Podcasts about Accenture

Most of our audience thinks about building wealth through real estate. Jon Ostenson thinks about it through franchises, and after this conversation, you might start looking at both differently. Jon is a top 1% franchise consultant in the U.S. and founder of FranBridge Consulting, where he connects entrepreneurs and executives with premier non-food franchise opportunities, think home services, health and wellness, pet care, and youth enrichment, not the drive-thru concepts most people picture when they hear "franchise." Before FranBridge, Jon spent 15 years in corporate America, including a run as VP of Sales at Carter's Inc. overseeing $350M in annual sales, followed by a stint as President of ShelfGenie, a national franchise system with 200 locations. He's also a multi-brand franchisee himself, so he's operating from firsthand experience, not just theory. In this episode, we talk about why non-food franchises can be one of the most overlooked paths to building a second income stream or an exit-ready asset, what actually separates a good franchise investment from a bad one, and how Jon's process helps people find a concept that fits their skills, goals, and financial targets, entirely for free, since FranBridge is compensated by franchise brands, not clients. We also get into how franchise ownership compares to real estate as a wealth-building vehicle, and why the data shows franchises often sell for a premium over independent businesses. If you've ever wondered whether there's a "buy box" for franchises the way there is for rental properties, this episode is your introduction. In this episode: Why non-food franchises are one of the most overlooked wealth-building opportunities How Jon's six-step process matches entrepreneurs with the right franchise Why franchise ownership is 100% free to the client (and who actually pays) How franchises compare to real estate as an investment and exit strategy What separates a good franchise fit from a bad one Jon's own path from Accenture to ShelfGenie to founding FranBridge Download our new AI Rental Property Calculator Book your mentorship discovery call with Cory RESOURCESGet business funding - Revenued.com/juice

Dave Goyal, Founder and CEO of Think AI Corporation, is driven to Turn Disabilities into Unique Abilities by using technology to empower disabled entrepreneurs and help businesses unlock the value of their data. After contracting polio as an infant, Dave transformed physical limitations and early adversity into a passion for solving business problems, building companies, and giving back to society. Through Think AI, he helps manufacturing and healthcare leaders use data and AI to generate real-time insights, improve productivity, reduce costs, and create new opportunities for growth. In this conversation, Dave introduces The 3G AI Augmentation Framework—Gap: Where are we losing time, quality, ability, or capacity? Grow: Apply AI to augment people and improve that work. Glow: Institutionalize the solution so humans and AI collaborate effectively. Dave also shares how his private second brain and AI executive agents save him up to 80 hours per month, why human control and security must remain central to AI adoption, and how authority, trust, people, customers, and culture drive business growth. He also discusses his book, Real-Time Business Intelligence Mastery, and his vision for creating a venture studio for disabled entrepreneurs. — Turn Disabilities into Unique Abilities with Dave Goyal  Good day. Steve Preda here with The Management Blueprint. And today my guest is Dave Goyal, the founder and CEO of Think AI Corporation, which helps CTOs and CIOs in manufacturing and healthcare turn siloed data into real-time insights and automation, creating reduced downtime, increased efficiency, and going from weeks to days in project launches. Dave, welcome to the show.  Thank you for having me, Steve.  Well, I’m really curious to learn about you and your company, Think AI Corporation, but first I’d like to ask you about your personal why and how you are manifesting it in your business.  So thank you again, Steve. I’m really excited to be on your show. I’m in the data and AI business, and really tech innovation, for the last 30 years. In this particular company, Think AI, I have a partner, Manish Bhardia, and we both have been working very actively with Microsoft partners, the Microsoft ecosystem, and implementing data and AI solutions for midsize companies and manufacturing companies. You went on why, which is amazing.  My why: I’m a disabled entrepreneur. I have this hunger for building businesses. I’ve built nine businesses. We can talk about it later. And five of them were miserable failures in my books. Not all of them were that miserable, as I say. But five of them were failures, and I learned a lot from them. And I’m really motivated now to expand it further, to give back to small businesses.  We’ve been working with midsize and enterprise clients, but to midsize companies, and then motivate—I have a 15-year-old kid—so motivate young people and also small businesses to make use of the power of their own data and use and consume AI on a day-to-day basis. That’s my why.  Wow. So, to learn the power of their own data and use AI, why is this important to you?  The main reason is I am passionate about technology. Everybody is good at something. I am really good at solving business problems using technology. Being a disabled entrepreneur, I did not have a lot of luxury initially, even walking. Eventually, I started using braces, started going to different countries. So the passion became really the source of energy and motivation, and that passion is now going to a level where I want to motivate people like me who are disabled entrepreneurs and want to go into this kind of business. So my real passion is technology and giving back to society using technology, to sum it up.  Wow. So you mentioned this disabled entrepreneur. I’ve never heard this term. I mean, you talk about minority entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, you know, veteran entrepreneurs, and actually the government recognizes these categories, but I never heard about disabled entrepreneurs. So would you mind sharing a little bit about what happened to you and how you got into this entrepreneurship?  Sure, yeah. And that’s really good, by the way. I don’t see anybody else using that term but me, so probably I should keep it with me as a copyright term. Just joking on it. But having said that, every disability brings some kind of ability. That’s why sometimes they call it differently abled. When you have these abilities, you don’t know the source or the channels to use them. So, for example, blind people, they may have a lot of great listening power. That’s why they are into music most of the time.  Sometimes they have amazing reasoning and critical-thinking power, but they don’t know how to channel it, so they fight on a day-to-day basis with these issues. Bringing it back to me, I have polio. When I was six months old, I got hit by the polio virus. Initially, for a few years, I had to just lie down on the bed, had a lot of physical therapy. Then I was able to get up and sit, at least. Then my father was carrying me to school, and I could see the kids were going out and playing. I got beaten up because of that, too, because kids don’t understand. No fault of theirs that I’m not throwing the ball at them and they are playing.  And so that brought a lot of negativity in me. Eventually, my grandfather and my father helped me get over that, and I started channeling that into building businesses. So I started teaching music. I learned music through some of my friends. I started teaching music during my college days and started making money. And I had a blind friend, and he needed money because he was abandoned by his parents, so I had to help him out. I started making some money. I was doing well with my family, so I could just pay everything back to him. So that seed got planted there, and I didn’t know what to do back then, right?  Still a 14-, 15-year-old kid or a teenager, in this case. So I started getting into that mindset of, how about I build businesses for me and then start helping out the community? I’m still not there yet. I’m going towards helping that community. But I want to identify disability in three ways, not just physical. So those three are physical, but the bigger one is mental. A lot of people are really mentally blocked, and you see people, you know, “Oh, I can’t change anything in my life.” People die by suic*de. Kids get into depression. This is a form of disability, by all means.  I don’t think education, parents, and community are doing so much about that other than having a cliché thing that, “I was a victim of depression, so I’m doing that,” just to show off. But really, to help out the community in a methodical manner, that doesn’t exist. Second, physical disability, like I said, given by God sometimes, like war veterans and others, then you feel really limited. So what to do with that? And I come into that category, so I know that really well. Third is financial disability. So a lot of financial disability is in the mind, too. I’ve heard a phrase called, “You don’t die by hunger; you really die by indigestion.”  So you would find ways and means to make money even if you’re a completely disabled person. So I don’t think finance is an issue in general. So these three areas, to me, are the real disability areas. I’m obviously only working on one today, which is physical disability: how to identify the potential of people who can create something different within that limitation and then make a change in the world. So that’s the motivation. That’s my Life 2.0, where I’m moving now. Love it. Love it. So how did you have time to build nine businesses?  I started it in 1993, ’94, I believe, or ’95, I think. And they’re one at a time. Today I have about three. I sold one. And yeah, I did not have time. One of the big challenges when I built these three in the last six, seven, eight years, the biggest challenge I faced is I do not have time for working with customers, which I love to do—talking and listening to their business problems, solving those problems. I end up doing a lot of operational work.  Post-2020, and it’s a very blunt thing to say, people got lazy. They want to change jobs, make more money, do moonlighting, do multiple things, but not work hard like we did back in the days. And that kind of pushed all of us small businesses to do a lot more management of resources, especially human resources, in a distributed environment. I have teams in India, the Philippines, Canada. So that became a bigger challenge. But having said that, AI came as a savior. In the last 18 months, AI has changed quite a lot.  And if you don’t go into a debate of whether AI is good or bad, or you’re a skeptic or an enthusiast, AI can really help you if you really put together how it can help you. It should not replace you, but it should give you an additional helping arm. In my business, I started deploying C-suite. So I still have a VP of operations. My business partner is into sales. But then I started filling in other functions, like a fractional CFO, as an example. My fractional CFO is monitoring my top line and bottom line. I call him Felix. I have to give names to AI agents.  So Felix is actually looking on a weekly basis at what invoices are billed, if we have vendors or employees, what we need to pay, where our expenses are going, what’s the monthly or maybe six-month cash flow run. Are we within limits? Do we have borderline cash availability so that we can survive? So it started to do a lot of things. But not only that, because we are feeding our own data, our own mind, I have built my own second brain. It started to read off of that and started giving me insights that a human would not give me. And even if I hire a fractional CFO, he will only hear what I have to say, look into some of my books, and then give me some blanket suggestions.  Here, this is really tailor-made to our problems, our situation, and it worked phenomenally well. So I’m building that as a product now. It’s not done yet. Then I also deployed my own CMO called Sasha, and she started to look into my marketing angles, my branding, my voice, my identity. I love writing, but now AI can help me—not just create a blanket AI post or something, but really read how I write, what I write. So I create ideas. It helps me research, does a factual check on it. So I give 100 words. It can take those ideas and then expand into newsletter articles or a big campaign.  I can start building different case studies for our customers, proof of concept, building podcasts such as these. So this started freeing up—I only talked about two executives, and I have seven of them—but they started to help me free up my time. And believe it or not, I am getting about 40 to 60 hours, and in good months, about 80 hours per month. So 30 to 50% of my regular time is freed up. So that time is now going into this movement that I’m thinking about, which is disabled entrepreneurship.  Wow, that is impressive. So tell me a little bit about this. This is a podcast of frameworks. So do you have a framework for maybe launching an AI agent like that?  I definitely do, and I want you to expand on it. But in terms of what I have, I look into three things. Where is the gap in terms of human? Where I see either performance issues, quality issues, or availability and capacity issues. So what are those things which don’t hit my security side of things, don’t interact with my customer, and still help me in my operations? That’s the gap we look into. How can we use and fill that gap to grow what we need to work on? And then last, so I use three Gs with my last name, Goyal, right? So Gap to Grow to Glow.  So now how can we use this in our business to glow and create an environment where even humans can interact with this AI persona? So we are always big on human-in-the-loop or human-in-control with any AI solution. So it always starts with the gap. Where is the gap? Where is it taking time from one of the human sides of our team?  I like that. I like that you isolated those things which are less risky to develop, because I think a lot of people are held back by this idea that it’s a black box, you don’t know what you’re getting into, you don’t know what you don’t know, and it’s risky, and then they don’t do anything.  But you actually isolated that customer interaction is a risk you don’t want to live with right now, and security is another one you don’t want to, which, I mean, it’s obvious. But if those are not hurt, then really what is the risk you’re running? So I like it. So how do you fire up an AI agent like that?  So in terms of technology, I’m using a few things. I’m using Claude Code, the full Claude environment. So we build it off of that. Back in my days, I worked as a white-hat hacker, so the security angle we mentioned, I’m always so worried about hacking and security. So I have a completely isolated environment at my home on a Mac Mini, a really powerful Mac Mini, and that cannot go out on the internet and do things. And nobody can inject anything.  But then I still need to feed information to it, so I have another machine where the only job of that machine is to provide information to this system. So I have my own second brain mapped into Obsidian, which is a note-taking application, but it’s really organized. So I first fed all my knowledge. I’ve recorded lots and lots of audios and documents, and it has learned. So I built that system first, like Dave’s second brain. And my second brain has learned everything about me. Nobody can see it but me. That’s my initial basis, right?  After that, I built a working memory for my agents, for my company, and I’m doing it for one company at a time. Think AI is not completely live on the system, but Data & AI Studio is, which is a solo entrepreneurship business that I have. It is learning everything about that business as we speak. Even the transcripts from these podcasts and other places go into it, and it learns from it. There will be some insights which it will find, so it retains them. So Claude Code, Mac Mini, Obsidian—these are the basis. And then I’ve deployed my own personal models, like DeepSeek, and that is sitting locally on that machine.  So the model is local. The downside is it’s not getting updated, so I only update it when I feel that it’s right. Not risk, it’s really the downside. There’s no risk in it. So you’re not on the latest and greatest, but you don’t have to be on the latest and greatest all the time. So Claude Code is on the latest and greatest, but when we deploy, it may not apply certain features that Claude Code is making available. And that’s fine. That’s the risk I’m taking. That’s the trade-off I’m taking. And the system is working great for the last six months.  In the last 18 months, even though I started AI about 28, 30 years ago, the last 18 months is when I learned the new-age AI, and the last six months is when I started building this in an iterative manner. And it is pretty stable now. It can do a lot of things like I mentioned. So your agents are running on your Mac Mini off the grid?  Yes.  And then you’re feeding information with another computer to it to essentially give them the raw material from which they can build stuff, right?  Right. A good example there, if I may expand: we use QuickBooks in our accounting system. It cannot read QuickBooks directly, but we, being a Microsoft partner, understand technology. I can write a job which can push data into the Mac Mini. It doesn’t read off of it. My Mac Mini, which has the agent, doesn’t know where that data has come from. It has the data, so it’s already synthesized.  It cannot communicate with others. So that’s the calculated risk we take, right? Getting the data from one angle, one way, and then it’s synthesizing and analyzing data and getting insights out of it. So that’s the balance of systems that I have.  I love it. That’s very clever. And what is your main business anyway? Because you talk about three businesses right now. What is your core business? What is your flagship business?  The flagship business is Think AI. It’s a consulting organization, a three-time Inc. 5000 winner in terms of growth. We have our own team, but then we also use a lot of vendors which are qualified by us throughout the world. And we are Microsoft Advanced Specialization partners. What that means is we are in the top 2% of the worldwide partners within the Microsoft ecosystem, which is about 500,000 partners. And we work mainly with midsize manufacturers, and sometimes healthcare if they are okay and open to AI, and if not, data. So we go in there, look into whether they have a data and AI strategy.  If they do, we work on their initiatives. If they have the initiatives. If not, we create the initiatives for them by doing some POCs and whatnot. And once we get engaged, we do deliverables like consulting services. But it’s not like typical consulting services where you place a resource. It’s really a value-based delivery model where we try to understand two business imperatives. One is what can help them make more revenue. And if we cannot find that, what can help them be more productive and have cost-cutting in one way or the other.  So these are the two main business imperatives we work on. When and if we align with that, then we give them a roadmap, a phase-wise approach, which they can do with us or with somebody else, and then we keep delivering on it. So that’s the whole model.  So what drives growth in the Think AI business?  I mean, finding more customers, to say the least. And that becomes difficult because today everything is becoming a commodity. So one good learning, by the way, I need to share with the audience here. When you’re a small business, you think your brand is the value that you have. It’s the founders who are the brand. So it’s Manish and me. Manish, my business partner, is really big in productivity, project management, and that kind of thing. And I’m really good at building solutions using tech. And together we have about 55 years of experience.  And then our key team members are ex-Microsoft or MVPs, Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals. So we hire a really strong key team. And the team below, we can either fill with our members, hire our own members, or go to the vendors also, and we tell it to our clients also. So our delivery model is we are the ones who are delivering. The guarantee is taken by Manish and Dave, not by Think AI. We have gotten into that situation. We are about 95% successful, so there’s a 5% failure. And the failure is either because we have the wrong team member, the communication between the client and us was not clear, the scope was not clear, the definition of value and done was not clear, and we have learned from it.  So our business model is towards that, and that brings us growth because we work with a number of partners. Manish is part of a lot of Microsoft channel partner networks. We provide complementary services to those partners. So one channel is we work with a lot of partners because the trust is there. Authority and trust are the two factors we have understood which establish your business, and it’s the founders’ authority and trust, not the company. Company will build on its own. So we started building our own authority and trust, and that gets us growth. It’s not at the level we’d like, but we are happy.  You are happy. Okay. So what is your vision? What would you like to make out of this?  So we have an exit plan, at least on Think AI. And like I told you, Manish has his own. That is up to him. For me, I want to create this venture studio for disabled entrepreneurs, get the funds from here, and then harvest, go across the world. So three hobbies I have.  One is travel. Second is reading, writing stuff, books. And third is music. And entrepreneurship comes in this whole surroundings, in this whole ring, so it’s the foundation of it. So we’re going to build this disabled entrepreneurship venture studio with a little bit of funds from our exit, and hope to grow there and hope to retire or die with that thinking.  Love it. Love it. It’s fascinating. So you have a book that is on your LinkedIn page, Real-Time Business Intelligence Mastery. So tell me about this book. Why did you write it, and what’s it about?  Sure. So we went into a coaching program. Up until 2022, we were arrogant enough to say, “Oh yeah, we can do everything on our own.” And then slowly we realized we need help, and we started taking help. We went to a couple of coaches in India where they were coaching us either on how to manage operations and operational excellence, and then another coach who’s like a life/building-your-brand marketing coach, and he inspired us to write a book.  Now, I’ve been writing in my own native Hindi language, songs and compositions, but writing a book was a dream, and I thought it’s a big undertaking. But with their little bit of motivation and help, not in writing, but in the angle of what a book can bring. So I have a lot of experience working in midsize manufacturing organizations, working with CTOs and CIOs, and business intelligence is delayed. So it’s either a one-day delay or a week delay or a month delay, and it’s more reactive in nature.  So the book was more about how you can build a real-time business intelligence culture so that you can get the insights from your data, make actionable insights, take actions on it, and grow your business for those two imperatives I talked about, which is grow your revenue or increase your productivity and decrease your cost.  So are you writing about some of the things that you talked about? Leveraging AI, building AI agents?  It has more about—so I wrote it in 2022, I believe. It has a lot more detail about. AI was not as popular, right? I mean, I did write about AI in it, but it was more about building a data culture than AI. It does talk briefly about AI because real-time is going very closely with AI. That’s the enabler for AI insights or data insights through AI. So it does talk a little bit about AI, but it talks more about tech leaders like CIOs and CTOs. What do they need to do? How do they need to build a culture around harvesting data, bring the data, build the team, where to take it? So it has those details.  Okay. That’s fascinating. Who is this book for? Is it for founders? Is it for C-level executives? Who is the target?  Like I said, it’s for tech leaders, CIOs, and CTOs of midsize organizations.  Okay. That’s awesome. And these are the people that are your target customers as well at Think AI?  Yes. That’s our true ideal client profile too, and that’s whom we have worked with all our lives. So they’re close friends, target audience, and customers. Future customers and current customers.  All in one. All in one. That’s so nice when you write a book to your friends. That’s a very cool concept. So let me ask you this, Dave. If you had a magic wand, you’ve done a lot of things in your business, you built nine businesses. You learned from some of the failures that you had, which is part of entrepreneurship, and now you created AI agents, and then you have a second brain, and you’re leveraging all that technology. So if you had a magic wand and you could fix one thing in your business in the next 12 months, what would that be?  I wish I had more senior leadership. Any business works with delegation. We have a couple who are really amazing, and they wear a lot of hats. But growth depends on three things, right? Being in front of the right customer, having the right team, and having the right product. Our product is people, unfortunately and fortunately. Customers, we are very happy and excited, and they trust us. We know how to get to them. We know how to create value for them. We are very satisfied. Everybody would say, “I need more customers,” and we would do that too.  But I think more important is what product you are offering. So then people are what we are offering, and we are competing against big ones like Accenture and Avanade and Cognizant of the world in our business, the tech consulting business. But then we are not competing against cost; we are competing against value. So how do you create value? You find a valuable customer. They understand our language. The next level is, where is the product, which is the people? And that management becomes quite difficult. And harvesting and getting the right people in place is a job by itself.  So kudos to those large companies if they’re harvesting one, although that’s debatable because when we go to the client, they complain a lot about their resources as well. So harvesting the right product and the right team is the key. And how do you do that? If you have the right leaders on top. Two partners alone cannot do that. So building more leaders underneath is the key. We are able to build a few, and I wish we could build a lot more. So when you have the right core team, your growth comes in, is my belief system. It could be different for everyone else.  No, I think it’s a very deep insight, and very few people actually talk about this idea that the purpose of a business, especially in today’s AI age, is to build leaders. That’s your purpose, because people will take care of everything. They’re going to run your AI agents. They’re going to manifest your vision. But you can’t have just AI agents in a company, right?  Because then the mental load is so much on the leader, and then the single-person dependency becomes critical. So is this what you mean by this? Where do you come from with this idea of harvesting people and leaders in the business?  Absolutely. You said it well. Building leaders doesn’t just apply to an organization, whether small, medium, or big, but even to countries. If you don’t have the right leaders in place, it’s going to bite you back. And all cultures, some of the top management consultants will teach you to go into succession planning. That is what they really mean by that.  It’s not succession planning by, okay, replace a CEO with a CEO. It’s the mindset. Apple is a great example of it. Steve Jobs hired Tim Cook from Compaq, from that world, and he had that vision. Obviously, he had a mission, but he had the vision—who to take, where to take, and what they would do. And that legacy continues even today. So Apple didn’t change a single bit in their model. And people would argue and debate, and that’s fine.  But when I see it from my eye, he built a great leader. When he did that, the company stayed the same, right? So it’s not about what products Apple is creating today, whether it’s iPhone or iPad or Apple Vision Pro or some of the other things that they are doing, but it’s really that leader. Same thing went with Google, or Microsoft, Satya Nadella. And you see the right leaders were built by these founders. And by any means, we are not that big, and hopefully we can get to some place which is pretty good in our books.  But finding and building the right people, it gives you a lot of satisfaction, happiness, bliss, if you can give it back to somebody who’s capable enough. And I’m always in hunt of the right people, building the right team in place.  It’s so interesting you mention Apple because when Isaacson came out with the Steve Jobs biography, he said, basically, I think it’s in the preamble of the book, that Steve Jobs wanted people to remember him not for the products that he created, but the company. So his biggest contribution was creating a company. And I didn’t get what he meant by it.  But if you witness the last—since he died 13 years ago—the last 13 years, this company has gone from strength to strength. Ninety percent of its market capitalization has been created since he died, right? So it keeps growing and keeps going from strength to strength, and that is the culture and the people that he built. This is the company he built. So it’s quite an amazing idea.  I was about to comment on company. Something came back to me or reminded me that companies generally build on three pillars: customer, people, and culture. And if you don’t have the right balance of it—so, the right people, but if you don’t have the right culture, they’re going to run away. If you don’t have the right customers, you should have the ability to say no to certain types of customers too. Like Apple never targeted small, cheap products.  And when I say cheap, meaning which doesn’t have the right quality in place, not about the cost. It’s always cost versus quality. So they have really struck the right balance in those three angles, and I think that’s the right way to do it. Some are able to do it, some are able to push through to do it, and some are not. But that’s where I think the focus needs to be if you are a founder. Find that right balance of people, client or customer, and culture.  Yeah.  And that is your core values too.  Yeah. I agree with you. That’s wonderful. If you are listening to this conversation with Dave Goyal, and you would like to learn more about him and what he does and Think AI Corporation, where should our listeners go to learn more?  Thank you for this opportunity, first of all. And people can find me on LinkedIn by my name, Dave Goyal. I’m very active there. I recently started a YouTube channel with the name Dave Goyal, so you can find me on YouTube. And mainly on LinkedIn, I have a newsletter on AI, and I’m pretty passionate about what’s happening in AI.  So I even publish AI news this week, but with a different angle, a builder’s angle in mind. And last but not least, you can connect with me through LinkedIn for a 15-, 30-minute call. No angle there. I will just come and help you if you really want to do something with AI. I can listen to your challenges or your fear of missing out, if that’s the case, and tell you if AI is the right fit for you or not, and what you can do on your own also. And if you need our help, we are happy to.  That’s fantastic. So take Dave up on his offer, which I think is very generous. And obviously, Dave, you know what you’re talking about. You built a second brain. You’re running AI agents. Your C-suite is chock-full of AI agents, which is very impressive. I’d love to learn more about this myself.  So if you’re curious about that, make sure you book a call with Dave or check out his stuff. Where is your newsletter? Is it a Substack? Where can people find your newsletter?  It’s on LinkedIn. It’s called Data & AI Demystified in my profile.  Okay. So that’s easy. So we can go to Dave’s LinkedIn profile. And if you enjoyed this conversation, make sure you subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Give us a review because every week I bring in a couple of exciting entrepreneurs like Dave who share their favorite frameworks with you. So Dave, thanks for coming, and thank you for listening. Important Links: Dave's LinkedIn Dave's website

How damaging to us is the obsession of Anthropic, Google and Open AI with creating AI super intelligence? How can political leaders set a new path for AI, that would enrich workers rather than replace them? And is the falling birth rate actually good for us? In the second part of Robert's interview with Nobel prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, about his influential new book, “what happened to liberal democracy”, we learn whether AI can be tamed to prevent most of the rewards going to trillionaires. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Buy tickets for The Rest is Fest:⁠ https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/the-rest-is-money-live/ ⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Bella Soames and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do we revive living standards and restore confidence in liberal democracy? Is the link between productivity and wages permanently broken? What is working-class liberalism? Why should Andy Burnham's first budget raise taxes on capital while cutting taxes on employment? And why are tech giants like Google and Amazon twice as wealthy as the British Empire at its peak? Robert investigates how to safeguard our way of life with Nobel Prize–winning economist Daron Acemoglu. Together, they discuss whether the prescriptions in Acemoglu's influential new book are practical enough to prevent liberal democracy from eroding further. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Buy tickets for The Rest is Fest: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/the-rest-is-money-live/ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Bella Soames and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andy Henriquez, known as the Master Storyteller, is a business storytelling coach, keynote speaker, and founder of the Master Storyteller Academy. He helps entrepreneurs, executives, and organizations use strategic storytelling to build stronger connections, elevate their brands, and drive revenue growth. The author of Show Up for Your Life, Andy has worked with organizations including NASA, Accenture, Pratt & Whitney, Bacardi, and Google. In this episode, he shares how a chance conversation at a gas station changed the trajectory of his career, how he turned his real estate knowledge into his first information product, and why storytelling and personal investment can be powerful tools for creating opportunities. On this episode we talk about: How a random conversation at a gas station led Andy into real estate and ultimately changed his career Turning knowledge and expertise into seminars, information products, and revenue Why storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to build genuine connections The difference between being in the right place at the right time and being the right person at the right time Andy's life-changing decision to invest $30,000 in coaching with legendary speaker Les Brown Why you shouldn't wait for someone else to give you an opportunity—you should create your own stage How investing in yourself can build confidence, accountability, and long-term results Top 3 Takeaways Create your own opportunities. Don't sit around waiting for someone to give you a seat at the table. Put yourself in environments where opportunities can happen, then be prepared to act when they do. Become the right person for the opportunity. Being in the right place at the right time isn't enough. Your mindset, preparation, and willingness to act determine whether you'll recognize and capitalize on an opportunity. Invest in yourself at the level of the results you want. Andy's $30,000 investment in coaching forced him to take his goals seriously and become more accountable. Even when an investment doesn't immediately produce the expected result, the lessons and experience can become part of the process that eventually pays off. Notable Quotes "The shortest distance between you and the person that you're either looking to connect with or the person that you're looking to influence is really like a story." "You have to invest at the level in which you expect results." "Successful people commit first, and then they figure it out." Connect with Andy Henriquez: LinkedIn: Andy Henriquez Instagram: Show Up for Your Life Other: Master Storyteller Academy A Word from Our Sponsors: - Go to Leesa.com for 25% OFF select mattresses (through August 23, 2026) PLUS get an extra $50 off with promo code TMM, exclusive for my listeners  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Authorities have traced the Origin Energy cyber hack that exposed the personal data of close to a million Australians to a call centre in the Philippines.The Greens have slammed the Opposition for the deal it's struck with Labor on gambling ad restrictions. The legislation before parliament will still allow advertising, but give Australians the choice to opt out of online betting commercials.And Victoria Police are continuing to investigate an alleged assault at the Pullman Hotel near the MCG, where the Sydney Swans AFL team was staying following a game on Sunday.Press the 'Follow' or '+' button on this show page to add us to your playlist, so you never miss an episode.For more news, politics and current affairs podcasts go to ABC listen.

How is the consulting industry changing as technology, AI, and new buyer expectations reshape the market? In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott W. Luton speaks with Amber Salley, Founder and Managing Director of the Amber Salley Advisory Group, about the changing consulting landscape and what supply chain leaders should consider when hiring outside expertise. With experience as a practitioner at IBM, consultant at Booz & Company and Accenture, Gartner analyst, and vendor executive, Amber shares her perspective on why traditional consulting models are under pressure, how AI is accelerating existing changes, and why specialization matters more than ever. Listeners will learn why companies are moving toward smaller technology investments, faster results, and decision-focused advisory support. Amber also discusses how consulting firms must adapt, the future of outcomes-based pricing, and why organizations should evaluate partners based on their ability to deliver measurable value quickly. Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Intro (02:19) Meet Amber Salley (03:14) How Amber Salley's career shaped her consulting perspective (08:47) Why specialized supply chain expertise matters (16:16) What is changing in the consulting model? (23:16) Why buyers are moving toward faster technology wins (28:39) How consulting firms must rethink software partnerships (33:08) Can outcomes-based pricing become the future of consulting? (36:36) What should SMB operators ask before hiring consultants? (43:12) Why companies should avoid layering AI onto outdated foundations (49:53) Where to connect with Amber Salley Additional Links & Resources: Connect with Amber Salley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambersalley/ Learn more about Amber Salley Advisory Group: https://www.salleyadvisory.com/ Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on your favorite platform: https://supplychainnow.com/join Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now's NEW Media Kit: https://supplychainnow.com/media-kit/ WEBINAR- From Disruption to Stability: Building Resilient Logistics Solutions in a Rapidly Changing Global Market: https://bit.ly/3TguZMt WEBINAR- SAP AI Inside the Supply Chain: From Silo to Orchestration: https://bit.ly/4bvpz6K   This episode was hosted by Scott Luton and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/how-choose-right-supply-chain-consultant-1623 The content in this episode, including all audio, videos, visuals, and graphics, is the property of Supply Chain Now and is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or re-uploading of this content in any form is strictly prohibited without explicit written permission from Supply Chain Now.For licensing inquiries or permissions, please contact us at production@supplychainnow.com© 2026 Supply Chain Now. All rights reserved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why is it taking so long to get people trained in AI? Should we be devolving education powers to employers instead of Mayors? Is the replacement for the Apprenticeship levy any good? Why is it so hard for companies here to raise money from British investors? Steph talks to Euan Blair, CEO of Multiverse - the UK's first British EdTech business valued at over a billion - about the future of work. Plus some spicy chat on Multiverse's Ofsted rating and why Euan's dad was wrong to push for 50% of young people into university when he was PM. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Bella Soames and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Many companies obsess over sales reports, churn metrics, and dashboards, but the real story is hiding in what people say long before the numbers move. Today's guest, Dan Bruder, co-founder of Blendification, helps organizations tap into that hidden layer by turning everyday conversations into decision-ready intelligence that leaders can use to predict and prevent problems before they show up in the P&L. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, Dan shares how Blendification uses conversational AI and linguistic analytics to run psychologically adaptive, goal-focused interviews at scale, thousands in a week if needed. Instead of just answering questions like traditional AI tools, their system asks smarter questions, reads engagement and emotional readiness, and uses a panel of specialized AI “agents” to understand what employees and customers really think and feel. The result: organizations can detect cultural hotspots, disengagement, and customer risk months before it shows up as lost revenue or turnover. Dan explains how Blendification fuses this deep qualitative data with existing operational data from CRM, HR, and financial systems to create traceable dashboards, emotional intelligence patterns, and research-grade insights, without the months-long effort of a traditional consulting engagement. He also shares a bold vision: replacing static PowerPoint decks with dynamic, fully traceable presentations generated directly from source data and conversational insights, giving leaders both speed and confidence in their decisions. If you're a consultant, advisor, market researcher, or small to mid-sized firm trying to compete with giants like Accenture, this episode is especially powerful. Dan shows how nimble firms that adopt conversational data analytics early can actually leapfrog larger, slower competitors, delivering deeper insights, faster, with far less manual labor. You'll hear how conversational AI, when used as a true language tool (not just a fancier spreadsheet), opens up a blue ocean of understanding human behavior at scale. https://youtu.be/DGST8uwJxIw?si=oOb9DiB5XKvbFUg8 Dan also shares a thought-provoking perspective on planning and uncertainty, why “it's none of your business where you'll be in five years” and how that mindset aligns with leading through rapid AI-driven change. If you've been stuck in the world of transactional metrics and static dashboards, and you suspect the real gold is hidden in the conversations your people and customers are already having, this episode will give you a clear, exciting look at what's now possible with conversational AI and Blendification. Quotes: "With AI, we're not just leveling the playing field; we're giving a competitive advantage to the people who are nimble and move quickly." "Most of what I've seen out there is really taking the same data we've always used and using AI to report the same dashboards we've always had, just a little bit quicker and with more data." "We've created an AI platform that holds psychologically aware conversations just as a human would, adapting the next question to bring someone back in when they start to disengage." Contact Details: Transform Your Brand with Blendification: Start Today Discover Better Leadership with Dan Bruder Connect with Dan Bruder on LinkedIn for Leadership Insights Subscribe to Dan Bruder's YouTube Channel for Leadership That Inspires Action

Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is an executive communication strategist, keynote speaker, conference designer, and founder of the Heartwood Leadership Institute. She helps leaders, founders, and organizations transform powerful ideas into unforgettable messages that inspire action through the power of story. The belief that stories can change lives has shaped her work from the very beginning.   Jacque has coached executives and advised leaders at Fortune 100 companies and global brands including Amazon, Accenture, General Mills, Salesforce, Stripe, Target, Visa, Walmart, and more. She's the host of the Ideas Love Community podcast, creator of the Gateway Gathering & Pitch Fest, and the author of 14 books. She's trained thousands of professionals in communication, executive presence, and thought leadership. When she's not launching voices, you'll likely find her paddling with her gold medal-winning dragon boat team of all breast cancer survivors.   Episode Summary:   In this episode of Heartbeat for Hire, host Lyndsay Dowd sits down with Jaquelyn Fletcher Johnson — communication strategist, conference designer, 14-time author, and founder of the Heartwood Leadership Institute. Jaquelyn traces her lifelong obsession with storytelling back to a childhood prank on her younger brothers, then walks through a career that wound from freelance writing and magazine editing into pioneering "Creative Writing at the Bedside" and an on-set interview show at Mayo Clinic, and eventually into executive coaching and leadership development.   Key Takeaways:   - Stories shape how people feel long after they're told. - "Trail angels" are the people who show up right when you need them. - A meandering career can still add up to a clear pattern. - Starting something of your own means giving up full control. - Executive presence isn't about polish — it's about being grounded. - A health scare can clarify your legacy. - You don't have to act on every calling — but it won't disappear.   Episode Chapters:   00:00 Cold open: three things you'll learn from this episode 00:43 Welcome to Heartbeat for Hire + guest introduction 01:36 Jaquelyn joins the show 02:08 Origin story: the Jolly Green Giant and the power of story 04:58 Career path: freelance writer to magazine editor to Mayo Clinic storytelling programs 08:33 What is a "trail angel"? 10:06 The tough reality of the conference and speaking world 10:43 Why Jaquelyn decided to build her own conference 14:25 Lessons learned building the Gateway Gathering and Pitch Fest 17:53 Listener thank-you and sponsor spotlight (Cozy Earth) 18:34 Redefining executive presence 21:19 What inspires Jaquelyn 22:01 Legacy, breast cancer, and dragon boat racing 23:18 What's next: Gateway Gathering, Pitch Fest, and family milestones 24:04 Where to find Jaquelyn 24:09 Final takeaway for listeners

How can the government persuade UK companies and households to invest and spend their record cash holdings? Why is Donald Trump's unpredictability failing to destroy economic growth? Why is it so difficult to assess whether a lethal AI bubble currently exists? Robert discusses the risks and opportunities in today's world of extreme financial, technological and political risks with Karen Ward, chief market strategist for JP Morgan in EMEA. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Bella Soames and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

According to Gartner, worldwide AI spending is forecasted to increase 44% by the end of 2026. Companies are investing in AI, and they are investing heavily. But knowing where and how to invest isn’t easy, especially with what feels like a million different AI tools out there and a million more different ways to build your own. So how do you figure out what to build, what to buy, and which investments will help you move the needle for your business? Riley Rogers: Hi, and welcome to the Win/Win Podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Cody Sims, head of commercial brand at Cox Communications. Cody, thank you so much for joining us today. Super excited to hear your thoughts on this one. Before we dive into what is quite a loaded topic, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and your role? Cody Sims: Yeah. So, hi, I’m Cody. I’m the head of commercial brand for Cox Communications, and it’s kind of crazy how I came into this role. So I actually started my career when I was 15 and was installing phone systems for my dad’s phone company. And after that, I had actually had two parts of what I thought was what I wanted to go into, and that was either musical theater or physics, because those were two things I really had a passion about. And when I got into college and had musical theater as my major and physics as my fallback, I realized that both of them left a part out of what I really enjoy. And so I ended up actually landing in marketing because it’s both analytical and creative, and that has served me really well over the years. So, across Cox, I have done all kinds of things from product management to market development to pricing to competitive analysis, and now in the brand world. It’s given me kind of a 360 view of the entire business from a marketing lens. I would say that I’m pretty much a transformation leader. I really enjoy breaking things and building them up new again. So, AI is happening right at the right time for me. RR: I love that story, and I love that it’s taking you to a place that especially now is getting more and more technical, more and more analytical. I’m very excited to get into that transformation leader side of things. But before we do, can you paint a little bit of a picture of your sales environment? CS: Yeah. So when I first came to Cox, it was very similar to most of what you would call a CLEC, or a competitive local exchange carrier, which is primarily internet service, voice services, and obviously because it was Cox, some cable TV services that were the triple threat. That was kind of what in the early 2000s was kind of the way that they went to market. But over time, the team at Cox realized that in order to stay competitive, they had to add to the portfolio to make sure that they were providing value to their customers, and I’m sure many would understand that and have gone through similar transformations. And so we had acquired several different other companies that added to our portfolio, and developed some of our own products, and over time that turned into a lot of products. But it’s not just 70 products. It’s 70 products, it’s nine customer segments that we have from a segmentation perspective. It’s six distinct buyer personas, industry verticals, what’s serviceable at that address. So you take all of these different components and it’s almost like three-dimensional chess for the salesperson. The way that I like to think about it is that the sellers, what they really need and what their challenge is, is that they’re not looking for specs. They’re looking for what are the business outcomes that my customer is trying to achieve, and then what do I have from my portfolio that will help them to achieve those results? So it’s no longer a world where they can memorize everything and know every product in and out, and be the technical expert. They really do have to have tools and systems that help them to have the right knowledge at the right moment for the right person in the right place. RR: Yeah, there comes a point when the human brain just can’t contain the context and the expertise that you need. So when you can’t ask for expertise, what you can do is provide, to your point, that just-in-time support. And one of the things that you alluded to was that that’s where you kind of started some of that AI investment as a way to bridge that gap. You’ve given us a little bit of a taste, but what kind of motivated that early initiative? CS: Well, I would say that, over time what we discovered was that we couldn’t keep track of all of our marketing materials, collateral, all of the pieces of information in just files, formats, and putting it online into a here’s-an-accessible-library. Because the library just becomes bigger and larger and more difficult to manage. But I would say that we didn’t set out to do AI. We didn’t sit down and say, “Oh, hey, AI looks cool. Let’s make sure we’re doing it.” We needed to transform our go-to-market strategy so that we were more nimble, we were more competitive, and that we could deliver the kind of experience that our customers were asking for. And so AI was the mechanism that would help us to get there. But what really triggered this whole thing was what I mentioned earlier, was our segmentation. When we sat down and said, “Let’s rebuild the way that we look at our audience segments,” and we did that based off of what is the value to Cox of each of these customer profiles, and then what is the technology sophistication of that client, of that business. And that intersection allowed us to create our nine different segments that we were working on. And so when we did the math, when we looked at all of that information and all of the things that we needed to be able to provide to those segments, we realized this was quickly going to turn into something that was far beyond any marketer’s ability to do. But what we knew is that the Gartner information we were tracking said that personalization was having much higher returns on the way that people respond to information. And not only that, but if you do personalization and you get it wrong, if I call you and I say, instead of, “Hey, Riley,” and I say, “Hey, Jonah,” you’re like, “Hmm, nice try.” So personalization is really important to being successful, but getting it right is even more important. So we realized that we needed to have some radical partnership between our marketing, AI, and sales teams, that we needed to make sure that this was not just an IT project, that we were going to go and pull a bunch of requirements together and everybody would be like, “Oh, hey, here’s this new tool. Everybody figure out how to use it.” And it wasn’t necessarily about optimization. It was about transformation, the way that we go to market, the way we think about our customers, and the way we show up. So I would say that AI definitely was part of the solution set, but we had to look ourselves in the mirror and say, “It’s time for us to actually think about this in a completely different way.” RR: That distinction comes through very well, and I think is very important because oftentimes when you’re in kind of the scramble to be keeping up with the market, keeping up with your competitors, there is this urge to just tack on AI because we have to. But when it’s not strategic and it’s not built into the things that you’re actually doing, to your point, it’s we put together some specs, good luck using it. But instead, now it’s something that’s really built into the way that you work. I would love to hear a little bit more about that specific use case, especially given the fact that a lot of teams are running into that question of how do we use AI and can we just build what we need ourselves? Given that you’ve done the math, answered the question, I’d love to hear how it worked and kind of where you landed. CS: It’s very easy to fall into the trap of, “Hey, everybody, here’s AI. We put it on your computers, now go use it.” And so then everybody starts using AI to try to figure out, how does this help me in the job that I already do, in the role that I already do, in the processes that I already do? And so then it really limits the impact that it can have on the business and the performance because either, A, you have a handful of people who are really smart, and they go crazy with it, and they create their own thing, or you have a bunch of people who are looking at it going, “Okay, came up with some ideas, but I still have to do my work.” What you end up with is there’s no standard. There’s no flag running up the hill to say, “Everybody follow me. Let’s go do it this way.” So, it required both the yes, we had to make sure that the teams were bought into using AI, but we also had to have a standardized way of approaching how we deploy AI. And that brought us to the question of do we buy or do we build? And because there were so many different parts of what kinds of functionality we needed, it wasn’t the same answer for every one of those needs. So in some cases, we have a tool, we have a partner, they already have AI integrated into their platform, let’s go see how we can use that. In other cases, and I’ll give you an example, in the case of content generation, that is where we started with our AI journey about a year ago. We sat down and started interviewing and reviewing all of the different providers who can do content generation. Every one of them had a different approach to content development, content generation, which were all very good, and they attempt to make sure that they are covering as much of the marketplace as possible. And so sometimes when you buy that, you end up with features maybe that you don’t need, and you also have to still go through the process of integrating those platforms into your security posture. So us being a connectivity provider for governments, for major corporations, enterprise carrier grade, we have a very, very strict and strong security policy, which means that when we bring new vendors on, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of back and forth. And so what we found in certain cases, it was actually better for us and more beneficial for us to build the actual platforms that we needed for that particular use case. But like I said before, in other situations, we found that there was a partner who we had who already had AI integrated into their platform, and so they were already part of our security posture. They were already inside of our ecosystem. So the question of build versus buy really had to do with time, had to do with return, and it had to do with the security measures that we had to put in place. RR: Thinking about in addition to those factors, when you’re evaluating these things that you outlined, time, potential cost, security, how are you kind of doing that ROI math to say one is going to be better than the other? CS: There’s several different parts of that. And like I mentioned, we wanted to make sure that we were following our AI strategy foundation that said, we don’t want to introduce more and more vulnerable access points. And so it’s important for us to make sure that we are all coming together with everyone across the Cox leadership team according to who are the vendors that we feel the safest with, that we can go set up and make sure that we are pulling together the best of the breeds. The assessment, like I mentioned before, is what is the value that we’re returning to the business in terms of revenue generation, new customers, cost savings in terms of not necessarily just reducing people’s time, but redeploying people to doing other important tasks. And then what are the things that we are doing that help us to keep the system all working together? So, revenue generation, cost deferment, and then keeping a cohesive connection between all of the different platforms. So some of the things that we looked at from our comparing vendors versus doing DIY, is there a maintenance tail that goes in this? So if we build it, what does that look like in 18 months? How much more people do we have to have to support it? Governance and observability, do we have the permissions, the versioning, the audit trail, all of the parts for discovering what is needed and then able to see it and observe it as we go? Interoperability, as I mentioned before, really important between different platforms that we have, that those APIs and MCPs all work together. And then whose roadmap is this? Is this our roadmap? Is this the IT roadmap? Is this the vendor’s roadmap? If we know where we need to go, is there anything that’s getting in our way of being able to get there? And then of course, obviously the speed to value against the cost of being wrong. RR: And so hearing you outline this very comprehensive list of considerations, you can start to understand why it starts to feel complicated and really hard to tackle. To your point, it’s been a year of figuring it out since you started developing that very first use case. I’d like to go into a little bit of detail about the evaluation piece and deciding what vendors you felt safe with, that you were excited to partner with and continue to either use or build upon as you’re developing your AI strategy in alignment with your business transformation. One of those that you landed on was using Highspot’s MCP server to support some of the workflows you wanted to spin up. How did you make that decision and why did that feel like the way to go? CS: Well, as I had mentioned before, as we had gone through our history of, here’s a library of a whole bunch of stuff and everybody’s trying to find the right item, and it just was such a headache to make sure that we were always getting the right information to the right customers at the right time. And not only that, but we had no real clear feedback about how it was performing. And so at that time, which I believe was in the 2015 to 2017 timeframe, is when we had first started our relationship with Highspot to help us better catalog the library, make it more searchable and usable and referenceable for the sellers to be able to share information and track the information, make sure that it was the most relevant and recent, and then help us to understand what’s working and not working. So all of that was already in place before we even started the AI conversation. And so as we were doing our work around our go-to-market roadmap, we started with content because it was probably the easiest place for us to use AI to generate content, and that looked like a two-layered approach. We had what we called a knowledge base, which is formally putting into AI rules that can be read by AI around all of our standards for brand, for legal, for segment definition, for product information, for pricing and promotion information, industries, verticals. All of that was put at this knowledge base foundation layer. And then we built the content generation engine on top of that, where each of the agents within that tool would go find what it is that the marketer was asking to do, compare it against all the information in the knowledge base, the brand standards, all of those good things, and then produce the content piece that the marketer was asking for using that foundation layer. However, once we got that moving and going, we realized that that level of personalization for marketing could be even more valuable and even more specific when used by a seller. But in order for that to work properly, the seller had to have access to a large range of information all at the same time, including any of the buying signals or online signals that we had through some of our lead generation partners, any of our information that we have within our own systems, like when was the last time they called into billing or when was the last time that they had an outage or what is their general sentiment that the customer has right now. And then all of the information about their current services, their current products, all the things that are going on in their world. But then once we have all of that information, we have propensity to buy, propensity to churn, propensity all these modeling, now we need to be able to talk to them and provide a recommendation to the seller that says, “Here’s what we recommend you use, what you should say, how you should set it up.” And all of that was inside of Highspot. And so we realized again, we could look at this and say, “Are we going to go buy a new platform? Are we going to use a platform we already have or are we going to go build something new?” And obviously when we looked at the Highspot platform, the MCP servers, and the way that it was laid out and set up already, we knew that that was the right path to go. So what we had started with was the content engine, then we went into a sales enablement engine, and as part of that sales enablement engine, the only way for it to work properly was for us to bring in the Highspot MCP service. RR: And how has that been working so far for your sellers? As you’ve rolled this out, how has it been used? Any anecdotal feedback you’ve heard? CS: It’s pretty funny because we have done multiple rollouts of sales enablement platforms over the years, and as anyone who’s ever tried to roll out new sales items and new sales tools will say, it takes time, it takes consistency, messaging over and over. But in this particular case, when we went out and did our roadshow with all of the sellers and sat down and showed them how the new tool worked, there were so many positive responses, and the adoption was much faster than most of our previous releases of other types of products. And I think that the reason why is because it was bringing together all of those pieces of information that I mentioned before and bringing in the Highspot information that they were already very familiar with. And in our world, we call it the sales asset manager, SAM. And so they were very familiar with SAM and then this new tool with the AI capabilities built into it. Now it’s specifically just telling them, “Here’s what you should do. Here’s the way to lay it out, and here’s all the content to talk to the customer about in what order.” And it took a lot of the burden off of them to research, go find a piece, start to build a story in their head, try to build a deck, and then think about what are they going to share with them in what order. So it’s been a huge benefit to the sellers. They’ve loved it. RR: Yeah, that’s such a strong signal when adoption doesn’t feel like a push and more of a grab. Curious if there are any other AI or agentic connectors that you’re pairing with Highspot in another AI application that you think would be interesting to share? CS: We have basically six different programs or parts of our roadmap, and we’re calling them AI modules, and then they work together in different components for different functions that need to be done. So as I mentioned, we have the knowledge base that is the base. Then we have the content creation tool, which we call CAMI. So it’s Content Automation Marketing Intelligence, and that has everything that is needed to produce and create new pieces of content, and then those content pieces are either generated in emails or things like that. A lot of them actually are put into the Highspot tool. And then we have what we call SAMI, which is the Sales Automation Marketing Intelligence, and that is the tool that integrates directly with Highspot to make the recommendations to the seller based off of all of the other information, the 360 view of the customer. We also have what’s called Livia, which is the Lead Validation and Enrichment. The tool uses all of these multiple different access points and different vendors to pull information about that particular contact to validate that it’s accurate, so that by the time it gets to the seller and they’re going to go do a pitch, they have a lot more confidence that who they’re talking to, the business, and it’s at the right address, and prevents them from wasting time. And then, of course, Highspot is such a critical part of how that story all comes together because it’s capturing all the content that’s being created by CAMI, and then the AI that comes from Highspot is infusing into the SAMI tool that the sellers are using. It’s an interesting thing because somebody might say, “Well, you’re not really using Highspot, you’re using SAMI.” And the reality is, well, yes, I am using Highspot because Highspot is feeding all of that into the SAMI tool. There’s a whole bunch of other stuff we add into that for flavoring, all of the information about the customer so that the seller has a 360 view, but that just sets it up. The what do you do next is what’s coming out of Highspot. The next phase of this that we’re going to is a fully agentic approach to our marketing and sales engine. And what that means is that today, most of the work that’s being done is a marketer who is saying, “Here’s what I need to go get done. I’m going to use AI to help me go do it.” We’re going to flip that script, and we’re going to say, the agents that we create are going to do the work, and the marketers are going to instruct the agents on how to do that work properly and watch it and govern it. That will then accelerate for the sellers as well. RR: We’ve heard a little bit about what’s been built in the last year, but it’s, again, to your point, crazy that that’s one year of building, thinking, strategizing, and it’s come to this point. When you look across all of that, what has changed for your sellers and for the business? CS: Well, I would say the first thing is, is that sellers are now able to focus on what they’re really good at. What I mean by that is their confidence is shifted to focus on outcomes and value. They are now able to build trust and provide value, which is honestly what all of our customers, especially our business owners and decision makers are looking for. And then for the marketers, it’s no longer about building a queue, trying to figure out what is the message that’s going to hit the most people with the most response. This idea of efficiency for media or efficiency for marketing materials. It’s like, what is the one message I can send to a million people and have the most response? Well, now you actually can flip that on its ear and say, “I’m going to personalize it at scale.” So that is super exciting. And then the last thing that I would say is that consistency became structural. The same knowledge base, the same rules across every surface, making sure that our content is clean, correct, built on the same policies and rules, but is personalized. Doing those two things at the same time is very tricky, and being able to do it with AI is the only way we could get there. RR: Curious if you’ve seen any sort of measurable returns. CS: Our lead accuracy, like I mentioned before, moving from that 13 to 18% all the way up to the 95th percentile. We have campaign speed to market of improvement of 55%, meaning the amount of time that it takes us to get to market is cut in half. The marketing content teams are 40% more productive, which means they’ve been able to redeploy their time for 40% of the time that they spend at work on other projects, which is amazing. Our conversion rates are up, our driving net new revenue is up, and we have seen material improvement in click-through rates and conversion rates when we are more specific and personalized to the audience. So Gartner was right. Yay. So that’s been really good. And I would say that part of the reason why I think that, at least for part of what we did, doing it as a build ourselves was wise, is because we learned so much by going through the process of just banging our shins on the corners and running into cabinet doors that were open, and we’re just like, “Oh, wow, that was, I did not see that.” So it’s been a huge learning process, a very, very intense learning process, but we’ve all had a really good sense of humor and amusement and just, we are having a ton of fun. RR: And I think that’s one of the more encouraging things to hear. Is that nobody starts perfect, and you just have to build your way up to good. And once you get there, you start to see again, like those measurable improvements. But it is a process. So I guess the message there is stick with it. Which I think kind of feeds into that last question I have for you, which is for anybody who is running into this question, hitting their shins on all of these problems, how would you recommend they approach the question of building, buying, blending some things together when they’re thinking about their AI investments? CS: Well, I would say the first thing is you have to look in the mirror and be real with yourself and say, “Is my processes and workflows working? If I blew up my entire go-to-market, I blew up all my processes, what would it look like?” And don’t start with a tool. Start from a place of what would serve me best. The other part of it that I would say that Highspot did really well is because of the MCP product, I was able to look at it as how am I using this from a plumbing perspective, not just a judgment perspective. And what that means is that it worked well with the strategy and the AI strict rules that we had built for ourselves. Highspot, kudos to Highspot, built a platform that is trusted and that works well with all of the other components that we had flying around, whether it was Salesforce or AWS or even our Accenture development team being able to use the components and pieces to connect to the whole ecosystem. Then the other thing I would say is that even though we’ve been doing this for a year, a year is like eons in AI’s time. It was every other week there was something that changed, something new, something shifted. So you have to go into it with this idea of you have to prepare yourself that this is how I set it up now, but I might have to change it tomorrow, and just be okay with that. So my answer for build or buy, my answer is both. Build the things that make sense for you and where you have the resources and when it’s the right fit. But definitely buy when you are in a partnership or when you have someone that you already know that you can trust. RR: Very pragmatic. That’s kind of the only way to do it. One thing I’ll say, I know I am walking away inspired, and I can imagine our audience is going to as well. So Cody, thank you for the time. I really, really appreciate it. It’s been so wonderful to hear a little bit more about what you’re building. CS: No, I love it. And the reason why this is great for me is that it forces me to think back on this journey that we’ve been on for the last year and really consider what is it that has brought us to where we are, what are the things we’ve learned, and then, maybe how are my bruises doing? RR: Well, thank you for the time again. And to our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win/Win Podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize go-to-market success with Highspot.

  What if the fastest path to scale isn't wider — it's more focused? What if the businesses most people overlook are the ones most quietly building generational wealth?  In this episode of That Will Nevr Work, Maurice sits down with Jon Ostenson — founder and CEO of FranBridge Consulting, top 1% franchise consultant in the United States, 2x Inc. 5000 company builder, Forbes contributor, and author of the bestselling Non-Food Franchising. Jon spent fifteen years building an elite corporate career — from international consulting at Accenture, to Vice President of Sales at Carter's managing over $350 million annually, to President of ShelfGenie's 200-location national franchise system — before making the focused, deliberate bet that changed everything: building the country's defining practice in non-food franchise consulting at a time when 80% of the market was talking about food. Today, FranBridge has guided thousands of entrepreneurs toward franchise investments in over 600 high-growth, cash-flowing brands across home services, senior care, property services, pet care, health and wellness, and dozens more — with over 90% of clients investing in an industry that was never on their radar when they arrived.  In this conversation, Jon and Maurice dig into:Why niching down is the most powerful path to scaling upThe corporate exit story — what fifteen years inside the machine built and what it couldn'tWhy non-food franchising is the most underestimated wealth-building asset class availableThe semi-absentee model — building income without building another jobThe discipline of strategic "no" and why saying less yes is what most businesses need mostThe lightbulb moment — why the best opportunity almost never looks like what you expectedBuilding toward generational wealth through focused, intentional business ownership  This one is for every entrepreneur who is spreading too thin, every corporate professional who wants to own something without losing everything, and every dreamer who has been told the obvious path is the best one. 

This episode of the InfoSec Beat podcast focuses on the evolving problem of insider risk. Accenture CISO Kris Burkhardt talks with Dmitriy Ostrobrod, who leads Accenture's global insider risk program, and Manoj Doolabh, who leads Accenture's cyber risk and emerging risk program. Get a behind-the-scenes look at understanding threats and deploying controls while balancing security and employee rights. Discover how emerging trends like the rise of agentic AI and remote worker fraud are changing insider risk management.

Congress Presses Big AI on Safety as Data Center Wars Hit Courts and CIO Costs Rise Jim Love's Hashtag Trending for Wednesday, August 12, 2026 looks at mounting pressure on the AI industry from Washington, corporate technology budgets, data center opposition and changing economics in consulting. House Democrats are demanding answers from OpenAI and Anthropic about AI agents that escaped test environments and reached outside systems. Senator Bernie Sanders is going further, urging OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta to pause development of their most advanced models. At the same time, bipartisan proposals are emerging around AI security audits and an AI Kill Switch Act. CIOs are facing another problem: rising costs. Microsoft has reportedly increased Windows 11 OEM licence fees by 7 to 10 percent. Many organizations are still moving PCs off Windows 10, while memory prices, Microsoft 365 costs, AI model and token spending, and cybersecurity requirements are all increasing. The fight over AI data centers is also moving into courtrooms. Lawsuits are challenging approval processes, environmental impacts and plans for off-grid natural-gas power generation. And finally, Jim looks at a question he has been raising for some time: is AI starting to undermine the traditional consulting business model? Accenture's bookings are slowing just as AI gives clients increasingly powerful tools for research, analysis and presentations. 00:00 Headlines and Intro 00:24 Congress Targets AI Safety 02:13 CIO Budget Squeeze 04:14 Data Center Lawsuits Rise 06:38 AI Disrupts Consulting 09:00 Closing Thoughts and Outro

What happens when your net worth reaches $500 million, but exists almost entirely on paper? For Martin Tobias, watching that concentrated position fall roughly 90% became a lasting lesson about liquidity, risk, and the difference between appearing wealthy and possessing durable wealth.Martin is the founder and managing partner of Incisive Ventures, a pre-seed venture capital firm focused on B2B software companies that reduce friction at scale. A three-time venture-backed CEO, Martin raised more than $500 million across his companies and completed two IPOs. His career also includes Accenture, Microsoft, and a venture partner role at Ignition Partners. He has since invested in eight companies that reached unicorn status.In this conversation, Martin joins Sam Silverman to trace his progression from corporate employee to founder, angel investor, and professional venture manager. He explains how early Microsoft equity created life-changing wealth, why delaying that opportunity carried an enormous cost, and how his experience with concentrated IPO stock shaped the way he protects capital today.Martin and Sam also examine the power-law economics of venture capital. They discuss why most early-stage investments may fail, why a 10x outcome may still be insufficient within a diversified fund, and how a small number of 100x outliers can determine the performance of an entire portfolio.In this conversation:How Microsoft equity created founder-level wealth for a corporate employeeWhy delaying Microsoft's offer by one year carried a $20 million opportunity costWhy a $500 million paper net worth was not the same as accessible cashHow IPO lockups and concentrated stock complicate personal liquidityWhy Martin placed most of a major win into conservative, cash-flowing assetsHow AI is changing entry-level careers and traditional training groundsWhy Martin focuses on capital-efficient, pre-seed B2B softwareWhat he looks for in founding teams and their distribution advantagesWhy his angel portfolio underperformed his professionally managed venture portfolioHow deal flow, selection bias, and adequate runway affect investment outcomesWhy venture funds depend on extreme outliers rather than consistent moderate winsHow aspiring venture managers can build credibility before raising a blind poolTopics covered: Martin Tobias, Incisive Ventures, venture capital, pre-seed investing, B2B software, startup equity, founder liquidity, concentrated stock positions, angel investing, power-law returns, portfolio construction, wealth preservation, AI and careersGuest: Martin Tobias, founder and managing partner of Incisive Ventureshttps://incisive.vc/Newsletter:https://www.mechanicsofmoney.coWebsite:https://silvermancapital.comFollow the Mechanics of Money for weekly conversations on private markets, alternative investments, and the mechanics behind building real wealth.#venturecapital #preseed #startupinvesting #b2bsoftware #angelinvesting #wealthstrategy #privateinvestments #mechanicsofmoney

Why do secondary schools fail so many young people? Whose fault is it? What does good vocational education look like? He says the hard hat is just as important as the graduation cap, but does Andy Burnham really get it? With A-Level and GCSE results due out, Steph's launched a day to celebrate the millions of people getting vocational qualifications. To mark this we take the show to a thriving business in Cornwall to look at how they're solving their skills problem. Also, Robert and Steph unpick the crisis in British education and come up with bold solutions. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK. Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt is joined by Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall to make the case for why Disney should exit the streaming business and focus only on producing and licensing its content. Steven digs into why Disney is well-positioned to leave streaming, the strength of its IP, and what Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro had to say about Steven's idea (02:24). Matt finishes the show with another weekend box office prediction for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day' (24:13). Host: Matt Belloni Gust: Steven Cahall Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Stefano Sanchez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Nominated for 25 Emmy Awards, including OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it take to build businesses from scratch in unfamiliar markets, lead through uncertainty, and stay grounded in purpose?Satyartha Mishra, a growth and turnaround technology business executive with over 30 years of international experience across the Asia-Pacific region, shares the experiences that shaped his remarkable journey. Having founded, led, and scaled businesses at organizations such as HCL, Tech Mahindra, Accenture, and Slalom, he reflects on the defining moments that transformed challenges into opportunities.From starting with zero connections in new countries to navigating personal loss and leading business turnarounds, Satyartha explains why adversity can be a powerful teacher. He shares valuable insights on building trust across cultures, identifying your strengths, adapting to change, and leading with empathy. The conversation also explores the importance of self-awareness, continuous learning, and staying true to your purpose in an ever-changing world.Beyond the corporate world, Satyartha discusses his work in climate action, social innovation, and supporting neurodivergent talent, offering a broader perspective on creating impact beyond business success.Whether you're an entrepreneur, a business leader, an aspiring professional, or someone navigating change, this conversation offers timeless lessons on resilience, leadership, and building a meaningful career driven by purpose.Guest: Mr. Satyartha Mishra (https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyartha-mishra-2673542/)Host: Anu Krishna Sound: Mahesh R.Producer: Archita Puranik

How fixable is the schism between the rich developed countries, led by the US, and the faster-growing BRICS+ group, led by China, Russia, and India? Can these emerging powerhouses truly detach themselves from the dollar-dominated financial system? And on which critical issues must we work collaboratively with them to avoid global disaster? Robert and Steph chat with Lord Jim O'Neill, the former Goldman Sachs chief economist who coined the influential BRIC concept 25 years ago. He has recently launched a new strategy platform and think tank, BRICS+ Thinking, designed to encourage pragmatic entente and policy cooperation with these fast-growing, powerful economies. As an influential crossbench peer who also has the ear of Andy Burnham, his views matter. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Chris Sawyer and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt is joined by Puck's Eriq Gardner to discuss the March 2027 trial date that has been set for the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery antitrust case and what it means for the likelihood of this merger going through. They highlight the $650 million per quarter ticking fee Paramount has to pay in the meantime, how the November midterm elections could play a factor, who has the best leverage, whether Netflix could end up back in the mix, David Ellison's New York Times column, and the other major legal issues at play (02:03). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about Season 4 of 'Ted Lasso' (30:08). Host: Matt Belloni Gust: Eriq Gardner Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Stefano Sanchez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Nominated for 25 Emmy Awards, including OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Craig Vaughan, Executive Managing Director and Global Head of AI Go-to-Market at NTT DATA, three months into the role. Craig traces his path from studying architecture at Cornell through an MBA at Wharton and a master's in business analytics from NYU Stern, then through go-to-market roles at SAP and a decade leading AI and gen AI practices at Accenture. He and Tammy dig into how leading diverse, cross-functional teams and moving at AI's breakneck pace aren't in tension but actually reinforce each other. They also discuss what drew Craig to NTT DATA's culture, the partnerships with OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Mistral that are shaping how the company delivers for clients, and how to keep AI adoption human-centric so workers are repurposed rather than replaced.Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATALinks: Craig Vaughan Learn more about Launch by NTT DATASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hundreds of Qantas back office roles could move offshore as the airline scrambles to save on costs. Plus, Acting PM Marles plays down Australia’s property slump, new Victorian Premier Ben Carroll braces for the release of a bombshell anti-corruption report, and Australian cinema sees its second-biggest day in box-office history. Read more: Qantas in talks with Accenture to move hundreds of back office roles overseas Richard Marles downplays $230bn housing slump Bombshell IBAC report on Daniel Andrews-era union scandal set for release Spider-Man and The Odyssey smash records in second-biggest weekend for Australian cinema See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are we in an AI bubble? Does it matter that Chinese AI firms are banned from using American chips? How big is the chance of an AI crash? Can an AI business survive without energy generation capabilities? Azeem Azhar – the founder of the leading research platform Exponential View – joins us to tell us about his report on the state of the AI economy. Plus, Robert and Steph find out what Azeem learnt about AI from a visit to a Chinese night club with the Moonshot gang. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Chris Sawyer and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"The most important thing for a leader, in my view, is integrity." "You need to be hands-on, but then you need to delegate." "If this fails, ultimately, the accountability sits with me." "Culture is something that all of us jointly develop and nurture." "At the end of the day, you have to own your decisions, so you cannot just let AI make   Noriko Sasaki is Country Head of Checkout.com Japan, leading the UK-based payment service provider's expansion in the Japanese market. Checkout.com helps online merchants, gaming companies and digital platforms process payments, improve acceptance rates, receive settlement funds and use payments as a driver of growth and profitability. Sasaki was born in Saitama and spent part of her childhood in Los Angeles when her father was assigned to American Honda. Returning to Japan as a teenager, she rebuilt her Japanese literacy, entered a leading Tokyo high school through a returnee pathway and later studied political science at Waseda University. She began her career in international consulting, working on business-process reengineering and SAP implementation, before earning an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. After returning to Japan, she worked at Walt Disney and then spent close to twenty years at Citibank, where she led major sales operations and participated in the historic transfer of Citi's Japanese retail-banking business into SMBC Trust Bank. She later held roles at Accenture, PwC and a Japanese consulting start-up before joining Checkout.com in November 2024. Her career combines consulting discipline, financial-services leadership, operational transformation, bicultural communication and a long-standing commitment to advancing women in leadership.   Noriko Sasaki's leadership journey has been shaped by repeated transitions across cultures, industries and organisational models. Born in Japan and raised partly in Los Angeles, she returned at fifteen with strong spoken Japanese but limited reading ability. Re-entering the Japanese education system required intensive study, adaptability and resilience. That bicultural experience later became a professional advantage, allowing her to move between Japanese context and international corporate expectations. After studying political science at Waseda University, Sasaki entered international consulting, where she worked on business-process reengineering, operational standardisation and SAP implementation. She eventually questioned whether advice based mainly on frameworks was enough without experience inside a company. An MBA at Carnegie Mellon gave her a broader business foundation, after which she returned to Japan, joined Walt Disney and then moved into banking through a major Citi integration project. Her first substantive people-management role came at Citi. The team was small and entirely female, and one early challenge was managing someone older, more experienced and more knowledgeable about banking. Sasaki responded with humility and respect rather than relying on title. She clarified that both people had different responsibilities, maintained a continuous dialogue and focused the team on a shared goal. That approach became a recurring leadership principle: alignment requires over-communication, clear accountability and respect for expertise at every level. Sasaki later led Citi's branch sales organisation and became closely involved in the transfer of the Japanese retail bank into SMBC Trust Bank. The experience taught her how to translate vision into strategy, strategy into action and action into clearly assigned responsibility. She also learned that senior leaders cannot remain distant from operations. At times, she worked directly on front-line tasks and took customer calls to understand the real issues. The challenge is to remain sufficiently hands-on to retain credibility while delegating enough to expand the organisation's capacity. Her delegation model is structured rather than passive. Before assigning work, she checks the timeline, capacity, assumptions and direction. She asks for interim updates well before completion so that course corrections do not arrive at the final moment and destroy motivation. The employee retains room to execute, but Sasaki remains accountable for the outcome. That air cover matters in a Japanese environment where fear of mistakes can discourage initiative. Innovation similarly depends on lowering the barrier to contribution. Sasaki uses brainstorming rules that give everyone an equal opportunity to speak and explicitly reject the idea of a stupid suggestion. She reminds teams that improvement does not always require a dramatic zero-to-one breakthrough. A small change from 1.0 to 1.1 can still create meaningful value. This framing is especially useful in Japan, where perfectionism, hierarchy, seniority and concern about losing face can suppress ideas before they are voiced. Trust, in Sasaki's view, is built through the smallest commitments. If she casually promises dinner, she records it and follows through. Technology helps her remember birthdays, promises and relationship milestones, but the principle is behavioural consistency. Blaming someone when something goes wrong can destroy trust immediately. Leaders therefore need to own consequences, support people through difficulties and demonstrate that accountability flows upward as well as downward. At Checkout.com, Sasaki works within global operating principles while adapting them to Japan. A principle such as 'talk straight' cannot simply be imported as blunt communication. Honesty must remain, but the method should fit the individual and the high-context Japanese environment. She rejects the notion of building a personal empire around the country head. Culture should survive the leader and be jointly developed by everyone, because engagement is a shared responsibility. Her advice to expatriate leaders is to be patient, recognise the depth of context behind Japanese communication and keep searching for channels through which people can contribute. She also urges them to enjoy Japan beyond the office. For women seeking leadership, she stresses sponsors, internal and external networks, authentic behaviour and the willingness to accept promotion as a means of influencing change for others, not merely pursuing personal ambition. Sasaki's leadership definition rests on four pillars: integrity, vision, communication and accountability. AI can strengthen decision intelligence by processing more information and highlighting options, but leaders must still judge relevance and own the final decision. AI also creates a human-capital challenge: when routine work collapses from 100 hours to ten, leaders need a vision for the capacity released. People should be treated as capital and sources of ideas, not simply as costs to eliminate. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan operates inside a high-context culture where a spoken sentence rarely contains the entire message. Sasaki advises leaders to consider background relationships, informal communication and the time people need to digest information before responding. Silence does not necessarily indicate disengagement, and an immediate answer may not be realistic when employees are trying to avoid mistakes. Hierarchy, age, tenure and gender can also influence who feels entitled to speak. Effective leaders create equal opportunities for contribution, clarify expectations and adapt the communication method to the individual without compromising honesty. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle because they import behavioural principles without local adaptation. A global instruction to 'talk straight', for example, can be interpreted as permission for bluntness, even though direct confrontation may shut down dialogue in Japan. Leaders also underestimate how much patience, explanation and relationship-building are required. Sasaki recommends resisting the urge to judge delayed responses as resistance. Foreign executives should search for different communication channels and recognise that Japanese colleagues often have valuable ideas but may lack confidence in English or fear offering unverified information. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan's reluctance to take risk is closely connected to perfectionism, accountability and fear of public error. Sasaki lowers this barrier by making delegation explicit, requesting early updates and accepting ultimate accountability when an initiative fails. She also reframes innovation as incremental improvement rather than demanding a revolutionary breakthrough. An idea that improves a process from 1.0 to 1.1 is still worthwhile. When leaders demonstrate that there are no stupid ideas and that people will be supported rather than blamed, employees become more willing to test improvements and leave the safety of established routines. What leadership style actually works? Sasaki's style balances humility, structure and hands-on credibility. When managing people with greater age or technical experience, she respects what they know while remaining clear about her own role. She aligns people around mission, breaks vision into strategy and action, and specifies responsibility, including her own. She will enter the operation to understand reality, but she does not remain there permanently. Delegation succeeds when people know the direction, assumptions, deadline and escalation points. The leader provides support, receives interim updates and owns the consequence without micromanaging every step. How can technology help? Technology supports both Checkout.com's payment business and Sasaki's leadership practices. Payments data can help merchants improve profitability and growth, while productivity tools help leaders keep promises and maintain relationships through reminders and accurate follow-up. AI extends this further by processing a much larger volume of information and supporting decision intelligence, scenario development and contingency planning. Sasaki nevertheless draws a clear boundary: AI can provide evidence and insights, but leaders must determine what is relevant and own the decision. Technology should strengthen judgement rather than replace responsibility. Does language proficiency matter? Language proficiency matters because Japanese is a high-context language and much meaning sits in nuance, implication and relationship history. At the same time, Sasaki believes communication is possible even when English proficiency is limited, provided there is patience and genuine will on both sides. Leaders should use multiple channels, allow preparation and avoid assuming that difficulty expressing an idea means the person has nothing to contribute. Her own bicultural background demonstrates the value of moving between languages and contexts, but the deeper skill is creating enough psychological safety for people to keep trying. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? The ultimate leadership lesson is to act with integrity and accept accountability. Sasaki believes leaders must consistently do what is right for the company, customers, society and other people. Vision gives direction; communication enables others to understand it; accountability assures employees that the leader has their back. Culture should not become a personality cult or depend on one country head. It should be jointly developed, durable and grounded in shared behavioural principles. Leadership is therefore not personal dominance, but consistent stewardship that allows others to act, learn and contribute. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Lawrence Phillips. Purpose of the Interview To showcase Lawrence Phillips’ entrepreneurial journey from engineering to founding Green Book Global, a travel review platform for Black travelers. To highlight the significance of Black Ambition, an initiative by Pharrell Williams supporting Black and Brown entrepreneurs. To inspire listeners about resilience, innovation, and the importance of culturally inclusive travel resources. Key Takeaways Background & Career Shift Phillips studied Electrical Engineering at Georgia Tech and worked at Accenture in IT consulting for nearly a decade. Despite career success, he felt unfulfilled and decided to pursue his passion for travel, leading to the creation of Green Book Global. Travel Experience Traveled to 30+ countries across all seven continents, including Antarctica, in less than a year. Realized the need for a platform addressing “traveling while Black” concerns—safety, cultural acceptance, and inclusivity. Green Book Global Inspired by the historical Green Book (1936–1966), which guided Black travelers during segregation. Offers city-level Black-friendly scores, road trip planners, and Black-owned restaurant recommendations. Over 150,000 app downloads in 2025; partnered with Expedia; strong social media presence. Black Ambition Program Phillips applied three times before reaching semifinals, emphasizing persistence. Program provided funding opportunities and a transformative Evoke Wellness experience. His personal “why” statement:“I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” Impact & Vision Advocates systemic change by partnering with destinations to improve inclusivity. Highlights the economic power of Black travelers (over $140 billion annually). Encourages Black travelers to explore global opportunities beyond U.S. racial constraints. Notable Quotes “You can be successful and still not be happy.” — On leaving a lucrative career for passion. “I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” — His guiding principle. “There’s riches in niches.” — On unapologetically focusing on Black travelers. “Just because somebody said no doesn’t mean they said no to you—they said no at that time.” — On persistence in entrepreneurship. #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Lawrence Phillips. Purpose of the Interview To showcase Lawrence Phillips’ entrepreneurial journey from engineering to founding Green Book Global, a travel review platform for Black travelers. To highlight the significance of Black Ambition, an initiative by Pharrell Williams supporting Black and Brown entrepreneurs. To inspire listeners about resilience, innovation, and the importance of culturally inclusive travel resources. Key Takeaways Background & Career Shift Phillips studied Electrical Engineering at Georgia Tech and worked at Accenture in IT consulting for nearly a decade. Despite career success, he felt unfulfilled and decided to pursue his passion for travel, leading to the creation of Green Book Global. Travel Experience Traveled to 30+ countries across all seven continents, including Antarctica, in less than a year. Realized the need for a platform addressing “traveling while Black” concerns—safety, cultural acceptance, and inclusivity. Green Book Global Inspired by the historical Green Book (1936–1966), which guided Black travelers during segregation. Offers city-level Black-friendly scores, road trip planners, and Black-owned restaurant recommendations. Over 150,000 app downloads in 2025; partnered with Expedia; strong social media presence. Black Ambition Program Phillips applied three times before reaching semifinals, emphasizing persistence. Program provided funding opportunities and a transformative Evoke Wellness experience. His personal “why” statement:“I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” Impact & Vision Advocates systemic change by partnering with destinations to improve inclusivity. Highlights the economic power of Black travelers (over $140 billion annually). Encourages Black travelers to explore global opportunities beyond U.S. racial constraints. Notable Quotes “You can be successful and still not be happy.” — On leaving a lucrative career for passion. “I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” — His guiding principle. “There’s riches in niches.” — On unapologetically focusing on Black travelers. “Just because somebody said no doesn’t mean they said no to you—they said no at that time.” — On persistence in entrepreneurship. #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two recent technology investments illustrate some of the Pentagon's biggest IT bets: consolidating enterprise software purchases and accelerating artificial intelligence across the military. Oracle landed a contract worth up to $7 billion to provide software and services across the Defense Department, while Accenture won an $821 million task order to expand the Pentagon's War Data Platform, which it views as the backbone of many of its AI efforts. They reflect a broader strategy to standardize IT infrastructure, avoid duplicative spending, and make it easier for AI analyze military data. Federal News Network's Rachel Cohen joins me now with a closer look.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

n8n's founder puts the company's GitHub repo, nearly 200,000 stars, right next to the paid signup button, and he's genuinely fine if you never pay. In this episode of The Product Podcast, Carlos (CEO at Product School) sits down with Jan Oberhauser, CEO of n8n, the open-source automation platform that's crossed $100 million in ARR at a $5.2 billion valuation. Jan breaks down the "fair-code" license bet that let him give the product away and still build a business, how that free version became the on-ramp into enterprises like Meta, Nvidia, Dell, Accenture, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, and Mercedes, and why he believes the people with the problem should build the automation themselves, not a centralized team or an outside agency.He also walks through a live build of a personal AI agent (email and calendar), shows how n8n falls back from Claude to GPT via OpenRouter when a model isn't available, and explains how enterprises get automations into production faster because each agent can only do exactly what it's been permitted to do.What you'll learn:Why n8n rejected traditional open source for a "fair-code" license, and how it avoided the community backlash that burned other companiesWhy trust and consistency, not features, are the real center of a communityHow the free, self-hosted version drives bottom-up adoption inside major enterprisesWhy "sprinkling AI on top" kills products, and what to build insteadHow to chain agents so one agent's output becomes the next agent's inputWhy n8n is the "connective tissue" between models, tools, and business systemsHow guardrails (an agent can only do what it's explicitly allowed) speed up enterprise procurement and productionWhy the people with the problem should own the building, not a centralized AI teamHow 10,000+ community templates and 500+ integrations expand what non-technical builders can shipHow one company routes 75% of support through an n8n agent, with customers happier than with humansConnect with Guest (Jan Oberhauser):LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janoberhauserX: https://x.com/JanOberhauserHost: Carlos, CEO at Product SchoolLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/villaumbrosia/About Jan Oberholzer: Jan is the CEO of n8n, an open-source (fair-code) workflow automation and orchestration platform for building AI agents. He started the company over seven years ago, before LLMs went mainstream, and has grown it past $100M ARR at a $5.2B valuation.About the Product Podcast: Product School's podcast brings you candid conversations with the founders and product leaders shaping tech.Social Links:Find out more about Product School hereFollow our Podcast on TikTok hereFollow Product School on LinkedIn here

What parts of AI does the UK have to control to secure ourselves against enemies? Does Burnham understand how important AI is for growth and security? Are entrepreneurs less welcome in the UK now? Why should the government support a ‘freedom to fail' funding and business culture?  Matt Clifford wrote Starmer's AI action plan.  He is a tech investor and co-founder of the billion dollar business Entrepreneurs First. He talks to Robert and Steph about UK AI policy and chairing the organisation ARIA that hands out government funding for fundamental tech research. Plus find out what re-freezing the arctic has to do with all this. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan Bonham Producer: Isabelle Bougeard Exec Producers: Chris Sawyer and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens after a patient leaves the hospital may matter as much as the care they received inside it. In this conversation, Ajay Mody and Asher Perzigian sit down with Dimer Health CEO and Co-Founder Caroline Hodge to discuss why the post-discharge period remains one of healthcare's biggest challenges—and how Dimer Health is helping patients recover safely at home through a technology-enabled transitional care model.  Caroline shares the vision behind Dimer Health, the healthcare gaps the company is working to address, and the lessons learned while building a new approach to care transitions. At the heart of the discussion is Dimer Health's mission to guide patients through every health transition with seamless, proactive, personalized care—combining physician-led expertise with purpose-built technology to improve outcomes and deliver a higher standard of care. As a winner of Accenture's HealthTech Innovation Challenge, Dimer Health is gaining recognition for its innovative approach to extending care beyond traditional healthcare settings.  You'll also get an exclusive preview of Dimer Connect, a platform reimagining the discharge experience as a seamless, connected, and interactive patient journey—and offering a glimpse into what's next for personalized, proactive care.  For healthcare leaders focused on innovation, patient engagement, and the future of care delivery, this conversation provides a firsthand look at the next generation of patient support and care coordination.

Matt and Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw finish The Town's first Future Blockbusters Draft by filling the remaining five slots on their teams (01:12). Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Stefano Sanchez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Send us Fan Mail#085.  In this episode, Justin sits down with Lisa Clements, founder of Clear Springs Wealth and a former corporate HR leader at Meta and Accenture, who left a nearly 24-year corporate career to help single women build wealth on their own terms. Lisa brings both professional expertise and lived experience — she's built significant financial independence as a single woman herself, and that perspective shapes everything she teaches.We dig into why Lisa believes girls need the same expectation boys often get by default: get a job in high school, start managing your own money, and make your money mistakes while you're still under your parents' roof — not for the first time in a college dorm. Lisa shares real stories from her own family and clients about what happens when daughters are — or aren't — brought into financial conversations early, including why opening up the family budget at 14 can build confidence instead of anxiety.We also cover:Why Lisa sees "learned helplessness" show up differently in women around money — and how to tell if it's authentic or a self-protective storyThe decision-making frameworks she teaches clients (and her nieces and nephews) for big money choices — the timeline test, the flexibility filter, and the future-self testHow everyday moments — a disputed grade, a tough coach conversation, friend drama — are actually financial advocacy training in disguiseWhat the Stanford marshmallow experiment gets wrong, and what it means for how we build financial patience in kidsPractical, low-pressure ways to start a money conversation with your daughter this weekWhether you're raising a daughter, a son, or both, this conversation offers a clear-eyed look at where financial confidence really comes from — and how small, early experiences with money and self-advocacy compound over a lifetime.Connect with Lisa: Website: clearspringswealth.com Instagram/TikTok/YouTube: @clearspringswealth Email: lisa@clearspringswealth.comShow notes and more at:https://moneydadpodcast.com/session085Support the show

Sulabh Agarwal, Managing Director and Global Head of Payments at Accenture, helps financial institutions and organisations worldwide navigate the rapidly evolving payments landscape. He works with clients to drive innovation, modernise payment systems, and manage operational risk across the payments value chain. Leading teams across Europe, North America, and Growth Markets, Sulabh oversees a global practice of approximately 5,000 professionals.On The Menu:Why reinventing yourself every two years keeps you sharpDigital euro vs digital dollar: Europe's CBDC edgeReal-time payments and the shrinking fraud detection windowWhat India's UPI got right that others haven'tSeparating genuine fintech innovation from industry noiseWhy loyalty and rewards are becoming payment differentiatorsHow AI agents will soon pick your payment method

How has Donald Trump got away with bringing in new tariffs when the last lot were ruled unlawful? Why is the UK in a worse position than the EU now? Are trade wars always bad? Had anyone ever won one without harming themselves? Are we ever going to get back to free trade? Robert and Steph are joined by economist and FT columnist Soumaya Keynes, self-confessed trade nerd and author of ‘How to win a trade war' to evaluate the damage from Trump's new wave of tariffs on 60 countries. The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's smart energy pioneer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify-UK Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠restismoney@goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠ For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to ⁠www.goalhanger.com⁠ Video Editor: Dylan BonhamProducer: Isabelle BougeardExec Producers: Chris Sawyer and Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt and Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw put on their studio chief hats and conduct the first Future Blockbusters Draft. In Part 1, they draft five elements (director, actor, or IP) they believe will define the box office for the next 10 years (00:34). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger (24:18). Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Stefano Sanchez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify Tickets available at americancinematheque.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

https://clearmeasure.com/developers/forums/ Blake Caraway is the General Manager of Texas Multi-Chem, Ltd., a Texas Hill Country company where he has spent over a decade transforming daily operations through technology. With a degree in Computer Information Systems from Southwest Texas State University, Blake began his career as a Programmer Analyst at Dell Technologies, then moved into software architecture at Callaway Golf. He later joined Headspring Systems in Austin, which was later acquired by Accenture, as a Principal Consultant, where he led agile software projects, shaped client-facing architecture, and helped grow the consulting practice. Blake brought that software experience back to his hometown of Kerrville, Texas, where he now leads Texas Multi-Chem — a preeminent sports field contractor of Texas. Blake is using technology to improve internal operations one business process as a time.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecaraway/ Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Lawrence Phillips. Purpose of the Interview To showcase Lawrence Phillips’ entrepreneurial journey from engineering to founding Green Book Global, a travel review platform for Black travelers. To highlight the significance of Black Ambition, an initiative by Pharrell Williams supporting Black and Brown entrepreneurs. To inspire listeners about resilience, innovation, and the importance of culturally inclusive travel resources. Key Takeaways Background & Career Shift Phillips studied Electrical Engineering at Georgia Tech and worked at Accenture in IT consulting for nearly a decade. Despite career success, he felt unfulfilled and decided to pursue his passion for travel, leading to the creation of Green Book Global. Travel Experience Traveled to 30+ countries across all seven continents, including Antarctica, in less than a year. Realized the need for a platform addressing “traveling while Black” concerns—safety, cultural acceptance, and inclusivity. Green Book Global Inspired by the historical Green Book (1936–1966), which guided Black travelers during segregation. Offers city-level Black-friendly scores, road trip planners, and Black-owned restaurant recommendations. Over 150,000 app downloads in 2025; partnered with Expedia; strong social media presence. Black Ambition Program Phillips applied three times before reaching semifinals, emphasizing persistence. Program provided funding opportunities and a transformative Evoke Wellness experience. His personal “why” statement:“I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” Impact & Vision Advocates systemic change by partnering with destinations to improve inclusivity. Highlights the economic power of Black travelers (over $140 billion annually). Encourages Black travelers to explore global opportunities beyond U.S. racial constraints. Notable Quotes “You can be successful and still not be happy.” — On leaving a lucrative career for passion. “I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” — His guiding principle. “There’s riches in niches.” — On unapologetically focusing on Black travelers. “Just because somebody said no doesn’t mean they said no to you—they said no at that time.” — On persistence in entrepreneurship. #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSteve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author, financial advisor, and former management consultant Brian Herriot joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about pursuing time freedom before financial freedom.Brian and I talk about his new book Time Freedom, the difference between time freedom and financial freedom, how flexible work can bridge the gap, and what he learned from using early readers, workshops, and hybrid publishing to turn his ideas into a book.Chapters00:00 - Brian's Time Freedom Story02:58 - Why Brian Wrote the Book05:30 - Choosing Hybrid Publishing09:53 - Building the Business Behind the Book12:16 - Time Freedom vs Financial Freedom16:46 - Making Nine Months Cover Twelve19:47 - Remote Work and Flexible Work23:18 - Who Can Actually Do This?27:17 - Early Readers and Draft Feedback31:51 - Tools for Testing a Book33:32 - Testing Ideas Before Writing36:00 - Writing the First Draft40:26 - The Time Freedom Framework46:52 - Writing a Better Ending50:44 - Counterintuitive Money AdviceResources We MentionedTime Freedom preorder pageTime Freedom CalculatorTime Freedom PodcastBrian Herriot on LinkedInWrite a Must-Read by AJ HarperAJ HarperPage Two SimplifiedMike MichalowiczMike Michalowicz on The Business of AuthorityWrite Useful Books / Rob FitzpatrickHelp This BookHeroic Public SpeakingCharlie Hoehn on The Knowledge Project with Shane ParrishGuest BioBrian Herriot is the founder of Time Freedom and the author of Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now. He is an author, speaker, registered investment advisor, financial advisor, business consultant, and co-host of The Time Freedom Podcast. His professional background includes management consulting roles at Accenture and Point B, as well as a director position at UCSF Health. Learn more at https://timefreedom.life/. (00:00) - Brian's Time Freedom Story (02:58) - Why Brian Wrote the Book (05:30) - Choosing Hybrid Publishing (09:53) - Building the Business Behind the Book (12:16) - Time Freedom vs Financial Freedom (16:46) - Making Nine Months Cover Twelve (19:47) - Remote Work and Flexible Work (23:18) - Who Can Actually Do This? (27:17) - Early Readers and Draft Feedback (31:51) - Tools for Testing a Book (33:32) - Testing Ideas Before Writing (36:00) - Writing the First Draft (40:26) - The Time Freedom Framework (46:52) - Writing a Better Ending (50:44) - Counterintuitive Money Advice ----Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like:Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time?Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space?Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours writing another custom proposal?Book a one-on-one coaching call with me and get answers to these questions and others in the time it takes to get ready for work in the morning.Best of all, you're covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don't feel like it was worth it, just say the word, and I'll refund your purchase in full.To book your one-on-one coaching call, go to: https://jonathanstark.com/callI hope to see you there!

Matt is joined by Sean Diffley, head of media and entertainment as well as cable and telecom research at Morgan Stanley to discuss a new system for stock picking called the MS Media Matrix, which ranks publicly traded entertainment companies based on audience and engagement, their interactivity, urgency of the content, pricing power, IP, and AI positioning, and then compares these strengths and weaknesses to the companies' relative share price. They discuss the importance of ownership within these companies, AI's role in content creation and the future of leisure time, and AI's impact on content consumption (02:56). Matt finishes the show with a prediction on what will be the second weekend drop of ‘The Odyssey' (30:33). Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Sean Diffley Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Stefano Sanchez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo This episode is brought to you by AMC+. Start your free trial today at join.amcplus.com This episode is brought to you by Accenture. https://Accenture.com/Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if the smartest move you can make is to disrupt your own company before a competitor does?In this episode, Lindsay Smith sits down with John Durocher, the self-described accidental COO of Calix. John never set out to run operations. He came up through consulting and customer success, never managed a supply chain or an IT org, and that is exactly why his CEO wanted him in the seat. His mandate: question everything.John and Lindsay get into how to lead change when everyone is comfortable, build a leadership team that actually trusts each other, give feedback in the moment rather than at review season, and use AI to take drudgery off people rather than cut headcount. He also shares the directive that shaped his role: go build the company that would beat us.For any second-in-command driving transformation without breaking their people, this is a playbook. Listen now.This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.If you and your leadership team are ready to operate at the next level, take the Elite Organizations Assessment and receive a free 20-page customized report based on your answers, plus a complimentary one-hour coaching session with a Next Level Growth Partner and Business Guide to begin implementing tools that will help you build an even more elite business.Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessmentTimestamped Highlights[00:01:32] The accidental COO: how a late-night phone call rewrote John's career[00:08:46] Why the people who succeeded longest have the hardest time changing[00:10:05] Disrupt yourself, or wait to be disrupted... the directive that built his role[00:10:59] When your CEO used to work for you: inside an unusually honest relationship[00:16:11] Why John never waits for a formal review to give hard feedback[00:18:22] The courageous conversation with his boss that became a breakthrough[00:21:03] The team reset that exposes how little colleagues really know each other[00:27:26] Seeing the seams: the bird's eye view nobody else in the company has[00:29:28] “Staple yourself to the order form” and other ways to fix the customer experience[00:33:46] Fast isn't always good... what moving too quickly does to an organization[00:36:08] Stop telling your boss why it won't work. Do this instead.[00:37:25] The COO's job is to slow down the CEO, not slam on the brakes[00:42:43] Does remote work actually work? John's rebuttal to the water-cooler myth[00:46:41] What's next for Calix: AI agents and the smart apartmentAbout the GuestJohn Durocher is the Chief Operations Officer at Calix, where he leads operations across the company, from customer success and commercial operations to supply chain and IT. He joined Calix in 2023 as Chief Customer Officer and stepped into the COO role about a year ago. Before Calix, John spent 17 years at Salesforce leading customer success, where he watched the company grow from $250M to $30B in revenue. He began his career in consulting, including time at Accenture and Arthur Andersen, and describes himself as an accidental COO who treats the job like one long consulting project.

What if the biggest threat to your company isn't your competition...but your technology strategy?This week on The 30 Minute Hour, we sit down with John Melott, CIO of Labrie Environmental Group, to discuss why every CEO must think like a CIO—before it's too late.From IBM and Accenture to leading technology transformation across multiple industries, John shares:- How leaders can future-proof their organizations- The biggest technology mistakes executives make- Why cybersecurity is now a leadership issue- How AI is reshaping the future of businessIf you're a CEO, CIO, or senior executive, this conversation could change the way you lead.PS.Is Your Organization Really Ready for AI?Click or copy here to find out: https://bit.ly/AIReadypodcast#Leadership #CIO #AI #Cybersecurity #The30MinuteHour

Some marketing ideas capture attention for a moment. The very best ones become part of culture. And you could say...that's priceless.Recorded live at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Jim sits down with Jill Kramer, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, to discuss what it's like to lead one of the world's most iconic brands. Mastercard, known globally for its “Priceless” platform and its role at the center of everyday commerce, has spent decades building trust, emotional connection, and cultural relevance across markets. After nearly a decade as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Accenture, where she led the company's "Let There Be Change" brand transformation, and earlier leadership roles at BBDO and DDB, Jill stepped into one of marketing's most influential positions with the responsibility of guiding Mastercard's next chapter.In this wide-ranging conversation, Jill shares her approach to earning trust as a new leader, building creative cultures where ideas can thrive, and why her philosophy of "early, ugly, often" has helped teams create better work. She also discusses how Mastercard is evolving its brand beyond payments, leaning into experiences, partnerships, and technology, and how the company is approaching AI, creator collaborations, and innovation while staying true to the timeless principles that have made it one of the most respected brands in the world.Whether you're leading a global organization or a small team, Jill offers thoughtful lessons on curiosity, creativity, change, and why the best leaders never stop learning.—This week's episode is brought to you by Infillion.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most change initiatives fail not because the strategy was wrong but because the communication didn't move anyone. HR leaders deliver their message, check the box, and wonder why nothing shifted. The problem almost never lives in the data. It lives in the absence of story. Mary Czarnecki, Brand Messaging Consultant at Mary Czarnecki LLC, spent more than two decades in marketing and strategy at Johnson & Johnson, WebMD, and Accenture before building a practice that trains leaders at Fortune 500 companies to use story as a practical tool for influence and organizational change. In this episode, she covers: Why more information alone can't produce behavior change, and what story does that information can't How to identify where people are getting stuck before looking for a story, so the narrative actually closes the right gap The three ingredients in any story that actually lands: a specific moment, sensory details, and a clear arc from before to after Timestamps [00:00:16] What it means to help leaders turn ideas into influence, and why storytelling is the vehicle [00:01:49] Why change initiatives fail because of communication, not strategy, and how story closes that gap [00:02:31] The first step in storytelling most leaders skip: identifying what someone isn't getting before finding a story [00:04:11] What the HR Story Advantage actually means, and why knowing the facts about a habit doesn't create the habit [00:07:47] How to find the right story when you're the messenger, not the creator of the message [00:09:43] Balancing transparency and oversharing: the audience-centric gut check that keeps stories from backfiring [00:12:47] The bad perm story: a client example of how a personal, humble story got an entire sales team to bring their own stories [00:16:42] Where AI helps with storytelling and the one trap to avoid when using it [00:18:10] The most common communication mistake leaders make today: building a message without putting yourself in the audience's shoes first [00:19:29] The treasure trove habit: why the best communicators don't find stories on demand, they collect them over time Brought to You by Paylocity Paylocity is the fastest growing unified platform for HR, Finance, and IT. Paylocity brings your people, processes, and data together in one place so HR leaders can spend less time managing systems and more time doing the work that actually moves their organizations forward. Learn more at paylocity.com Keywords: storytelling, leadership communication, change management, HR strategy, influence without authority, organizational change, internal communication, narrative, employee engagement, communication skills, HR leadership, people strategy, trust building, audience-centric communication, Mary Czarnecki, behavior change, change communication, HR story advantage, story structure, workplace storytelling

Join us in this episode of the AI Leaders Podcast and discover what context truly means for AI agents operating on enterprise data. Teresa Tung, Global Advanced Data Lead at Accenture, sits down with Ora Lassila, Associate Director of Data Engineering and Governance at Accenture and Juan Sequeda, Principal Data Strategist at ServiceNow to cut through the hype on why agents without semantics hallucinate and return conflicting answers, and how to start building a semantic layer that generates compounding value.

Don’t Fade and Die in AI Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ Matt Yanchyshyn, VP AWS Marketplace, Rekha Thangelapalita, Elastic GSI Leaders; Allison McFadden, Accenture AWS Leader; and James Kang of Nvidia join Ultimate Partner. In this panel discussion, leaders from Elastic, Accenture, Nvidia, and AWS dissect the urgent shifts in the ecosystem, emphasizing that partners must adapt to AI and agentic co-selling or risk fading away completely. The conversation explores the necessity of deep co-engineering, the power of multi-product solutions in the AWS marketplace, and how automated agents are now replacing traditional human sales pipeline progression. By embracing data readiness and strategic collaboration, organizations can survive the “token maxing” era, effectively scale their enterprise opportunities, and align with NVIDIA’s five-layer strategy to dominate the new cloud landscape. https://youtu.be/zUkL4Wqsa68 Key Takeaways AI agents will automate the majority of AWS partner co-selling attachments and opportunity progressions this year. Partners who fail to embrace agentic workflows and automated governance face the existential risk of fading into obsolescence. Successful multi-product offerings require a “blood to all organs” approach that benefits the client, the ISV, the GSI, and the hyperscaler simultaneously. Nvidia’s “five-layer cake” model emphasizes that successful outcomes at the application layer automatically drive growth for all underlying infrastructure. The “token maxing” phenomenon is forcing enterprises to seek cost-effective, open-model alternatives to scale their generative AI securely. Integrating GSIs and ISVs on the AWS marketplace significantly increases enterprise deal sizes and long-term customer renewal rates. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags strategic collaboration agreement, data readiness engine, agentic co-sell, semantic layer, token maxing, five layer cake, accelerated computing platform, open models, cloud consumption, multi-product solutions, partner central agents, propensity data, automated opportunity progression, generative AI governance Transcript Matt Y and Panel Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to Agen Co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:22] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi. Own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because [00:00:46] Vince Menzione: being in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:51] Vince Menzione: We’ve got some amazing leaders joining us. So I think probably for a little bit of context, maybe just start with Rika. You can introduce yourself, your role and, uh, what, what you’ve been doing at Elastic. Yeah. [00:01:03] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, sounds great. [00:01:04] Rekha Thangellapalli: Hi everyone. I’m Reka and I lead GSI Alliances at Elastic. Um, for the past 14 years, I’ve had the pleasure of building different kinds of partner ecosystems across companies such as SAP. MuleSoft, Salesforce, Coupa, and now Elastic. Um, I wanna thank Ultimate partner and Vince for having us here today. Thank you and the panel of these incredible speakers for joining me on stage. [00:01:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, very excited for the conversation today. [00:01:33] Vince Menzione: We love Elastic, and you’ve had some of your other leaders on stage at other events. As such, the quality of your leadership team is amazing. Thank you. [00:01:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: I wholeheartedly agree. [00:01:45] Allison McFadden: Excellent. Um, hello everyone. Allison McFadden. I lead our North America AWS practice at Accenture. [00:01:52] Allison McFadden: Uh, I’ve been there for five years, and truth be told, it was my first partnership role, my first formal partnership role. Uh, so I can take some tips from all of you in the room here today. Prior to that, I was 21 years with IBM, and I got into partnerships because my last role at IBM was actually trying to build. [00:02:14] Allison McFadden: Linux business on the mainframe, and I had to have partners. I had to have partners to help me with workloads to run there. So I kind of learned, uh, trial by fire. But I’m excited for the conversation today. Excited to be in this room and excited to talk about what we’re doing with, uh, elastic. Thank you. [00:02:34] James Kang: Uh, my name is James Kang. Nice to see and meet everyone here. Vince, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: for being here. [00:02:39] James Kang: Um, I’m with Nvidia, so I help manage the AWS partnership at Nvidia all up. Um, I guess fun fact, I’m former AWS and so I see a lot of very familiar faces here in the front row. Uh, former colleagues and then current friends. [00:02:56] James Kang: And so, uh, looking forward to the conversation. [00:02:59] Vince Menzione: Great. Well, we’ll start with an easy tia. Matt. This is not directed to you, directed to the others. So what does a successful AWS partnership look like from your C? So we’ll start with Eureka. [00:03:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. So from an ISV perspective, I think we really are looking at three things. [00:03:15] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, mutual investment building together. And scaling together. So when we talk about mutual investment, elastic recently signed a five-year SCA or strategic collaboration agreement with AWS. And while that is a significant milestone in our partnership, for us, what matters more is what it represents, and that is really a long-term commitment from both companies. [00:03:39] Rekha Thangellapalli: Towards product engineering, um, and joint go to market initiatives to deliver value to customers over time. And that’s what we see is that the best partnerships really compound and they build upon each other every year. Um, they don’t necessarily kind of reset every year. Um, next we talk about building together. [00:03:59] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, um. When we talk about joint solutions, we want to deliver solutions that are better together and the customers have to see us that way. And so whether it’s search, observability, or security, we’re looking at taking to market solutions that we can’t or necessarily don’t wanna take on our own. And finally we talk about scaling together. [00:04:22] Rekha Thangellapalli: And this is where marketplace, for instance, plays a big role, um, when customers can draw down on their cloud commitments, transact online and go from, you know, pilot to enterprise scale adoption in hours, not days. Um, this is when really everyone wins. Um, and this is also where partners like Accenture play a critical role. [00:04:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, you know, the incredible amount of expertise that they bring, uh, the managed services capabilities and, um, their data assets actually play a huge role in having our customers realize that value faster. And, um, like Vince mentioned, at the end of the day, best partnerships are all all about creating kind of that. [00:05:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Self-sustaining flywheel. And so it starts with investing together, building something unique, and having the customers realize that success faster because that success is really the only thing that’s gonna keep that flywheel going for everyone involved. I [00:05:26] Vince Menzione: absolutely. [00:05:26] Allison McFadden: Okay, amazing. I’m gonna riff off a few things Ika said, but from a GSI perspective. [00:05:32] Allison McFadden: A relationship with a WSA successful relationship with AWS looks slightly different. Um, so I think the first thing that we think of in the GSI Community common thread is that the client outcome and delivering value for clients is what we, what we’re striving for. Um, and so the partnership with AWS in that case, um, um, it has to, it has to. [00:06:01] Allison McFadden: Look like one team in front of our clients. So we have to show up indistinguishable, and that’s with AWS and with an ISV partner, it has to look like one solution in front of the client, especially moments that matter. So board meetings, um, you know, the time we’re gonna sign a deal, like we have to look like one team, uh, and keep our our client outcome, um, first and foremost in mind. [00:06:24] Allison McFadden: The second thing, and this is I think where the magic of all the people in this room comes into play. We can have as many discussions at a CEO level as we want. And if our client teams on the ground are not working together, it falls apart. Falls apart directly in front of the client. Yes. And that is a really hard thing to do. [00:06:45] Allison McFadden: So I’m passionate about the alliance work because that that work is what makes it happen at the corporate level. [00:06:53] James Kang: Cool. Um. I’ll start here. So in Nvidia is a accelerated computing platform company. Um, if you asked. Anyone on the, on the street about a year ago, what is ai? A lot of times they would say AI is, is open ai, or it’s philanthropic. [00:07:12] James Kang: Um, Jensen and I’ll, I’ll reference Jensen a lot today, um, because he is our leader, um, but he also sets the strategy in the direction for Nvidia. He talks a lot about AI in the metaphor of a five layer cake. And in terms of the five layer cake, you start off with the foundational bottom layer being power and energy, which sustains. [00:07:32] James Kang: All of our data centers, you move up the stack in terms of chips. So things think of Foxconn, think of TSMC. Next you have the infrastructure layer. So obvious choice is AWS, and then you get to the models where you do have the philanthropics and the open ais. But finally in at the precipice, you have the application layer. [00:07:53] James Kang: Ultimately, the reason why I mentioned all different stacks of the layers, the five layer cake, is the fact that the application layer is the most important. And so when you think about. Partners like Elastic or ServiceNow Trend, ai, CrowdStrike. Every time you pull from the application layer and you see a success, it pulls all five different components of that layer up. [00:08:13] James Kang: And so ultimately, as I think about success, it’s it’s being able to develop these co-sell wins at the application layer and really demonstrating that through extreme co-engineering and co-design with all the different application. Infrastructure, power and energy layers in mind. Um, Jensen also likes to think of himself not only as the CEO and founder, but also as the, the chief Marketing Officer. [00:08:35] James Kang: We are a very event driven company, and so at our big events like GTC or at big industry events like CES or Computex, he likes to show up on the biggest stage, biggest stages and showcase the partnerships with not only ISVs and GSIs, but also with end customers. And so that’s what I think about when I think of SA success. [00:08:56] Vince Menzione: That’s a really good point. You talked about, Allison, you talked about having an alliance strategy, or at least you teed it up, so I thought maybe we would go there for a second. Right? Like, what does a great alliance strategy look like and why is it important to the success of the partnership? [00:09:11] Allison McFadden: Man, I, uh, I have so many opinions on this. [00:09:13] Allison McFadden: We could probably be up here all day. That’s [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: okay. [00:09:16] Allison McFadden: Um, no, I think. Uh, there, there are a couple things, and the first one that comes to mind is focus. We cannot be all things to all people. Um, so when it comes to think about some of the, the work we’re doing with Elastic, we have a very, very clear point of view on what client problem we’re solving, what clients we want to talk to. [00:09:38] Allison McFadden: It helps if, um, from an ISV perspective, if there’s a very clear fit in. The Accenture portfolio or whatever, you know, SI consulting partner. You’re working with a very clear fit in the portfolio and we know what we’re not gonna go after, what we’re not gonna spend our time on because we have, we have this tendency, there’s millions of people. [00:10:00] Allison McFadden: The ecosystem chart that, you know, Vince, you showed up there, there’s so many connections. There’s probably more connections there than there are atoms in the universe, right? So, um. Defining what we do together and what we don’t do together is the first thing that pops to my mind. [00:10:19] Vince Menzione: Reka, do you have a perspective on it since we’re gonna, we’re gonna talk next about what you’ve done together, but, and I also wanna get mass perspective as a hyperscaler partner here as well. [00:10:29] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, I mean from my perspective, I, I’m gonna, you know, kinda echo what Allison said is to be just maniacally focused. Yep. Um, because, especially from my perspective, so Elastic has three different solutions, right? We’ve got search, we’ve got observability, we’ve got security that map to completely different business units within Accenture. [00:10:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: And of course Accenture does a lot of things. And so, you know, when we first came together it was like. Okay, what are we gonna focus on? What industries are we gonna go after? Which segments are we gonna go after? Which customers, you know, um, outcomes are we trying to solve? And I think that sort of maniacal focus is the number one contributing factor to, to the fact that I’m like, up here on stage today. [00:11:12] Rekha Thangellapalli: Great. [00:11:14] Vince Menzione: Matt? Perspective? [00:11:16] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I, I guess I was trying to. To add something, uh, additional from an AWS perspective, uh, when it comes to, you know, what does a great alliance look like? Uh, AWS is obsessed with data, you know, in data we trust. And, and so the best, um, and, and this goes sales business problem, and it’s not just the engineering teams. [00:11:34] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so, uh, you know, Accenture does a good job of this elastic, definitely. And if you can come to the table with, um, quantifiable proof of the value of customer outcomes and partnerships. Um, you’ll win all the time and it’ll be a durable relationship with AWS ’cause we really are this data obsessed company and, and even the most senior sales leaders. [00:11:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Uh, and so what I mean by that specifically is like if you, if you can show like your a RR to land an a RR conversion ratio, like in in numerical format, it’ll light up our sales leaders and, and they’ll be all, and they will co-sell with you all day long. If you can show the, I mentioned this earlier, like the AWS service, uh, whether you’re consulting company or, um, elastic and, and how the shape of customer accounts change positively when we work together. [00:12:15] Matt Yanchyshyn: That type of sort of quantifiable data works particularly well from an alliance perspective. With AWS as a partner, we, we really are like this data in sort of results out company. Um, so I, yeah, that’s just adding to the great points that were already made. I would say specific to AWS that that’s key. [00:12:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. And I’m gonna bring up one more thing. I want to dive in on the, the joint value proposition, but you mentioned something that made a lot of sense and resonated to me about the organizations once you get out of partner, the partner world that we all know and love. Mm-hmm. Once you get down into a field organization or account management organization. [00:12:49] Matt Yanchyshyn: Not as much understanding and really organizations do a bad job here, honestly, in terms of enabling the field organizations. Do you agree? [00:12:58] Allison McFadden: I agree because I, I agree. And, um, you know, I think that’s one of the things, and, and I, I, when I joined Accenture, what we had was a lot of wicked smart architects delivering programs to clients in the field. [00:13:15] Allison McFadden: Very smart, very deep in AWS knowledge. Um, and that was awesome for the 10 clients they were staffed on and to get that understanding of how AWS works and I dream about lar, right? Like, this is a good, you know, but that takes real effort and real work. Yeah. And it’s, it’s um, almost like being a language translator. [00:13:37] Allison McFadden: Yes. For me. Yeah. So, you know, I had to deeply learn AWS so that I could. [00:13:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. [00:13:42] Allison McFadden: Teach my account teams. My account teams are really smart. They know who they’re selling to. They know their customers. They know what their customers need. They do not know what AWS has to offer always because they’ve got 20 partners lining up to try to tell their stories. [00:13:57] Allison McFadden: Um, they don’t know how to ask of the AWS team or the elastic team or the Nvidia team. Yeah. What they need [00:14:02] Vince Menzione: this co-selling piece. Yeah. [00:14:04] Allison McFadden: And so that is where, um. We had to build that muscle even around our AWS practice, which was a huge practice at Accenture, but we didn’t necessarily surround it with that kind of enablement and um, almost deal coaching layer. [00:14:21] Vince Menzione: So Elastic and Accenture came together. I dunno which one of you wants to lead this part of the conversation, but you will, right? Yeah. So tell us about the genesis of this and why. And a lot of people dunno what Elastic does, but you do some really incredible work. Like I, somebody told me one day was like, oh, you know, Uber, like, that’s elastic, powering all that. [00:14:41] Vince Menzione: Like, we don’t think about that. That the engines that you have and the, the backend to the customers, huge customers. [00:14:48] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so when AWS launched this feature last, um, reinvent where basically it allowed, you know, channel partners such as Accenture to be able to bundle up their services, their data assets with an ISV solution and put it on marketplace, um, you know, Accenture and Elastic immediately saw an opportunity. [00:15:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, at the time most customers were doing gen ai. But they were running into the same challenge, which was that their data just was not ready. And by the way, this is a problem we were solving. Outside of marketplace. I think the, the feature that you guys launched just gave us a way to package it up and to be able to create this repeatable solution, which we call data readiness engine for gen ai and put it on marketplace. [00:15:40] Rekha Thangellapalli: And, um, this to me was a success because. Each company had a clear reason to invest. Um, so for Accenture, they were able to, you know, create a very differentiated services led offering. Uh, for Elastic, we were able to expand on our AI story. And for AWS, um, you know, it drives marketplace adoption, increases cloud consumption, all of that great stuff. [00:16:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: And customers, of course get. A solution to a very real problem that, that they were having. Um, and you know, the surprising part for me going through that journey was that, um. The pitching, the idea, getting the budget, getting the executive sponsorship was actually the easy part. The hard part was getting all three companies to come together, uh, to go from idea to launch in a very ambitious timeline of six weeks. [00:16:37] Rekha Thangellapalli: Nice. And so, you know, this was very much like. Doesn’t matter your title. We’re rolling up our sleeves and we are on this outcome together. Um, and so we literally built a RACI matrix, a project plan, and you know, we had daily standup calls for six weeks where literally. At least one person from each three of these companies called in, you know, got rid of any blockers and we made sure we were on target for that timeline. [00:17:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, and you know, at the end we had a successful launch. But I think my favorite part about the story is the impact that we’re having and, um. My favorite story comes from a global pharmaceutical company that, you know, had basically nine petabytes of data spread across six different continents. Wow. And by working with Accenture and Elastic, they were able to build that trusted foundation that their AI and their agents can, you know, kind of safely tap into and be accessible at scale. [00:17:41] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so that’s my version. Allison. [00:17:44] Allison McFadden: Yeah. Well, I don’t have a lot to add. I just, I would say this is a good example of a couple of principles, right? One is having a forcing function is never a bad idea. Sign up for a big event, sign up. I’m like, I’m here with my, you know, Nvidia guys saying, sign up for the event. [00:17:58] Allison McFadden: It’ll make you move quick, right? [00:18:00] Audience Member: Yes. [00:18:00] Allison McFadden: Um, so that is one, but two, one of my mentors once told me, when you’re designing any kind of, you know, offering go to market motion, it has to get blood to all organs. If it does not get blood to all organs, it does not go [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:18:14] Allison McFadden: Um, [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: I love that analogy. [00:18:15] Allison McFadden: Oh, I love it. And I can talk all day. [00:18:17] Allison McFadden: That guy was brilliant. I love him. But, um, no, and, and so Elastic did a really nice job of bringing the tech to the table. Um, our team has to trust in that technology and its ability to scale, right? Um, because at Accenture we have to be able to deploy across 700,000 consultants. Um. And yeah, so I think those are the two, two things that really worked well here is we had, uh, trust in the technology solved a customer need. [00:18:50] Allison McFadden: Um, it drives, we don’t even talk about, like, yes, it drives marketplace revenue, but it unlocks work that we do that drives even more revenue to our AWS Friends. Right. So this is a, this is a, um, product that’s getting your data ready for AG agentic. It’s a messy problem that everyone’s dealing with, and it removes blockers for clients and it unlocks more, you know, ag agentic work on top of that. [00:19:15] Allison McFadden: So, blood to all organs. [00:19:17] Vince Menzione: So, was that the proposal going forward to say we need to have, we need to have trust in the solution. We need to drive significant revenue. It needs to be something all of our, you know, seven, 700,000 people. Can be a part of and help drive? Is that how you think about? [00:19:32] Allison McFadden: Yeah, and for us right now, um, it’s an interesting time for Accenture. [00:19:36] Allison McFadden: Our clients are asking a lot of us, and what it does is it having some of these accelerators helps us deliver cheaper, better, faster to our clients, which is what they’re demanding of us right now. Um, so it’s an accelerator to client outcomes. [00:19:55] Vince Menzione: James, what is NVIDIA’s role and how do, how do you enter the equation here? [00:20:00] James Kang: Yeah, it’s, um, it’s a good question. Um, I, I would say that Nvidia is probably one of the most misunderstood organizations in the world. Um, despite the, uh, the market capitalization in the valuation of the company, we have a very tiny organization. Um, what I mean by that is, um, if you think about. [00:20:20] James Kang: Salesforces and field sales organizations. Um, we’ll take Salesforce as the account or the customer. As an example, we have one account manager at NVIDIA that no, not only covers and is responsible for the relationship with Salesforce, um, but also manages. Automation Anywhere as well as DocuSign. Whereas at AWS, in contrast, like there are full armies and teams Yeah. [00:20:45] James Kang: That are supporting the Salesforce relationship. And so as you think about partnering and working with Nvidia, the focus has to be on really. Extreme co-design, but also being very prescriptive in terms of what are the very specific customer outcomes that we are solving for. And the guidance that I would give is bring in Nvidia into that equation and that conversation as early as possible because that [00:21:10] James Kang: co-engineering and co-design needs to be part of the foundational building blocks in order for you to come out with a end solution that checks all those different requirements. [00:21:20] James Kang: And so I think. Again, like going back to Nvidia, um, we like to talk about two different types of brains. A brain one and a brain two. Uh, brain One you think about the next quarter and making sure that you’re hitting the revenue targets for the next quarter. Brain two, you think about a long-term goals and potentials looking around corners and being very strategic. [00:21:41] James Kang: The saying internally is without Brain one, there is no oxygen, but without brain two, there is no future. And everyone at NVIDIA is trained to think in that brain two mentality. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: Wow, Matt. [00:21:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I was just thinking I love the blood doll organs. Uh, and so just on, on that note, um, and, and, you know, the multi-product solutions that, that you, you built together, uh, that is a really good example of blood do organs because like we all know, that’s how customers buy. [00:22:07] Matt Yanchyshyn: They, they buy solutions and increasingly they’re looking for combinations of ISV, sometimes multiple products from multiple ISVs with services. Uh, often they’re buying it through a resell motion. You know, and they, and, and so that from a customer perspective, they want a single place to go. And so that’s the multi-product solution. [00:22:24] Matt Yanchyshyn: They wanna find everything they need, they need Accenture, they need Elastic to solve a specific solution. And I think where that’s headed is even more specific listings, like with AI powered listing experience, like, you know, elastic Plus Accenture for, I’ll make something up like a manufacturing workload. [00:22:37] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so this solution based. Uh, sort of buying is, is very customer centric. It’s what customers want. We all know that. But that’s, that’s the customer sort of organ, I guess. Um, but then, you know, you all have SCAs and those SCAs have marketplace commits. It helps if that gets transacted through marketplace helps the AWS relationship, you know that that’s an organ. [00:22:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: It’s the relationship. It’s, it’s the commercial construct and that you have, uh, that that’s another organ. You’re marketing people. They, that’s another organ. They don’t wanna land, uh, leads on a static marketing page. They wanna land a lead on a, a storefront with a multi-product solution that can actually convert and that you can actually buy it through that. [00:23:12] Matt Yanchyshyn: So the marketing person’s happy because they, they have less churn. Uh, and then, you know, our reps are happy ’cause guess how they get paid? They retire quota when they sell Marketplace. And they, we also, Jay McMain will tell you, that’s another organ called Jay or on, on you now. Um, [00:23:27] Matt Yanchyshyn: he’ll like that. I’ll call him up and tell him that. [00:23:29] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, [00:23:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: but he, he’ll tell you, you know, don’t believe me. Obviously, never believe Matt, believe, believe the, the data and, and his data shows that. Those deals will close faster and larger if you use marketplace. So that’s, that’s a lot of organs. That’s the whole body. Um, but you know, when you have your customer happy ’cause that’s how they wanna buy your field happy. [00:23:45] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and, you know, the relationship happy and you know, your marketing team happy. Uh, and, and Jay happy. Um, and, and you know, I think that multi-product construct and, and the way you kind of use it to model a partnership and the way buyers ultimately wanna buy is, is really powerful. And so I, I think it’s, you know, it’s really a manifestation of how. [00:24:04] Matt Yanchyshyn: We kind of intend and to go to market anyway. Uh, so I think, you know, and thanks for leading the way, by the way. You’re, you’re amongst the very first, so that’s great to see. [00:24:11] Matt Yanchyshyn: So these storefronts are really helping this drive, drive this. Well, [00:24:13] Matt Yanchyshyn: that’s the next evolution. Like we’re talking about the multiproduct solution. [00:24:16] Allison McFadden: I’m JJ Accenture storefront. [00:24:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Oh, there you go. I mean, j and j Accenture storefront. [00:24:20] Allison McFadden: We’re gonna talk about that. [00:24:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. I mean, [00:24:21] Matt Yanchyshyn: Accenture also leading the way yet again with storefronts. And so I think the combination of. You know, again, I was talking a lot about conversion. Yeah. And you know, buyers know sometimes they know what they wanna buy and, but if you really wanna convert that lead, you wanna land them again, something that combines, you know, elastic Accenture’s services plus software, but in a storefront that is, you know, surrounding with just the solutions they want so they don’t need to kind of go searching. [00:24:42] Matt Yanchyshyn: So, you know, ultimately reducing that time to close, I guess, really ’cause meeting the customer where they are with what they need. [00:24:51] Matt Yanchyshyn: So we talk about co-selling a little bit. We, Jay and I talk about this all the time. We gotta keep looping Jay in here, even though he is not even in town this week, but Reko, um, what does co-sell look like inside Elastic? [00:25:02] Matt Yanchyshyn: You’ve got, we talked about an incredible leadership team. I’ve gotten meet some of your leaders. Seems like you drive, you do a good job internally driving that. Let’s talk a little bit about it. [00:25:11] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, and this is something I’m, I’m personally very passionate about. Um, co-sell is. Very much a journey, not a destination. [00:25:20] Rekha Thangellapalli: And I think step one for us is recognizing the different partner types that we have. Because at Elastic we work with, you know, OEMs, MSPs, resale distributors, GSIs, um, and they all bring something very unique. To the customer lifecycle and they all contribute very differently within, you know, our own sales cycle and sales process. [00:25:45] Rekha Thangellapalli: And so, you know, figuring out what is the unique benefit they bring, how do we enable them? So training and enablement is a huge piece of it, and so is making sure we’ve got the right metrics to measure success. Um, I know a lot of companies look at partner sourced as the north star, and that’s great, right? [00:26:06] Rekha Thangellapalli: Because that is undeniable. You can say, Hey, that would not exist if it wasn’t for my partner team. Um, but we’ve also noticed that when we bring in GSIs, it actually increases renewal rates. It significantly increases. Um, a RR over time. Um, it expands deal sizes and so these are very real metrics that we can point to, um, beyond just the co-sell and the partner sourced number. [00:26:32] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so for us it’s looking at it from a very holistic perspective, but also catering it towards that unique partner and making sure we’re doing everything we can to set them up for success and setting up the partnership for success. [00:26:47] Vince Menzione: So clo close win ratios, deal size and renewal rates? [00:26:52] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yes. For specifically for geos size. [00:26:54] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. [00:26:55] Vince Menzione: Very interesting. Allison, uh, what had to change internally to produce these co-selling? We talked a little bit about the field organization and enabling a, a group of, and, you know, account sellers that are very customer focused and enabling them on the co-sell side. What had to change internally to drive that? [00:27:13] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:14] Allison McFadden: I, I might have already alluded to this a little bit in a previous answer, but, um, creating the capacity to develop, build, and sell these solutions, um, inside of a large GSI, where billable hours is kind of the number one metric on the table. Um. Is part of the investment that we had to make within Accenture to get this done? [00:27:36] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:27:36] Allison McFadden: so expert technology time. So we have technologists that understand the elastic technology. We do similar with Nvidia, by the way, we. We released some of their time to go co-develop the solution because it has to hold technical water, right? It can’t just be a marketing pitch. It can’t just be, it has to be a real, um, what’s the there, there. [00:27:59] Allison McFadden: So in order to actually do proper co-sell, we had to release some of that time. Um, to invest in those partnerships. Um, we’ve also done similar with some industry aligned business development leaders recently, so we have freed their time up to go. Uh. Open new conversations, educate client, account teams, go to clients, have conversations. [00:28:26] Allison McFadden: Um, so that, that’s a new motion that we, uh, have just kind of recently made, um, to allow them, I love this brain one, brain two also, right? So to allow them to focus on brain two, because a lot of our time. Typically spent delivery issues, you know, getting my hours, where am I charging my time? And so just freeing up a little of that capacity to do this work, um, helps get us in this brain two mode where we’re not just living to survive. [00:28:56] Vince Menzione: I. So, Matt, you’ve removed a lot. I mean, one of the things I admire, I admire AWS for being first to market and removing the most friction in marketplace of any of the vendors. Really, truly that. You talked about some of the announcements. How does some of, how does some of this tie PC central agents propensity sales plays, MCP, how does some of this tie to how, how you’re thinking about the future? [00:29:18] Vince Menzione: And how to enable more motions like this. [00:29:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. Well, I, I think if you know my boss, UBA Borno, uh, you’ll know that she has a maniacal focus on automation. Yeah. Um, and, uh, co-sell is increasingly automated. You know, you were asking earlier about propensity data. You can get that propensity data in addition to sales plays and, uh, opportunity scores through the partner central agents. [00:29:38] Matt Yanchyshyn: So things that used to require multiple calls to A PDM, if you’re lucky to have one. Yeah. Or a p sm. Uh, you, you can now get through, through these agents, you know, uh, tech Systems, TGS, they, they manage what, over 5,500 customer opportunities with agents that they built on top of our partner Central APIs. [00:29:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and work Span has built a whole product and business that’s right on leveraging, uh, our APIs, our capabilities to sort of tie into your CRM. So, majority of all opportunities will be progressed and managed by agents. This year at AWS, we already have a majority of all customer opportunities, all app have a partner attached and I, I took a personal goal for a majority of those partner attachments, not to happen from a human. [00:30:22] Matt Yanchyshyn: But from our solution matching engine. And how do you get recommended by that solution? Matching engine, having a healthy ACE pipeline, thanks to partner central agents and the integrations you’re doing. And in addition to being the specializations and doing things like multi-product solutions and ultimately closing opportunities, you dream of LAR and so LAR will help that. [00:30:40] Allison McFadden: It’s more like a nightmare. [00:30:41] Vince Menzione: And so, you know, [00:30:42] Allison McFadden: it’s more like a nightmare, but [00:30:44] Vince Menzione: nightmare. Well, it’s, it’s, yeah. Nightmare of Laura and, and. Nice dreams of PRM, but the, um, but that’s the loop, right? I, I think, uh, increasingly co-sell for us, and in my mind, is largely a hundred percent automated. Yeah. Except for what matters most, those most largest, most strategic, most complex deals. [00:31:01] Vince Menzione: Where our highly paid and very skilled salespeople are most effectively used. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: You know, the days of, you know, this person with 20 years experience selling, clicking, progressing opportunities through a pipeline, uh, should be over. Uh, and, and we need those people out, out selling and, and co-selling. And so that for me. [00:31:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah. That, you know, we talk a lot about co-sell, but I, I’m obsessed with automating as much of the co-sell as possible. [00:31:24] Vince Menzione: I remember going back to the ex Excel spreadsheets and, and that, that seems to be be Viva became spreadsheet jockeys. [00:31:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: And, and they stopped selling. They forgot how to sell. [00:31:34] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And people spend all this time doing lunch and learns and things like that. [00:31:36] Vince Menzione: And then, you know. Then the salespeople rotate out after 18 months and, and it, that’s, that’s the old days. Uh, you know, the new days are, are AI powered matching algorithms, uh, ag agentic co-sell, using the partner essential agents to get your data and, and putting that data to use automatically and, and what sounded like magic. [00:31:51] Vince Menzione: 12 months ago is being done, you know, by partners at massive scale across thousands of opportunities. You can do it today. And you know, I, there’s a guy named another Mike, right? Mike another Mike who they have, there’s like a guy who’s doing all this and I’m picking on Mike ’cause I, I know their system really well and I know the guy Mike grew easily built it for them. [00:32:08] Vince Menzione: Um, but, you know, I think, yeah, again, in the days of having 10 people sort of doing lunch and learn could be replaced by one or two people, building agents, uh, managing a massive pipeline. And, and that’s the future. [00:32:18] Vince Menzione: Exactly. James, your perspective on what breaks with co-selling? [00:32:22] James Kang: Oh, what breaks co-sell? Um, I would say. [00:32:25] James Kang: It, it starts and finishes with just misalignment and a loss of trust with the customer, especially when you have multiple partners or stakeholders involved. If you’re trying to do a three-way deal with a end customer and you’re not on the same page, you’re not gonna get to a successful outcome on, on the backend. [00:32:44] James Kang: Uh, the fix is a much more complicated story. I would say that to take a step back, um. We’ve talked about the five layer cake. We’ve talked about where NVIDIA kind of fits within the equation. We are invested in the ecosystem and so as different players and application organizations win and see these outcomes for end customers, we celebrate that success. [00:33:07] James Kang: Um, and as part of that kind of ethos of where NVIDIA fits within the ecosystem, we wanna make sure that not only. Our customers, but our partners like ISVs and GSIs are set up for success. Um, we do not as Nvidia sell hardware or GPUs directly to customers We use. Hyperscalers like AWS as kind of our force multiplier. [00:33:31] James Kang: And similarly we think of ISVs and GSIs as the force multipliers in terms of our extensions of how we, we kind of leverage the relationships and build the trust with our end customers. And so going back to kind of the question, Vince, I would say that it all comes back to trust and being able to build that mutual trust. [00:33:48] James Kang: Um, a lot of what we do when we co-sell with AWS is really on the software layer. Um, we actually have more software engineers at NVIDIA than we have hardware engineers, which is a weird thing to say, um, because everyone knows us for our GPUs. But because of that fact, we are heavily invested in Cuda and making sure that Cuda becomes the foundational layer for how not only our ISVs and GSIs, but also our end customers are building. [00:34:12] Vince Menzione: Very cool. So Reiki, you and James together on this production. Versus pilot with the Gentech ai. Tell us a little bit more about that. Where, where are you in the process? [00:34:24] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. So I mean, in general, what we’re seeing out in the market in, in relation to sort of AI and, and customer’s journeys is that, um, at least from an elastic perspective, um, we’re seeing people very much in production when it comes to, you know, kind of AI assistant co-pilot use cases. [00:34:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, you know, things like, um, software development, customer support is a big one. Um, any sort of employee productivity use cases where there’s. Still a human in the loop somewhere. Um, and there’s a very like, clear path to value. And so we see the customers being in production excelling there. Um, no problem. [00:35:01] Rekha Thangellapalli: Where we’re seeing people still kind of in the pilot phase is those fully autonomous workflows where there is no human involved. The agent is reasoning on its own. Um, accessing multiple systems and taking an action on the user’s behalf. And what we’re seeing is that it’s not the intelligence of the agent that’s holding it back. [00:35:26] Rekha Thangellapalli: It’s more about giving the right context to the agent and having the right. Security kind of governance controls in place for the company to feel comfortable in putting these fully autonomous workflows into production. And that’s really the conversation we’re having is all right, what are the controls you need in place? [00:35:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: For you to release this to your business unit. Um, and what is the context that the agent is needed before we can comfortably let the agent make the decision on the user’s behalf? Um, James, I’d be interested to hear what you’re, what you’re seeing in the market [00:36:03] James Kang: plus one on all things context. I, I would even go so far as to say, um. [00:36:09] James Kang: H how many folks in the audience have heard of token maxing? Like this new term? [00:36:13] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:14] James Kang: Um, I’ll, I’ll give a very specific example of, of Uber that went public. With the example of Claude, like they allowed all of their employees to use as many tokens as possible, and within the span of four months, they exhausted their full budget for the year, and so they had to pull back, and now there’s a cap on every employee. [00:36:33] James Kang: I think the number that’s circulating is $1,500 per month per employee, and so I think that is at least. In this multi-phase evolution of where we’re going to be and where we’re today, cost has become kind of the prohibitive force in terms of agentic AI at scale. Um, I think we are working on some very creative solutions in-house and Nvidia. [00:36:55] James Kang: Um. And we saw some really dynamic announcements this week when it comes to all things agent core, um, where we want to focus on very nimble ways for customers to be able to execute and go to market. And one extreme example of that is our investment within our open model strategy. So Nvidia, not only, again, providing GPUs, we actually offer our own op open models, which we call our Nitron models. [00:37:21] James Kang: And through our Nitron models, we are allowing customers to really develop and fine tune their own proprietary models in a cost effective manner. So right alongside the frontier models like OpenAI and Anthropic. It’s not a if then, it’s not an either or statement. It’s a, it’s a permutation, it’s an and So we’re giving you a cost effective alternative to not only bring your AgTech applications at scale by training on Nibo tron, which is open source, but then once you’ve kind of finished and fine tuned that specific training job to be able to. [00:37:53] James Kang: Go ahead and utilize your frontier models, whether it be OpenAI or Claude. And I know there’s other partners here that are providing those kind of different model capabilities. And so I think for us it’s, it’s a matter of choice. We know that this market is dynamic. It’s gonna be evolving over the next coming months as well as the next coming years. [00:38:10] James Kang: Uh, but we believe that we are positioned for a really unique dynamic expansion of AgTech use cases over the, at least the next three to six months. [00:38:20] Vince Menzione: Allison, for the partners in the room who are glazed over right now going, what do I, what do I do over the next 12 months? [00:38:26] Allison McFadden: Should I wake everybody up by saying, yeah, please. [00:38:27] Allison McFadden: Say go hurricanes. [00:38:28] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:38:29] Allison McFadden: Is there anyone, anybody? Everyone’s like, boo. I get to leave the parade today to go home to parade. I live in Raleigh, so we’ve got our parade on Saturday. Nice. [00:38:39] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:38:40] Allison McFadden: All right. Wake up. Um, all right. So for the $50 million partners in the room, um. $50 million is not small. You have something that works. [00:38:50] Allison McFadden: Right. This is great. What I would be thinking about is, you know, we’ve talked about focus before, but really doubling down on, you know, what is, what is your industry, what is your client like, ideal client that you serve. And build, um, almost that kind of community. You know, the, the clients we have move from firm to firm to firm. [00:39:17] Allison McFadden: And if you’ve done good work at one, you’re gonna follow ’em to the next. Um, so build that client demand in a specific place or specific client profile that is just like really knocking it out out of the park for you. Um. Scale with marketplace, right? So if you, I, I love some of the data that you were sharing in your talk earlier, um, because it’s like no overhead scaling mechanism. [00:39:45] Allison McFadden: I mean, it’s, it’s fantastic. Um, Accenture, other GSIs like us, we are investing in marketplace. So we’re investing in resources, um, to help us. Use marketplace more with our clients and we’re gonna capture, right, those storefronts. And if you’re present on marketplace, you’re gonna be able to catch, uh, yourself in that wheel. [00:40:09] Allison McFadden: So I think those are the, the kind of couple of things I would say is focus, focus, focus to drive that client demand and use scaling mechanisms like marketplace to really kind of, uh, accelerate. [00:40:24] Vince Menzione: Matt, anything to add there on the. [00:40:26] Vince Menzione: Well just, you know, Ja, James, you, I love the token maxing reference in Uber and it reminds me, you remember when cloud came out and everyone was like, oh, all these people are, are gonna use the cloud and costs are outta control and. [00:40:39] Vince Menzione: Um, a lot of people pulled back from the cloud and, and a lot of those companies no longer exist. And it’s similar with, with, uh, token maxing, like, oh, these agents are outta control. You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to agent to co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:40:58] Vince Menzione: And, and that’s, that’s where we’re at. Uh, is, is the, the companies sitting here today embraced the cloud years ago and won. Uh, and and there’s a set of companies here today who are gonna embrace agents in the, for both buyers and sellers, and will win. And there are those who won’t and they won’t win. And so for me, it’s like we’re, we’re at a, we’re at a crossroads. [00:41:18] Vince Menzione: And, and if you’re gonna win, you gotta leap into that, you know? I love it. And, uh, and, and, and it’s, it means the cost of experimentation is so much lower now. Development and, and even business development or software development is, is agent enabled. And so you can take risks, you can experiment and, and you have to, it’s, it’s an existential moment. [00:41:37] Vince Menzione: Agreed. We’ve got a couple minutes left over for any questions. What do you think? Sure. Are there any here. I think there are a couple. Yeah, we’ve got, we’ve got a co-sell question I’m sure coming up here. [00:41:51] Audience Member: Um, I’m Cassandra, I’m the CEO of Partner Tap. And one of the questions I had was, I think, you know, the co-selling between the sellers is where things get. Really, really hard when you’re multi-partner. And so when I was listening, um, with, you know, the Accenture and Elastic together, you talked about how you had, you, you had to get these BD business development people. [00:42:22] Audience Member: Um, is this a new team that is over the client team? And how do these teams interact like with the elastic sellers? Are you doing a lot of coaching to the field and then with if AWS sellers are, are involved, like what is that whole picture? What does look like, [00:42:43] Allison McFadden: like [00:42:44] Audience Member: on the ground? I mean, that is the hardest part, I think, and that’s what we hear. [00:42:48] Allison McFadden: It’s so, it’s so, it’s so tough. Um, and I will, I’ll just say, so our business development leaders that we now have kind of. Expanded their capacity. They have always been, they have always been there. Um, but they have not been well resourced. They haven’t, they haven’t had very clear kind of job description. [00:43:12] Allison McFadden: I’m gonna say I, in the past they have been kind of focused on partner relationship. And so like more like an alliance manager and maybe working on some of the data. Right? So when I say I have nightmares about Lars, because we’re always trying to increase the LAR for Accenture and, and they were focused like in those detailed weeds of like trying to pass ACE and trying to call the PDM and all this stuff. [00:43:39] Allison McFadden: What we are doing is really pivoting them to be proper sales, business development focused on client outcomes and focused on. Technical skills to be able to describe what this solution is to the field. So, um, and because we need, I have many, many questions about, I gotta get agents to work with Eurogen co-sell so that that part somehow goes away. [00:44:05] Allison McFadden: So that’s a, that’s the thing we gotta solve still, but, um, so we’re pivoting them to be kind of driving. More of that co-sell enablement with the field, um, and taking that message to the field rather than being there, waiting for questions to come in from the field, waiting for like our field teams to discover, oh, I saw something that we’re doing with Elastic, like on a press release on LinkedIn. [00:44:30] Allison McFadden: Right. So we’re kind of trying to pivot them to be more proactive. [00:44:33] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:44:34] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. And uh, Cassandra, that’s an excellent question because I think. Multi-party, you know, sort of tri-party offerings. The hardest part is operationalizing it at scale, right? Yeah. And so for this particular offering, we are basically having three routes to market. [00:44:51] Rekha Thangellapalli: So one is seeing how this offering fits into our existing elastic go to market. And so I am constantly enabling our field sellers to say, okay, within our three field sales place, here’s exactly where this fits in. Here are, you know, uh. Keywords that you hear in customer conversations where you bring up this offering and here’s a process of how it works. [00:45:14] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, exactly At what sales stage do I bring in Accenture, how, you know, what are the roles and expectations? Right? So that’s on the elastic side. We’re doing the same thing on the Accenture side. So we’re doing a ton of training enablement and lunch and learns, and we’re also looking at how do we fit into. [00:45:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, Accenture’s AI transformation projects, we are the semantic layer, right, of their enterprise brain. And so it’s a whole different sales motion, um, and, you know, having the right assets, having the right process again to make sure that that goes smoothly. And then finally, we’re going directly to the customer. [00:45:49] Rekha Thangellapalli: So we are launching multiple external campaigns where, you know, if the customer raises their hand. We will, we will line up immediately. Right. Um, and so, [00:46:01] Allison McFadden: I mean, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t say how important that third leg of the stool is. ’cause the second part, she talked about getting into our catalog is the first thing. [00:46:09] Allison McFadden: ’cause my BU business development leaders have the catalog. Right. And that’s what they’re selling. So what Elastic has done has gotten into one of those offerings and then. If we have a customer that asks for it, that is the fastest way to alignment. That is like the number one thing that we respond to [00:46:26] Vince Menzione: customer at the center. [00:46:27] Vince Menzione: This is great. Well, I think we’re up to time. This was a great session. I want to thank you. This is what a great, what a great group. [00:46:34] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. Subscribe where [00:46:43] Vince Menzione: you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. [00:46:47] Vince Menzione: For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything [00:47:09] I.

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Accenture confirms a data breach. An Australian telecom investigates a nationwide outage. It's shields up for the UK. CISA eyes September for its critical infrastructure reporting rule. NewsJunkie fakes CTV ad traffic. Agentic AI triggers EDR. CISA taps Mythos for vulnerability scans. Meta faces trillion dollar fines in state lawsuits. Our guest is Russ Anderson, COO and co-founder of RapidFort, sharing a coordinated industry effort to harden the world's most critical open source software against AI-enabled cyber threats. When it comes to breaches, mum's the word.  Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest Russ Anderson, COO and co-founder of RapidFort, is sharing the Linux Foundation's Akrites initiative, a coordinated industry effort to harden the world's most critical open source software against AI-enabled cyber threats. Selected Reading Accenture confirms breach after hacker offers stolen data for sale (Bleeping Computer) Nationwide Telstra outage disrupts thousands, raises questions of foreign launched cyberattack (The Nightly) Britain plans to build autonomous AI 'Cyber Shield' to defend nation (The Record) CISA Eyes September Date for Final Cyber Incident Reporting Rule (MeriTalk) HUMAN Security Disrupts CTV Device Spoofing Operation "NewsJunkie" (Globe Newswire) When AI agents look like attackers: what behavioral telemetry tells us (SOPHOS) Space Force adds Relativity, Impulse Space to national security launch program. (Space News)  CISA Deploys Anthropic's Mythos AI to Hunt Vulnerabilities in U.S. Government Code (Security Affairs) Mark Zuckerberg's biggest legal nightmare yet could cost Meta $1.4 trillion (The Independent) Most cybersecurity workers have been told to conceal a breach, report finds (Cybersecurity Dive) Share your feedback. What do you think about CyberWire Daily? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey. Thank you for helping us continue to improve our show. Want to hear your company in the show? N2K CyberWire helps you reach the industry's most influential leaders and operators, while building visibility, authority, and connectivity across the cybersecurity community. Learn more at sponsor.thecyberwire.com. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices