Podcasts about CIO

Alan Dunne is joined by Cem Karsan to examine the forces pushing bond yields higher and why he believes markets are becoming increasingly fragile. Cem argues that refinancing pressures, persistent inflation, declining foreign demand for Treasuries and the enormous capital requirements of the AI boom are creating an unusually unstable backdrop. They discuss the concentration of equity market growth around AI, the relationship between government policy and financial markets, and Cem's expectation that a Treasury market shock could eventually trigger a forceful policy response. They also explore political risk, market volatility, monetary debasement and why traditional stock and bond portfolios may face a very different environment ahead.-----50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE-----Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Cem on Twitter.Follow Alan on LinkedIn.Episode TimeStamps: 00:00 - Why Cem believes the next V-shaped market move is coming00:58 - Introduction and what's on Cem's radar03:34 - A strong year for trend following05:29 - What is driving bond yields higher?09:09 - Inflation, debt and declining foreign demand for Treasuries12:53 - Why short-term interest rate expectations have shifted so dramatically18:01 - Can rising bond yields eventually break the equity market?19:00 - Why Cem questions the sustainability of AI-driven earnings growth25:27 - Market concentration and the growing fragility of the system33:54 - Government intervention and the return of the V-shaped market37:19 - Cem's case for a coming Treasury market shock42:50 - Why the US midterm elections could matter for markets46:43 - What the options market is pricing for the months ahead48:27 - Bond volatility and where yields could go next50:41 - Could the US eventually create a sovereign wealth fund?54:34 - Inflation, equities and the importance of real returns01:00:13 - Why the traditional 60/40 portfolio may face a different futureCopyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved----PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score One of the things I'm really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here3. Other Resources that can help youAnd if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click HerePrivacy PolicyDisclaimer

Scott is in Sicily, so Zach, Ben Wolff and Edwin Kramer take the docket. Edwin checks in from a new boutique hotel on Spain's Costa Blanca, and Ben is fresh from the glamping show. The first story: Hilton's CIO says AI assistants have put online travel agencies under real threat, yet he expects personal AI agents to become commissionable channels too. The crew asks what "direct" even means when an agent that never sleeps keeps rate-shopping after the booking is made. Edwin says post-booking shopping could be a bigger disruption than the booking itself. Then Booking.com tightens how much guest data, including phone numbers, it passes to hotels. Next, Lola, the new AI travel assistant from Kayak's co-founders, wholly owned by Booking Holdings. It has a free tier, a $5 a month membership and a $25 a month VIP plan, and both paid plans need a 12-month commitment. Edwin thinks it could make the OTA stronger. Ben is highly skeptical that anyone will pay up front for perks. Then Choice Hotels buys RV club Harvest Hosts for a reported $130 million. The crew talks about farm hospitality, RVers who eventually want a real bed, and what IHG and Wyndham do next. The closer: Europe's new anti-greenwashing rules took effect September 27. Edwin explains why they are hard to police and why hotels may go quiet about sustainability instead. Plus spice of the week: a hot September in southern Europe, and why this is the moment to experiment.   Your Hosts: Zach Busekrus — Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/ Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/ Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/

Crypto is changing—and the next phase may look very different from the one that got us here. Today on TraderMerlin, I'm joined by Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management, for a deep dive into the current state of cryptocurrency and digital assets—and where this rapidly evolving market may be headed next. Matt brings a particularly interesting perspective to this conversation. Before becoming CIO of Bitwise, he was CEO of ETF.com and has spent years working at the intersection of ETFs, institutional investing and digital assets. Today, Bitwise manages billions of dollars across crypto ETFs, private funds, separately managed accounts, staking strategies and other digital-asset investment products. In other words, Matt has a front-row seat to one of the biggest transformations taking place in financial markets: Crypto is moving from speculation toward financial infrastructure. We'll talk about Bitcoin and the current crypto market, but I want to go much further than simply asking where BTC goes next. We'll discuss: Crypto Regulation – After the failure of the CLARITY Act, what happens next? Can the SEC and CFTC provide enough regulatory certainty without Congress? Bitcoin & Ethereum ETFs – How ETFs have changed institutional access to crypto and what investor flows are telling us Institutional Adoption – Are pensions, endowments, RIAs, family offices and other major investors actually increasing their exposure? Tokenization – Could stocks, bonds, real estate and other traditional assets ultimately move onchain? Stablecoins – Are they simply digital dollars—or the foundation of an entirely new financial system? Wall Street Goes Onchain – What happens when traditional finance and decentralized finance begin to converge? Beyond Bitcoin – Where Matt sees opportunity across Ethereum, Solana, DeFi and the broader digital-asset ecosystem Crypto ETFs – What's next as Wall Street continues expanding the menu of regulated crypto investment products? The Next Crypto Cycle – Will the next major move be driven by speculation—or real-world adoption? And this last point may be the most important. For years, crypto investors have been waiting for "the institutions" to arrive. But maybe we're asking the wrong question. What happens when institutions don't simply invest in crypto—but actually begin using blockchain technology to rebuild parts of the financial system? Tokenized securities. 24/7 markets. Instant settlement. Stablecoin payments. Onchain lending. Crypto ETFs. Institutional DeFi. Those aren't just different ways of trading Bitcoin. They're potentially different ways of running financial markets. And that's exactly what I want to explore with Matt. Listen now:

For years, investors lived by TINA: “There Is No Alternative” to stocks. With interest rates near zero and bond yields offering little income, equities dominated the investment landscape. But that math has changed. Today, Treasury yields are above 5%, investment-grade corporate bonds offer competitive income, and real yields have climbed to levels not seen in nearly two decades. Meanwhile, stock valuations remain historically elevated. That creates TIGA: “There Is a Good Alternative.” Lance Roberts & Michael Lebowitz examine what the changing relationship between stocks and bonds means for portfolio diversification, why the equity risk premium has narrowed, and how investors can think about balancing income, risk, and long-term return potential. 0:00 - INTRO 1:04 - TINA, TIGA; Bulls & Bears; no pants 2:28 - Did the Fed make a mistake in hiking rates prior to PCE Index Release? 3:13 - Oil Prices & Inflation vs Price Levels 4:21 - GDP Calculations: Consumers and Businesses 5:17 - What the Fed is Fighting 8:13 - Where is a Trading opportunity in Bonds? (TNX) 11:15- Investors are Off-sides on Bonds 15:00 - TINA vs TIGA: What it Means 17:27 - How Are You Getting Paid to Diversify? 19:39 - Equity Risk Premium or Discount (chart) 22:15 - Bonds vs Bond ETF's 25:26 - Why Bonds are Like Annuities 27:00 - Rooting for a Technology Crash (chart)... 28:43 - Technology Stocks are Least-sensitive to Interest Rates 32:09 - Yields Take a While to Impact 33:21 - Credit Spreads are Starting to Widen: A Warning Sign for Markets? 39:06 - Small Business Loan Rates 41:07 - The Thing that the Market Cares About (Forward Earnings) 44:56 - Employment Data Preview ==== Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Bond Yields May Be Setting Up a Trade," https://youtu.be/ikGixV15dME ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/JV2n7ESiZ54?feature=share -------- Watch our previous show, "Q&A Wednesday: What's Holding Up the Market? " https://youtube.com/live/BSygFM2sS7Y ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #BondMarket #TreasuryYields #InterestRates #TLT #Investing

Technology teams are often asked to solve something before everyone agrees on what the actual problem is.Chad Carrington, CIO at Golden1 Credit Union, joins The Tech Trek to talk about listening to business partners, defining the outcome first, and resisting the instinct to jump immediately to a technology solution.The conversation also looks at how AI is changing this skill. As tools make building easier and faster, people still need to articulate what they actually want, ask better questions, and understand what success looks like.What You Will Hear• Why listening and hearing are not the same thing• When solving 85 percent of a problem may be enough• Why technology teams need more time with business users• How AI is increasing the value of asking better questionsKey Moments01:20 Listening versus actually hearing the business problem03:47 When immediate customer impact matters more than technical debt06:31 Bringing the business into decisions about speed and tradeoffs09:47 Why technologists need to spend more time with business teams13:20 How easier tools change the importance of defining the problem18:33 Why AI is still a tool, not a substitute for expertiseOne Line That Stuck“There's a difference between listening and hearing.”Follow The Tech Trek for more conversations with the people building and leading modern technology teams.

Title: Signal Discipline: How Brands Use AI, Customer Signals, and Memory to Build TrustHost: Nick Brunker (Managing Director of Experience Strategy, VML)Guest: Adam Troyak (Managing Director, VML & WPP Enterprise Solutions)OverviewIn an era where AI makes capturing and storing customer data easier than ever, why are 77% of organizations reporting that AI adoption has outpaced their governance?In this episode of Human Centered, host Nick Brunker welcomes back Adam Troyak to unpack Signal Discipline—the strategic framework that separates customer care from customer surveillance. Adam breaks down why the biggest competitive advantage in AI isn't gathering more data, but developing the judgment to know what to remember, what to forget, and what to say out loud.Key Takeaways & Topics Covered:Data vs. Signals: Why functional data (clicks, browsing history) belongs to tech infrastructure, while first-party signals (human needs, self-disclosed preferences) belong to experience strategy.The "Surveilled" Trap: Why over 80% of tech spend lands in the high-data/low-trust quadrant—and why restraint is the true fix.The 5-Layer Signal Model: A step-by-step breakdown of Signals, Context, Memory, Trust, and Relationships.The Memory Policy Engine: How to build the "middle layer" in your tech stack that programmatically decides when data should persist, decay, surface, or be forgotten.Cross-Functional Alignment: Bringing the CIO, CMO, and Chief Risk Officer into the same room to map the 25 key "trust-bonding" moments in the customer journey.Read more of Adam's written pieces on Signal DisciplineThe Drum

Dennis Mitchell, CIO & CEO of Starlight Capital, shares his outlook on Infrastructure Stocks.

Niels Kaastrup-Larsen and Alan Dunne are joined by Welton Investment Corporation founder Patrick Welton to explore what four decades in markets have taught him about trading, risk and managing other people's money. Pat shares lessons from his encounters with Paul Tudor Jones and John Henry before explaining why taking outside capital fundamentally changes a manager's responsibility. They discuss the real sources of trend following returns, why managers can damage their edge by listening too closely to clients, and whether replication and multi-strategy funds have changed the landscape. They also explore capacity, changing market regimes and why investor behavior may ultimately matter more than finding the perfect strategy.-----50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE-----Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Alan on Twitter.Find out more about DUNN Capital.Follow Patrick on LinkedIn.Episode Timestamps:Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved----PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score One of the things I'm really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here3. Other Resources that can help youAnd if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click HerePrivacy PolicyDisclaimer

The major indexes remain near record territory, but beneath the surface, the picture is considerably more complicated. Technology continues to provide important support while market breadth has weakened, Treasury yields remain elevated, and small- and mid-cap stocks have faced greater pressure. Meanwhile, investors are weighing the Federal Reserve's latest rate hike, higher bond yields, oil prices, stretched areas of the market, Nvidia's massive stock buyback, and questions about whether Technology can continue carrying so much of the market's weight. Lance Roberts & Danny Ratliff take your questions directly from the YouTube live chat and discuss what these developments could mean for markets, portfolios, interest rates, bonds, retirement planning, and the economy. 0:00 - INTRO 0:56 - Last day of the Quarter; Friday is Employment Day 2:18 - JOLTS Report - Labor Hoarding 6:10 - Markets Continue to Consolidate; Breadth is Very Weak 7:51 - The Set up for a Year End Rally 10:46 - When you're right...and keeping score 13:00 - Cash on Hand? 13:46 - Investor Sentiment Then & Now 15:27 - What about Utilities Now? 16:20 - RSP vs SPY? 17:24 - Interest Rate Sensitive Small- & Mid-caps? 19:08 - When Trading Patterns Fail? (chart) 22:15 - Can You Remember a Time when the US Has Been This Resilient? (yes) 25:40 - Data Center Growth Projections to 2040 27:48 - When do We Know When the Bond Market Crashes? (Why does the Fed hike rates?) (chart) 32:38 - Taking Advantage of Rate Environment to Buy a House 35:34 - Collateralized Loan Obligations as Investments: Know the quality of underlying loans 37:13 - Is Now a Good Time to Invest in REITS? 39:57 - Total Cost of a House Over Time? (What the Real American Dream is...) 42:13 - What is a Qualified Dividend (AMLP & Buying Dividend Companies) 43:44 - The Three Legs of a Portfolio 45:11 - Bumping Up 401k Contributions ==== Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Danny Ratliff, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Market Breadth Sends a Warning " https://youtu.be/YR2WHQHpryU ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/BSygFM2sS7Y -------- Watch our previous show, "Stop Trying to Beat the Market" https://youtu.be/_m7uSDmtseI ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #StockMarket #MarketBreadth #SP500 #Investing #MarketOutlook #FederalReserve #InterestRates #MarketOutlook #Bonds

The headlines say the tariff war is still raging. According to Richard Baldwin, Washington has spent the past year quietly backing away from it, one exemption and carve-out at a time. In episode 93, Robert Skidmore and I look at what that retreat means for a global trading system that increasingly seems to be organising itself around the US rather than through it. Then we sit down with Charles-Henry Monchau, Chief Investment Officer at Bank Syz, to ask how investors should think about geopolitics, industrial policy and capital flows in what he calls the era of "slowbalization." Trade policy, energy security and investment strategy are no longer separate conversations. Canada and the EU are building a deeper partnership, Germany is weighing a tougher economic-security approach to China, and an energy squeeze is heading into winter that looks a lot like 2022. Meanwhile, our guest points out that global equities were hitting record highs despite all the scary headlines. The awkward question for anyone with a portfolio, a supply chain or a heating bill is how those pieces fit together. What Went Wrong This Week The quiet tariff retreat. Baldwin argues the effective US tariff rate rose from about 2% to a peak of around 11% in October 2025, then fell to roughly 6.7% by May 2026, largely through exemptions and lower applied rates rather than public reversals. His read: the rest of the world is adapting around the US in what he calls an "N minus one" trading system. Canada and the EU move closer. A deeper strategic partnership, Mark Carney's call for a closer alliance of like-minded democracies, CETA's provisional application, and why supply chains and critical minerals are part of the story. Germany's China rethink. Bloomberg reports Berlin is preparing a tougher economic-security approach: tariffs on certain Chinese plug-in hybrids, investment screening, export controls, EU procurement preferences, local content requirements, and possibly joint-venture rules for Chinese firms in Europe. We look at "China shock 2.0," the rare earths choke point, and the price gap between a Renault EV and a BYD or Xpeng. The energy squeeze. Hormuz, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refining, record US diesel prices and the on-again, off-again talk of a US export ban, record-low EU gas storage for this time of year, and a fertilizer squeeze that could outlast the Hormuz closure itself (Peter Goodman flagged that one). The lesson: depending on US energy is now a risk you have to hedge. Our guest: Charles-Henry Monchau Charles-Henry Monchau is Chief Investment Officer and ExCo member at Bank Syz. Before that, he was CIO of Dubai Investments and head of asset allocation for EMEA at Deutsche Bank, with senior roles across Geneva, Zurich, Dubai, Nassau and Paris. He holds an executive MBA from IE Business School and an MSc in finance from HEC, is a CFA, CMT, CAIA and CIIA charterholder, and is a top voice on LinkedIn with more than 280,000 followers. In our conversation, we cover: What a CIO actually does (the answer involves an orchestra conductor and the auto industry). Why contrarian investing is easy to explain and very hard to do: the moment to take some profits is when everything looks perfect, and the hardest moment to buy risk is when it feels like the end of the world. From globalisation to "slowbalization": US-China geo-economics, sovereignty, why chips are now made at home rather than by the lowest-cost producer, and the three strategic priorities he sees: AI and robotics, defence, and electric power. Why global equities keep hitting all-time highs despite the headlines, from a record DAX with only two tech stocks to a rally broadening across Europe and emerging markets, and why he calls it "the most hated global equity bull market." Why geopolitics and geoeconomics are here to stay, as both an opportunity and a risk for investors. Why he sees the bond market as the ultimate judge of US policy, from Liberation Day to the "TACO" trade. Expat corner: what living abroad taught him about Switzerland, including direct democracy, a constitutional debt brake and a strong franc that pushes companies up the value chain. On a scale of zero to SpaceX, how worried should we be about a bubble? His answer: SpaceX is like an option. You can find Syz's investment insights on the Syz Group website and LinkedIn page. Plus: why 93 is a surprisingly good number for a trade podcast (neptunium, the end of the GATT Uruguay Round on 15 December 1993, chapter 93 of the Harmonized System, and CERN putting the World Wide Web software into the public domain), Gen Z's "Get Off My Lawn" segment, hobby-maxing as a recession indicator, AI-generated sloths on Vespas, and the return of the river otter to Geneva. This episode is brought to you by Active Languages, a Geneva-based language training company that has been helping professionals, expats and international families succeed in Switzerland for nearly 30 years. Trade Splaining listeners get a complimentary language level assessment and initial consultation: email [confirm address with Active Languages] and mention Trade Splaining, or learn more at activelanguages.com.

The major indexes remain near record territory, but beneath the surface, the picture is considerably more complicated. Technology continues to provide important support while market breadth has weakened, Treasury yields remain elevated, and small- and mid-cap stocks have faced greater pressure. Meanwhile, investors are weighing the Federal Reserve's latest rate hike, higher bond yields, oil prices, stretched areas of the market, Nvidia's massive stock buyback, and questions about whether Technology can continue carrying so much of the market's weight. Lance Roberts & Danny Ratliff take your questions directly from the YouTube live chat and discuss what these developments could mean for markets, portfolios, interest rates, bonds, retirement planning, and the economy. 0:00 - INTRO 0:56 - Last day of the Quarter; Friday is Employment Day 2:18 - JOLTS Report - Labor Hoarding 6:10 - Markets Continue to Consolidate; Breadth is Very Weak 7:51 - The Set up for a Year End Rally 10:46 - When you're right...and keeping score 13:00 - Cash on Hand? 13:46 - Investor Sentiment Then & Now 15:27 - What about Utilities Now? 16:20 - RSP vs SPY? 17:24 - Interest Rate Sensitive Small- & Mid-caps? 19:08 - When Trading Patterns Fail? (chart) 22:15 - Can You Remember a Time when the US Has Been This Resilient? (yes) 25:40 - Data Center Growth Projections to 2040 27:48 - When do We Know When the Bond Market Crashes? (Why does the Fed hike rates?) (chart) 32:38 - Taking Advantage of Rate Environment to Buy a House 35:34 - Collateralized Loan Obligations as Investments: Know the quality of underlying loans 37:13 - Is Now a Good Time to Invest in REITS? 39:57 - Total Cost of a House Over Time? (What the Real American Dream is...) 42:13 - What is a Qualified Dividend (AMLP & Buying Dividend Companies) 43:44 - The Three Legs of a Portfolio 45:11 - Bumping Up 401k Contributions ==== Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Danny Ratliff, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Market Breadth Sends a Warning " https://youtu.be/YR2WHQHpryU ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/BSygFM2sS7Y -------- Watch our previous show, "Stop Trying to Beat the Market" https://youtu.be/_m7uSDmtseI ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #StockMarket #MarketBreadth #SP500 #Investing #MarketOutlook #FederalReserve #InterestRates #MarketOutlook #Bonds

This conversation was too good to leave in the archives.In this encore of our Ask an Allocator series, Stacy sits down with Bill Harding, CIO of Jackson National, who oversees $200B in assets and $29.8B in directly managed fund-of-fund assets.Bill gives us a look inside the mind of an allocator and shares what he's actually paying attention to when evaluating fund managers, because past performance is only part of the story.In this episode, Bill and Stacy discuss:Bill's backstory, from financial analyst at a cheese manufacturer to CIO at Jackson NationalWhat fund managers need to get right when pitching a potential partnershipWhy past performance alone isn't enough to earn an allocator's attentionWhy Bill sees culture as a real source of alphaThe questions fund buyers are asking behind the scenes (and why the most important ones aren't always quantitative)If you've ever wondered what really matters on the allocator side of the table, this conversation gives you a pretty good look behind the curtain. About Bill Harding:Bill Harding, CFA, is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Jackson National Asset Management (JNAM), where he leads asset allocation, portfolio construction, sub-adviser monitoring, and manager research. He joined JNAM in 2012 after serving as Head of Manager Research for Morningstar's Investment Management division, and has more than 30 years of experience across JNAM, Morningstar, and Leprino Foods. He holds a B.S. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an MBA from Loyola University Chicago.Bill graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business. He holds an MBA from Loyola University Chicago and is a CFA charterholder. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn't be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

On the 72nd episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, host Evan Reiser (CEO and co-founder, Abnormal AI) speaks with Alexandra Guenther, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Leidos. Leidos is a Fortune 500 science and technology company that operates globally with roughly 50,000 employees across defense, intelligence, homeland, health, and digital sectors. Alexandra explains how Leidos rebuilt IT support into a "service desk of the future," how she drives AI adoption by asking teams which task they never want to do again, and why she treats AI as an enablement layer rather than an outcome.Quick Hits from Alexandra:On measuring the modern CIO: "It's no longer about ROI, and it's no longer about, 'I'm going to deploy this technology in 24 months.'"On leading through change: "You cannot build resilience into an exhausted organization."On AI's real role: "AI is an enablement and it is not the outcome in and of itself."Book Recommendation: Good to Great by Jim CollinsLike what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.Enterprise AI Innovators is a show where top technology executives share specific ways AI changes how work gets done in the enterprise.Find more great insights from technology leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/Enterprise AI Innovators is produced by Abnormal Studios.

George Stelling talks about his book Decipher & Deliver and ways to remove friction in business and digital transformation. George is the founder and CEO of Lunation.com, a firm that helps companies manage transformation investments and measure ROI. He is also the founder and CEO of Silicon Century Capital and Managing Partner and CEO at Quadrillion Partners. He previously served as NVIDIA's first CIO. Listen for three action items you can use today. Host, Kevin Craine Do you want to be a guest? https://DigitalTransformationPodast.net/guest Do you want to be a sponsor? https://DigitalTransformationPodcast.net/advertise

Europe is entering a pivotal era of strategic autonomy, seeking to build resilience across critical sectors such as defence, energy, communications, and technology in response to a more fragmented geopolitical landscape. Chris Iggo, CIO of AXA IM Core, part of BNPP AM, and Fadi Berbari, Senior Portfolio Manager in the fixed income team at BNP Paribas Asset Management, discuss how this shift toward strategic autonomy is reshaping Europe's fixed income credit. Fadi explains why a selective, bottom-up approach is essential to capitalise on the stability and visibility offered by strategic European investments.For more insights, visit Viewpoint: https://viewpoint.bnpparibas-am.com/Download the Viewpoint app: https://onelink.to/tpxq34Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bnpp.lk/amHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Faltam apenas 5 dias para as Eleições 2026. Mas, para o investidor, a grande questão não é apenas quem vence a eleição — é o que acontece com Bolsa, dólar, juros e economia depois das urnas.Neste episódio especial do Market Makers, Thiago Salomão e Leopoldo Rosa recebem André Leite, CIO da TAG Investimentos, para analisar os principais cenários que podem afetar o patrimônio dos investidores antes e depois da eleição presidencial.Ao longo da conversa, discutimos o que já pode estar precificado pelo mercado, quais riscos ainda podem surpreender, o impacto do cenário fiscal, a importância da composição do Congresso e o que observar na Bolsa, no dólar e na curva de juros.Também discutimos uma questão fundamental: como posicionar uma carteira sem precisar apostar em quem será o próximo presidente?Neste episódio:• Eleições 2026 e mercado financeiro• Bolsa brasileira• Dólar• Selic e curva de juros• Risco fiscal• Dívida pública• Inflação• Congresso Nacional• Cenários para 2027• Estratégia de investimentos• Alocação de patrimônioHoteis.com / viagens a trabalho: https://www.hoteis.com/product/business

Peter Diamandis and Emad Mostaque sit down with Cathie Wood and Nikhil Chandhok at Moonshots Live 2026 to discuss the Tesla-SpaceX merger, the path to $1 million Bitcoin, the rapid rise of AI, stablecoins, and the broader bull case for America. This episode was filmed at Moonshots Live 2026. Learn more at https://moonshots.com/  Get access to metatrends 10+ years before anyone else - https://qr.diamandis.com/metatrends   Peter H. Diamandis, MD, is the Founder of XPRIZE, Singularity University, ZeroG, and A360 Emad Mostaque is the founder of Intelligent Internet ( https://www.ii.inc )  Cathie Wood is the founder, CEO and CIO of ARK Invest, where she focuses on investing in disruptive innovation across areas including AI, robotics, blockchain and emerging technologies. Nikhil Chandhok is the Chief Product & Technology Officer at Circle, helping lead the company's product and technology strategy around digital finance and stablecoins.  – This event is presented with Circle — https://www.circle.com/ _ Connect with Peter: X Instagram Substack Website Xprize A360 Connect with Emad: X Linkedin Learn about Intelligent Internet Read Emad's Book Connect with Cathie: Website X Instagram LinkedIn Connect with Nikhil:  Website LinkedIn Listen to MOONSHOTS: Apple YouTube Follow MOONSHOTS:  Instagram TikTok X Threads – *Recorded on September 25th, 2026 *The views expressed by me and all guests are personal opinions and do not constitute Financial, Medical, or Legal advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CMOs are putting more than 15% of their marketing budgets into Al. But 70% say their own marketing processes aren't ready for it. Where Does Your Next Marketing Dollar Go? Before you spend your next marketing dollar on Al, look at what Gartner found when it asked 401 CMOs about their budgets this year. They are putting more than 15 percent of the marketing budget into Al, and 70 percent of them say their own processes aren't ready for it My guest on this episode of The AI Marketing Companion has an explanation for that gap. Marie Bahl is the CMO of Uptempo, whose software helps marketing teams at companies like IBM and IKEA plan and track every dollar they spend. She has marketed enterprise software for 30 years, and she writes for both CMOs and CFOs. Who Wires Together Every Marketing Dollar? A quick primer first. A point solution is software built to do one job: send email, run webinars, score leads, report attribution. Marie counts more than 15,000 of them sold to marketers. A large team might run 50, each bought at a different time by a different person, and few of them share numbers. In finance or HR, IT or a consulting firm connects the systems. In marketing, that wiring job landed on the CMO. Marie's description of the result: "We've allowed this crazy patchwork quilt of solutions to ineffectively represent us, and what happens in the mix is we lose credibility." Her one-line summary of the job today: "The CMO job today is mostly defensive. We're playing defense instead of offense." Marketing Is a Business, So Defend the Marketing Dollar Like One Marie argues that marketing is a business inside the business. Marketers build the market, and they create a series of products that deliver that market on behalf of what the company sells. Running it that way means trading impressions and clicks for measures a CFO already uses. She told me the story of IBM seeing its entire marketing budget in one view for the first time. The Kentucky Derby sponsorship couldn't justify itself next to everything else on the page, so IBM walked away from it. Could your biggest line item survive that same view? Play Along: Keep, Kill, or Hand It Back I asked Marie to sort five tasks that sit on a typical CMO's desk: Choosing and wiring the marketing software Reconciling the budget with finance Buying AI tools for the team Cleaning customer data Building the attribution report for the board Sort them for your own desk before you listen. Then hear which one Marie still owns herself, and the sentence she thinks every marketing leader should say to their CIO this week. Her challenge to all of us: "It's time to stop and ask for the underpinning that you need in order to be credible on behalf of your business." [Listen to the full episode] Hear Marie out, then decide where your next marketing dollar goes.

Can even the wealthiest investors consistently beat the market? Recent data comparing the Forbes 400 with the S&P 500 raises an important question about investment performance, indexing, and the pursuit of market-beating returns. Lance Roberts & Jonathan Penn examine why Americans across generations remain uncertain about their future financial needs, and what that says about the importance of planning beyond portfolio performance. Then, we put a real-world income decision under the microscope: a 5-year Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity (MYGA) yielding 6% versus a 5-year U.S. Treasury yielding 5%. Is the additional yield worth the differences in liquidity, guarantees, taxes, and risk? 0:00 - INTRO 1:00 - National Coffee Day 1:55 - ISM Report/Dallas Fed: 4% GDP Growth? 4:02 - Earnings Season About to Begin/Market Seasonality Set up 6:20 - Markets Continue to Bore; very deceptive 7:54 - Reflexive Rally today? 9:36 - Where to bet on Markets' next move? 11:24 - National Coffee Day & Lance's Weekend Indulgence; Peanut Butter poll 15:15 - Kneejerk Reactions by Investors to Constantly Beat the Market (Fortune 400 vs S&P 500) 18:34 - When Investors Meddle with Portfolios 21:58 - How to Lose Money on a Bond 23:20 - When You're Down in a Position (and don't want to sell at a loss...) 25:49 - Is There a Strategy for Looking for under-valued bonds? 29:37 - Are there Concerns over Stability of US Treasury Market? (6% MYGA vs 5% Treasury) 36:51 - What about Brokered CD's? 39:31 - Managing a Portfolio for Maximum Tax Efficiency; Dealing with Taxes on Bonds 46:58 - Investor Optimism & Beating the Market - Investors Keep Less than the Funds They Own (chart) ==== Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Jonathan Penn, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "What the S&P 500 Is Hiding," https://youtu.be/_m7uSDmtseI ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/rw1VkcLx91U -------- Watch our previous show, "Can the S&P 500 Really Reach 9,000?" https://youtube.com/live/6XwMMbygt6k ------- Articles Mentioned in Today's Show: "Jefferies Sets 9000 Market Target: Everything Must Go Right" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/jefferies-sets-9000-target-for-market-everything-must-go-right/ "Investor Optimism Wins As An Investment Strategy" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/investor-optimism-wins-as-an-investment-strategy/ "McDonald's At Four-Year Lows Isn't As Worrisome As Some Fear" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/mcdonalds-at-four-year-lows-isnt-as-worrisome-as-some-fear/ ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #SP500 #StockMarket #MarketOutlook #Investing #Nvidia #FinancialPlanning #RetirementPlanning #Bonds #MYGA #PeanutButter

Can even the wealthiest investors consistently beat the market? Recent data comparing the Forbes 400 with the S&P 500 raises an important question about investment performance, indexing, and the pursuit of market-beating returns. Lance Roberts & Jonathan Penn examine why Americans across generations remain uncertain about their future financial needs, and what that says about the importance of planning beyond portfolio performance. Then, we put a real-world income decision under the microscope: a 5-year Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity (MYGA) yielding 6% versus a 5-year U.S. Treasury yielding 5%. Is the additional yield worth the differences in liquidity, guarantees, taxes, and risk? 0:00 - INTRO 1:00 - National Coffee Day 1:55 - ISM Report/Dallas Fed: 4% GDP Growth? 4:02 - Earnings Season About to Begin/Market Seasonality Set up 6:20 - Markets Continue to Bore; very deceptive 7:54 - Reflexive Rally today? 9:36 - Where to bet on Markets' next move? 11:24 - National Coffee Day & Lance's Weekend Indulgence; Peanut Butter poll 15:15 - Kneejerk Reactions by Investors to Constantly Beat the Market (Fortune 400 vs S&P 500) 18:34 - When Investors Meddle with Portfolios 21:58 - How to Lose Money on a Bond 23:20 - When You're Down in a Position (and don't want to sell at a loss...) 25:49 - Is There a Strategy for Looking for under-valued bonds? 29:37 - Are there Concerns over Stability of US Treasury Market? (6% MYGA vs 5% Treasury) 36:51 - What about Brokered CD's? 39:31 - Managing a Portfolio for Maximum Tax Efficiency; Dealing with Taxes on Bonds 46:58 - Investor Optimism & Beating the Market - Investors Keep Less than the Funds They Own (chart) ==== Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Jonathan Penn, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "What the S&P 500 Is Hiding," https://youtu.be/_m7uSDmtseI ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/rw1VkcLx91U -------- Watch our previous show, "Can the S&P 500 Really Reach 9,000?" https://youtube.com/live/6XwMMbygt6k ------- Articles Mentioned in Today's Show: "Jefferies Sets 9000 Market Target: Everything Must Go Right" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/jefferies-sets-9000-target-for-market-everything-must-go-right/ "Investor Optimism Wins As An Investment Strategy" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/investor-optimism-wins-as-an-investment-strategy/ "McDonald's At Four-Year Lows Isn't As Worrisome As Some Fear" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/mcdonalds-at-four-year-lows-isnt-as-worrisome-as-some-fear/ ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #SP500 #StockMarket #MarketOutlook #Investing #Nvidia #FinancialPlanning #RetirementPlanning #Bonds #MYGA #PeanutButter

Andy Constan, founder and CIO of Damped Spring and a veteran of Bridgewater and Brevan Howard, makes his debut on The Julia La Roche Show. He lays out his four-pillar macro framework and explains why he's turning cautious on equities despite a strong U.S. economy. His "pie theory" argues that the earnings AI companies are promising add up to more than the GDP available to deliver them. His "hamburger theory" warns that the massive borrowing needed to fund AI capex could stall if capital markets take a breather. With rates spiking for the seventh time since COVID, Constan doubts policymakers will engineer another V-top. He is currently short equities and max long long-term bonds, arguing that the much-maligned 60/40 portfolio is finally worth owning again. He also gives his early read on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, explains what it would really take to kill inflation, and argues that this cycle has no clean historical analog because it's fueled by public-sector rather than private-sector debt. He closes with the story of analyzing every trade from the 1987 crash on the Brady Commission at age 23, and his core advice: own a well-constructed portfolio at your risk target and hold it for life.Thank you to our partnersAugusta Precious Metals — To learn more, visit https://juliabuysgold.com/ or text “Julia" to 35052Monetary Metals - learn more at https://www.monetary-metals.com/julia/Links: Website: https://dampedspring.com/X: https://x.com/dampedspringSubstack: https://substack.com/@dampedspringTimestamps: 00:00 Introduction and welcome Andy Constan00:50 The four-pillar macro framework: growth, inflation, risk premium, positioning02:42 Where we are: a strong economy and 66 months of above-target inflation05:20 AI and the "pie theory": why there isn't enough GDP for the earnings expectations12:22 The "hamburger theory": who pays for the AI capex boom13:50 The seventh rate spike: will it V-top again?17:43 Why he's getting cautious on stocks18:13 How most people should invest: risk targets and always owning beta21:43 Seeking alpha and his current positioning: short equities, max long bonds24:21 "The 60/40 Strikes Back": why bonds make sense again29:30 Bonds finally get the growth memo31:58 Vulnerable to disappointment, not recession32:52 His read on Kevin Warsh at the Fed36:59 What it would actually take to kill inflation38:45 Why the administration isn't fighting inflation41:37 What's mispriced right now43:35 Historical analogs: 0DTE options, portfolio insurance, and a public-debt-driven cycle48:09 Serving on the Brady Commission after the 1987 crash at age 2353:02 Parting thoughts and where to find AndyThe content of this podcast is provided for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Nothing discussed should be interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Guests' views are their own. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions.

David Gee is the former CIO and CISO at storied companies such as HSBC and Eli Lilly. Rather than quietly disappear in his retirement, he's been writing books. And not just any books, two of his published books are "A Day in the Life of a CISO" and "How to Sell to the CIO and CISO". And not just tiny little ebooks! Each of them is 500 days of details. Specifics. Stories. Advice. Explanations. Basically everything you need to raise your game selling to senior security and IT leaders.In this episode Why the CISO's default rule is one in, one out, and what the CFO says that makes it soThe exception: a new category the current stack doesn't cover, and why it's worth the extra procurement work and intensive POCsSecurity budgets are "one pot of money," and AI is now crowding it. Some boards are asking whether AI could replace whole packagesWhy the strategy that's already written down is too late for you, and the 12 to 15 month window before anything is budgetedThe two-sentence intro that got a meeting with a large Australian company agreed within hours"AI alerts are 9 times more chatty": the one soundbite that made David stop a startup mid-pitchThe three Cs of trust, and why swapping the A team for the B team after the contract is the mistake CISOs rememberWhat David wishes CIOs understood about security, including the HSBC mobile banking storyAbout the guest David Gee spent around twenty years as a CIO, including at Eli Lilly, before deliberately moving into the CISO chair at HSBC Asia Pacific. He now sits on boards, advises a small number of startups, and has written three books, the latest being How to Sell to the CIO and CISO.Notable quotes"The CFO's telling you, hey, stop buying new crap from new vendors. Can you just use the vendors we have?""The strategy that's been written down and being executed often is too late.""I can't just spam them because you asked me to. That would be going against my book."Chapters00:00 Why a CISO wrote a book for salespeople 10:39 Guarding the network, and getting in before the budget exists 13:05 What a CISO actually wants from a first meeting 17:29 Building trust: the three Cs 21:28 Selling change, and why procurement slows it down 23:10 How a CISO's career stage changes what they'll buy 26:50 The CIO and CISO tension, and the HSBC story 30:25 Turning the CFO into an ally 33:45 Startups, one in, one out, and AI 39:41 Where vendors fit after the sale 41:10 What to bring to the CISO meeting 46:39 Overrated or underrated  Support the showThe Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startupWant to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and trainingNeed ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Todd is CIO of Parnassus Investments, a pioneer in responsible investing founded in 1984 that manages approximately $41B in assets (as of 6/30/26). Todd shares lessons from more than three decades of investing, discussing how durable competitive advantages and increasing relevance can drive long-term compounding, how Parnassus approaches quality and concentration, and where he sees both the promise and pitfalls of today's AI investment cycle.-This podcast/webcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, tax, investment, or business advice. It is not a solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement. All opinions expressed by participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Evoke Advisors Division of MAI Capital Management, LLC ("Evoke”), its affiliates, or any companies mentioned. Information shared has not been independently verified by MAI or its affiliates. MAI Capital Management, LLC (“MAI”) is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which does not imply any particular level of skill or training.Certain information contained herein has been obtained from third party sources and such information has not been independently verified. No representation, warranty, or undertaking, expressed or implied, is given to the accuracy or completeness of such information by any person.While such sources are believed to be reliable, Evoke does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information. Evoke does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein as of any future date.The content is intended for a general audience and does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell securities or adopt any investment strategy. Any examples or scenarios discussed are illustrative only, involve risks and uncertainties, and do not guarantee future results. Non-traditional assets carry significant risks and may not be suitable for all investors. Decisions should be based on individual objectives, risk tolerance, and circumstances.Statements herein are general and may not reflect an individual's or entity's specific circumstances or applicable laws, which vary by jurisdiction. Further, speakers' views are personal and may differ from Evoke and MAI recommendations and are not specific investment advice; and do not consider client objectives, risk tolerance, and diversification. Guests may have current or past relationships with Evoke and MAI, its affiliates, or the host, including as clients, service providers, or business partners. Participation does not constitute an endorsement or testimonial. No compensation has been paid or received for guest participation unless disclosed. MAI and its affiliates may have business relationships with entities mentioned in this podcast, which could create potential conflicts of interest. These relationships may include advisory services, investment management, or other arrangements. MAI seeks to manage such conflicts consistent with its fiduciary obligations and policies.(As of December 22, 2025)

Episode Detail John Kellington has spent his career on every side of the same question: how does data move reliably across an industry built on thousands of separate systems that all need to talk to each other? He's built the standards, lived by them as a carrier CIO, and now, as the new CEO of ACORD, he's back to run the organization that sets them for the entire global insurance industry. In this conversation, Kellington and Bryan dig into what ACORD actually does beyond its well-known forms library, why AI in insurance can only be as trustworthy as the data underneath it, and how a reference architecture built inside IBM more than 30 years ago is still shaping how the industry should think about modeling risk today, including the messy, high-volume data coming from connected cars and IoT devices that doesn't fit neatly into any existing field. Guest Bio John Kellington is the Chief Executive Officer of ACORD (the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development), the insurance industry's global standards-setting body. He returned to ACORD in August 2026 after 16 years as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of The Cincinnati Insurance Company, where he applied an architecture-led model to transform the carrier's technology operations. Kellington began his career at IBM, then spent seven years as a carrier technology leader at Ohio Casualty (later acquired by Liberty Mutual). He previously spent three years at ACORD as Senior Vice President of Standards Development, Information Technology, Corporate Finance and Membership, where he helped develop what is now known as the ACORD Reference Architecture. This episode was recorded live at ACORD Connect 2026. Show Notes: What ACORD Actually Does: Reach: roughly 30,000 participants worldwide set data exchange standards across the global insurance industry through ACORD, not just forms. Still forms, but not only forms: ACORD maintains roughly 800 to 900 active forms, but the bigger job now is electronic data exchange, getting carrier, agency, and vendor systems to talk to each other in the same format. Where competition actually lives: exchanging data isn't a competitive advantage. What a carrier does with that data in underwriting, pricing, and service is where the real competition happens. Why ACORD Has to Stay Independent: Owned by the industry: ACORD runs on membership dollars, not venture capital or any single company, which Kellington says is the only reason it can set standards without an agenda. "Switzerland": his own word for ACORD's role. Not a vendor, not a carrier, not a broker, just an organization funded to make the industry work better. The line it won't cross: if ACORD ever competed directly with the vendors and carriers it serves, he says it would lose the credibility to set standards for the industry. AI Needs Trust Before It Needs Anything Else: The core argument: AI can only "flourish" in insurance if it's built on data that is consistent and traceable, exactly what standards provide. "Invent from here": Kellington's framing for the industry's next move. Build on the existing standardized data pipeline rather than reinventing it from scratch. AI as the bridge: he sees AI solving the industry's hardest data problem, the huge volume of freeform text and inconsistent formats that never fit neatly into a standard field. The ACORD Reference Architecture, Explained: Where it came from: intellectual property IBM and Prima Solutions donated to ACORD, building on modeling work IBM's research team did decades earlier. Kellington helped bring that donation in. What it is: Kellington calls it the most advanced model of the insurance world in existence, broad enough to represent literally anything that can be insured. What it did for one carrier: he personally used it to transform Cincinnati Insurance's IT organization, driving reuse, lower cost, and higher software quality across the company's systems. What the Industry Needs to Do Its Part: Start with distribution: when agents and brokers voice a need clearly, carriers listen, and when carriers listen, vendors follow. Build a community, not just a standard: Kellington wants an "architecture community" of the people who actually work inside these systems, improving the Reference Architecture together rather than leaving it to ACORD alone. His near-term goal as CEO: define a clear future state for how the industry's tools should work together, then map the practical steps to get there. This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Peter Madsen is the CIO for the $5B Utah School and Institutional Trust Funds Office or SITFO.  We discussed his formative years in the capital markets and how they contributed to his current philosophy of managing risk and return for this permanent fund: circumspect about equity beta, deep sensitivity to draw down risk, finding alpha in up and down markets, and ensuring each strategy is contributing to the total portfolio goals.  Finally, we discussed the inherent benefits of being located in Utah's Silicon Slopes and its burgeoning venture ecosystem.

Explore Insigneo's Weekly Tuesday Morning Podcast for the latest market and economic updates by our CIO, Ahmed Riesgo.

Christopher Zook is the founder, chairman, and CIO of CAZ Investments and co-author of “The Holy Grail of Investing” with Tony Robbins. In this conversation, we break down how to build a diversified portfolio in a rapidly changing world, why CAZ invests in the picks and shovels of crypto, and the rise of neoprimes in space and defense. We also discuss the scarcity behind bitcoin, sports teams, and GP stakes, and why AI's impact on jobs keeps him up at night.Check out CAZ at ( https://cazinvestments.com) and the Holy Grail of Investing book's website (https://www.theholygrailofinvesting.com) !======================Arch Public is an agentic trading platform that automates investment strategies across Stocks, Commodities, ETFs and Crypto. Whether you're rotating into AI & Gold, allocating to the S&P 500, or accumulating Bitcoin, Arch Public executes your plan 24/7 without ever taking custody of your assets or funds. Sign up today at https://www.archpublic.com, and start your FREE automated trading strategy! ======================Lava is a global platform for bitcoin financial services. Spend with Lava Card and earn up to 5% back in bitcoin with every purchase— all with no annual fee, no FX fees, and zero spread. Plus you can borrow against your bitcoin at the lowest rates, earn yield on cash, and move fiat or stablecoins globally. Get started at https://www.lava.xyz/POMP======================0:00 - Intro1:01 - How to invest in a rapidly changing world3:21 - Modern portfolio theory & the holy grail of investing7:42 - How CAZ invests in bitcoin & crypto10:35 - Space & defense (the rise of neoprimes)16:16 - Writing “The Holy Grail of Investing” with Tony Robbins20:08 - Does diversification have to be boring?26:05 - Bitcoin, sports teams & GP stakes (the power of scarcity)32:34 - What keeps him up at night? 37:53 - Where to find the book & CAZ Investments

Fewer companies have been driving equity market gains in 2026. Our CIO and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Mike Wilson looks at what investors should make of the narrowing rally as the year enters its final stretch. Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Mike Wilson: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley's CIO and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist. Today on the podcast I'll be discussing the Market's Bad Breadth.It's Monday, September 28th at 11:30 am in New York. So, let's get after it.The market is up this year. That's the good news. But over the last six weeks, I've been watching something that's giving me pause. This rally has been carried by a shrinking group of stocks.More than half of the Russell 3000 is at least 20 percent below its June highs and the S&P 500 forward multiple has fallen to 19 times, close to a new low for the year. Meanwhile, earnings growth is still running in the mid-teens for the median stock and revisions breadth is approaching cycle highs for the S&P 500. That is not complacency. It is a market that has already done a lot of work to price higher energy costs, a tighter Fed, AI disruption, questions around returns on capital, and geopolitical risk. Last week on the podcast, I noted that this is classic mid-cycle behavior. Earnings are absorbing lower valuations, and quality is taking the baton from the early-cycle winners. Groups that have led powerfully from the rolling-recession trough have been among the weakest areas recently: Autos, Semis, and short-cycle Industrials. That is what tends to happen when the cycle matures and the Fed turns less friendly. The market stops paying for high beta. And starts rewarding free cash flow, stable margins, operating efficiency, and earnings that are still being revised higher. That is why I continue to favor large-cap quality, particularly asset-light, services-oriented, and fee-based businesses.Having said that, there is still one problem to resolve. Breadth improved through most of the summer even as crude and yields moved higher. The deterioration came after Jackson Hole. That's when markets began discounting a more hawkish Fed reaction function. The percentage of S&P 500 stocks above their 200-day moving average fell from roughly 75 percent to below 50 percent, while the index held up much better. That divergence cannot persist forever. Either breadth catches up to price, or the index comes down to meet breadth. If bond volatility does not settle down soon, it could spill over into equity vol and we would see the S&P 500 price come down about 5 or 10 percent. Frankly, I would welcome it. A final index-level correction is often how a multi-month correction beneath the surface ends.There has been a lot of focus on the Fed's recent pivot to rate hikes. However, the two-year yield is already above the level implied by the Fed's projections. To me this suggests the bond market has been leaning too hawkish in the near term. The bigger uncertainty is how the new Fed Chairman approaches liquidity and the balance sheet. He is more of a monetarist than his predecessors, and markets are still trying to understand what that means in practice. My expectation is that the Fed ultimately provides liquidity if financial conditions tighten too far. But markets may test that resolve first. Bond volatility, funding stress, and whether equity volatility follows are the key signals. If those pressures ease, breadth can catch up and drive the market higher. If they do not, the index probably has more correcting to do.There is also a new, constructive story developing for investors: AI adoption is moving from promise to practice. Companies with higher AI adoption are seeing stronger margins and earnings trends, but consensus still assumes many of those benefits fade in the out-years. We think that's too conservative. Productivity gains tend to compound, not immediately disappear. Earnings momentum is broadening from enablers to adopters, while adopter valuations have reset to more attractive levels. That supports a barbell approach – own select enablers where earnings durability justifies the premium, but increasingly own adopters where improving fundamentals are not yet fully reflected in expectations.Bottom line, the market is not ignoring risk. It has priced the risks through lower valuations, weaker breadth, and major leadership rotations. What remains unresolved is the gap between a resilient index and a much weaker average stock. The answer is that we probably see breadth improve and the index level come in before a surge to new all time highs. That's why, I still want to overweight large-cap quality, but use October weakness to add to riskier stocks. The market may need one more uncomfortable adjustment. But that may be exactly what sets up a stronger finish to the year. I will be here to guide you. Thanks for tuning in; I hope you found it informative and useful. Let us know what you think by leaving us a review. And if you find Thoughts on the Market worthwhile, tell a friend or colleague to try it out!

Find me on Substack!My guest today is Peter Lazaroff, CFA, CFP®—the Chief Investment Officer of the $10-billion-plus RIA Plancorp, chair of its investment committee, host of The Long-Term Investor, and author of Making Money Simple, and a new book The Perfect Portfolio, whose central message is that the best portfolio is not the historical winner but the one tailored to an investor's goals, capacity for risk, and ability to stay disciplined.Peter Lazaroff's first stock arrived on his twelfth birthday: a single share of Nike from his grandmother. He was disappointed until a one-dollar dividend check showed up in the mail. "I didn't even have to work for this," he recalls, and he was hooked. Today, as CIO overseeing more than $10 billion and author of The Perfect Portfolio, he argues that the best portfolio isn't the historical winner but the one built for your life.He opens his book with a steak dinner, burned on a cheap grill in the backyard of his first home, because the perfect portfolio, like the perfect meal, is personal. He tells the story of a client whose blue chip stocks and mutual funds were chosen to impress others rather than to fund his goals. A portfolio, Peter says, is "a piece of their identity," and it changes over a lifetime as your human capital, balance sheet, and heirs come into view.On market timing, he reminds us that "You do have to be right twice," and that taxes can turn a bad call into a "permanent bear market." Rather than predicting declines, plan on them. He explains exposure therapy for investors, why narratives scare us more than percentages, and why our instinct to run from the rustle in the bushes makes beating the market so hard.Peter reveals his own guardrail, "It's to not do it yourself," shares why bond indexes lend the most to the most indebted, and makes the case for goals-based benchmarks: "am I still on track?" He closes with a controversial plea to read twenty minutes a day, and with the idea at the heart of his book: the perfect portfolio is the one you can stick with.Podcast Program – Disclosure StatementBlue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm's employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice.Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

What if your AI strategy is creating more risk than progress? John Willis joins Andrew Stotz to trace how Deming's System of Profound Knowledge shaped the way he thinks about organizations, learning, and change. From his early days building DevOps to the AI transformations he's navigating with CIOs today. Along the way, John connects Deming to fast feedback loops, explains why leaders keep mistaking a learning problem for a technology problem, and shares stories that never made it into his book, Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge.   A fresh conversation for longtime Deming thinkers and those just beginning the journey.   TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.0 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today I'm here with featured guest, John Willis. John, how are you doing?   0:00:15.7 John Willis: Great, Andrew. I was just thinking, I feel like that song, like I got my picture on the cover of Rolling Stone. Like, I'm on the Deming Institute podcast. Yay.   [laughter]   0:00:24.9 Andrew Stotz: We finally got you on.   0:00:27.8 John Willis: Yeah, yeah.   0:00:30.3 Andrew Stotz: Actually been a while and I wanna introduce you just briefly and then I'll let you do a little bit more of the introduction. But basically on Amazon, a book popped up and I was just looking at the date of that. That book popped up on, for me, it popped up on September 6, 2023 on Audible and I immediately bought it and I got the Audible book and the book's called 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge. How Deming Helped Win a War, Altered the Face of Industry, and Holds the Key to Our Future'. And I immediately got it. Didn't know you, listened to it, loved it. Later you reached out on LinkedIn and we started communicating and you were kind enough to send a copy of it, which I then went through in more detail. I love the book. I really highly recommend the Audible version because it's just fun. Because the book is opening up a whole new Deming lens, a whole new way from somebody that never met Deming, and I just found that fascinating. So maybe why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself to the audience so that people know who you are, where you've been, what you've been doing and what you're doing now?   0:01:41.4 John Willis: Yeah, no, no, great. I... So, yeah, I... I've been doing technology, usually high consequence business, regulated industry, banks, retail, the biggest of the bigs, where the technology is incredibly important. Right? And I've been doing five decades of basic technology transformations, and I'm kind of the person who gets bored real easy. So I've literally gone through, like, you name it, mainframe, centralized computing, client server, distributed computing, priority systems, the Linux Open systems, you know, owned infrastructure cloud, and I'm consider one of the founders of the DevOps movement. And now today, like the cliché that I am, I've been doing a lot of organizational strategy on AI. So I don't come in and tell you how to turn 4,000 developers into AI coders. I kind of tell your CIOs to slow down. Wait a minute. So, yeah, so my day job today is I'm... I think these days finally in my life I would call myself an author first. I've written a number of books. The one you did, I had... My last book was a history of 100 history, 100 Year History of AI. And... But I'm an advisor, so I sort of... I take inbounds. I don't really look for work. Usually it's a chief of staff for a CIO who either has worked with me in the past and hey John, we're underwater with AI. Can you come in? Or they hear something I've said or I do a lot of podcasts and then I'm sort of a quasi investor. Although I probably should listen to your stuff a little better because I'm typically... I'm one of those guys that like, if I invest in it, you go short on it right away. So... [laughter] But yeah. But, yeah, no, so... But my day job today is really, is doing research. I'm actually just sure, this probably opened up a whole another discussion. Maybe later but I'm writing a book about the history of quantum computing right now and that's been just fascinating. So...   0:03:41.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:03:41.8 John Willis: But my day job is helping CIOs and large high consequence organizations try to shuffle through technology transformations.   0:03:50.7 Andrew Stotz: And for the audience there that didn't catch what you were saying at the beginning, it kind of dated you because you were talking about the song called Rolling Stone by Dr. Hook.   0:03:59.9 John Willis: Yeah, yeah, totally.   0:04:01.3 Andrew Stotz: Dr. Hook published this in about 1972. And here are the lyrics. "Wanna see my picture on the cover? Wanna buy five copies for my mother? Wanna see my smiling face on the cover of Rolling Stone?" So here...   0:04:12.8 John Willis: Totally. Yeah. There you go. Deming Institute. Yeah, no, great.   0:04:16.7 Andrew Stotz: And one of the things that I found fascinating was just how you came to Deming from a very different angle. I was lucky enough that my boss at Pepsi sent me to study with him and I did two different seminars. The last one was in 1992. So I was 24, he was 92, was gonna live about one more year. I had... I could literally reach out and touch the man and hold his hand and sit next to him. I got a great picture of me sitting next to him. And I was just a young guy with a fresh mind compared to the 500 guys behind me that were older that he was bashing at times. But tell us a little bit about how you stumbled upon this topic and why you decided to do what you did with writing the book?   0:05:03.7 John Willis: Yeah, no, it's sort of interesting. I sort of say that for the first, I don't know, probably from 1980, my first job was running five distributed large computer systems for Exxon Research and Production, basically the geophysics work, right, during the most hottest period of the oil industry. And there were people doing that part of variation and understanding, but that didn't sort of hit my world. I was supporting geophysical processing and then so I rolled into other jobs. And then probably the closest I came... So in other words, I'm dealing with a lot of these major transformations and always focusing on the meta side, like the organizational. What are the things that are wrong? How do we fix the human and technology? There's a phrase called sociotechnical systems, right? And that's always where I've been most interested. And then even I was at GE Capital and I'll say this with all honesty, I was a Green Belt, but they gave out Green Belts for Six Sigma, [laughter] right? My wife was actually a Black Belt. And... But we would do... And I know Deming hated Six Sigma and all that, but we were doing... It was all around me, right? And then it wasn't until really the DevOps age that we really... That was a major shift in my career because before everything was sort of first generational from a technology or sociotechnical system, very command control, you sort of you installed software in a certain way. There were so many principles that were being broken by DevOps. And I was already an older guy at that point, but I was learning from these young kids and I'm known as the person who introduced DevOps to the US.   0:06:52.3 John Willis: And... But so there is where we started going back and understanding... We thought everything was new. We were creating DevOps, we were doing all this crazy awesome stuff. And I remember a friend of mine, well, a good friend of mine wrote a book called 'The Phoenix Project' by Gene Kim and it's a rewrite of Eliyahu Goldratt's 'The Goal'. And I was like, oh my God. And I read all of Goldratt's books and I was like, okay, this is the way, this is the way. I've seen a glimpse of some 30 or 40 year knowledge that I was missing. And then it was an open space seminar. A good friend of mine says, "John, you know." and I'm going off about Goldratt and he's like, "You know this all goes back to Deming." I'm like, "Who's Deming?" I'm like, "I just spent a year learning everything I could about Goldratt. He is my North Star. And now you're telling me..." And he challenged me. He said, "John, I'll leave it at this. You go read Deming's 14 Points and if you don't... I know you. I know what you're gonna do once you do that." And he was spot on. That was it. I was... And I don't... I'm more into the Profound Knowledge and we could talk a little bit about my journey there. But I was like, oh my goodness, this is the real and I love Eliyahu Goldratt and I love 'The Goal' and I love all his books. But Deming was hitting... Was like punching me right square in the face.   0:08:12.0 Andrew Stotz: So to what gap did it close for you? I mean, Goldratt is very specific about the main limiting point...   0:08:23.2 John Willis: Yeah.   0:08:23.3 Andrew Stotz: The bottleneck, how do we solve this?   0:08:25.6 John Willis: So the 14 Points, sort of one of the jokes is that it's mandatory to put the 14 Points in a DevOps presentation. So we were doing that dance a little bit, but then when I got a little serious about it, actually me and Gene Kim, we did a book. Goldratt has this book called 'Beyond the Goal'. It's an audio-only book, right? And I convinced Gene about five years after he had written 'The Phoenix Project' to do a Beyond the Phoenix Project. And so he did Goldratt, I did Deming. And at that point, I knew enough about Deming to say, "Okay let's..." And then we talked about DevOps and the principles of Lean and we did... I always, when somebody says they bought that audiobook, I'm like, "Oh, you're the 15th person that bought it." right? But it sold more than that. But the... But that's when Gene tapped me on the shoulder and did that. We went to the studio. It was a highlight of my life, literally going to the studio with Gene and literally recording for a couple of weeks. And he's like, "John, you really need to write a book about Dr. Deming." And then I started building a folder. And then the crash course then or the trajectory at that point not really crash course is that you realize the 14 Points are, no disrespect, but vaguely interesting. You're like, "Okay, Mount Everest is System of Profound Knowledge." Right? Because that's the mount... And that's the one where you're like, "Okay, I read 'Out of the Crisis', I think I get it, the 14 Points make sense, but like, what is this stuff he's talking about here?" Right? And then you read 'New Economics' and it's like, "I still..." And then, so for me then, it was, I'm just one of these person like I have... And again, I'm not trying to make myself look like I'm special, but I have to learn. I can't... I'm the worst person in a... If I was in your class, you'd kick me out of your class because I'd be sitting in the front row and you'd be, "Oh no, not you again."   0:09:26.2 Andrew Stotz: Another question.   0:10:26.9 John Willis: Yeah I know just another question. I mean, I've been cut off by professors and... But the... I'm like, "All right, I got to get to the bottom of this." And that was almost a 10-year journey for me of... I had to know. Because it was clear to me that Profound Knowledge or System of Profound Knowledge was not something he invented out of thin air. Like, I had to figure out, where did he get this? And that started the genesis of how I was gonna write the book, which is the journey, 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge'. And that sort of took me into... And what that did, while I was learning that, of course, Deming opened the door to guys like Russell Ackoff and Ashby and just all these other sort of management thinkers and even Drucker or whatever, right? They all sort of started filling out a palette. But meanwhile, I'm still driving hard on Deming. And what that gentleman said to me, good friend of mine, Ben Rockwood, who I give tribute in the book, is when he said to me, almost like tapped me on the head, like, "John, John, John, it all goes back to Deming." Like, you start seeing the clarity of DevOps, Lean, Agile, it all had these things. And so I spent literally a long time really trying to figure out, okay, how did Deming get... We all know variation is relatively simple to understand where he got that from, right? Shewhart's work and all that stuff. And I'm not trivializing the impact of what he did for it, but knowledge was interesting. And knowledge I had to go to pragmatism. You had to understand what C.I. Lewis is. And that's a book that Deming said he had to read seven times.   0:12:03.1 Andrew Stotz: He had to read it seven times...there's no hope for me.   [overlapping conversation]   0:12:05.2 John Willis: That's right. No, actually I did Tom Sawyer. I have a friend who's one of the smartest people I know. He's like, "I'll read that." And he explained it to me. But and then I read it. But so knowledge, this sort of, how do we understand? How do we know what we think we really know, right? That whole epistemology and all that. To me, this is like sort of, just give me more, right? And see more and feed me. And then system thinking was interesting, appreciation for system, because then that got me back to, okay, and there was some missing links there. And I found that one of the guys who came up with General Systems Theory, von Bertalanffy, him and yeah, Ackoff. Him and Ackoff had sat in a seminar of his like in the '40s and so there was some influence there. And there's a lot of work that's been going on in systems thinking after him. But so then I got that and then the psychology is tough, right? But so I put all that together. And then my... The thing I was telling you earlier is, when I do the research for a project like this, I read everything that there is about it. So my AI book, I read 25 books on AI, history of AI. I'm up to like 10 books on the history of quantum computing.   0:13:23.4 John Willis: With Deming, I've read every book that's been written by Deming, at least the ones that I know of, right? And one of the things I noticed, the pattern was that they all... Again, I'm just simplifying it. They all started off with a little bit about the biography, some a little longer than others, but in general, most of the book was about the management theory. And it was really a book that was being sold as a business book more than it was as a biography. And one of the things I've always loved about Michael Lewis or that sort of story of nonfiction storytelling is he tells a biography, it's a disguised biography and I thought, my God this... And as I kept compiling over the years all these great stories, you know, the Doris Quinn story, right? The woman who, she went to New Guinea and Deming... Spent the last two years of her life with Deming. I mean, most of the people that are Deming disciples didn't even know about this woman. And she spent the last two years of life traveling with him. So I met her and interviewed her. And the stories, you know Hawthorne, and there was such... It wasn't just that, I love the idea of trying to explain how he got to management theory and epistemology, how did he get to the science of variation? That's all good stuff. But I wanted the stories, and the stories were just glorious. As you enjoyed the book, right?   0:14:52.4 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:14:53.3 John Willis: I think that was the fun part of not just explaining the sort of tech, if you will, but it was the, like the, oh my God, this... I've got to... I had three chapters like six years before I wrote the book.   0:15:06.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Well, here's chapter 15. And you say, "Being a student of Deming, I came across an untold firsthand account of a beautiful story from one of his acolytes, a woman named Doris Quinn," who you're talking about.   0:15:20.0 John Willis: Yeah. Yeah.   0:15:20.2 Andrew Stotz: And... But the... I also had marked a section related to talking about the final days, saying...   0:15:29.7 John Willis: Yeah.   0:15:29.8 Andrew Stotz: "Doris said he was a very, very driven man. He went nonstop. I remember one time we were in Kansas City and a reporter asked him, "Dr. Deming, when are you going to retire?" And the master said, "Why would I do that?" "Well, so you can do what you want." the reporter said."   0:15:45.7 John Willis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.   0:15:46.4 Andrew Stotz: "Dr. Deming looked at him and said, "I am doing what I want."   0:15:50.2 John Willis: Yeah. You know what I love about her? There's a really good book from Amazon called 'Working Backwards'. And they tell us... The guys who wrote it were pretty high up early on in Amazon. They tell the story how if they traveled with Bezos and you didn't have a whole set of questions on the plane ride, you got in trouble. And so Doris Quinn tells that story, how she literally, she tells the story of how she traveled with him and he's like, "Doris, what other questions do you have for me?" And if she didn't have one, he'd get mad at her. He wouldn't talk to her. They'd have to wait a day because normally they'd go and have gin together. But if she didn't have questions... And some of it's in the book, some of it was in conversations had... He'd literally get mad at her and not talk to her for the rest of the day [laughter] because she didn't have any questions. You got to love that, right?   0:16:39.2 Andrew Stotz: And you also did a little follow-on about more stories that you didn't get in the book, I believe.   0:16:48.1 John Willis: Yeah. Yeah.   0:16:48.2 Andrew Stotz: Tell us about that.   0:16:50.1 John Willis: Well, so I wrote the DevOps Handbook, right? And that was a collaboration with four other authors and took us six years to write it. So my wife says, "What parts did you write?" I'm like, I don't know, man. There were a lot of parts that went in and out and moved around when you have four authors, and it was really a very techie book. So 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge' was really the first book where I literally... It was my book. And so I had written the book. In fact, my favorite story, and Doris Quinn is a great story, my favorite one was... It was basically called The Devil Wears Prada. And so, and Kevin... I don't think Kevin, his mother even knew this when we were talking that his grandmother literally was... I mean, I think they knew that she worked for the pre-BLS, she was a statistical mathematician and all that.   0:17:45.3 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:17:45.4 John Willis: But after the war, she worked before she... I don't know if she met Deming, but she certainly wasn't married to him, Dr. Deming. She worked on the mail-order business was getting all these returns for women's sizing. And so whatever the pre-BLS was, Bureau of Labor Statistics, commissioned her to do a study. And she's the one who invented women's sizings. Because before, they didn't really have all the different measurements. So she ran a whole statistical study. And so today... So I use the whole story of the Anne Hathaway, the 14 is the new seven and all. So I start that off. Anyway, so I go to my publisher and my editor, who I love, she'd already knocked out a lot of stories, but this is the one where, "You're not taking this story from me. You're not... This one is not." And then she's so good, she'll be like, "John, let me ask you this. Does it fit the arc?" By this point, she understands System of Profound Knowledge, she's read my book quite a bit, and she says, "Does it fit the arc of System of Profound Knowledge?" "Uh, I hate you." And I took it out. And then she said, "Well, why don't you make a blog post out of it?" And I'm like, "Oh, no. I'm gonna make another book." And I took all the stories we cut out and I called them Profound Stories. And yeah, so...   0:19:06.6 Andrew Stotz: And for the listeners and viewers, you can get it on Kindle and then you can read the stories. And I think for the Deming community, that's one of the best parts about this whole thing, is just there's no great collection of stories that has an arc to it, as you said. So I enjoy that. I wanna also... It'd be interesting to understand how your thinking has progressed about Deming, because obviously you talk about this introduction phase where you got to know him, then you have this intense phase that you seem to have a knack for, then you write the book, you have all the excitement about that, but you're on to other things.   0:19:46.8 John Willis: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.   0:19:46.9 Andrew Stotz: And there are remnants of Deming that remain with you, but there's others that have fallen by the wayside. Maybe they're not as critical as you may have thought or... I'm just curious, how does the Deming thinking unfold in your life now?   0:19:59.7 John Willis: I... It's become sort of a fabric. So, and I wanna get back to that, but I do wanna say one thing... I'm so... Whenever somebody tells me the story that they met Deming, I have two reactions. One is the hair on my skin, my arms go up thinking, "Oh, I wish that was me." But then the other one is like, I'm sure he would have yelled at me and got mad at me. Because he would basically be like, "That's a stupid question, Mr. Willis." So I have this fantasy of which way it would go. But anyway. Yeah, the question around what do I think now? I think, so if you go back to the narrative, he... And it's hard not to be a sycophant of Deming, right? But I am a sycophant of Deming, but I try not to be. And... But even in the book, I tried not to be a sycophant, right? I went out of my way. But so when I say this, Deming was in my DNA before I even knew who he was, right? Like at Exxon, at GE Capital, the Six Sigma stuff. And again, I understand for people listening, oh, the Six Sigma went the wrong direction, but it originally was stemmed from a lot of his ideas. And so it was there. So it was sort of foundational, and he was the lighthouse to put it in... And then System of Profound Knowledge became the taxonomy for me for this stuff that was in my DNA. And so in one way, there is this thing where you move on to a new transformation. And we're in one right now. We've been in one. I've been in one for five years now, which is with the AI. And again, same thing for me is it's not about the AI, it's organizational behavior, organizational patterns, what is the sociotechnical science behind how do you do these things?   0:21:48.4 John Willis: But so you forget... I always say technology shifts are like fluorescence. People use the metaphor of like spring and winter, like AI winter, AI spring, and they've used it for other things than AI. And that's sort of like a rebirth. The fluorescence is good because it's like an energy. It's always rolling forward. It just gets a fluorescence bright glow periodically. And so what the problem with the metaphor works for me because the energy is there, and the energy are the patterns that are consistent. The fluorescence is the blinding effect. So back to like, did anything fall off the wayside with Deming? Yes, for a little bit. Because in 20... Basically I started playing with the early versions of GPT, the OpenAI models, back at version two, and that was like around 2020, right? Even before ChatGPT, right? So that whole experience before we started even thinking about what this was gonna look like at a large-scale bank was fluorescence. Like I'm not thinking anything about Deming from 2020 to 2023. In 2023, 2024, I start getting asked to come into some of my larger clients. And I'm following it too, and I'm sort of... I'm starting to become aware that this is becoming... In fact, I'm pretty sure in the grand scheme of things that don't matter in the grand scheme, I'm pretty sure I got first use on shadow AI, in an article I wrote in like 2022 or 2021, right?   0:23:27.2 John Willis: So I had already been recognizing there's a problem pattern here. We got the shadow IT with the cloud stuff, now the shadow AI, and I could see this steamrolling happening so... And then I started getting called in organizations, and then I still was the wayside of the Deming. Like, I didn't walk in going, "Hey, I'm gonna hit the punching bag with Deming." I was coming in trying to figure out what do I know about patterns with this fluorescence metaphor that are new and shiny, and what are the things that are old that have been relevant for the five decades and the six transform... At least six transformations I've been through that are common in everyone. And I started seeing that. And then what was funny, as I'd be writing and researching with AI, it knew so much about me that even as early as like 2024, I had loaded in my Deming book. In fact, one of the ways I learned AI is I took the 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge' and I turned it into an augmented general retrieval, or what they call RAG database. So I learned a lot about AI because I knew what my book was, and I could validate what was hallucinations.   0:24:36.3 John Willis: Anyway, but it knew enough about me. And then what it would periodically do, it would say, "Would you like Deming's version of this?" I'm like, "Yeah, I would love that." And then I... It started refreshing my memory of what the real context going back to my friend Ben Rockwood, it all goes back to Deming. And so now it's actually on the... It's more than ever, it's on the forefront because I'm being brought into major brand organizations that are seemingly failing on AI at the institutional, organizational level. And there's not a line of these people. In fact, most of them don't wanna talk to me because they don't wanna hear what I got to say, which is slow down. And I'm okay with the ones that don't wanna hear that because I don't really wanna work with them anyway. But now I'm seeing with absolute clarity two things. One is it all goes back to Deming, and all the problems that we're seeing can be classified in Profound Knowledge.   0:25:37.1 Andrew Stotz: Tell us more about that. Because for those people that... There's so many different components. When I got introduced to Deming, it was the 14 Points, 'Out of the Crisis'. And then I left America in 1992, so I wasn't there for 'New Economics'. And it... And I did other stuff for 20 years, 15 years, and then I found New Economics. It's like, "Wow, this is different from that."   0:25:53.1 John Willis: Yeah.   0:26:09.1 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, so between the deadly diseases, the 14 Points, the System of Profound Knowledge, there's so many parts to this.   0:26:15.9 John Willis: No, I've got... Yeah, I definitely got. And I'll tie it right back to the... In 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge', I tell the story of Knight Capital. And Knight Capital is an interesting... It was the second highest high-frequency trading, black box, latency arbitrage on the NYSE. A sysadmin made a configuration error. They lost $450 million and don't quote me on the exact numbers, but like 450 million in 45 minutes. They were arbitraged at billions of dollars. They were literally out of business with a cease and desist from the SEC. And I always tell people, like, that's the last thing you want if you have a business is a cease and desist from the SEC, right? And at that point, we would say things like the consequences are high on how you think about humans and technology. Well, guess what, sports fans? Knight Capital is a drop in the bucket of what we're gonna start seeing with AI. We are going to see these... And there's the Equifax breach, there's all the... We're gonna see non-survival. I mean, Knight Capital didn't survive. Equifax lost five billion market cap in a week and then recovered all of it, right? But I'm saying there's been some major brand recognition problems pre-AI. You're not going to be able to survive these with the power...   [overlapping conversation]   0:27:41.7 Andrew Stotz: Abilities are gonna be shaken out.   0:27:43.6 John Willis: Yeah. I mean, and the brand damage. Brand damage by the escape routes of how... I mean, let me just step and I wanna go back to answer your question. But one of the things that people don't recognize right now is the machine that we have now has infinite knowledge at machine speed, and it's probabilistic. I mean, just add those three things up, that it has the ability of infinite knowledge, something no human could even close to. So it'll make decisions, it will escape, it will figure ways out, it will try a clever way to do something that probably no human would do that could be a disaster. Right? So the consequences are incredibly high. So then now, okay, let's really dust off: it all goes back to Deming's stuff. And so to your question, I think that I would love to see, like, you write a fantasy novel about how Deming came back to the future and was sitting here listening to what was going on, and he'd be screaming. He'd be telling everybody... And this is the thing I'm... I don't scream, I'm too old these days, but like, I literally cut off a CIO real quick in my conversation. I interview a CIO, they think they're interviewing me, I'm interviewing them. And if I'm like, "Yeah, no, you know what? This isn't right." "Well, what do you mean, John? We had..." "No, no, no."   0:29:09.1 John Willis: Because I can see right away that what the CIO or the leadership is... They think AI is a technology transformation. It's an organizational learning transformation. Deming would see this and scream this out loud. And that's the part of the blinding fluorescence that we're missing. We should know this by now, right? And so all these technology shifts, they think they're technology revolutions. They're really... I mean, they go back to the basics. What are the systems are they changing? Are we understanding what variation is? How do people learn? Are people not learning? Are people... A good example is, in every organization that I travel and this has been true for almost every technology transformation, but now it's glaring. I like to simplify. I say there's three groups. Let's take AI, right? Three groups in an organization. And usually, again, I don't care about really start-ups. I do care about startups from an investment standpoint, but I don't care about them from my day job. And so this is a bank or a large retail or insurance company or manufacturing. And so the CIO is like, "We have an AI strategy." And by the way, let me step one more thing, we learned a lot in the DevOps revolution, but DevOps was never a board-level conversation and it was never a Wall Street conversation.   0:30:37.1 John Willis: AI was immediately a board-level conversation. And so the pressure on a C-level, a CEO and a CIO, is "You must do AI yesterday.", right? And so now what's happening is the CIOs are literally doing knee-jerk reactions of like, "We're gonna have... We got 30,000 employees. If we can get all 30,000 employees using AI with a 3x productivity rating, we'll have..." you know, like, oh my God. And then they say, "Make it so." And I call this the strategy versus talent systems gap. And I don't mean how talented they are, I mean understanding what your talent system looks like. And to keep it simple, most talent systems look like this, they have one group that is passive-aggressive. They don't like change. They've been doing the same job forever. In this new world, they don't believe AI works, and they're passive-aggressive about it because they know they can't say they don't want it. When the CIO says, "We must do AI." they have to go, "Oh, we'll get to it next month. Next month. We'll get to it next month." And then you have the second group in the middle. They wanna do the right thing, but they're high enough... As we know, if you work for a bank and you're in a high enough position, if something really goes wrong, you're lucky if you get fired. You could get a fine for two times your salary, or you could actually go to jail.   0:32:02.3 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:32:02.4 John Willis: Right? So that group is like, "I wanna use this, but you're not clear. There's no clarity from your... You guys all wanna do all this...   [overlapping conversation]   0:32:11.7 Andrew Stotz: There's risks everywhere.   0:32:13.3 John Willis: But we've got the OCC and there's no clarity on FDIC and like, what does this mean?" "Well, I don't know." "Well, then I'm not touching this stuff. And do you have my back?" No. Right? And then the third group is the classic, do now, ask forgiveness later group. And so you could put this all back to driving out fear. Because what happens is you've got a strategy. What is that, it's number eight, I think. I think that's right, but it doesn't matter, right? It could be nine, it could be seven in the 14 Points. So the CIO has said, "This must happen." And then, again, board-level, horizontal, vertical pressures. And then everybody's... And they're not even understanding, do they have the capability? Do people wanna do it? Does the middle group even understand the clarity? And so the first thing that you should be doing is, in the clearest sense is driving out fear. So the do now, ask forgiveness laters are fear that if they don't do it, they won't be the leaders. The middle group is pretty clear what their fear is, you don't give them clarity of what they can and can't do. And the third group is fear of changing, losing their job, "AI is gonna replace me." So that's all a spectrum of understanding fear at the human level. And so maybe that is one of the first things you should address before you actually set a grand strategy. And we know Deming has a lot of thoughts about this, and then we break into sort of like...   0:33:48.6 Andrew Stotz: Okay, so let's stop at that.   0:33:50.1 John Willis: Yeah. Yeah.   0:33:51.6 Andrew Stotz: Fear.   0:33:53.0 John Willis: Yeah.   0:33:54.5 Andrew Stotz: That is something that remains in your belief system that is supported by Deming. Did you have that awareness when you were in... Let's just think about before you came across Deming.   0:34:08.1 John Willis: Oh, oh, yeah.   0:34:08.9 Andrew Stotz: Let's say you were doing all that stuff with Goldratt and all that but then when you came to Deming, did fear come up as, oh, wow, this is obvious, or did you learn that later and you see it now more?   0:34:21.3 John Willis: Andrew, this is why you're good at your job. This is good. This is a great question. No, really good... I love questions where I have to really deep think about it. So I think that I kind of always... It wasn't until DevOps that I understood what failing was about. So just before, like the nanosecond before I'm learning what Deming's saying about PDSA and failing and how the whole structure of learning is, I had this sense, but I don't think I was baptized yet on... And to me, I'll put fear and failure in the same bucket, right? Because it's a very... They are, in a lot of senses, the same thing. But certainly I can put them in the same bucket. So I had a sense, but it wasn't until we started seeing fast fail in DevOps. So DevOps, one of the things with DevOps was shorten the feedback loop. That was one of the core tenets of DevOps. Like, instead of waiting three, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks to deliver some software, or six months, and then by the time you deliver it, you're onto... The whole group that built it is now doing something else, let's just be able to turn a line of code into a delivery now. And that was revolutionary, right? And it's changed the universe. I mean, you don't have the big AI providers today if you didn't have DevOps.   0:35:46.4 John Willis: You would not have Airbnb and Uber and all that if you didn't have DevOps. Right? So that... And that sort of realized that this fast feedback loop is really an interesting thing, right? And the fact that it is telling you fail fast because then you learn fast and then you correct fast. And you... And so right around that time, I'm doing this research on Deming and starting to understand epistemology, the theory of knowledge. And so, again, I don't think... Like I said earlier, I don't think I had the... And vocabulary's too loose of a word. I don't think I had the structural understanding. Like, I didn't know what the word epistemology meant [laughter] before I started learning Deming. So I... So it was really... There were flavors of understanding what learning was, but it was DevOps that literally sort of put it to the front of why this works, how it does. And then I got... Again, a lot of careers is just being lucky, right? I just happened to sort of tap into this Deming thing through meeting Gene, learning about Goldratt, and then having this good friend tap me on the head and say it all goes back to Deming. And so, so and then that point, then it sort of opened up the whole world of epistemology. And it wasn't until I wrote the book where I started realizing it was pragmatism.   0:37:07.2 Andrew Stotz: And did that... Does that fail fast, does that method of accelerating the feedback loop that happened through DevOps as you've explained, does that remove a lot of fear from where people would be...   0:37:19.6 John Willis: Oh yeah.   0:37:19.7 Andrew Stotz: Much more... So that all of a sudden says, "No, no, no, it's okay to fail. We'll see that in a day, in two days, and then we're gonna iterate from that." So, okay, I understand how that kind of reframes fear of failure. But then you now talked also about the idea that it's a big element that you see, everything goes back to Deming. Nowadays you see this fear. How does it connect with how you see fear today in the workplace or in organizations?   0:37:50.6 John Willis: Well, again, I think it's the same thing. I mean, I hear people talk about now that one of the big discussions right now and I always look for the anti-pattern of where the discussions go, right? There's this big discussion about AI slop, right? In fact, last year it was we were all concerned about hallucinations. And I'm not dismissing that, but like, if you know how to run AI and infrastructure harnesses and build ground truth in an organization and you understand how your internal audit works, hallucinations are not, let me repeat this, are not a problem in 2026. They are not a problem. You could make them a problem by not understanding what I just said, but they are not a problem. So today's hallucination frenzy scare is what's called AI slop. And I guarantee you in 2027, it'll be something else. But... And I'm not saying it doesn't exist. It does exist, right? But so people are sort of calibrating, what is the cost... There's this counter-reaction to AI coding, not even assistance, people are now using pure agent coding, right? And the question that I think Deming would ask and maybe if there is some divine proxy of me speaking through Deming or Deming speaking through me is that the question that people are now looking at is, "Slop is so bad, we're creating so much code, should we ease back to the longer cycle for ideation and delivery and that process?" Because it's costing us a lot of money on the implementation side.   0:39:20.8 John Willis: The error, the time it takes to remediate the slop is starting to outweigh. Well, that's just bad organizational behavior and design. But okay, but so now I've had this argument with a major corporation, the CIO the other day, where I was saying you have to create this hourglass effect. For you got to create the funnel and then you got to have the control system that slows things down and speeds it up. And he was saying, "But yeah, the cost of the slop is all this stuff." And I said... What I said is, "Yeah, but what you're missing is..." and this is a company that did really well in DevOps, I worked with them years ago through the DevOps transformation and they understood the fast feedback and I had to re-explain the idea that, yeah, there's a cost to AI slop, but if you're not calibrating that with the cost of non-fast feedback and learning because your fear is this slop is gonna get us back or make you knee-jerk reactions, we're gonna see if we can slow down the ideation, maybe we move too fast. And again, I don't... There are scenarios where that is absolutely true, but that is, first understanding your problem. And your problem isn't slow down the ideation process.  Oh, we should spend more time ideating because what does that do? It goes back to the old school where we're spending way too much time in the ideation. By the time it actually gets implemented, the feedback loop of learning is way too long. So I think you're better off at least measuring... And this is where variation comes into play. Measuring if I decrease the ideation time, do I get more value from the fast feedback because I can understand the problem, I can fix it faster? And again, that was one of the core tenets of DevOps. But I find people now pushing back because they're scared of AI slop and it's costing more remediation time. So again, I think these are multiple ways of thinking about how fear...   [overlapping conversation]   0:41:26.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, so besides...   0:41:27.1 John Willis: The fear... And I was just gonna say one... Sorry to cut you off.   0:41:29.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, go ahead.   0:41:31.0 John Willis: But one of the biggest problems I've seen over the years is I think the knee-jerk reaction is the symptom of fear. Right? And so I've seen this over and over where a bank gets pawned and so they put out a req for a hundred IT sec professionals in a city where you can best case hire 10 one year. Right? So again, I think that there's that combinatorial fear, knee-jerk reaction.   0:42:00.5 Andrew Stotz: If you were to pick one other area of Deming that really stands the test of time for you, as opposed to a Deming disciple, let's say someone that's trying to implement everything that he's talking about and they're trying to do it in their little manufacturing company or their service business, which I interview those guys.   0:42:09.1 John Willis: Yeah, yeah.   0:42:17.6 Andrew Stotz: But in your case, in some ways it's like you swam through a Deming period of time, absorbed everything and now you're on to other stuff. I'm just kind of interested about what else is lasting?   0:42:35.2 John Willis: Yeah, no...   0:42:35.3 Andrew Stotz: Just one thing.   0:42:35.6 John Willis: And I think maybe, Andrew, maybe part of a problem of the institutionalized Deming conversations is it doesn't always have to have the word Deming in it. In other words, I'm not criticizing you. I'm just saying that I see it more as it's in my DNA. It's part of how I look at things. And so I'll give you a great example. This is pure Deming, but I wouldn't think of it as, "Oh, let me explain this way I want you to evolve in AI because Deming would say..." I don't start that way. But I will tell you that when I came up with this idea and it's called an ideation, AI ideation hackathon. Right? Because everybody's running tech hackathons, AI hackathons. And that's a terrible, terrible, terrible idea. And there's technical debt, you're just making a lot of mistakes there.   0:43:01.7 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:43:27.8 John Willis: It's a knee-jerk reaction. So the ideation hackathon is sort of something unique. I was doing some consulting for the CMO of a large database company, but got into AI and I helped them, it's called MongoDB, I don't do any work for them anymore but I helped them launch their AI solution. And I did a lot of technical hackathons and I just kept seeing how all the chaos of these technical hackathons, people would build stuff, it would just wind up in GitHub repositories, it would go nowhere. And I finally said, "Why don't we just strip out the technology and focus on the ideation process?" Right? And so that becomes a pure implementation of PDSA. Right? Because in a PDSA, if I was gonna sort of explain it in a Deming way, a hackathon would be a terrible way to implement a PDSA. "So let's build the Sistine Chapel and then let's figure out, let's study the results." Or why don't we start small as an organization? This is why I tell my first... Right now, CIO asks me, "Okay, John..." and usually the conversation ends at this, "What would be your 30-day, 90-day plan, 180-day plan?"   0:44:41.0 John Willis: I'm like, "Not to have one." Yeah, but then I sort of, I talk about two ways to deal with where they're at. And I say that one is something I've done over years, was a qualitative. I do these large where I interview 300, 400 people and I use true qualitative analysis approach to interviewing people, build categories, and structurally design what the place looks like. Right? And that's very... But it's very expensive and it takes... Expensive not in the money, but the time. The new sort of one that CIOs, at least a small percentage of bite onto is, "Why don't we run some ideation hackathons?" And here's the value, you're not writing any code. You're letting people focus on learning how to ideate. Because remember I said earlier, AI is not a technology transformation, it's an organizational learning change. So let's focus on the organizational learning structures without giving any of the technology or the code. But do the hackathon, and the readouts are what you would have built minus the specific tools. And it's glorious because you actually you get to see all the stuff without expending tokens. You don't build the risks. Because anybody who tells you they can sandbox experiments in AI is lying, absolute lying. If anybody's followed the recent Open AI Hugging Face one, it was the most insane escape.   0:46:10.9 John Willis: So, and then the other idea is I don't want 30 of my executive administrators all picking their own tools and all trying to solve all their C-level bosses' problems. And by the way, there's the whole security exposure is, I've done ideation hackathons where an EA says, "I got this idea. I wanna take my P&L or my profit or whatever of some proprietary information on a spreadsheet and throw it into Claude and have Claude..." I'm like, "Yeah, no, no, no, no. Let me explain how that goes into Claude." It literally, it traverses through a bunch of internal structures that leave stuff laying around. And by the way, even though they say they don't train on your data, they have your data. Like, you don't want that data in there. So the ideation hackathon, I think, is a really good... And so I think the main point to that is, although I don't walk in the door and I think one of the... Again, your listeners, I'm like attacking your listeners basically but I think one of our problems is, we try to build our, some people try to build their skill set around like, "I'm a Deming expert. I'm gonna teach you how to do Deming and everything's gonna be great because of Deming." as opposed to let's just make the water Deming, the water, the fabric of what we do. And every once in a while it does make sense to be able to say, "Hey, you know that..." And I won't go back and say I won't lead and say, "Well, Deming tells us..." because I'm not gonna get the gig if I just go too much on Deming anyway. But I will say at some point, I'll say, "Here's the deal. We've got over 100 years of management knowledge on how to do the right things. Let's pay attention to those things." Right? And that's the Deming, that's the Shewhart, that's the Ackoff, it's the Ashby, it's the... We can go down the list, right? Senge.   0:48:06.2 Andrew Stotz: One of the things I was thinking about a while ago was, when Dr. Deming wrote 'Out of the Crisis', he was telling us that we were in a crisis and that we needed to think a new level of thinking. Did it work? Are we out of the crisis? Did people take on board what he taught? Where are we now? That was 1986.   0:48:30.7 John Willis: Yeah, I know, I know.   0:48:31.7 Andrew Stotz: On the one side you can say America's brought incredible amount of innovation and businesses are huge and other countries and other regions struggle to catch up with America. So on the one hand, you could say materially it appears like we're there. But on the other hand, when you look at the way things are managed, you could argue, yeah, not much has changed.   0:48:56.7 John Willis: It's a tough one. It's a tough, I mean, let's just face it, large-scale organizations of high consequences are so full of bureaucracy. Humans interacting at that scale is probably the hardest organizational problem there is, right? You can study anthropology for the next 40 or 50 years and still not have a good clue of how to. And people do, right? So, yeah, it's hard. And why things work, why they go through the... I mean, I talk about the Peterson at Ford, right? And then Ford, turns out there were a lot of other... There are these other conflicting things that happen, industry changes, financial models change. Why did Ford have this incredible success when Peterson called Deming? And then some number of years later, they're back to the old ways, right? We got General Motors, we got all that. I will say this, and I hadn't really thought about this until you asked the question. One of the things I did focus pretty heavy on is Deming's influence on Toyota. And now there's a lot of debate and this is where people get pretty mean with me. I mean, Dr. Spear, I love Dr. Spear. He wrote 'High Velocity Edge' and he's a genius. He was MIT Sloan. And every time I'd see him, "Well, you know, John, Deming and that Six Sigma stuff never worked." And I'm like, "Alright, first off, he didn't do Six Sigma. Second off..."   0:50:21.6 John Willis: And then he told me one time, he said that Deming had no influence on Toyota. I'm like, "Yeah, that's just not blatantly untrue. I'm sorry, you're a PhD genius, I'm not. You're wrong." And so I've been hitting him... Over the years, I hit him with a lot of evidence of Deming's influence on Toyota. And it even goes back to Denco Densco and some of the same. But here's the thing, right? I... There's a woman called Katie Anderson. She's got a book, Learning to... 'Leading to Learn, Learning to Lead', where she met a guy who spent four decades at Toyota, this Dr. Yoshino, and she interviewed and wrote a book about his career. She runs a Japan study trip. I did a Japan study trip a couple of years ago and I got to meet him. And I... He hired at Toyota in 1966. He worked alongside Ohno, Shingo. He was there. He was a junior guy, but he was the guy they were yelling at, "Do this, do that, do this." right? So he was there.   0:51:23.9 John Willis: I told him, I said, "There are people that believe in the US that Deming had no influence on Toyota." He could not believe that that question even could come up. And he told me, he said, "John...", he doesn't really speak good English, we had a translator, he said, "Let me tell you what Deming taught us. He taught us to understand data." And at first I didn't grok that, but then I started thinking about variation. And although there's a lot of people that say that that didn't carry through too, but if I look at what Agile, Lean, and ultimately become DevOps, I in that book trace it pretty strongly back to Deming's influence on Toyota. And you can't deny Lean is not the core of Agile Lean, today's Lean, right? Toyota Production Systems, to be clear. So then I would say that the lasting impact of Deming is not what happened in the '80s when the Americans started understanding what he did, because maybe that translation, maybe it had to be... I asked Doris Quinn this and she said, "Oh, that's interesting." Because I said this, I said, "Could it be that Japan influenced Deming as much as he influenced Japan?" And I think it did. And I think the point was they were...   0:52:45.6 Andrew Stotz: It was a love affair.   0:52:46.3 John Willis: And yeah, and they were more malleable to his messaging.   0:52:50.3 Andrew Stotz: Well, they were more malleable because of their condition, but they also were more susceptible because of the structure of the society.   0:53:01.6 John Willis: Exactly. Yeah, but even the sort of community structure. I'll tell you another quick story on that study trip where we visited an elementary school. And in the elementary school, they had no janitors. Every sort of public school is like this, right? They have no janitors. And the kids, they literally clean. At about 2 o'clock, a bell goes off and some kids rotate and they do the bathrooms, some people... Imagine in an American school, some ritzy parents, "My son cleaned the bathroom?" It'd be on CNN. And they rotated serving food.   0:53:20.7 Andrew Stotz: Child slave labor.   0:53:39.7 John Willis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we got to interview a couple of them and they understood Kaizen and all. So me, I start thinking about like, oh my God, this is our... Western culture is so broken because we basically teach everything that's antithetical to that. They get out of college and then maybe they get lucky and get into an Agile, Lean-like structure and we have to break it all down, where their kids come out completely in that sort of community. And we went to a lot of tier-one distributors. You could see the understanding of community and the power of it. And so what I'm saying is, what Deming was giving them saturated to have such an impact on TPS, and it's unquestionable the impact TPS has had on Lean and Agile and DevOps. And if you follow my thread, Lean, Agile, and DevOps have certainly impacted... You don't have places like Google for good or bad, Facebook for good or bad, Uber, because they could never scale...   0:54:40.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:54:40.1 John Willis: Without that. So again, I think, I really hadn't thought about this until you asked the question, is I think actually the Deming 1980s renaissance of Deming was a... Seemed like a bubble in retrospect, unfortunately. But actually indirectly, he's had more... And there's a good part of the book that tries to cover that. I do the "What would Deming do?" after he died, if he was alive and all the stuff that happened there.   0:55:06.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, I mean, definitely DevOps. And then Eric... What was his... The Lean Startup one?   0:55:14.0 John Willis: Eric Ries. Yeah, Eric Ries. Yeah.   0:55:17.3 Andrew Stotz: That also... Those two really probably did more to promote PDSA and that aspect.   0:55:23.4 John Willis: Yeah, that's right. Oh yeah, scientific method. There is a copy, and I cannot find it anywhere, there is a copy of Eric, one of Eric Ries' Lean Startup books that does attribute to Deming, and I cannot find it.   0:55:36.5 Andrew Stotz: It does or does not?   0:55:38.7 John Willis: Does. Does. He's got this thing about the 75th birthday or something. Do you have it? Because I can't find the copy, at some point I read a copy where he does a tribute to Deming.   0:55:50.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, I think there's some...   0:55:53.0 John Willis: And then...   0:55:53.1 Andrew Stotz: I have the book and I think there is some reference in the book.   0:55:57.5 John Willis: Yeah, there was one, was like... It was like... I don't know if it was the 70th year, 75th year, and he... So yeah, no, I mean that directly. Lean Startup is literally... Yeah, so yeah.   0:56:10.9 Andrew Stotz: And if we think about people that are listening to this podcast, the people that I really want to listen to this podcast and I really want to get something out of the podcast is people that just don't know Deming. They've never heard of it, but they've stumbled upon it. One of the Deming community said, "Hey, you should listen to this podcast because you'll learn about Deming." And maybe they listen to a couple of episodes and it's a bit overwhelming when they hear someone talking about a lot of detail about this or that. Maybe they bought 'Out of the Crisis' and they got a chapter or two into it and they thought, yeah, that's also a bit overwhelming. What would be your message to that person who's listening right now to say, here's the reason why you shouldn't abandon it because of XYZ or whatever that message is that you've got about what they need to know about Deming?   0:57:01.4 John Willis: Yeah. I mean, I will say this, learning is hard. Change is hard, right? I mean, it sounds cliché, but, yeah, I think all of us who came into Deming, I didn't... When I read, we talked about this, I read 'Out of the Crisis', I was like, I don't know what's going on here. One of the worst things I can advise you to, I hate to say this, and this is probably anti-Deming Institute, is start off by reading his two books. You're better off going out to podcasts like this or other stories. I found that healthcare was chock-full of great stories, particularly about Profound Knowledge, of great examples. And then I went back and read the book and then like, oh my God, this is, now I get it, right? So I think a lot of things that we sort of encounter, a lot of them have... The things that are really valuable have this sort of facing counter-intuitiveness nature to them, and you have to sort of work at that.   0:57:55.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:57:56.9 John Willis: And so Deming is hard. I mean, you... If you wanna understand Deming, I would say most people are not gonna get it on the snap. And what I would say to them is, it's worth figuring out what are the parts that he says and he did and his philosophy that could become part of your DNA, 'cause that I don't think anybody disagrees on. And then... And one other sort of short story. And I love Bill Bellows and I would say listen to all his podcasts. He's an amazing guy and just incredibly insightful on a lot of, I didn't really understand Taguchi, but so I did some podcasts with him. But I remember, and I'm not calling anybody out, but he runs the In2:InThinking Group and I've been to a couple of those. And I remember one time we were sitting there and we were having a conversation around sort of a roundtable and somebody asked, as I was talking about a company, they said, "Are they a Deming company?" I'm like, yeah. And I couldn't actually get through the room that, no. Nobody's a Deming company. Like, what is a Deming company? That's the wrong question. So again, back to, you got to be careful about how you think about Deming as using his philosophy to help organizations, because the more you focus on that it is a "Deming philosophy" as opposed to these are the right ways to think about the problems, you fall into this trap of maybe getting lost. Well, that Deming thing worked for about a year or two years and now it doesn't work. Well, if you don't call it a Deming thing, then what were the things that stuck and what are the things that didn't?   0:59:42.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. I just wanna remind the listeners and the viewers out there, just go to Amazon and find 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge'. For me, I listened to it as an Audible book, which was fun because I enjoyed the stories and it just reminded me to go back and listen again. And also the additional stories, which I actually hadn't bought until, I had been wanting to buy it, but I didn't. So while you were talking, I got that on Kindle. So that's gonna be my fun.   1:00:13.9 John Willis: Those are great stories. There's a story about Gene Cernan. He was the last guy to land, be on the moon. And as you go through the book, it's really interesting. I did like seven or eight... So I was in no rush to publish the Deming book. I was in a rush to do the AI book. So I would literally get to the third rev, the fourth rev, and every time I'd have more new friends point things out. And by the time I got to like eight revs and I'm like, okay, it's probably time to put this book out. But what happens is as you go with the editor, they just start carving things down. And a good editor makes the strong point, like my 'Devil Wears Prada'. But again, there were so many great stories, like the Gene Cernan one is the last guy to be on the moon, but there was a story about Tracy's Rock and it's just a fabulous story, but it didn't have any place in Deming's Journey of Profound Knowledge. It was just an add-on that sort of took you off course. But now, in a standalone book, it's a great story. So there's a ton of those. The guy who created Piggly Wiggly was this genius. Like, again, it didn't really fit in there. But as a standalone story and I even do a little bit of, like, this would have been in chapter 15, so if you read both, you get a sense. And the worst thing I can tell you, though, is I had one person, I was at a conference I was laying the book, the Profound Stories book was laying around, and I guess I came back, he was at a booth, and he read it, and he goes, "John, can I talk to you about your book?" I'm like, "What?" He goes, "I don't know." I'm like, "Oh, dude, you can't read that book without reading 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge'. It would be a terrible book if you didn't know what the premise was for where it came from." So, yeah.   1:01:59.7 Andrew Stotz: So in wrapping up, what would you like to leave the audience with from this discussion and from your journey into the teachings of Dr. Deming?   1:02:11.3 John Willis: Yeah, I think you have to start thinking about... And again, I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell the book and you're doing a better job than I am anyway but the last third of 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge' was what would Deming do had he survived another 20 years? Right? And probably nothing because he was pretty old and not healthy. But the... So, I mean, question then is, as we think about organizational behavior, what are the core things? And I think Profound Knowledge is a great way. I, again I... Again, I don't walk in and say, "Oh, we're gonna... CIO, we're gonna solve this problem by applying the four elements of Profound Knowledge." That's not how I start that conversation. But I'm certainly thinking about systems thinking because that's first and forefront. Like, how are you thinking about... Like one company recently I was with, they got... Some of the big AI providers are giving well-branded companies all-you-can-eat AI. Like OpenAI is saying, "Hey, you know..." That's a terrible idea, terrible, terrible. Because now you're just building technical debt up the gazoo, right? So again, to be able to see the forest behind the trees, what's the systems thinking effect of that? How are you learning? What's the epistemology, the theory of knowledge behind that?   1:03:39.2 John Willis: Are you applying... In the book, I tried to codify my understanding of, like, the theory of knowledge is, how do we know what we think we know? The variation is, how can we see what we think we know? The psychology is, what are the... Let's take a second and what are the blind spots? And then I think of it as a feedback loop is, are we continually like if you listen to Bill Bellows, he does a great job of sort of explaining systems thinking through the sort of vehicle of Taguchi or Ackoff but are we just continually looping through that process as, "Let's take a bigger chunk, let's take a bigger chunk, let's take a bigger chunk"? So Profound Knowledge, not so much that you have to walk in and be an expert on 'Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge', or more specifically, The System of Profound Knowledge. The idea is, can you use those... And the reason I fell in with 'The System of Profound Knowledge', why that was what hit my core, because I will say, out of my five decades of doing all this crazy stuff in technology, I can't think... I mean, there's a lot of cool frameworks that I use as auxiliary, and frameworks I'm using loosely but The System of Profound Knowledge is the one framework that to me beats all other frameworks because it covers epistemology, it covers understanding statistical analysis or analytical statistics. Right? Which is very important. It brings in the biases, the... All the sort of things about how people think, blind spots, and then it throws together the wrapper of appreciation of a system, so...   1:05:23.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Well, John, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, now you see your picture on the cover.   [laughter]   1:05:32.2 John Willis: There we go, man.   1:05:33.7 Andrew Stotz: I wanna thank you. It's a great discussion and it's long overdue.   1:05:37.7 John Willis: Sure.   1:05:37.9 Andrew Stotz: And for listeners, remember to go to deming.org and jump into DemingNext to continue your journey. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, which is, "People are entitled to joy in work."   1:05:42.4 John Willis: I love that you end with that.   

“Vibe coding is already present in your company,” according to David Hsu, CEO of Retool and governance is the only way to secure it.Let's put this into context. Think of a Fortune 500 company's CIO who has recently come across a vibe-coded application spotted on the public internet. This app was developed by an employee of the Fortune 500 company in question. The developer obtained a data dump from Salesforce pertaining to customers, then fed this data to an external AI tool not part of the company's set of AI tools. The employee prompted the tool to host the resulting application on a public URL.Since it was an external AI tool, a security review couldn't be carried out, nor could the IT department view it. Without any internal visibility into a tool created by the employee, the actual customer data was live on the open web. It's a scary situation, a breach of trust, so imagine the CIO's wrath upon seeing it.This is why, in the recent episode of the Tech Transformed podcast, host Shubhangi Dua, Podcast Producer and B2B Tech Journalist at EM360Tech, sat down for a conversation with David Hsu, CEO and Founder of Retool. They talk about the repercussions of vibe coding in addition to examining why most enterprises have no conception of how much of it is already taking place within their own enterprise.The discussion then turns from the immediate issue of governance concerning uncontrolled AI app-building to Hsu's prediction that software engineering as a profession could vanish within two to three years.“All the CIOs that I speak to are genuinely frightened about vibe coding, and even if you don't want to admit it, vibe coding is already present in your company,” he tells Dua. This is partly why Hsu founded Retool.Retool secures vibe coding for enterprises. Hsu explains that Retool can be connected to a company's Snowflake database, for instance or their Databricks data lake. “Users should be able to have access to particular tables only,” he says. Access controls are required at the group level.“If you're in this particular Okta group, you can only access this table, and it's read-only. Whereas if you're in this other Okta group, you can actually write back to this other Salesforce over here." So one Okta group could be granted read-only access to a particular table, while another group might be given write access to a connected Salesforce instance. All applications that are built on top of that connection automatically inherit the same restrictions.Once rules of such a nature are put in place, people could then be set free, explaining why he views governance as something that enables freedom rather than something that restricts.TakeawaysVibe coding is already happening inside most enterprises, sanctioned or notA Fortune 500 CIO found a vibe-coded app exposed on the public internetOne customer's AI coding spend hit 30x their original budget estimateTwo employees independently built duplicate apps that returned different numbersHsu forecasts fully automated coding arriving by late 2027 or early 2028By 2030, Hsu estimates 90% of company work will be done by AI employeesThe CIO's future role: a "chief people officer" governing AI agents, not humansChapters00:00 The Rise of No-Code and Low-Code Development04:52 Governance in the Age of Rapid Development12:40 Centralisation and Control in Software Development20:04 The Future of Software Engineering and AI25:13 The Role of Humans in an AI-Driven Worldvibe coding, AI governance, enterprise AI, CIO, AI agents, software engineering, Retool, David Hsu, enterprise software, AI security

AI is reshaping how businesses interact with customers, from handling routine enquiries to delivering more personalised and responsive experiences. As organisations automate more of the customer journey, however, customer support is increasingly being reconsidered not simply as a cost to reduce, but as an important part of how businesses build lasting relationships with their customers.On this episode of Tech Transformed, host Christina Stathopoulos welcomed back Pranay Jain, CEO and co-founder of Enterprise Bot, to discuss what this shift means in practice. The conversation moves beyond the usual AI hype to consider how businesses can scale automation without losing meaningful human connection, while navigating growing regulatory expectations across Europe and the UK.Jain has been building EnterpriseBot for almost a decade, since, as he puts it, "artificial intelligence was more artificial than intelligent." This vantage point shapes a conversation that's less about what AI can do and more about how enterprises should think about doing it.Stop Treating AI as a Cost-Cutting ToolJain sees AI as an opportunity to rethink how customer service teams work, using automation to handle routine tasks while giving people more time to focus on interactions where human judgement and empathy matter most. Password resets, invoice lookups and basic status checks can be handled instantly by AI, allowing human agents to spend more time with customers during moments that require greater care, such as a major life event or an insurance claim following an accident.He points to IKEA as a real-world example of this working. Rather than laying off staff as AI took over routine tasks, the company retrained employees to help customers plan their homes in a more personal, consultative way and saw sales increase as a result. It's a useful reframe that automation isn't about removing people from the equation; it's about repositioning them where their judgment and empathy are still needed.Jain also flags a metric that trips up a lot of contact centres, which is average handling time. Teams are often rewarded for keeping calls short, but a one-minute call with a 40 per cent resolution rate is worse than a three-minute call that actually solves the problem. His recommendation is to automate the parts of a call that eat time without adding value - identity verification alone can consume up to a quarter of a call, so agents can spend the time they save on getting things resolved properly, not just quickly.Why AI Needs GuardrailsGiven EnterpriseBot's European roots, regulation naturally comes into the conversation. Jain explains how the EU AI Act, Spain's new customer service rules and the UK's FCA expectations are starting to shape what “autonomous” really means in practice. For example, businesses can track sentiment at a general level, but analysing an agent's tone of voice or emotions crosses into much more sensitive territory. The same applies to financial transactions. An AI agent can't simply be left to make those decisions on its own. There needs to be a clear workflow and defined controls around what it can and cannot do.His concern is that a lot of the AI tooling on the market is built with a US-first lens and simply wasn't designed with these boundaries in mind. This creates real exposure for enterprises that adopt a slick-looking solution without checking if it can actually operate within EU or UK rules. Jain sees these regulatory changes as a positive step, particularly as AI becomes more embedded in customer interactions. "I actually think it's very important that you do have the right regulation, and there's a very good reason why these things are there."This point extends into data sovereignty too. With geopolitical tension pushing some organisations to reconsider public cloud dependence, Jain suggests flexibility- the ability to run on-prem, in a private cloud, or across different regions depending on the customer; this is becoming one of the more undervalued priorities on a CIO's list.Connected Customer Experience With AIThe conversation closes on something every customer feels but rarely thinks about, which is the disjointedness of switching between voice, chat, email, and messaging with the same company. Jain's push is for a single AI agent that carries context across every channel and every language. He uses his own background in Switzerland, a country with four national languages, to illustrate the scale of the problem. Without a unified system, a company could end up managing a dozen separate AI agents just to cover language and channel combinations.His final advice focuses on what enterprise leaders can put into practice now. Start by actually listening to your customer data to figure out where automation adds value and where human time matters most. Then be honest about whether building AI in-house is really core to your business, or if it's a distraction from what you're actually good at. As he notes, insurance companies aren't in the business of building voice agents and trying to keep pace with shifting regulation on your own is an expensive, ongoing commitment few teams are set up for.Jain's perspective is his focus on making AI useful rather than simply more autonomous. His approach puts the customer experience first, while recognising that trust, human judgment and the right guardrails still matter. For businesses considering what comes next, that balance may be the difference between adopting AI for the sake of it and using it to create a better customer experience. If you would like to learn more, visit enterprisebot.ai or connect with Pranay Jain on LinkedIn.TakeawaysThe shift from cost centre to strategic asset in customer support.How AI can augment human agents and improve emotional connection.Regulatory challenges and compliance in AI deployment.Data sovereignty and AI sovereignty considerations.Building connected, multi-channel customer experiences.The importance of governance and safeguards in AI systems.Chapters00:00 Introduction to autonomous customer experience and guest Pranay Jain01:55 Transforming customer support from a cost centre to a strategic asset02:54 Using AI to handle mundane tasks and enhance human agent capabilities04:53 Balancing automation with human connection in customer journeys05:58 Analysing customer journeys to identify emotional impact areas06:52 Automating verification and wrap-up to improve efficiency07:55 Regulatory landscape: EU AI Act, UK FCA, and Spain's requirements08:54 Compliance challenges and designing regulation-friendly AI solutions10:53 Data sovereignty, data security, and flexible deployment models13:09 Creating a seamless, multi-channel customer experience14:09 Ensuring connected AI interactions across voice, chat, and email15:10 The importance of multilingual AI agents for global support23:09 Final advice for enterprise leaders: customer-centric, compliant, and scalable AI strategies

Het blijft beleggers maar zorgen opleveren: die oplopende rente op obligaties in de VS. Maar eigenlijk hoef je daar niet zo bang voor te zijn, zegt Han Dieperink van Auréus. Want ook al worden obligaties aantrekkelijker, bedrijven gaan er niet minder van presteren. Geen reden tot zorgen dus! Of dat ook echt zo is, zoeken we uit. Het gaat in ieder geval geen effect hebben op de Federal Reserve. Want die gaan bij het komende besluit wijs hun mond houden, denkt Dieperink. En dat heeft dan weer alles te maken met de midterm-verkiezingen. In Beurs in Zicht stomen we je klaar voor de beursweek die je tegemoet gaat. Want soms zie je door de beursbomen het beursbos niet meer. Dat is verleden tijd! Iedere week vertelt een vriend van de show waar jouw focus moet liggen. Te gast: Han Dieperink, CIO bij Auréus BNR Beurs is een journalistiek onafhankelijke productie, mede mogelijk gemaakt door Saxo. Over de makers: Jelle Maasbach is presentator van BNR Beurs en freelance financieel journalist. Zijn favoriete aandeel om over te praten is Disney, maar daar lijkt hij de enige in te zijn. Sinds de eerste uitzending van BNR Beurs is 'ie er bij. Maxim van Mil is presentator van BNR Beurs en journalist bij BNR, waar hij zich focust op de financiële markten en ontwikkelingen in de tech-wereld. Je krijgt hem het meest enthousiast als hij kan praten over ASML, of oer-Hollandse bedrijven zoals Ahold of ABN Amro. Jorik Simonides is presentator van BNR Beurs, economieredacteur en verslaggever bij BNR. Hij wordt er vooral blij van als het een keer níet over AI gaat. Je hoort hem ook in de BNR-podcast Moerdijk: dorp van de rekening. Milou Brand is presentator van BNR Beurs, freelance podcastmaker en columnist bij het Financieele Dagblad. Jochem Visser is presentator van BNR Beurs, maakt Beursnerd XL en is redacteur bij de podcast Onder Curatoren. Vraag hem naar obscure zaken op financiële markten en hij vertelt je waarom het eigenlijk nóg leuker is dan je al dacht. Over de podcast: Met BNR Beurs ga je altijd voorbereid de nieuwe beursdag in. We praten je in een kleine 25 minuten bij over alle laatste ontwikkelingen op de handelsvloer. We blijven niet alleen bij de AEX of Wall Street, maar vertellen je ook waar nog meer kansen liggen. En we houden het niet bij de cijfers, maar zoeken ook iedere dag voor je naar duiding van scherpe gasten en experts. Of je nu een ervaren belegger bent of net begint met je eerste stappen op de beurs, de podcast biedt waardevolle inzichten voor je beleggingsstrategie. Door de focus op zowel de korte termijn als de lange termijn, helpt BNR Beurs luisteraars om de ruis van de markt te scheiden van de essentie.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alan Dunne is joined by Nick Baltas to discuss a strong period for trend following and what the latest research says about adapting systematic strategies to changing markets. They examine whether volatility can help determine how quickly trend models should react, and why Nick remains skeptical of relying on regime triggers with limited statistical evidence. The conversation then turns to agentic AI and a new framework for using specialized AI agents in asset allocation. Nick explores how agents could analyze macro regimes, challenge competing portfolio approaches and help investment committees make decisions faster, while also confronting problems around look-ahead bias, reproducibility and human oversight.-----50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE-----Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Nick on Twitter.Episode TimeStamps:00:00 - Introduction and what's caught Nick's attention01:31 - The extraordinary concentration inside the S&P 50004:12 - Why bond yields are rising around the world08:28 - A strong month and year for trend following12:08 - Why the bond move has happened without a volatility spike15:12 - Can volatility make trend following more adaptive?20:43 - What the latest research actually tells us23:21 - How Nick uses volatility in portfolio construction25:50 - Can investors identify trend regimes in advance?27:04 - Why making trend models more complicated may not help29:30 - V-shaped markets and the problem with regime triggers32:01 - How agentic AI could reshape asset allocation44:14 - What actually drives an AI-built portfolio?50:03 - Why backtesting AI investment models is so difficult55:05 - Could the same AI framework work for trend following?58:33 - Using AI to manage competing investment objectives01:01:22 - When will we see portfolios run by AI agents?Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved----PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score One of the things I'm really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here3. Other Resources that can help youAnd if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click HerePrivacy PolicyDisclaimer

Hannah discusses with Manpreet why earnings remain the key driver of markets despite rising oil prices and bond yields, and why we continue to prefer equities and credit while expecting further gains in gold.You can read our latest Global Market Outlook today here.Speaker(s):- Manpreet Gill, CIO of Africa, Middle East & Europe (AME/E), Standard Chartered Bank - Hannah Chew, Portfolio Strategist, Standard Chartered Bank For more of our latest market insights, visit Market views on-the-go or subscribe to Standard Chartered Wealth Insights on YouTube.

In Veldhoven kijken ze met veel belangstelling naar een bezoek van premier Jetten aan New York. De chipmachinemaker zag de premier namelijk, in gesprek met Bloomberg, praten over de toekomst van het bedrijf. Jetten vertelde dat hij bezig is om bij president Trump te lobbyen voor het bedrijf. De Amerikanen willen (kort gezegd) nóg strengere exportregels voor ASML, maar dat probeert de Nederlandse regering nu tegen te houden. Iets waar wij het deze aflevering over hebben. We zoeken voor je uit wat er gebeurt als Jettens plan lukt. Maar ook als het mislukt. Ook duiken we dieper in het bezoek van Xi Jinping aan de VS. Welke deals zijn er gesloten? Het is te hopen dat dat er veel zijn, want Trump krijgt behoorlijke kritiek vanuit zijn eigen partij. Ze trekken die rode loper voor een communist niet zo goed. Verder in dit prachtige beurstheater: Nederlandse beleggers stressen om hun pensioen PepsiCo gaat de prijzen toch weer verhogen Tesla komt eindelijk met de elektrische vrachtwagen Trump wil Musk helpen in Europa Te gast: Han Dieperink, CIO bij Aureus BNR Beurs is een journalistiek onafhankelijke productie, mede mogelijk gemaakt door Saxo. Over de makers: Jelle Maasbach is presentator van BNR Beurs en freelance financieel journalist. Zijn favoriete aandeel om over te praten is Disney, maar daar lijkt hij de enige in te zijn. Sinds de eerste uitzending van BNR Beurs is 'ie er bij. Maxim van Mil is presentator van BNR Beurs en journalist bij BNR, waar hij zich focust op de financiële markten en ontwikkelingen in de tech-wereld. Je krijgt hem het meest enthousiast als hij kan praten over ASML, of oer-Hollandse bedrijven zoals Ahold of ABN Amro. Jorik Simonides is presentator van BNR Beurs, economieredacteur en verslaggever bij BNR. Hij wordt er vooral blij van als het een keer níet over AI gaat. Je hoort hem ook in de BNR-podcast Moerdijk: dorp van de rekening. Milou Brand is presentator van BNR Beurs, freelance podcastmaker en columnist bij het Financieele Dagblad. Jochem Visser is presentator van BNR Beurs, maakt Beursnerd XL en is redacteur bij de podcast Onder Curatoren. Vraag hem naar obscure zaken op financiële markten en hij vertelt je waarom het eigenlijk nóg leuker is dan je al dacht. Donner Bakker is presentator van BNR Beurs en economieredacteur bij BNR. Hij volgt macro-economische ontwikkelingen met bovengemiddelde interesse, net als de beursgenoteerde datingapps. Je hoort hem ook in de BNR-podcast All In The Game. Over de podcast: Met BNR Beurs ga je altijd voorbereid de nieuwe beursdag in. We praten je in een kleine 25 minuten bij over alle laatste ontwikkelingen op de handelsvloer. We blijven niet alleen bij de AEX of Wall Street, maar vertellen je ook waar nog meer kansen liggen. En we houden het niet bij de cijfers, maar zoeken ook iedere dag voor je naar duiding van scherpe gasten en experts. Of je nu een ervaren belegger bent of net begint met je eerste stappen op de beurs, de podcast biedt waardevolle inzichten voor je beleggingsstrategie. Door de focus op zowel de korte termijn als de lange termijn, helpt BNR Beurs luisteraars om de ruis van de markt te scheiden van de essentie.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unpack what it truly takes to break barriers at the highest levels of executive leadership with Lisa Davis, Executive Leadership Expert, Founder of Davis Core Advisory, award-winning CIO, and bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room: How to Win in a Workplace Still Built for Men. From her 26-year career in the Department of Defense to leading multi-billion dollar turnarounds at Intel and Blue Shield of California, Lisa reveals how grit, vulnerability, and intentional career risks propel top performers forward. Uncover practical strategies for navigating high-pressure environments, treating rest as a critical business advantage, and leveraging irreplaceable human strengths in an era of rapid AI transformation.Guest Links:Lisa's LinkedInDavis Core AdvisoryBook: The Only Woman in the Room: How to Win in a Workplace (Still!) Built for MenCredits: Host: Lisa Nichols, Executive Producer: Jenny Heal, Marketing Support: Joe Szynkowski & Dylan Price, Podcast Engineer: Portside MediaSomething Extra with Lisa Nichols

What if your biggest AI risk isn't falling behind—but unknowingly placing a ceiling on your company's future?

With interest rates, inflation, oil prices, Treasury yields, and stock market valuations all competing for investors' attention, what should you be watching now? As the S&P 500 approaches record territory, can markets sustain a breakout, or are new risks beginning to emerge? Lance Roberts and Danny Ratliff answer your questions from the YouTube live chat, and break down the economic, investing, and consumer stories shaping markets this week. We'll discuss what the latest economic and market signals could mean for stocks, bonds, portfolio positioning, retirement planning, and consumers, while separating short-term headlines from longer-term financial considerations. 0:00 - INTRO 1:02 - S&P Global Manufacturing Index showing rising costs 3:17 - Market is doing what September Markets do 7:29 - The Dollar is on a tear 9:27 - Coffee & Semi-Conductors 13:39 - S&P Global Manufacturing Index - Market over-reaction to nothing new 16:28 - Capitulation Event for Yields 17:50 - 5-Year Bond Auction - Failed or Poor? 24:01 - Why We Bought 5-year Treasuries 26:01 - The TINA Trade vs the TIGA Trade 32:43 - How We Build Bond Portfolios - ETF's vs Individual Bonds 35:42 - If Bonds Get Crushed 37:20 - Rooting for Gloom & Doom 40:00 - The Great Bond Massacre of 1068 40:57 - Fear in the Bond Market is Starting to Spread Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Why Your Portfolio May Be Lagging the S&P 500," https://youtu.be/H7TLBSsGh3M ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: -------- Watch our previous show, "Q&A Wednesday: Rates, Risks, & Record Highs" https://youtube.com/live/TeDizY1oNmY?feature=share ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #StockMarket #SP500 #SmallCaps #InterestRates #Investing #Bonds #BondMarket

With interest rates, inflation, oil prices, Treasury yields, and stock market valuations all competing for investors' attention, what should you be watching now? As the S&P 500 approaches record territory, can markets sustain a breakout, or are new risks beginning to emerge? Lance Roberts and Danny Ratliff answer your questions from the YouTube live chat, and break down the economic, investing, and consumer stories shaping markets this week. We'll discuss what the latest economic and market signals could mean for stocks, bonds, portfolio positioning, retirement planning, and consumers, while separating short-term headlines from longer-term financial considerations. 0:00 - INTRO 1:02 - S&P Global Manufacturing Index showing rising costs 3:17 - Market is doing what September Markets do 7:29 - The Dollar is on a tear 9:27 - Coffee & Semi-Conductors 13:39 - S&P Global Manufacturing Index - Market over-reaction to nothing new 16:28 - Capitulation Event for Yields 17:50 - 5-Year Bond Auction - Failed or Poor? 24:01 - Why We Bought 5-year Treasuries 26:01 - The TINA Trade vs the TIGA Trade 32:43 - How We Build Bond Portfolios - ETF's vs Individual Bonds 35:42 - If Bonds Get Crushed 37:20 - Rooting for Gloom & Doom 40:00 - The Great Bond Massacre of 1068 40:57 - Fear in the Bond Market is Starting to Spread Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Why Your Portfolio May Be Lagging the S&P 500," https://youtu.be/H7TLBSsGh3M ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: -------- Watch our previous show, "Q&A Wednesday: Rates, Risks, & Record Highs" https://youtube.com/live/TeDizY1oNmY?feature=share ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #StockMarket #SP500 #SmallCaps #InterestRates #Investing #Bonds #BondMarket

Chris Wallis, CEO and CIO at Vaughan Nelson, discusses the Fed's decision to raise rates, the implications for the equity market, and how U.S. midterms might potentially impact the market.

Zach Lewis runs IT and security at a university on a tight budget, and when he needs a problem fixed, he goes looking in the startup community. He's been a sub-10 customer at Concentric AI, a very early customer at Island, a design partner for Jazz DLP, and he ran an email security product from a barely-out-of-stealth startup for four years. He explains what he gets for buying early, what he needs to see before he'll take the bet, and why your LinkedIn message almost certainly isn't how you'll reach him.In this episodeWhy a four-year run with a sub-10 email security startup turned Zach into a repeat startup buyerThe trade he makes for being early: lower pricing locked in for three or five years, and features built in weeksWhat he watches during a design partnership: the whole problem solved, the team growing, the product moving fastHow his DSPM vendor ended up working like a remote member of his teamWhy nobody inside the university pushed back on buying from startups10 to 20 LinkedIn pitches a day, three replies in seven years, one purchase, and where he finds new vendors insteadHow a deal actually gets funded in a July-to-June budget, and why something usually gets switched off firstWhy two out of three startups he sees are pitching shadow AI, and why he covered it with tools he already hadAbout the guestZach Lewis is CIO and CISO at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, a Venture Advisor at Glilot Capital Partners, and the author of Locked Up (Wiley, 2026), the story of his university's response to a LockBit ransomware attack. He was named Non-Profit CISO of the Year in 2023.Notable quotes"I've done a 5-year on a couple startups just because we want to lock in that low pricing.""Best email security product I've ever seen.""I don't think anyone even really knew they were a startup, nor did they care."Chapters00:00 Intro03:18 Advising at Glilot and the St. Louis "cyber mafia"07:23 What he listens for in a first startup conversation09:31 How a design partnership really works13:37 Why legacy DLP failed and what Jazz does differently16:41 His first startup bet: email security20:00 Price, multi-year lock-ins, and features in weeks21:00 How much time early-stage vendors actually take23:38 Does anyone push back on buying from startups?24:38 Sorting out AI security without adding tools28:04 "Stop messaging me on LinkedIn," and what works instead33:28 How deals close: budget cycles, sunsetting, the CFO39:09 Buying after a breach41:00 Locked Up43:31 Visionary or smoking crack Support the showThe Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startupWant to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and trainingNeed ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Ashwin Ballal never spent a day in IT before Freshworks handed him the CIO title. He trained as a materials scientist, then worked his way through marketing, product, and engineering roles at KLA-Tencor before the CEO asked him to run IT. Three CIO jobs later, now at Freshworks, he's become the company's single most important customer, shaping its product roadmap from inside the org he runs.In this conversation, Ashwin explains why AI-generated code needs more human verification, not less, why counting token usage tells you nothing about whether AI is actually working, and how Freshworks tore apart a "Frankenstack" of roughly 400 disconnected systems by refusing to customize its own workflows. He also gets candid about what worries him most heading into the next phase of enterprise AI: agents running with privileged access and few real guardrails. Listen in for an unfiltered read on where AI is actually delivering, and where it's just noise.Listen or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Visit ciopod.com for more episodes.3 Takeaways:Ashwin argues AI-generated code needs more engineers, not fewer, because someone still has to verify what the model produces before it reaches production.He says most companies are tracking the wrong AI metric, counting token usage instead of asking what revenue or savings actually resulted.Freshworks cut a "Frankenstack" of roughly 400 disconnected systems down by implementing tools out of the box instead of customizing them.Chapters:(00:00) Introduction(03:16) Early Life & What Drives Ashwin(05:06) From PhD to CIO(07:51) Career Lessons & Leadership Style(10:56) Why Freshworks, Why Now(13:57) The CIO as Product Customer(17:05) AI Adoption & Rethinking Workflows(22:24) Killing the Frankenstack(25:30) Agent Risk & Guardrails(27:20) Lightning RoundAbout Ashwin: Ashwin Ballal joined Freshworks in May 2024 as Chief Information Officer. His significant leadership experience of over 30 years in technology and business strategy will now be channeled to spearhead all facets of IT infrastructure, systems, and operations within Freshworks. Prior to this new responsibility, Ballal served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Medallia. He successfully led and revamped the IT and security, workplace services, corporate procurement, and travel divisions during his tenure there. His preceding role was as the Chief Information, Intelligence, and Data Officer of KLA Corp.Guest Highlights:"Oh, 90% of my code is written by AI. How do you know if it's right? Who verified it, right?""Let's count token usage. I mean, that's not a behavior you want. What outcomes change?""If you thought the SaaS crawl was the Wild Wild West, Yousuf, you ain't seen anything yet."Get Connected:Yousuf Kahn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yousufakhan/ Ashwin Ballal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwin-ballal-9a89961/ Our Sponsor: Want to accelerate software development by 500%? Meet Blitzy, the only autonomous code generation platform with infinite code context, purpose-built for large, complex enterprise-scale codebases.While other AI coding tools provide snippets of code and struggle with context, Blitzy ingests millions of lines of code and orchestrates thousands of agents that reason for hours to map every line-level dependency.With a complete contextual understanding of your codebase, Blitzy is ready to be deployed at the beginning of every sprint. Blitzy handles the heavy lifting, delivering over 80% of the work autonomously. The platform plans, builds, and validates premium-quality code at the speed of compute, turning months of engineering into a matter of days.It's the secret weapon for Fortune 500 companies globally. To hear how engineering leaders are transforming the way they deliver software, visit blitzy.com. Schedule a meeting with their consultants to enable an AI-Native SDLC in your organization today. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Moritz Seibert is joined by GBE Energy co-founder Cory Paddock for a look inside the unusual world of proprietary power trading. Cory explains how electricity markets combine weather, physics and economics, and why understanding supply and demand can create opportunities in markets where prices can change dramatically within minutes. They explore the psychology behind taking risk, why a handful of exceptional days can define an entire year, and the lessons Cory learned from his biggest wins and losses. They also discuss GBE's approach to developing young traders and how AI is accelerating the process of turning raw talent into real trading ability.-----50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE-----Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Moritz on Twitter.Follow Cory on LinkedIn.Episode TimeStamps:00:00 - Knowing when to walk away from a losing trade01:03 - Introducing Cory Paddock and GBE Energy04:35 - How US power markets actually work08:21 - PJM and the changing US electricity mix11:07 - Why North America effectively has three separate power grids14:42 - What a power trader actually trades19:40 - Why electricity trading never really stops21:48 - Finding an edge through supply, demand and weather28:13 - Why power markets remain so attractive to traders30:37 - What “10 times crypto” volatility looks like33:50 - The four stages of becoming a power trader36:07 - Conviction, sizing and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable38:15 - The trades that helped create GBE Energy40:42 - What a painful losing trade taught Cory43:16 - Why GBE changed the way it recruits traders48:57 - What Cory looks for in aspiring traders50:50 - How quickly can someone learn to trade power?53:31 - AI, data centers and the future of electricity marketsCopyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved----PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score One of the things I'm really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here3. Other Resources that can help youAnd if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click HerePrivacy PolicyDisclaimer

With interest rates, inflation, oil prices, Treasury yields, and stock market valuations all competing for investors' attention, what should you be watching now? As the S&P 500 approaches record territory, can markets sustain a breakout, or are new risks beginning to emerge? Lance Roberts and Danny Ratliff answer your questions from the YouTube live chat, and break down the economic, investing, and consumer stories shaping markets this week. We'll discuss what the latest economic and market signals could mean for stocks, bonds, portfolio positioning, retirement planning, and consumers, while separating short-term headlines from longer-term financial considerations. 0:00 - INTRO 1:08 - Trump - Xi Summit - Much ado about nothing 2:17 - Possible Export Ban on Diesel Exports? 3:35 - Earnings Growth Estimates are Very Large - That's a Risk 5:34 - Markets Hold Up Above Moving Averages 5:56 - Factor Rotation Model performance - VTV Value Index Under Pressure - MGK - Large Cap Growth Stocks proxy 9:48 - Fed Rate Hike Coordinated for Yen Carry Trade? (No, a martket-driven rate hike) 12:28 - Gold Correlation with Real Interest Rates 12:40 - Why Rotate into Financials? (Factor Rotation Model) 13:52 - How do Earnings Grow When the Middle Class is Getting Squeezed? (K-Shaped Economy) 16:58 - Stock Analysis: AMD (NOT a recommendation) 20:10 - Income Producing ETF's in Preparation for Retirement (JPQ) (NOT a Recommendation) 22:09 - Money Moving Out of Stocks into Fixed Income? (charts) 24:49- Tracking Forward Earnings Estimates Revisions 26:05 - Dealing with Gloom-and-Doom Narratives 30:07 - Series: Investing for the Long Term (link is below) 31:54 - Cryptocurrency-A (Tether) Holding US Treasuries; StableCoin, Solana 35:17 - How much Higher Will Rates Run this Year? 35:40 - M2 Correlation with Inflation? (All money is lent into existence) 37:18 - RSP vs SPY and Sector Rotation 38:22 - Late Year Market Dip Yet? 39:11 - Lance is rich and out of touch?? (There will always be the poor among us...) 44:16 - Where did this inflation come from? (We don't want deflation) 46:50 - How We're (really) Doing Financially (chart) 50:14 - What Danny Wears as Market Indicator Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Danny Ratliff, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Is Money Rotating From Growth to Value?," https://youtu.be/46Y-k5LfWxA ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/TeDizY1oNmY?feature=share -------- Watch our previous show, "Can Your Kids Afford to Invest Without You?" https://youtube.com/live/ewgHX5U7dEg ------- Articles Mentioned in Today's Show:" "Portfolio Risk Management: Winning The Long Game (Chapter 5)" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/portfolio-risk-management-winning-the-long-game-chapter-5/ "K-Shaped Economy: Reality Or Media-Driven Perception" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/k-shaped-economy-reality-or-media-driven-perception/ --- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #StockMarket #Investing #GrowthStocks #ValueStocks #MarketRotation #InterestRates #FederalReserve #Investing #RetirementPlanning

With interest rates, inflation, oil prices, Treasury yields, and stock market valuations all competing for investors' attention, what should you be watching now? As the S&P 500 approaches record territory, can markets sustain a breakout, or are new risks beginning to emerge? Lance Roberts and Danny Ratliff answer your questions from the YouTube live chat, and break down the economic, investing, and consumer stories shaping markets this week. We'll discuss what the latest economic and market signals could mean for stocks, bonds, portfolio positioning, retirement planning, and consumers, while separating short-term headlines from longer-term financial considerations. 0:00 - INTRO 1:08 - Trump - Xi Summit - Much ado about nothing 2:17 - Possible Export Ban on Diesel Exports? 3:35 - Earnings Growth Estimates are Very Large - That's a Risk 5:34 - Markets Hold Up Above Moving Averages 5:56 - Factor Rotation Model performance - VTV Value Index Under Pressure - MGK - Large Cap Growth Stocks proxy 9:48 - Fed Rate Hike Coordinated for Yen Carry Trade? (No, a martket-driven rate hike) 12:28 - Gold Correlation with Real Interest Rates 12:40 - Why Rotate into Financials? (Factor Rotation Model) 13:52 - How do Earnings Grow When the Middle Class is Getting Squeezed? (K-Shaped Economy) 16:58 - Stock Analysis: AMD (NOT a recommendation) 20:10 - Income Producing ETF's in Preparation for Retirement (JPQ) (NOT a Recommendation) 22:09 - Money Moving Out of Stocks into Fixed Income? (charts) 24:49- Tracking Forward Earnings Estimates Revisions 26:05 - Dealing with Gloom-and-Doom Narratives 30:07 - Series: Investing for the Long Term (link is below) 31:54 - Cryptocurrency-A (Tether) Holding US Treasuries; StableCoin, Solana 35:17 - How much Higher Will Rates Run this Year? 35:40 - M2 Correlation with Inflation? (All money is lent into existence) 37:18 - RSP vs SPY and Sector Rotation 38:22 - Late Year Market Dip Yet? 39:11 - Lance is rich and out of touch?? (There will always be the poor among us...) 44:16 - Where did this inflation come from? (We don't want deflation) 46:50 - How We're (really) Doing Financially (chart) 50:14 - What Danny Wears as Market Indicator Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Danny Ratliff, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "Is Money Rotating From Growth to Value?," https://youtu.be/46Y-k5LfWxA ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/TeDizY1oNmY?feature=share -------- Watch our previous show, "Can Your Kids Afford to Invest Without You?" https://youtube.com/live/ewgHX5U7dEg ------- Articles Mentioned in Today's Show:" "Portfolio Risk Management: Winning The Long Game (Chapter 5)" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/portfolio-risk-management-winning-the-long-game-chapter-5/ "K-Shaped Economy: Reality Or Media-Driven Perception" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/k-shaped-economy-reality-or-media-driven-perception/ --- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #StockMarket #Investing #GrowthStocks #ValueStocks #MarketRotation #InterestRates #FederalReserve #Investing #RetirementPlanning

Universities can build all the AI infrastructure they want, but if faculty aren't on board, none of it lands in the classroom. Recent surveys make clear what many academic leaders already sense but rarely say out loud: there's a real and widening divide between faculty skepticism and administrative impatience on AI. The question isn't who's right. It's how you close the gap. In this episode, Jeff and Michael explore this topic with Pradeep Khosla (Chancellor, University of California, San Diego), Sonya Christian (Chancellor, California Community College System), and James Frazee (VP and CIO, San Diego State University). This episode is made with support from Google.Chapters0:00 - Episode Trailer2:20 - Intro3:36 - Why Are Students Both Using, and Booing AI?6:10 - How Should College Leaders Talk About AI?10:05 - Is Inconsistency in AI Policy a Feature or a Bug?12:52 - Using Data to Drive Faculty Discussions on AI14:33 - Invest in People, Not Just Tools16:33 - Helping Faculty Feel Safe to Try AI20:24 - Can Colleges Afford AI In Times of Budget Crisis?23:26 - Encouraging All Disciplines to Try AI26:30 - Do Professors Trust Administrators on AI? 30:14 - Sponsor Break30:44 - AI's Impact on the Value of the Degree34:48 - How is AI Really Impacting the Job Market?38:08 - The Future of Assessment42:38 - Does Traditional Faculty Governance Work for AI?45:46 - What Professors Do That AI Can't46:41 - When Industry Moves Faster Than Education49:12 - The Importance of Faculty Development in AI52:15 - Closing Thoughts on AI at CollegesRelevant Links“AI Is Routine for College Students, Despite Campus Limits,” Lumina | Gallup.AI in Action video series at California State University System.“Cal State students widely use AI tools, but mistrust results and fear job impact,” in EdSource.

Can younger investors really afford to invest on their own? For many, financial help from their parents may be making the difference. Lance Roberts and Jonathan Penn discuss the growing financial support parents provide adult children and what it can mean for both generations. Helping with housing, bills, and everyday expenses may give younger adults more room to save and invest, but what does that assistance mean for Mom and Dad's own retirement plans? Plus, we examine the latest economic and Treasury-market discussion, what interest rates and government borrowing could mean for investors, and how artificial intelligence may be changing retirement planning beyond the stock market. It's a conversation about investing, family finances, retirement planning, and the financial trade-offs that can occur when one generation helps support another. 0:00 - INTRO 0:57 - Economic Activity is rising (different from GDP) 2:54 - Oil Price Drop 3:24 - Expectations for a Soft Landing (Bob Farrell Rule #9) 4:28 - Markets' Breakout towards all time high 5:53 - NASDAQ breaks out to all-time high 7:03 - Financials Under Pressure, Sitting on Support 7:40 - Basic Materials & Cap-ex spending--still under pressure 10:04 - The Bank of Mom & Dad 11:31 - The K Economy (Chart) 13:38 - Helping Lance's Son Learn Investing Lessons 16:21 - Chicago Fed Survey - My Life is Fine, the Country is Doomed 19:25 - Gen-z is Gambling 23:19 - When Mom & Dad help children invest 25:45 - When Parents Don't Do Kids any Favor by Helping - Responsible Gifting 28:18 - It's Always Something Around the House... 31:00 - Three Economic Outcomes 35:22 - ...as soon as the market rallies... 37:25 - Optimism as an Investing Strategy 39:23 - There's never a perfect time... 44:46 - How You Know You're Not in a Bubble Hosted by RIA Advisors' Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO, w Senior Investment Advisor, Jonathan Penn, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Do you enjoy our content? Rate us on Google: https://bit.ly/4b9JtEo ------- Watch Today's "Before the Bell" report, "S&P 500 Eyes New Highs," https://youtu.be/O5eqwiEF0dY ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/live/ewgHX5U7dEg -------- Watch our previous show, "What Happens When Earnings Estimates Fall Short?" https://youtu.be/PBwgI2MdnFM ------- Articles Mentioned in Today's Show: "K-Shaped Economy: Reality Or Media-Driven Perception" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/k-shaped-economy-reality-or-media-driven-perception/ --- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN --- Subscribe to SimpleVisor : https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new --- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #SP500 #StockMarket #MarketOutlook #TechnologyStocks #Investing #RetirementPlanning #PersonalFinance #FinancialPlanning #YoungInvestors #K_ShapedEconomy

Our CIO and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Mike Wilson discusses why quality stocks, strong earnings and price momentum support his view that the bull market remains intact.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley's CIO and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist. Today on the podcast I'll be discussing the ongoing mid-cycle transition. It's Monday, September 21st at 11:30 am in New York. So, let's get after it. The S&P 500 is near record highs. That's despite rising energy prices, two wars running in parallel and AI safety concerns back in the headlines. Meanwhile central banks are tightening. On paper, that's a lot of reasons to be nervous. So are investors just being complacent? I don't think so. More than 40 percent of the Russell 3000 has fallen at least 20 percent since June, while the S&P 500's forward price earnings multiple has fallen back to 19 times, which is almost 20 percent lower than a year ago. At the same time, median stock earnings growth is running around 15 percent, and revisions breadth is back near cycle highs. Falling valuations alongside strong earnings growth is not complacency. It is the definition of a classic mid-cycle transition. That distinction matters because mid-cycle markets tend to frustrate almost everyone. The index can remain resilient while much of the market corrects. Earnings can stay strong while multiples fall. And leadership can change without the bull market ending. Last week's Fed meeting fits squarely into that framework. The 25-basis-point hike was largely priced, so the real information was Chair Warsh's willingness to follow through on his commitment to fight inflation. Recent core inflation data were firmer than expected, but the details were not uniformly hot. Some of the upside was concentrated in a handful of categories, shelter remained soft, and tariff pass-through appears to be fading. That gave the Fed room to act without forcing investors to assume we are heading into another 2022-style tightening campaign. In my view, the hike can enhance credibility. If investors believe the Fed is acting early enough to contain inflation, a higher policy rate can reduce uncertainty and term premium rather than automatically driving long-term financing costs higher. But the rate hike is not my concern. A few additional hikes over the next year are unlikely to end this bull market if earnings remain strong. The bigger unknown is how a Warsh-led Fed approaches the balance sheet, money supply, and credit growth. His philosophy has historically leaned more monetarist than prior Fed chairs. However, we still don't know how aggressively he will apply it – or how much influence he will have over the rest of the committee. That matters because the private economy is using more capital, and an overly restrictive approach to liquidity could become more consequential than the policy rate itself. This is one reason I continue to favor large-cap quality. High free-cash-flow yield, low accruals, and operating-efficiency factors are leading, while the high-sales-per-employee factor has been one of the strongest recent performers. That also aligns closely with our preference for AI adopters rather than the enablers. Price momentum is not disappearing. But its composition is changing toward quality, services-oriented, asset-light, and fee-based businesses. That is exactly what should happen during a mid-cycle transition. The near-term swing factor remains energy prices. Another meaningful rise in crude or refined products would put upward pressure on the expected policy path, long-end yields, and bond volatility in an unhealthy way. It would also arrive during a period when midterm-election seasonality often produces a 5 to 10 percent index correction. In a worst-case near-term scenario, the S&P 500 could trade near 7100, but I would view that as a tactical correction within the bull market – not a change in our fundamental views. Either way, I remain convicted in our 8,000 year-end price target. The bottom line is that this market is behaving exactly like a mid-cycle market should: valuations are compressing, earnings are carrying the load, and leadership is moving toward quality. The index may look calm, but plenty of concern has already been priced at the stock level. The mistake would be confusing resiliency with complacency—and missing the rotation taking place in plain sight. Thanks for tuning in; I hope you found it informative and useful. Let us know what you think by leaving us a review. And if you find Thoughts on the Market worthwhile, tell a friend or colleague to try it out!

André Perold is the co-founder and CIO of HighVista Strategies, an alternative asset manager overseeing $14 billion that searches for alpha opportunities in structurally inefficient markets. André has twice been a past guest on the show, starting way back with episode #2 and both conversations are replayed on the feed.    This conversation starts with André's assessment of the most exciting and unusual investment environment he has experienced, alongside his thoughts on how to build capabilities and construct portfolios to navigate exponential change. We then turn to the beautifully inefficient markets where HighVista has built core capabilities across biotech, lower middle-market buyouts, early-stage venture, and specialty private credit.   Take our audience survey. Tell us more about you, how you listen, and what we can do to make the podcast and platform better. Try ALEX by Admired Leadership. Learn More Follow Ted on X at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)