus investing in solutions specific to one BU versus another. We also cover the cultural change afoot in the company and how the company is in the process of shifting from being a deep domain expert instead of a generalist, and a variety of other topics.
419: Arity President Gary Hallgren highlights the three main issues in the transportation industry. Most importantly, driving is extremely inefficient as the average car is used for four percent of the day. Further, 40,000 people die on the roads each year, and driving is extremely expensive, both in time and money. To make a difference in these areas, Arity is working with shared mobility companies, insurance companies, and automobile companies to solve these issues. We also discuss why Gary believes fully autonomous vehicles are further away than many think, how the company mixes the stability, strength, and resources of a Fortune 80 company with the entrepreneurial spirit of a startup, how Arity attracts talent, among other topics.
418: GSK’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer Karenann Terrell discusses GSK’s 40, 50, 10 framework for thinking about technology and digital’s impact. The company spends 40 percent of its efforts on digital as usual, which involves its ability to change its landscape of looking cross-enterprise for strikes in value. It spends 50 percent on digital through a reinvention window of its existing business, and it spends 10 percent on the true disruption, which entails the high-end innovation of how digital is disrupting the business that the company works in. We also discuss the benefits Karenann gains from board membership, why GSK’s CEO added the CDO role as a remit to the technology organization, rather than separately, how GSK has looked to mix an infusion of talent externally with skilling the folks in a transformative way internally, among other topics.
416: Aaron’s CIO John Trainor discusses the benefits of operating in a product mindset, rather than a project mindset. John’s team avoids the “throw it over the wall” approach to IT. Instead, the company strives to deploy working software into production as soon as possible. John argues that this product mindset leads to more cohesive teams and eliminates separate interests within the organization. We also discuss the tech landscape in Atlanta, John’s take on blockchain, the importance of having a fail-safe environment, 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.
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.
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.
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.
405: Royal Caribbean Cruises CIO Martha Poulter describes the growth minded business strategy of Royal Caribbean which places emphasis on differentiating products, gaining value from scale, engaging employees and guests, and reducing business risk. The company responds to the distinct needs of diverse demographics of guests and creates unique brand experiences on each cruise, a task that requires the collection and optimization of data from numerous sources. Poulter explains how data drives the innovation of systems and technologies that support all of Royal Caribbean’s operations. We also discuss Poulters own experiences on Royal Caribbean cruises, the unique features of IT organization in the industry, and exciting trends such as algorithmic intuition and miniaturization.
