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SUMMARY DEL SHOW Futuros prácticamente planos mientras el mercado evalúa un posible acuerdo para extender el cese al fuego EE. UU. Irán por 60 días. El petróleo cae fuerte en la semana, pero sigue por encima de niveles preconflicto, así que inflación y Fed siguen en el centro. $DELL arranca FY2027 con ISG en récord por servidores AI, pedidos enormes y backlog histórico. La lectura es demanda desbordada, pero con el cuello de botella en componentes, especialmente memoria. $FSLR se dispara por expectativas de aranceles a polisilicio y por el tema de energía doméstica. En autonomía, $TSLA queda muy atrás en Texas frente a $GOOGL con Waymo, justo cuando se endurece la supervisión regulatoria.

Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman return from Dell Technologies World to unpack Google I/O's Gemini-as-operating-system moment, the Blackstone-Google TPU joint venture nobody saw coming, NVIDIA's $81.6 billion quarter with a $91 billion guide, and debate whether or not the "SaaSpocalypse" is finally over. The handpicked topics for this week are: Google I/O 2026: Gemini Becomes the Operating System. Google I/O repositioned Gemini from a product to the operating layer for everything Google does, and the numbers backed it up. 900 million monthly active users, 3.2 quadrillion tokens per month, a 7x jump year over year. Pat's headline: this is about widening distribution, not just model quality. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Antigravity 2.0, Gemini Spark, and Android XR glasses all extend Gemini into surfaces that no competitor can replicate. Daniel's read: the token-cost reckoning is coming, and when enterprise subsidies end, models that can deliver value at a lower cost per token will become the ground zero of the next era. (The Decode) Dell Technologies World 2026: AI Factory Goes Agentic, 1,000 New AI Server Clients. Pat and Dan were both on the ground in Las Vegas and called it the most consequential Dell event in years. Michael Dell and Jensen Huang co-keynoted to launch the next-generation Dell AI Factory with liquid-cooled PowerEdge XE9780 servers, Dell Deskside Agentic AI, and a multi-model ecosystem including Google Distributed Cloud with Gemini 3.0, on-prem OpenAI Codex, and Grok. 1,000 new AI server clients in a single quarter is the cleanest leading indicator of enterprise demand heading into Dell's Q1 print. Pat's biggest takeaway: OpenShell as a control plane for agents spanning from the GB10 all the way to the PowerEdge rack has been the missing orchestration piece. Daniel's read: large enterprises are going to build hybrid AI architectures and want to deliver tokens at the lowest possible on-prem cost, and Dell is ready. (The Decode) Blackstone and Google Launch a $5B TPU Joint Venture. Pat called it the biggest story of the week and the one that went most under the radar. For the first time, a hyperscaler has released its proprietary AI silicon to a third-party distribution entity. The $5 billion deal, up to $25 billion with leverage, targets 500 megawatts of capacity online by 2027. Daniel's framing: Google decided its custom silicon is worth more as a commercially distributed asset than as a captive moat. Pat's note: the proprietary nature of TPU infrastructure means retrofitting existing data centers will require real work, but the sovereign angle gives the JV a natural first market. (The Decode) AMD Helios, $10B Taiwan Investment, and the MI450 Anchor Customer Rumor. AMD dropped a $10 billion Taiwan ecosystem investment alongside confirmation that Helios rack-scale is on track for multi-gigawatt customer deployments beginning 2H 2026. A Citi rumor surfaced Anthropic as the anchor MI450 customer, to be formally announced at AMD's Advancing AI Day in July. Pat's read: Lisa Su has made a commitment and she almost never falls through. The analysts who said AMD would not ship anything in the second half of 2026 are going to be very wrong. (The Decode) OpenAI Guaranteed Capacity: Sam Altman's Moment. OpenAI launched multi-year compute commitment contracts the same week that Anthropic was struggling with capacity outages. Pat called it brilliant and said it makes Sam Altman look like a genius. It's the inference-era analog of cloud reserved instances: guaranteed availability at a locked price for one, two, or three years. Daniel added context: Anthropic's annualized ARR growth is nearly double OpenAI's and is about to lap them, so the model war is far from over. But for enterprises that need reliability, OpenAI just made the most compelling enterprise trust argument of the week. (The Decode) Sovereign AI Crosses $30 Billion at NVIDIA, 14% of Revenue. NVIDIA disclosed sovereign AI as a segment-level line for the first time, at $30 billion in FY26, 3x the prior year. Pat has been tracking sovereign for years and calls this the clearest possible signal that it has moved from marketing term to structural revenue category. Daniel's point: outside of the four or five hyperscalers doing all the major buying, sovereign is where the incremental demand is coming from and it is very real. (The Decode)  The Flip: Is the SaaSpocalypse Over? Daniel took the affirmative and came in loaded. Every earnings report across CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, ServiceNow, Intuit, Salesforce, Atlassian, Notion, and monday.com shows companies growing with the AI tailwind. His core argument: there was a reason SaaS emerged 20 to 30 years ago. Companies do not want to be in the software business. Vibe-coded flat-file apps with no security, no governance, no data lineage look great in a kitchen demo and fall apart at enterprise scale. The SaaSpocalypse is over and he is tired of talking about it. Pat's counter: BofA slapped Salesforce with an Underperform at $160, 8% below where it trades. Snowflake is down 35% year-to-date. A senior Dell executive told him Dell will not buy another SaaS system and is tripling internal software creation. The growth question is real even if the terminal value is not zero. Both agree the tape will tell the real story. (The Flip) NVIDIA Q1 FY27 Results. Record $81.6 billion revenue, up 85% year over year. Data center at $75.2 billion, up 92%. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.87, up 140%. Q2 guide of $91 billion crushed the $86.8 billion consensus by $4 billion at the midpoint. $80 billion buyback authorized, dividend raised 25x. The stock went down after hours for the fifth consecutive time following a massive beat and raise. Pat's read: NVIDIA may be worth $8 to $9 trillion on paper at a sector-average multiple and 75% gross margins held. Daniel's framing: this is the best company in the world, possibly tied with Google, and it is becoming the Apple of this era. He sees a long safe journey of continued growth vs. speculative dollars chasing quantum and space names that can double in a week. (Bulls and Bears) Intuit: Earnings Beat, Revenue Miss. A 17% workforce cut, raised guidance, and $8 billion buyback were authorized. Pat's emerging thesis: these companies are cutting people to afford tokens. Intuit comes at a moment when OpenAI's ChatGPT finance plugin via Stripe is building an intelligence layer that could sit on top of Intuit's products without displacing them directly, at least not yet. (Bulls and Bears) Lenovo: Record $21.6 billion quarterly revenue, up 27% year over year. The company's fastest growth in five years. AI-related revenue is up 84% year over year to 38% of total company revenue. ISG returned to full-year operating profit with a $21 billion AI server pipeline. Pat and Dan both read Lenovo's results as NVIDIA tea leaves, a leading indicator of enterprise AI server demand that directly validates what Dell said on stage about 1,000 new AI server clients. (Bulls and Bears) Analog Devices: Record $3.62 billion revenue, up 37% year over year. EPS up 67%. Q3 guide of $3.9 billion crushed consensus by $270 million. Data center up 90%, industrial up 56%, comms up 79%. The $1.5 billion Empower Semiconductor acquisition adds integrated voltage regulator technology that can reduce AI data center power consumption by 10 to 15% while shrinking the power footprint by up to 4x. Daniel's closing point: you can't build AI servers without players like Analog Devices and Lattice Semiconductor. These essential node companies aren't boring, they're foundational. (Bulls and Bears) Check out all of our Dell Technologies World coverage linked in the show notes including our sit-downs with Michael Dell, Jeff Clark, and key customers. Be part of our community. Hit that subscribe button and see you at Computex.   The Decode Google I/O 2026 — Gemini Becomes the Operating System: 900M MAU, 3.2 Quadrillion Tokens/Month, Gemini Omni, Antigravity 2.0, Gemini Spark, and Android XR Glasses https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/sundar-pichai-io-2026/ Dell Technologies World 2026 — AI Factory Goes Agentic: Michael Dell + Jensen Huang Unveil PowerEdge XE9780, Dell Deskside Agentic AI, and a Multi-Model Ecosystem; Dell Adds 1,000 AI-Server Clients in the Quarter https://www.dell.com/en-us/blog/dell-technologies-world-a-bright-and-beautiful-road-ahead/ Blackstone + Google Launch $5B (Up to $25B w/ Leverage) JV to Sell Google TPUs Outside Google Cloud — First Time a Hyperscaler Has Released Its Custom Silicon to a Third-Party Distribution Channel; 500 MW Online by 2027, Benjamin Treynor Sloss as CEO https://www.blackstone.com/news/press/blackstone-announces-joint-venture-with-google-to-create-new-tpu-cloud/ AMD Announces $10B+ Taiwan Ecosystem Investment — Helios Rack-Scale Platform With MI450X GPUs and Venice EPYC on TSMC 2nm Targeting Multi-Gigawatt Deployments 2H 2026; the Clearest Second-Source Signal Yet https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1286/amd-announces-more-than-10-billion-in-taiwan-ecosystem-investments-to-accelerate-ai-infrastructure OpenAI Launches Guaranteed Capacity — Multi-Year Compute Commitments Turn Inference Capacity Into a New Enterprise Asset Class https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/19/openai-announces-new-guaranteed-capacity-offering-for-customers-to-secure-compute.html The Sovereign AI Government Investment Wave — NVIDIA Discloses ~$30B Sovereign-AI Revenue (14% of Mix); UAE, Saudi, Japan, Australia, France All in Motion This Week https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/analog-devices-q2-earnings-beat-153000996.html   The Flip: Is the SaaSpocalypse Officially Over — or Is BofA's Split Call (ServiceNow Buy, Salesforce Underperform) the Real Signal That Platform AI Monetization Is Going to Be Bifurcated, Not Universal? FOR:  BofA Reinstates Coverage of ServiceNow, Salesforce — Barron's (May 18) https://www.barrons.com/articles/servicenow-salesforce-stock-price-ai-7b109396 Embedded workflow + system-of-record stickiness still wins citing ServiceNow Q1 2026 financial results https://newsroom.servicenow.com/press-releases/details/2026/ServiceNow-Reports-First-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results/default.aspx Intuit Q3 revenue up 10%, cuts 17% of staff — SEC 8-K filing (May 20) https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/INTU/8-k-intuit-inc-reports-material-event-b23073259896.html   AGAINST:  BofA Slaps Salesforce With Underperform Rating, $160 Price Target — 24/7 Wall St (May 18) https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/05/18/bofa-slaps-salesforce-with-underperform-rating-160-price-target-is-the-ai-story-falling-flat/ BofA resets Salesforce price target to Underperform — TheStreet (May 19) https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/bofa-resets-salesforce-stock-price-target-to-underperform-at-160 Snowflake -35% YTD heading into May 27 print is the canary that platform stickiness is being repriced https://eciks.org/4640-22295-snowflake-set-to-report-q1-earnings-may-27-with-ai-strategy-in-focus OpenAI Guaranteed Capacity + Dell on-prem Codex create a credible path to displace seat-based SaaS https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/19/openai-announces-new-guaranteed-capacity-offering-for-customers-to-secure-compute.html Bulls & Bears NVIDIA Q1 FY27 ACTUALS https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/20/nvidia-nvda-earnings-report-q1-2027.html Intuit Q3 FY26 Actuals https://investors.intuit.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1312/intuit-reports-strong-third-quarter-results-and-raises-full-year-revenue-guidance Lenovo Q4 FY26 ACTUALS https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/22/lenovo-shares-jump-15percent-on-record-earnings-as-ai-revenue-nearly-doubles.html Analog Devices Q2 FY26 ACTUALS https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/analog-devices-q2-earnings-beat-153000996.html  

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Jeff Taylor, executive director of global partner ecosystem and operations for Lenovo There are not many conversations where you get both the global architect of a vendor’s partner program and the Canadian channel chief in the same room. In this episode of In The Channel, recorded the week after Lenovo 360 Acceleratewrapped up in Austin, we had both: Jeff Taylor, executive director of global partner ecosystem and programs at Lenovo, and Craig Taylor, senior director and Canada channel chief. The headlining number from the conversation is the dramatic simplification of Lenovo’s incentive structure. Jeff confirmed that Lenovo has reduced its active global incentives from 2,300 down to approximately 200 – a 92 per cent reduction – while maintaining the same total investment pool. The analogy he reached for: the same pizza, fewer slices, each one bigger. The earning power stays; the complexity goes. For Canadian partners, Craig noted that over 90 per cent either maintained or improved their tier status in the move to the new Lenovo 360 Authorized, Gold, and Platinum structure. Craig Taylor, senior director and Canada channel chief at Lenovo The conversation moved quickly into services. Lenovo is targeting a 15 to 20 per cent partner revenue mix from services and solutions within the next one to two years. Craig pointed to TruScale as the on-ramp, noting Canadian partner feedback has consistently positioned it as more flexible than competing offerings in market. On AI, Jeff described a “reimagination of enablement” – moving partner portals from static, backward-looking data tools into agentic AI-driven platforms that are intuitive and forward-looking. Craig pointed to Lenovo’s CIO Playbook as the practical tool helping Canadian partners move customers from proof of concept to proof of execution on their AI investments. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor at ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. You want to understand how a global technology vendor thinks about its partner program, not the press release version, but the actual mechanics of how design decisions get made and how they land in markets like Canada. Today’s conversation is a fairly rare opportunity. We have at the same time the global architect of the Lenovo partner ecosystem and the Canadian channel chief. Jeff Taylor is executive director of global partner ecosystem and operations for Lenovo, responsible for the Lenovo 360 framework that governs how the company works with partners worldwide and for the new consolidated partner ecosystems and program structure for the international markets that Lenovo unveiled earlier this year. Craig Taylor is senior director and Canada channel chief at Lenovo, a 2026 CRN channel chief and the person responsible for translating all that global framework into real outcomes for Canadian partners on the ground. We recorded this conversation just after Lenovo 360 Accelerate, the company’s annual North American partner event wrapped up in Austin, Texas. So this is about as fresh a read on the state of the Lenovo partner ecosystems you’re gonna get. We covered the dramatic simplification of Lenovo’s incentive structure, the push towards services-led selling and recurring revenue, how AI is reshaping both the partner conversation with customers and Lenovo’s own approach to enablement, and how Canadian partners should be thinking about a volatile period in hardware pricing. And yes, they’re both named Taylor. We had asked some questions. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Jeff Taylor and Craig Taylor. [Music] Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time. Jeff Taylor: Hey Robert, how are you? Robert Dutt: Very well, thank you. Craig Taylor: Excellent. Good afternoon, Robert. Robert Dutt: Interesting situation, one of those channel journalist dream situations, chatting with both the global architect of the partner program and the Canadian channel chief at the same time. And as fate would have it, you’re both just coming back from Austin. Jeff, for people who weren’t there in the room for Accelerate this year, the event was themed “unified as one” — pretty deliberate choice of words, I dare say. What were you trying to signal with that framing? Jeff Taylor: Yeah, well, I mean, obviously one with our partners is probably the first and foremost thing, but also to represent Lenovo holistically. From Motorola all the way through our devices, tablets, PCs, etc. and then into the data center. So we are one company and as an extension of that, one company includes our partners and the whole intent of the event was to bring everybody together and unify. Feedback has been really, really positive and it’s, you know, it’s only been a week, but lots of really good discourse and wonderful event. Robert Dutt: Craig, from a Canadian perspective, what did the Canadian attendance look like and what did Austin feel like compared to previous Accelerate events from a Canadian partner point of view? Craig Taylor: Yeah, our Canadian partners had very positive feedback to Jeff’s point. We’re always very well represented in these types of North American based events. We always punch above our weight class, I’d like to say. So all of the key strategic partners across our ecosystem were there in present and actively participating in our discussions as to how we’re going to strategize for our next fiscal year. Robert Dutt: Jeff, one thing that stood out for me from Austin was the choice of putting Jay McBain, Steve Brazier and Tiffany Bova on stage together, three analysts who ostensibly compete against each other in the market. Curious what the goal was in putting them together and what came out of that conversation that you think partners should take away. Jeff Taylor: Yeah, I think a couple of things. First of all, the moderator of that panel was with Alex Smith. So we had four great analysts all on the stage at the same time. I think if you take a step back and just look at the theme overall, what we’re trying to accomplish at Accelerate, it was really about industry topics. So we had representatives from the US Department of Energy as an example, talking about power and what’s happening at a governmental level. And part of that was to get these four analysts together who, as you say, they mix in a lot of the same circles, but they’d never been on the stage at the same time. And the idea was to propagate a little bit. And in some cases, they were aligned in a lot of their messages to the channel. In some cases, they differed. And it was a really lively and engaging conversation. And folks at Lenovo, we engage with these folks all the time, but having them all together, kind of representing their unique perspectives on the market right now was super valuable and engaging. Robert Dutt: So to dig into what you guys have been doing on the partner side of things, back in March, you announced the new consolidated partner ecosystem and programs, International Markets Organization. Now that Accelerate’s happened, partners have had a chance to hear it explained in person. What’s the clearest way to explain what operationally changed and what didn’t? Because from the outside, centralize where it makes sense can go a lot of different directions. Jeff Taylor: Yeah, look, I think the easiest way to explain it is we now have a single common framework across the globe. That framework is a guidepost, very intentionally set up as a framework, because execution has to remain local. And the input, the guidance, the feedback that we receive from our Canadian partners, from Craig, representing the viewpoints of those Canadian partners is absolutely critical to what we’re doing. And so by, you know, over time, as we had a lot of different markets and a lot of different geographies kind of expand over time as the company grew, there was similar objectives happening in multiple markets. And maybe the execution model was slightly different. And we thought by kind of bringing some of that together, we could simplify and we could gain efficiencies for our partners. But it’s really important to understand that the execution happens locally, sales happens locally, channel partners happen locally. And so it’s one really about standardizing the framework and not centralizing execution. Robert Dutt: How has that landed here in Canada, both with Canadian partners and in terms of how things operate for you, Craig? Craig Taylor: Yeah, the feedback has been really positive, Rob. You know, from a Canadian perspective, it’s all about leveraging our local teams and our local relationships, which haven’t changed. And feedback from our partner community is we are often best in class when it comes to how we represent our organization in front of the partner ecosystem. What I think is what more exciting for me now is we’re elevating those relationships to be consistent as to how we’re going to market with our partners. Consistency in the programs, consistency in the incentives, and also how quickly we can execute. What that means is our partner facing team can spend more time in market with our partners trying to win opportunities together with our mutual customers. Jeff Taylor: And if I could add, Rob, real quick, I mean, this was a very thoughtful process. This wasn’t something that happened kind of quick and without a lot of forethought. We have been working on this for years through the introduction of Lenovo 360 as that kind of framework itself. And then over time, as we’ve built some meat on the skeleton, the timing was just really right for us to go do this. But again, that premise of local execution is probably the most important thing. Robert Dutt: Well, I know that internally you guys have kind of had the mantra of “global might, local fight” internally for a while now, kind of being applied to the partner org, it seems here. I guess I’m still a little curious where there is a certain tension between global consistency and local relevance. You’ve kind of unpacked it, but where does that actually land in terms of which side takes the lead? Jeff Taylor: Yeah. So let me give you some real tangible numbers and examples. Three years ago in market across the globe, we had 2,300 active incentives in the market. I’m going to repeat that. We had 2,300 active incentives in the market. So if you think of your investment pool as a pizza, right, and you divide that 2,300 ways, the relative impact of those individual slices can be quite small. Now, what we found in talking to markets was that there was absolutely a consistency and intent. And maybe that intent was new customer acquisition, or maybe it was growth targets, or maybe it was something else. There was consistency in intent, but the execution was different, and that created operational complexity. It created our ability to report seamlessly and consistently over time more of a challenge than simplification. So in just the last two years, we’ve gone from that 2,300 partner incentives to about 200. So almost a 92% reduction without any change in investments, any negative change in investments, because the intent was still there, right? The intent was consistent across the globe. So that’s one where we centrally can look at the forest through the trees. We can see an opportunity for simplification. Then we can bring that to the markets while still driving that strategic intent that we want to accomplish with our partners. So that’s just one example. Craig Taylor: Yeah, well said. Just to add to that, Rob, one of the things that was very important was to make sure we had local input to the global framework that was being created at Jeff’s level. So we had many conversations as to what our market needs and demands were, and make sure that we shaped it to be properly represented within the framework. That worked out very, very well. We also are allowed to have some nuances in this organization as well. And so what we’re allowed to do is perhaps if a certain pathway doesn’t make sense to the Canadian market, for example, being more of an SMB-based market, we’re going to pivot and we’re going to make those changes to make sure that we service our partners the best that we should. And kind of beef up that SMB-facing side of things. Robert Dutt: Yeah, that makes sense. Jeff Taylor: It’s really interesting. It’s interesting, Robert. From day one, we called Lenovo 360 a framework and not a program from day one. And the whole idea was that we wanted to ask three basic questions like, how do you best engage with your partners? How do you best connect with your partners and how do you best grow with your partners? But depending on the conversation, the answers to those three questions might be different. So as an example, if you’re talking to a traditional hardware solution provider, you have answers for those three questions. If you’re talking to a GSI or an MSP or an MSSP, same questions may be very different answers. And so the whole idea with this framework was to be able to flex accordingly. And that went down all the way to the market level. So Craig mentioned that Canadian being more oriented towards an SMB type of approach, the framework has to flex to be able to support that. Whereas in other markets, it may flex a slightly different way, but it’s still all about engaging, connecting and growing. Robert Dutt: OK, back to your pizza point, Jeff, and one of my favorite, probably apocryphal Yogi Berra quotes, “cut my pizza in four slices, please, I can’t eat eight.” Curious, though, for a partner who looks at it and says, “all right, well, I used to have three incentives applied to my business and now there’s only really the one. The math doesn’t work for me.” What’s sort of the answer for them? Because the earning power says we didn’t take away the earning power. Jeff Taylor: So again, it’s the intent stays the same. The earning power stayed the same. The whole idea now is operationally, it should be easier for… the intent was that it would be easier for the partners to have a path towards that earning power. So instead of Jenga or a very complicated jigsaw puzzle, the intent here was to simplify that. So it’s a clear path to that earning potential with the same intent around growth, acquisition, those types of things. Craig Taylor: Yeah. And Robert, one of the things our partners have been asking us for is to provide more direction, focus as to where they want us to go win together in the market. And I think by simplifying these programs, it’s also allowed us to provide more focus to our partner community in the ecosystem to make sure that we’re winning together in the areas that we want to win. Jeff Taylor: And Robert, it goes beyond just traditional incentives programs, too. So we’ve simplified things like our certification programs. I’m going to get this number slightly wrong, but in the ballpark, in the last two years, we’ve driven 80,000 new certifications globally through some of the simplified changes that we’ve made. So all of these things, it’s look at the globe and then apply it locally. And again, with the full intent of making it as easy as possible for the partner. Robert Dutt: As with most partner programs slash framework changes, updates, you’ve acknowledged that some partners will land at a different tier under the new structure. How are you managing the transition and what should a partner do if they feel the new placement doesn’t reflect where they’re actually at in the relationship with Lenovo? Jeff Taylor: We’re very conscious about that. And I think, Robert, you know, any time there’s even a small change in some type of construct within the program, there’s some unfortunate circumstances associated with that. But we really tried to minimize it. And I’ll just give another example to hit a tier level. We have a volume requirement. OK, that’s the framework. But what that volume requirement is, it’s going to differ by market. So, you know, it might be very different in the U.S. than it is in France, than it is in Canada, than it is in Indonesia, as an example. And the whole intent there was through our analysis was to kind of minimize those impacts as much as possible while still creating the right type of incentive and the right value associated with each of those tier levels. Craig Taylor: And to that point, Robert, it was very thoughtful in Canada as to what the thresholds should be in order to properly reflect our market. And what’s happened as a result of that is over 90 percent of the partners have either maintained or actually improved their tier status as a result of the simplification and restructuring. What we’re doing with that remaining 10 or less than 10 percent is getting out in front of our foot, making sure that we have those discussions, working together through joint business plans to determine how we’re going to get them not only to the next threshold, but have a future plan to get us to the one after that and up-tier them as we continue our relationships with them. Robert Dutt: The services shift. Jeff, you put out a specific target there in recent interviews. 15 to 20 percent of partner revenue mix coming from services and solutions over the next year or two. The services business, as I understand it, has grown in the channel for the last five years or so with channel growth outpacing overall growth. That’s certainly real numbers and real growth. What’s driving customers towards the as-a-service and TruScale model specifically right now? Jeff Taylor: Yeah, I think it’s one word. It’s complementary. Our strategic approach is to have complementary services to those of our partners. We want to be able to ensure that our mutual end users are getting the best possible experience that they can get. In many cases, those services are provided 100 percent by the partner themselves. But in other cases where they don’t have those capabilities, our job is to complement those with the service capabilities that we have. The idea is that, first of all, I think you know Robert, the services space, like the TAM, is massive. There’s so much opportunity really for everybody to play in a meaningful way. You just have to be smart about it. I think that’s the first thing. The second thing is communicate. If there is an instance in which maybe there’s a perception of competing for services revenue, we’re going to communicate. We’re going to talk. We’re going to figure out what the best solution is for that end user and then move forward that way. Craig Taylor: Yeah, the other thing I would add and maybe another word for thought is flexibility as well. Feedback from our Canadian partners is that the Lenovo TruScale offering is much more flexible than other competitive offerings in market. Because we understand that not all customers look and feel the same. So this allows our partners to scale with us during their journey as they create more of a services-led go-to-market motion for their customers. Jeff Taylor: One of the conversations, Robert, that came out, you mentioned the Accelerate event last week in Austin. Obviously, a lot of discussions around AI and a lot of discussions around how do we best build an AI practice to go serve customers, whether they’re small businesses or large enterprises. And that’s a really scary thing for a lot of solution providers right now because they see that market exploding and they want to get it right. And this is a great example of where Lenovo can come in and partner with our partners on developing an AI practice that includes not just hardware and software, but also services. Robert Dutt: Craig, for a Canadian partner to whom Lenovo still means primarily ThinkPads and infrastructure hardware, what’s the first move usually looked like for a partner who wants to shift towards services with you guys and where are most partners sitting today against that 15-20% target? Craig Taylor: Yeah, great question. I think Jeff mentioned it earlier. It’s about communication. Often, it’s a miss when we don’t understand the partner services capabilities. We are a channel-led organization. We’ll continue to be with our services engagement in order to scale and address the Canadian customers. We need the channel and we will continue to work with the channel in order to win in services, but we have to understand what it is they can offer. So our team is working very closely with our partner community through this joint business partner plan in order to understand and make sure that we’re aligning their services capabilities with the needs of those customers. That’s first. Second of all is internally, we’re making sure that we have a motto of sell with, sell for, and sell through the channel. And so our Lenovo customer-facing sales teams understand the importance and the value that our partners are bringing to our mutual customers. And together, we’re winning more than we ever have before. Jeff Taylor: Hey Robert, there’s almost like a macroeconomic driver here as well. So partners are, and we’re seeing this globally, that there’s a realization that to maximize the value, to increase the multiple on their valuation, a move towards MRR or ARR models is extremely important, right? And those are services-led models. And so we are seeing a lot of these traditional partners who are very accustomed as us being a PC or an infrastructure provider, really needing our help in moving towards this recurring revenue model that’s going to increase their valuation and their multiples. So we’re seeing that trend everywhere right now, probably more so in North America than anywhere else, but it’s definitely happening globally. Robert Dutt: To that point where I wanted to go next was the MSP pathway. 3,000 partners signed up globally, 150 million or so last year for you guys, real proof point. You’re expanding to new geographies. What can you tell me about where that pathway is at in Canada? And as you’ve expanded geographically, are there any new developments on the Canadian front, either announced at Accelerate or along the way? Jeff Taylor: Why don’t I take kind of the big picture and then Craig can go deeper into Canada? Again, this move towards recurring revenue models is happening everywhere. And so not only has Lenovo’s growth in that space been even better than expected, dare I say, we’re seeing it, the growth of MSPs just in pure numbers globally is growing very, very rapidly. And again, I think it’s this financial macroeconomic driver that’s making that happen. To go back to our framework around engaging, connecting and growing, those answers are so different with an MSP than they are with maybe a traditional Lenovo partner. And so we spent the first year developing this program by listening, literally going to conferences, setting up a booth. We had MSPs coming up to us saying, “What are you doing here?” And we would be like, “We’re just listening. We just want to hear what motivates you and what is your business driver.” And so that was the genesis of creating this program because we wanted it to be bespoke specifically for those MSPs that are just operating in a kind of a different way than traditional VARs or traditional service providers. And now I’ll hand it over to Craig. Craig Taylor: Yeah, no well said. And you’ll see that the way that we’ve set up the Lenovo 360 for MSP pathway is the solutions hub within our online support and the way that we work with those partners looks different. The incentive stack is aligned to the needs, as per Jeff’s saying, and we have dedicated campaigns and road shows and community engagements in order to make sure that we’re addressing the needs of those MSP partners. What’s most exciting in Canada is it’s actually opened up a new route to market for us and new partner relationships where we haven’t had them before. You know, I would say that until this pathway was created, we were probably under penetrated from a Lenovo Canada perspective within the MSP community. Now the opportunity is vast. The partners, those MSP related partners are interested in working with Lenovo more than ever. And I think together we’re going to go win in the market. Robert Dutt: Are we still in the early innings of operationalizing that and realizing that or is that something that’s sort of matured with the program being out there? Craig Taylor: I think we already had a head start. And so, you know, some of the relationships with the key MSP partners in the Canadian ecosystem, those relationships already existed. I think this is now an opportunity just to extend our reach and better support the masses of MSP partners that are in the Canadian marketplace. So we’re well down the path, but no pun intended. But I think this framework actually allows us to go even deeper and have more intimate relationships with this set of partners. Jeff Taylor: I think globally, if I could interject here, we’re probably in the second inning of a nine inning game. There’s so much more we can and we’ll be doing with this MSP community. And at the same time, there’s tens of thousands of MSPs out there. So the opportunity is huge and our interest and our investment kind of matches that opportunity. But we still have many innings to play here. So we’re excited about it. Robert Dutt: I don’t know if you guys have noticed over the last few months, but memory costs have been a little bit volatile. You guys, you know, Ryan McCurdy was out in front of that publicly and the Top Choice Express model guidance for pricing some of the ISG deals. Real things that partners are navigating. How do you counsel a partner who’s trying to manage customer conversations when prices can shift before product ships? And what specific tools or protections do partners have inside Lenovo right now that they need to know about? Jeff Taylor: Yeah, again, I’ll just kind of take the big picture here. Lenovo culturally within our partner community has always been one based on trust and communication always. And we’ve navigated tough waters before, whether that was the pandemic or this situation that’s affecting the entire industry. And our approach is complete candor, open communication. We don’t hide behind any potential downside or any risk. We’re very communicative up front as we get information, we share that information. That can at times be frustrating for partners, but at the same time, if they, you know, at the end of the day, when they take a step back, they really appreciate Lenovo just being super transparent. It is a tricky deal right now. It is complicated and things are moving very quickly. I do not envy our sales folks and I don’t envy our partner sellers out there right now because there’s a lot of tricky, tough conversations that have to happen. You had mentioned Top Choice and Top Choice Express. We have invested in a model for Top Choice Express where we do have a supply. We can commit to an order to ship SLA that other vendors can’t right now. And again, I think that’s very well received by the partner community. It may be that the exact configuration is slightly different, but at a time like this, it’s a great way for us to service those customers collectively with our partners and with a high quality solution from Lenovo. Craig Taylor: Yeah, just to add to that as well, I would say resiliency and agility have always been built into our supply chain. We currently manufacture in over 30 locations in 10 different markets worldwide. That global footprint allows us to be more agile as we go to market during these challenging times. Recently, Gartner has rated us as the number eight most robust supply chain in the world. I think that’s going to work to our advantage as we go and continue through these challenging times. Robert Dutt: Switching to AI, you guys have posted 72% year-over-year growth in AI-related revenue. I want to unpack that a little bit. Jeff, where’s that coming from? Is that AI PC, infrastructure services, mix of all three through the hybrid AI advantage program and the Nvidia work? What does the enablement for a partner who wants to build an AI practice actually look like? Jeff Taylor: Lots of questions in there, so let me make sure I can get them all back. In terms of our mix, it really is cross portfolio. We are leading the way in AI PC, which is fantastic. I think we’ve just scratched the surface on that device side. I still think some consumers and users are wondering, what is the real AI value here? Those use cases will continue to come and we’ll continue to see that market expand. In terms of our infrastructure business, everywhere from being able to service the big hyperscalers all the way into the enterprise and the SMB space is a testament to the strength of our portfolio. That growth is represented from everywhere from the hyperscalers to enterprise to mid-market to SMB. Again, on the services side, we talked about that a little bit ago. It’s really about partnering to make that happen. We are very fortunate to have partners. You had mentioned Nvidia, also Intel, also AMD, all the silicon guys are very much working with us on making sure that, A, the solutions are there, and that, B, the way we’re enabling those solutions, which is also a little bit different, Robert. We have to be enabling around outcomes and not around feeds and speeds. You have to be talking to customers about what are they trying to accomplish. It’s not feeds and speeds anymore. How we’re enabling our partners, Craig had mentioned our Lenovo 360 Solution Hub as an example. It is an outcome-based platform where our partners can come in and learn what’s available from an outcome’s perspective. The solutions, the hardware and the software is really incidental to the conversation around the outcome itself. I think all of those things play together. Robert Dutt: Craig, where do you find Canadian partners are with AI at this point? There’s a spectrum with some building real AI practices, many still figuring out what the first customer conversation looks like. So I guess both acknowledging there’s a range of answers, where do you find partners are at? What’s the realistic, most common entry point for a mid-market focused Canadian partner? Craig Taylor: Yeah, to answer the first part of the question, it is a vast spectrum as to where each partner is on their AI journey. But rest assured, because of the Lenovo services portfolio, we can actually support each of those partners independently and complement their offerings as they scale their AI journey. I would suggest that many of them probably are moving from proof of concept with their customers to now proof of execution with their customers. More and more, there’s a demand on measuring an ROI on the AI investments that have been made. And I think that’s where partners and customers are looking for Lenovo for some direction. We recently created a CIO playbook, which actually helps our customers and partners be able to capture what that ROI is and what the financial returns are getting as a result of their AI investments. And feedback from that from our partner community has been very good. The other thing I would suggest is that because these AI workloads are now going from modeling into the cloud, now into being actually practically used within the customer sets, it creates a massive opportunity for our infrastructure solutions group business. And you heard Jeff mention that several times. One of the things we’re doing with our partner community is making sure that we’re over-investing with their technical architects and solution architects within the partner community to drive even more familiarity with the Lenovo solutions around AI playbook to make sure that we’re being suggested, recommended, and considered when customers are coming to them for advice. Robert Dutt: Jeff, Austin’s in the rearview mirror. You got the program changes out. New org is in place. What have you done for me lately? What does the rest of 2026 look like? And what would tell you by year end that this consolidation worked the way you wanted it to? Jeff Taylor: Yeah, first, I’m going to take a nap. I’m tired. There’s a lot that has to happen. I mean, the first thing is we have a commitment to our partners and to our partners like Craig, our internal partners, that everything continues to move from a local perspective, that we want to make sure that whatever changes we’re making, services our geographies, services our markets, and most importantly, services our partners. So that’s kind of the first priority in my mind to go do that. The second thing, and we briefly mentioned this before, is I think the world of enablement is changing quite a bit. And I think AI is driving that. And we throw around the word transformation quite a bit and things still aren’t really transformative. They’re more evolutionary. I actually think at this point, we’re at a transformative part in terms of channel management. So we are investing heavily in our digital platforms to move from just kind of basic LLM models into AI agents and eventually into agentic AI that’s going to completely change the way that we enable all of our partners, big and small. It’ll be more efficient. It’ll be more intuitive. It’ll be more timely. It’ll be more forward-looking than backwards-looking. I think, Robert, you know most portals are somewhat static and kind of represents yesterday and not tomorrow. I think all of that is going to change. And so a big focus for myself and working very closely with our IT and digital transformations organizations is this reimagination of enablement in this world of AI. And you’ll see more and more from Lenovo in that regard. Robert Dutt: I think that is going to be one of the most interesting things from a partner program structure point of view over the next couple of years is how you and your peers address those challenges and really potentially change the shape of what programs and enablement look like. It’s exciting. Jeff Taylor: It really is an exciting time for us channel nerds that have been around for forever. This is like, “Yes, we’re going to be able to rock the world. It’s going to be great.” Robert Dutt: Craig, for a Canadian partner listening to this, what’s the one thing that you want them to do differently or think differently in their relationship with Lenovo over the next little while? Craig Taylor: Yeah, I think we’ve talked about some of them already. We need to continue to protect and grow the core, which is our client computing and PC business. We have to grow at a premium to market. And I think we’re well positioned for that. I need the channel community to help us to continue to accelerate our ISG, our infrastructure solutions group business, around the data center to make sure we continue to drive relevance, focus on those technical relationships and leverage Top Choice Express, which will better service all of our customers by getting the right products in their hands quicker. We talked about helping our customers and our partners on this services-led selling journey. So we’re going to spend more time on that. But the last two, I think, are probably where a majority of my focus will be for the second half of the year. The one is continuing to make sure that we demonstrate ourselves as the easiest partner to do business with. So whether it be through our portfolio like Top Seller and Top Choice, whether it be the program optimization that Jeff and his team are doing fabulous work on, or whether it be the alignment of our portfolio coming together to represent one Lenovo, that’s going to be the key to our success and where our partners should continue to challenge us. Internally, I’m challenging my team to operate and act like an owner of your own business. And so we’re empowering our people to make decisions in market in front of their partners in order to have a more agile relationship with those customers. We’re enabling them with the right tools. And then finally, we’re educating them properly to make sure they represent this more complex portfolio of offerings that continues to be positioned in the marketplace and satisfy our customers’ business outcomes. So a lot for the second half of the year, but I’m very bullish that we’re positioned properly for success. Jeff Taylor: Robert, if you don’t mind, I would add just one quick thing there. And you had mentioned, like, we are in difficult times right now with memory and price increases and things like that. Partners are smart. They are going to lean on the partners that they trust, and they’re going to lean on the partners that have been there with them, or their partners that have been with them through these difficult times previously. And while nobody wants this situation, I think Lenovo is actually in a really good spot right now because we are that trusted advisor and have been for years. It’s not just words, right? It’s years and years and years of building relationships, the work that Craig and his team have done in Canada. You know, we have these relationships that allow us to navigate these waters maybe better than others. Robert Dutt: And my last super serious question to end this is, I’m basing this on an inference off a small sample size of two. But do you guys have any problems finding Taylors to run the channel orgs in all of the countries you operate in worldwide? Jeff Taylor: Go ahead, Craig. Say what you always say. Craig Taylor: Listen, I like to tease Jeff that he’s my dad, but our age delta is probably much more closer than makes that physically possible. But hey, listen, we’re going to take the best of the best. We happen to get two Taylors on this call with you, Robert. That’s what you’re getting today. And we’ll look for more next time we meet. Jeff Taylor: He’s definitely the better of the two. So it’s a funny thing. We were actually talking in Austin about how we might be able to mess with you a little bit, but we just don’t have to. Robert Dutt: Good to know. And Craig, I’ll send you the audio clip of him saying you’re the better one for your performance review. Craig Taylor: As long as that is your final edit, Rob, I’m happy. Robert Dutt: Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time. It’s been a fun conversation and we covered a lot of ground very well. Thank you. Jeff Taylor: Yeah, thank you, Robert. Craig Taylor: Yeah, look forward to seeing you soon, Robert. Thank you. Robert Dutt: There you have it. Jeff Taylor and Craig Taylor, both from Lenovo. I’d like to thank both Jeff and Craig for the time. It’s genuinely not that often you get the global and local perspective on the same conversation at the same time. And I thought the dynamic made for a richer discussion than either could have delivered on their own. A few things were taken away from this one. The incentive consolidation is real and it’s significant. Going from 2,300 active global incentives down to about 200, a 92% reduction, while keeping the total investment pool intact. Meaningful simplification. Jeff’s pizza framing is a good one. Same amount of pizza, fewer slices, each one bigger and more impactful. Earning power stays, operational complexity goes. If your business has been navigating a patchwork of overlapping incentives, the cleaner path to earning should be welcome. On the tier transition, Craig was direct that over 90% of Canadian partners either maintained or improved their status in the move to the new authorized gold and platinum structure. If you’re in the 10% that didn’t, the message was clear. Get in front of your Lenovo rep, build a joint business plan. There’s a path forward, but you have to start the conversation. The services shift didn’t seem like a someday conversation. Lenovo’s targeting 15 to 20% of its partner revenues from services and solutions over the next one to two years. TruScale is available and more flexible than a lot of partners probably realize. The partners who are going to win here are the ones who can articulate their own services capabilities clearly, so Lenovo can align around them rather than compete with them. On AI, I found Jeff’s forward-looking comments on agentic AI and the reimagination of enablement genuinely fascinating. Most partner portals are, as he said, static. They show you yesterday, not tomorrow. That is going to change. And how it changes will shape how partner programs actually function. Worth paying attention to across the industry. And for the hardware volatility piece, Top Choice Express is the practical answer right now for partners trying to manage customer conversations when prices are moving before product ships. If you’re not comfortable with it already, your first call tomorrow should be with your Lenovo rep. Oh, and yes, we did keep the clip of Jeff saying that Craig is the better Taylor. It’s in the edit. You’re welcome, Craig. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, most of the major directories. Ratings and reviews are always appreciated and genuinely do help the show find a wider audience in the Canadian channel community. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca and I’ll see you in the channel.

In this episode of the Suite Spot podcast, we're heading to the prestigious Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration at Georgia State University. We sat down with the school’s Director, Dr. Benjamin Lawrence, to go behind the scenes of one of the country's top hospitality programs. In this video, we explore: How Georgia State is shaping the next generation of industry leaders.  The innovative curriculum driving modern hospitality education. Insights into the future of the hospitality profession. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just passionate about the industry, you won’t want to miss this deep dive into hospitality excellence! Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot for another edition of our TMG Campus Crawl Series. We are here in the heart of downtown Atlanta at Georgia State with Dr. Ben Lawrence, Director of the Day School of Hospitality Administration. Thank you so much for hosting us and being a hospitable guest. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Happy to have you down here. Go Panthers! Ryan Embree: Well, we’re excited about this. You know, we’re here in Atlanta. We’re gonna talk about the location. But before we get rolling with this episode, Dr. Lawrence, this is your first time on the podcast. We would love to hear. Hospitality is all about collection of stories, right. Of individuals. Share a little bit about your hospitality journey and how you came here to the Georgia State, Day School of Hospitality. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So, people sometimes are surprised about my past because I was born in Singapore and I grew up in Indonesia, and I came to the States when I was 18, and I came to the States because I wanted to go to the best hotel school in the world. And so, when I was 17, I went to one of those high school, like, what are you gonna be when you grow up? And this Swiss hotelier said, you wanna go to hotel school? Go to Cornell. So, I applied to Cornell and I arrived in the States when I was 18, and I went to Cornell. And so, I went to hotel school there met my wife at, she was a hotelier at Cornell. After I graduated, we ran an inn in upstate New York, historic inn, went back to get my MBA, then worked, in a couple of different industries for a while. Went back to Indonesia to help my family and their business, and then came back to the States. Then I worked in a community college, a couple of community colleges, teaching hospitality. Then I went back and got my PhD at Boston University and my PhD, focus was in franchising. And I know we’ll talk a little more about franchising in a minute. But, franchising is the primary form of distribution of our product. After I graduated from Boston University, I got a job back at Cornell. So I went back there and I was a food and beverage professor. People always laugh. What was your professor? Food and Beverage? So I taught the most of the freshman students at Cornell, Food and Beverage Management. And I also taught, a multi unit franchising course there. And then this position at Georgia State opened up and a benefactor of ours gave money for an inapt professor in franchising. And there’s nothing better as an academic to get inapt professorship in the area that you study. And the weather in Atlanta is a lot better than the weather in Ithaca. Ryan Embree: I don’t know this week my, uh, my… Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : True. We’ve been cold, but it’s gonna be 80 degrees. 80 degrees this weekend. So when my kids moved down here from Ithaca, they were like, oh my Lord, you can play soccer in January, and we have a pool. So, I really loved working here in Atlanta. Georgia State is a very dynamic place. It’s a large state university, so very different from Cornell, but we really transformed the lives of our students here. So I’ve been here, I was here for seven years as a faculty member, and then just last July I became the director of the the Day School of Hospitality. So, we’re working on a lot of interesting stuff here. I’m excited about the position and excited about the potential of Georgia State and Atlanta. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Excited to share it with our audience and your story. Dr. Lawrence is a true indication of what hospitality is international. Right? We say that all the time. Hospitality is the language spoken all over the world. Your journey is certainly a reflection of that across the globe and, and now across the country here. So, share a little bit about the school’s history, Georgia State’s history, and where you think that this program is unique based on maybe others across the country. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So Georgia State was founded, the university was founded in 1913 as the kind of nighttime business school of Georgia Tech. And that has evolved over time. We’re a very large university. We are over 50,000 students here. And we’re a very diverse university. So we graduate more African Americans at Georgia State than any other university in the states. So we are a majority minority institution and a research one institution, so an R1 institution. So, we are not only a research powerhouse, but we also transformed the lives of our students. So we are the Day School of Hospitality, was founded in 1973, as a school of Hospitality, and was named in the eighties by the founder of Days Inn, Cecil B Day. So that really ties back into the franchising story, into the entrepreneur story. You had a local Georgian building, a brand that became worldwide brand, which is amazing. We joined the College of Business, and now we’re a school embedded in a business school. So there’s two forms of hospitality programs. There’s hospitality programs like UNLV or University of Houston. They’re standard loan colleges. And then there’s schools like ours that are embedded in a business school. So those are two basic models. There’s advantages and disadvantages to both. One of the advantages that we have is that we are in a college of business that allows our students to take many different courses from marketing department to computer information systems. One of the disadvantages is that we tend to be fairly small. So cost guide programs in business schools tend to be smaller, than standalone colleges. I took over the program in July, and we’re working on our strategic plan right now to grow the school to get more students. Because industry’s always looking for great hospitality students. And also looking to expose hospitality to students in other disciplines. And so if you’re a real estate student, if you’re a finance student, if you’re a student, a psychology student, right? So getting those students among all university students interested in hospitality. And I think that’s, that’s a model in which, will help grow enrollment. Well, only our majors and our minors, but also students just interested in hospitality. Many of our students are working in hospitality, right? They’re working as waiters or they’re working at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. So, they’re exposed to the industry especially being here in Atlanta. Ryan Embree: Even if they’re not in hospitality jobs, you could still be using hospitality skills within those jobs. Which is very important to share because, I think there’s that common misconception of, you think of a hospitality or a hotel worker, you think of all the disadvantages sometimes, right? Of like the holidays, the long hours. It’s a 24 hour business. But at the same time, there’s these different departments, whether it’s accounting, marketing, all the HR, these different avenues within hospitality, that you can be exposed to franchising. And being, which we’re gonna talk about. But one of the things is you look for that strategic plan, I think is a huge advantage, is obviously your location. Right? You’re in the heart of downtown Atlanta. It’s massive headquarters for global brands, sports venues, I mean, state of the art sports venue. You got World Cup coming here this summer. Talk to us about how you’ve used this location to your benefit for the students and prospective students. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Yeah. I mean, we have people on campus all the time. We have headquarters for ISG is here. We have, you know, we can walk from our campus to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, state Farm. We have the World Congress Center here, which is one of the largest convention centers at the day school. We don’t really have that many physical facilities. We don’t have a restaurant, we don’t have a hotel, but we don’t need to because we have Atlanta. Right. So that is a huge advantage for us. When we want people to come to campus to speak, they just need to just turn the corner and they’re here. And so we get great speakers to come to campus. Our students are engaged with the local industries here. Atlanta is the capital of franchising in the us Right? So if you think about the brands that we have here, Chick-fil-A, inspire brands, Rourke Capital. Rourke Capital, which is one of the largest private equity companies that owns Inspire and go-to Foods and over 50 franchise brands. And Atlanta’s growing. Right? And so if you’re a student and you come here, you can stay here afterwards, right? So if you’re a student at Cornell and you go to Ithaca, you’re probably not staying in Ithaca, right. Because there’s not much there. People have to get on a plane and they gotta fly to Ithaca to be in class. And so that is a huge advantage for us, right? Absolutely. For universities that are based in cities where people wanna work, that is a huge advantage for us, not only for our students to get internships, but afterwards to be able to live and work with, within the community. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. And some of the schools and programs that we’ve visited, have laboratories and incubators that they use. Your lab and incubators are right outside these walls, right? So it’s almost like your classroom is the city of Atlanta and, and ’cause so much hospitality is going on every single day in those moments. So, incredible advantage that the students have here and the alumni network, which we’re gonna talk about here in a minute. But, you know, you talked about your, your strong background and franchising and entrepreneurship. Obviously you have a passion there. It’s, it’s kind of your strength and background share with us how you kind of incorporated that into the curriculum, into the day school hospitality. Sure. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So when I came here to Georgia State, one of the things that my endow professorship they wanted me to do was basically talk about franchising for students overall. So I teach an undergraduate franchising course. And in that course, even though franchising obviously is central to the distribution of hotels and restaurants, franchising is everywhere. Everything in a strip mall is franchised. And students don’t understand that, right? Students don’t realize that. The other thing that we have here in Georgia State is we have an entrepreneurship innovation center. And so I have a joint appointment with them, and one of my passions is to get entrepreneurship students to think about franchising as one route to entrepreneurship. We have all these headquarters here. Even if you’re not gonna become a franchisee, you might go work for a franchising company Sure. As accountant, as somebody in marketing or in sales. These are large companies. Or you go, might go work for a franchisee. You know, one of the pathways to franchising is ownership. Now that can be difficult for students, and that’s one of the things that we’re gonna be working on in our strategic plan, is figuring out how do we get students in ownership positions, right? So we are a public university that, 40% of our students are Pell Grant eligible. Right? So they don’t come from money. It’s figuring out how we can change the trajectory of our students’ lives and transform their lives is something that is, one of one of our goals and franchising is a wealth creator, right? Some of the wealthiest people I know are franchisees, right? If you own 20 Dunking Donuts, you’re doing pretty well. You probably have a license plate that has donut on it, right? So, I’m very passionate about franchising. Now there’s good franchising and there’s bad franchising, right? So, there are some franchise brands that I don’t suggest students invest in. And part of that is kind of understanding what franchising is about, right? It’s a partnership. So in the class we talk a lot about, you know, these are two options. These are two options for that you might wanna pick as a franchise, which one would you pick? And understanding kind of the owner who owns a franchise brand, what are the parameters of the contract? And exposing students to that pathway. There’s not that many programs in the US that focus on franchising, and there’s very few endowed professorships in franchising. And so one of our goals going forward is to work more on exposing more students to franchising in general. Ryan Embree: It’s such a great opportunity. I mean, I think all of those success stories where franchises were sometimes built from these schools and now are such job creators of what you’re talking about. So to kind of arm your students with that knowledge, whether again, they’re looking to start their own franchise, become a part of a franchise, or work for a franchisee. Incredibly wealth of knowledge there. So really, really cool work that you’re doing there. The school has really deep roots in the business community. You mentioned some of the major brands. How have you seen this kind of fast track students hospitality careers or even like through internships that you’re doing at the on on school? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So we, so one of the things we tell students is get internships right away. So, start with doing internships and get into those businesses and start working. ’cause once it’s the best way for them to kind of feel out the company and know if it’s the right fit for them as well as the company filling them out. So we, we have, we have more internship opportunities for our students than we can fulfill, right. Everything from going to the masters or engaging with Mercedes-Benz Stadium or working at State Farm Arena, working local hotels. We could have double the number of students and we still have opportunity for them. I think, you know, Atlanta’s a growing city, right? We’re continually growing. We have a great ecosystem of universities here in Atlanta, not only Georgia State, but Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, university of Georgia’s not that far away. Georgia Southern. So we have a great ecosystem of universities here, and that helps to kind of feed the need for the businesses, and especially in the hospitality business. Where, we’re building one of the largest entertainment centers here in Atlanta. $5 billion is going to create, create this Centennial Yards, which is this transformation of downtown. So it’s a really exciting place to be. And businesses want our students, our students tend to be the way we describe Georgia State. Students are students with grit. Many of our students are working while they’re going to school.They can’t afford not to work. Luckily in the state of Georgia, we have Hope Scholarship. So most of our students are going, are getting their education covered. And at the day school, we provide a lot of scholarship money. So if you’re a Georgia State Day School student and you don’t get a scholarship, I’m saying, why aren’t you getting a scholarship? You should be applying for one. We have a lot of good, you know, we have Hunter Scholarship for the Hunter family. We have lots of industry partners that understand the benefit of providing our students with scholarship money and offering paid internships that get them, get them engaged and working, in the industry. And we have FIFA coming. So what a great opportunity for students to get a front seat to an amazing event, is to work a FIFA event. Ryan Embree: It’s wonderful advice. And would encourage, students that might be finding this, if you have required internships, would you even I had them when I went to school, get eclectic with it. Like, expose yourself to as many things as possible, because this industry has so much to offer. And this is like a first time glance at what you might wanna do in your career. A lot of the hospitality professionals I’ve talked to have fallen into these types of careers where you could have a fast track of being like, I know exactly what I wanna do. ’cause I had the experience of this internship. So it’s great that you continue to put your, your students in positions like that. And the learning from it will last you here until the end of your career and until their alumni, which we’ll, we’ll talk about, right? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : And then also study abroad, right. We have two study abroad programs that we do. One is fully funded, so we pay for everything for the students. Unfortunately, location, it was Dubai in Abu Dhabi, so we had to, we’re gonna have to retool that for this year. But we pay for everything for our students to have an experience that is just out of this world. And we also have a European study abroad experience. So I’ll say, you know, the getting, taking advantage of those experiences and trying different things, right. Don’t go to the same company for four years. Try something else. Try something new. And when you’re in Atlanta, you can do that. You don’t have to go anywhere else to go work at State Farm and then figure out like, I wanna go to Mercedes-Benz or gonna work at Inspire Brands. It’s all here. Ryan Embree: It really is. And a lot of, obviously, alumni have come and worked at those organizations. Talk to us about, you know, the alumni network, how you continue and your role to try to foster that. Because if you can show a student, Hey, this is the path you can take and this is where you can get to, and the opportunities that kind of expand and open up to you when you graduate from here it’s a powerful thing and, and powerful way to get people through the doors. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Yeah, absolutely. We are a large university, so we have over 300,000 alums. And if you think about it, students who go to Georgia State are probably most likely gonna be living in Atlanta or somewhere else. We’re a large city and we have lots of opportunity. So vicinity wise, you have a lot of alums living in this area. And because we have, we’re such a large school. If you ask someone, do you know anybody from they went to school at Georgia State, probably they did, or they, they got a master’s degree at Georgia State. Or you know, their, their, their sister did. So everyone’s always willing to help too. Right. So this feeling of like, you know, the idea that, you know, you’ve come from a certain background and, and you’ve achieved, graduated from Georgia State. There’s always people willing to help. And I’ll say the hospitality industry is, this is an a industry of opportunity. So there’s people that work, start working in as a waiter and then become CEO of the company. That trajectory happens. It might take some time, but this is an industry that values hard work, grit, personal attention to customer satisfaction. But it’s doable. And so that’s what inspires, that’s what inspires me about Georgia State, is that I can see our students grow over time, and I can see those students in management positions in the future, and that’s gonna change the trajectory of their life. Or they might own a franchise, or they might start a franchise. If you think about a company like Zaxby’s, right? It’s was started by students, you know, it was started at Georgia Southern. And those two founders are now worth billions. So the idea that we can change the life of students and, and we can do that here in Atlanta, is something that I’m really passionate about. Ryan Embree: And, you know, so we kind of spoke to the students now, the hospitality professionals that might be listening to that be open to being a mentor for these younger students. Because, I sit across the table. I had the privilege and honor of sitting across the table for some incredible hospitality leaders. And every single time I ask them about their hospitality journey, there’s typically always a name in there that they attribute a lot of their success as a jumping off point or a starting point for their career. So be on either side of that, right. To be the person that helps someone, or be the person that reach out to someone for help. It’s hospitality. It’s a people serving people industry. That’s why we love it. That’s why we’re in it. So definitely recommend doing that as well. You know, the success of the program has been recognized as Top Hospitality School across the country, multiple accolades. You talked about the research at the top of the episode. Talk to us a little bit about, you know, that what the accolades mean to you and kind of how it’s helped prospective students kind of recognize Georgia State as one of the top hospitality programs. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Absolutely. The, you know, one thing is we’ve been around a while, right? So we’ve been around over 50 years, and I think being embedded in a business school helps us as well. Our students have a very strong business background. They have to pass accounting and finance courses. They have that strong kind of analytical background. And then they take their hospitality courses. We have a lot of students that are, we’re known for students with grit. That don’t get their hands dirty and are willing to like, do the, do the operations type jobs. I’ll say that, you know, operations jobs are the foundation of kind of understanding the business, right? You might wanna be a revenue manager, but you don’t really understand what revenue management is about until you work the front desk and understand that business. Absolutely. So, you know, for a long time, we’ve, you know, we’re at a top business school. We’re at a large state university for a long time. We’ve put students into the ecosystem. So when people think about us, they think about those students, and we’re gonna build upon that going forward. So, we we’re working on a strategic plan to kinda strengthen those fundamentals as well as specialize in and expand our portfolio to things like entertainment and sports, which is all about hospitality, right? Absolutely. Because students today, they really passionate about live events and sports and entertainment. And that’s all part of that hospitality ecosystem, right? Hospitality is part of most things we do. It’s like we’re in a service economy. We’re in experience economy. Most of the qualities you learn in a hospitality degree, you can apply in any type of business. So I’m very proud of the fact that we are at, we’re an ACSB accredited school, so we have that business foundation. At the same time we have specialized interest in things that are really important to hospitality. So franchising is one of those that I think we can build upon going forward. Ryan Embree: I mean, you talk about that younger generation loving live events. I mean, look on social media and you also see, them standing in line for food and beverage item. Like that there’s such passion, and that younger generation that they can bring to hospitality and we get the privilege of serving them. So, one of the places where you have a strong alumni presence and even student presence. And the reason we’re here is covering the Hunter Conference 2026 over at the brand new beautiful Signia Hilton, Atlanta. Like I said, a lot of, Georgia State involvement there. Special relationship between the two organizations. Give us some history there and how that’s evolved over the last couple decades. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Absolutely. So it’s a very special relationship. We are one of the co-founders of the Hunter Conference, starting in 1989, with less than a hundred people. And now we have 2000 industry professionals coming to Atlanta from one of the largest hospitality real estate conferences, in the U.S. So obviously the Hunters have a scholarship. We have students, our students run the conference, right? So Sarah [Moss] is the Chief of Staff, is one of our former students. Maddie [Thibodeaux] runs a conference, is one of our former students, previously an intern. So we have an internship program, that we run where this year, Heather was the, the intern there, really helps us to get those students start working in, you know, an amazing event and expose those students and all our students have access to the Hunter Conference. So regardless if you’re a real estate student or a finance student, a hospitality student, psychology student, you can access the conference. We also, Mitch Shaw, endowed the Bradshaw Speaker series, in honor of his father. And every year, we have amazing, amazing person from industry come and talk about their life journey. And so Tony Ressler was the speaker this year, transformer of the Centennial Yards, investing in the owner of the Hawks, and exposes our students to those industry professionals. And so I look forward to every year for us to have that event. It’s very special relationship that benefits our students and benefits our faculty. Getting access to that. And it’s less than a mile from here. Right. So we, I can walk from my office down to the Signia Hotel, look at all the development down there, engage our students with amazing content. Ryan Embree: What, what an opportunity for your students to be involved in that event. And, you know, we just talked about the power of mentors, right? And there could be, your mentor is sitting right there. I mean, it, it’s an incredible conference. We have the privilege of covering it over the past couple years. Now, as it enters its new chapter at the Signia, it continues to just grow and grow and really appreciate the relationship that Georgia State has there. And it’s so cool to see those students, we’ve seen students at that conference from, from all over the country, love to see that. Because again, those are those opportunities that we talked about where it’s like, you gotta take advantage of that and you have it less than a mile, you know, away from your campus. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Yeah. And the thing is that when you talk about mentors is that, you know, many of our students, their parents, they’re first generation college students. They’re first generation college graduates. Like, I’m a first generation college graduate immigrant to the U.S. Your parents really don’t know how to help you in that. So, especially for our students and other students, they’re first generation graduates, they need those mentors to help them. So they don’t have parents that are working in the corporate environment that are telling them to get this internship. And so I would say, you know, if you’re if you’re opportunity to mentor a student, you can change the trajectory of their lives. And that is gonna pay dividends in the future. There’s nothing more rewarding than looking at a student and seeing their, their change over time and their position in an industry. Ryan Embree: It’s a great segue ’cause we’re gonna give some advice here to a couple exciting chapters and young professionals lives. What advice would you give to hospitality students right now? Because right now, you know, I pose this question by always saying, if I were, going into hospitality, there’s a lot of noise outside of our industry right now about AI and technology taking jobs. And we’ve talked about this where it might kind of be an opportunity for hospitality right now. So what advice would you share with them kind of hearing this? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : I tell all the marketing students and the finance students, the CIS students come to hospitality. We got jobs. AI is gonna impact our industry, right. But we’re always gonna need that personal touch. We’re always gonna have to have that touch with the customer and have those personal relationships. And so understanding how AI is gonna impact the industry is important. We’re even changing some of our courses to better understand how we can use these tools to improve performance, to improve customer satisfaction, to reduce wait times. But at the end of the day, we’re in a human business, right? We’re about human experiences and people crave human experiences, right? So, you know, the live events, the reason why we love live events is because we live in the digital world a lot. And so this is the, this is I think a turning point for hospitality for us to really become central to people’s lives. Post pandemic, people want to connect with other people. We are in the business of creating amazing experiences. And if we can create American amazing experiences and bring people together, that’s what hospitality is about. So I would tell students, students that are graduating, this is an amazing opportunity for you. Go out there, find a company that you are passionate about and work hard and work in operations, understand the business. This is your opportunity to, people say, I don’t wanna work in operations. I understand the business. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Who knows what’s gonna happen in the future. But I’ll say, we have jobs and we will have jobs in the future. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And when you said that operations point, I love it. ’cause you’d be surprised how many front desk agents, bellmans, I’ve talked to across the, across the table that are now in corporate America because, but that’s where they had their start, and they attribute a lot of their success to saying, I was on the front line doing these jobs, doing these work. That’s where again, whether it’s a first job, entry-level job or whether it’s an internship can be so formative and foundational for your career. Now, let’s turn our attention to maybe incoming freshmen, right? They got the next four years daunting before they graduate and get out into the, to the world. What advice would you give them coming to Georgia State and the Day Hospitality School? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : I would say take advantage of that time, right? So these are four years in which you can do anything you want. So have some fun, right. Go to events, post pandemic. You know, we we’re somewhat of a commuter school. We have dorms on campus, but a lot of our students are still living at home. So it may take some effort to get in a car drive downtown and meet up with an industry professional, but that’s where the value is. That’s why you’re in Atlanta, right? That’s where the school is about network. Meeting people, learning about other people, creating that network. And I would say get an internship from day one, look for an internship every year, get an internship. That summertime is a time in which you can invest in yourself. And classes are one thing, but really college is a lot about trying to figure out what you wanna do besides just the classes. Select your classes you want to take, and then engage in clubs and go do study abroad. Both my kids are Georgia State. Were Georgia State students, and go do study abroad. Go do whatever you want. This is a time in your life to explore. And you don’t have a mortgage. You might not have a car. You can do anything you want. And we’re there to support you. If you want an internship in Atlanta and you’re a Georgia State student, we can find you one. So, I mean, that to me is like, just be excited about that time of your life and AI, you know, AI is gonna impact our industry, but it’s not gonna take our jobs. Ryan Embree: And, and raise your hand and volunteer. I mean, this you got the World Cup. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in something in this amazing city. I mean, there was only a select number of cities, Atlanta being one of them. What an opportunity to be involved in an event that is gonna span maybe something you look back on, where people are coming from all over the world, to be here in Atlanta. So I love that advice, especially for those younger freshmen, just starting their journey. Well, so now we’re gonna, now we’re gonna share a little bit about your vision. So as we wrap up today, you talked about the strategic plan. What’s your vision as you look at the second half of the 2020s for the school here? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So we’re really focused on broadening, hospitality past hotels and restaurants and focusing on experiences. And so we really want to be the school that drives and understands how people wanna live their lives through experiences. And so focusing on, on entertainment, focusing on sports focusing on live events, focusing on hotels and restaurants. But people go to restaurants for, for different reasons, right? The transactional component of a restaurant, ordering online and Uber, that’s important. But the other side of going to restaurant is celebrating, right? Sure. And engaging with the people. And like, and you gotta understand where you are. Are you providing a transactional type approach where you’re just giving a meal or you are providing an experience. And we feel that the, there’s lots of value in creating those experiences. And so when you think about hospitality as creating memorable experiences, really broadens the perspective. Every time of service is about creating an experience. And so our plan is to focus on experiences generally, and then also to invite students that aren’t hospitality students to understand the business. So, you know, hospitality programs and business schools are never gonna be huge, right? You have other departments, but what we can do is we can get a marketing student say, listen, come to Hunter and you realize that like they may be maybe 20% of people in that pool are marketing people, right? Sales and marketing. Or accounting. So exposing hospitality to a broad set of students to show them the opportunities, right? We have a lot of opportunity for students. The trajectory of those students that are hardworking, that wanna it is, is very steep. And so that is our strategic plan going forward to figure out how do we can expose hospitality generally to the whole university, not just the school of business. And then to focus on being experts in creating memorable experiences. And I’m excited about the future. We’re in Atlanta, we’re at Georgia State. We have so many positive attributes. We’re investing $80 million in our campus downtown. If you haven’t had an opportunity to come downtown Atlanta, let me know. Send me an email, because we are transforming, downtown Atlanta, and it’s a place that people want to work, play, and stay. And, that’s just gonna improve as we invest in Centennial Yards and the stadium complex. Ryan Embree: One of the advice I always received was talking about the investment behind a school. If you see that it’s growing, it’s a growing university, there’s investment into it, it’s a place that you want to be so, certainly reflected here at Georgia State. Those experiences that you talked about so important. I mean, think about when you were in hospitality school, even when I was in hospitality school. Now the, the lanes of hospitality and specialties that you can get your degrees in because it encompasses just so much right now and it continues to grow. And as far as exposing more and more people to hospitality and its opportunities, it’s exactly what we’re here to do on the TMG campus cross. So we are so happy that you had us here and, sat down with us and, and took some time outta your day to do this with us. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence: Thank you so much. You’re doing important work. And go Panthers! Ryan Embree: Alright. Thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time on the SuiteSpot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

A Case Against Blasphemy Free speech cannot be absolute where it portends absolute destruction. Before formulating arguments about why blasphemy laws never work, before outlining the decisive points in favor of unfettered free speech, before launching into lectures about censorship and cancelations, separation of church and state, rights and freedoms and liberties, hypocrisy and hysteria, gather those excellent points, pack them tight, then set them aside. Before even reaching the decision of best, most practical enforceability, truth and necessity must first be asserted. A strong case has been made that the Founding Fathers of the United States never considered blasphemy laws in writing the First Amendment protections of free speech, because it wouldn't have entered their minds to do so. No matter how religious someone was at home, religion held strong enough sway over the culture that the government needn't interfere where society would regulate behavior on its own. The blatant disregard for the Divine rampant in society today was unimagine then, not least because reverent regard for the Divine is vital to upholding the world they made. So, while it may not have been constitutionally illegal to blaspheme, no one who wanted to remain in good standing and company would consider such a derisive act in public. And sometimes that's all it takes to ensure the desired outcome, as historical precedent has reliably shown. Eventually, blasphemy laws were passed and enforced on a governmental level, and there's plenty of places that may still officially have them on the books. We've moved so far as a society that we no longer pay attention to those that remain, so they linger unenforced. We've more pressing issues to deal with these days, or so we're told. Yet, what if our more pressing issues can be traced in large part to our laxity in regard to blasphemy? And, if not the language itself, then to the same cause at the root of both acceptance of blasphemy and the rest of the societal ills at present. For one thing is certain, neither government nor standing nor company is enough anymore to entirely enforce word choice in most circles. The only circumstance where such efficiency is ever seen is in regard to social constructs around the imagined oppressed of the day. This perversion is an accurate reflection of what results when public displays of religious irreverence are no longer considered blasphemous, let alone tolerated, ignored, celebrated. The result of this is that unassailable protection of natural rights is intentionally subverted and directed toward malicious ends. Free speech absolutists are quick to counter with the case of satirist George Carlin, who was arrested in Wisconsin in the seventies for a routine that was ultimately deemed “indecent.” For many, his case is absolute proof against blasphemy laws, made all the easier if they actually agree with what he said, let alone laugh at it. The laughter part is important, for comedy and satire have proven time and again to be among the greatest weapons the populace can wield against the government. Only a free people can mock their ruling class without fear of repercussion, and the persecution of comedians, or any well-liked entertainer, isn't usually well-accepted in a liberty-minded society. Except, blasphemy isn't aimed at the current government, but at G-d, Who exists beyond any mortal systems. Moreover, blasphemy isn't the same as comedy, as even the religious and the wider umbrella of believers have jokes that include G-d. The difference is the same as jokes from family members and from outsiders, namely the affection underlying the tone of the former. For non-believers or so-proclaimed atheists, jokes about G-d are usually a euphemism for mockery, belied by the sour notes of jadedness, bitterness, disdain, even anger they can't entirely hide beneath the laughter. Such comedy does not stem from a desire to share amusement but an excuse to belittle what they don't truly know or understand or simply find agreement in their contempt. Thus it falls under the blasphemous, not least because the result is not to free speech but to lessen the image of G-d in the eyes of the beholder. Blasphemous displays are not “fresh” or “edgy” or “freeing” or “empowering” or “complex” or any other manner of progressive mangled label breathlessly used to validate the degenerate. As the law against blasphemy has existed thousands of years, so has the cause for it. To say, the law wasn't made as a preemptive forewarning of a possible future, rather, the law was established for past, present, and future, because some things about the human condition don't change, but are merely repackaged over time. The law against blasphemy first appears in its most definitive form as the third of the Ten Commandments given by G-d to Moses on Mount Sinai. Anyone who believes in the advantages of displaying the Ten Commandments and the necessity of teaching their precepts to all ages should immediately realize that the Third Commandment is not to be overlooked or modified when confronted with manmade free speech protections. The argument against codifying the Third Commandment into secular law, beyond those of absolute free speech and separation of law from religious influence, is the inevitable conclusion that no other person is harmed in the act of blasphemy. It's just speech after all, and my right to say it doesn't negate your right to not listen. Or so we're told. Except, does blasphemy really harm no one when it chisels away at the very foundation of our exalted system of governance? As the point has been made before, rights cannot be separated from their Source, which, as stated by the very same Founders who sought to protect free speech, come from capital C Creator. Thus, a right isn't a right unless the Creator with a capital C wills it to be. The same Creator who gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, the third of which clearly prohibits blasphemy as “taking the L-rd's name in vain.” This includes cursing, disrespecting, and all other manner of language or act intended to demean or discredit Him. Among the numerous, natural rights given to man, Creator with a capital C did not grant a right to blaspheme Him. Quite the opposite. Is G-d so fragile that a few choice words could hurt Him? Does it take one scribble of the pen to fell His Mighty name? No, this is for us. Blasphemy isn't simply about words or actions, but what they represent and intend, in addition to the conditions which allow them to prosper. As clearly outlined in our founding documents, freedoms and liberties are natural to man, but only because the Creator made it so. In other words, as has been said by many of our founders, belief in that gift from the Creator is necessary to protect all that gift entails from the predations of government and malicious or negligent actors. Chipping away at that belief undermines the entire system these freedoms are predicated upon, so blasphemy isn't merely the case of someone saying something somewhere sometime. Rather, blasphemy, its intent and allowance, is an attempt to undo the foundations of our very freedoms by disconnecting them from their Source through belittlement and disdain. History has shown plainly that irreverence is a vital tool in toppling the currently established, for where something is no longer deemed sacred, neither is its protection. If someone can freely treat Creator with a capital C in such manner, then what compels anyone to protect and value what He has given us? What preserves its natural sanctity if it's been reduced through negligence and degradation? Blatant blasphemies aside, there are subtler ones which have settled comfortably into common usage that go largely unremarked upon. Ones so common, people would balk or jeer to hear them labeled blasphemous, but we should be attuned to weeding them out on a personal level nonetheless. For example, the depiction of angels as anything from models to literary love interests to cherubic cupids, anything other than the Divine messengers they are, borders on the blasphemous for its mundaning of the spiritual. Even though often at surface, anyone speaking of regarding someone inspirational or aspirational as an “idol” is another example of normalizing terminology that should cause any truly G-d fearing to recoil. And though many don't want to hear it, the idea that anyone could partake of this world without acknowledging the Maker and Owner is a different kind of blasphemy. As with the lie of “My body, my choice,” humanity has cemented the idea into common conscience that this world is ours simply because we were born into it. Does that logic extend to any other sort of ownership? Even the claim that conquering invokes ownership is based upon the takers taking what was already taken. Do humans get to invoke squatters' rights over Earth when we had no part in our arrival upon in? The truth is the world was given to man, but that fact only stands when recognizing it's not only a part but the middle of the sentence. Consider, Earth was given to man by whom and for what? Answering that question not only reveals the truth underlying our entire existence, but also explains why any attempt to obscure, misconstrue, or undermine it approaches the blasphemous. You may vigorously deny such a drastic view, you may expound upon scientific theories that validate your perspective that reality is otherwise, but in honest, unadorned truth, can you really claim to be the only one foolhardy enough to stubbornly remain an atheist in a foxhole? In moments of extreme relief, crisis, suffering, gratitude do you not invoke His name, even unwittingly? Do you invoke nothing? Does that really feel right? If yes, then where do your natural rights come from? Should we give credit to our fondly mislabeled Pluto? If rights are manmade, then they are not natural, for not all men agree on what those rights are or should be. How far we must go to preserve the sanctity of our reverence for the Creator is a topic for the next part of the debate, and a worthy one to reach as well, but the principle must be, along with a desire to adhere to it, that we cannot profess to value one thing while also allowing for the undermining of what gives that value any status or meaning at all. We cannot despair at those who despair of the world around them, while simultaneously promoting the cause for its ruin and calling it a right. Clear the mind of all other thoughts for a moment and consider a world where blasphemy is once again enforced, even only on a societal level. What first disappears in this scenario? Anything we need for the furtherance of our civilization or merely things done and words said just for the sake of proving they can be? Think then on what else changes when the Creator is respected as He should be. How many issues of the day, how many policies are affected where at least an outward respect for the Creator is mandated by the populace? What restraints reappear around the intrusions and excesses of government? How does political rhetoric change when blasphemy is no longer tolerated for the civilization destroying force that it truly is? How do the streets, celebrations, art, literature, music, clothing, et al, look when blasphemy is no longer permitted? Are we truly worse us off, knowing as we do now, where our leniency has led? Taking all these points to their final conclusion results in the ultimate, undeniable truth that it is absolutely, fundamentally impossible to be pro-human and also anti-G-d, let alone blasphemous or derisive of Him. Any other claim can be reasoned to a dead end. Human life is only significant because He has deemed it to be. To say, our belief in the sanctity of human life should be reflected in how we treat life's Creator. Anything that may infringe upon that, anything which may chip, chisel, or crack that sanctity is, in a word, blasphemous. Thus, blasphemy is not about mere rights and speech but the first line of attack to the foundation upholding civilization. Instead of wasting time on pushing the boundary of disregard as far as it will go, better to make a concerted effort to focus on that which will strengthen society and better life instead, starting with praise and gratitude to the Creator, Who gave us this life and the rights that allows us to live it best.

The top 1% of AI users save 31 hours a week. The bottom 50% save six. That gap does not come from smarter tools. It comes from how people build their context, codify their processes, and put agents to work on their behalf.Iwo Szapar co-created the AI Maturity Index, a Harvard-validated diagnostic used in 75 countries with 400,000+ data points. It was acquired by ISG, a Nasdaq-listed company, in January 2026. He built his AI Second Brain as a side project. It went viral on LinkedIn with 5,408 comments, then made $30,000 in 10 weeks.We talk about what the top 1% AI users actually do, how to build your own second brain from scratch in 4 clear steps, and why Iwo, a person who built his entire career on independence, chose to join the corporate acquirer.

Enterprise IT is drowning in repeat incidents, slow triage, and reactive firefighting—burning teams out while costs rise and service quality slips. In this episode, Sandy and Umesh Shiknis of Publicis Sapient explore how Sapient Sustain uses AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and self-healing workflows to break the cycle, turning IT operations from constant crisis mode into a resilient, proactive engine that sustains the business. They also discuss how Publicis Sapient is leveraging AI to address challenges in the healthcare sector. They put an importance on modernizing legacy systems while also emphasizing the concept of agentic AI.Check out more about Sapient Sustain here: https://www.publicissapient.com/sapient-ai/sustainIn this episode, they talk about:Publicis Sapient focuses on human-centered digital transformation in healthcareAI can accelerate product development and modernize legacy systemsIt's easy to confuse automation with simple elements of machine learning, which are progressively more deterministicOrganizations must establish guardrails for AI implementation because of how powerful agentic AI can beSapient Sustain helps healthcare companies manage and stabilize their applicationsThe end-user experience is crucial in technology deploymentAI can significantly reduce technical debt in healthcare organizationsHealthcare leaders should look at the boring stuff and focus on practical AI applicationsEducate your workforce to embrace the future instead of fearing itA Little About Umesh:Umesh Shiknis is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Sapient, a human-centered, product-led digital business transformation firm. He leads global growth and go-to-market strategy, scaling new buying centers, accelerating client impact, and driving transformational revenue across industries. Previously, Umesh held senior leadership roles at Capgemini, Infosys, and ISG. His current focus is on taking the Publicis Sapient AI product suite—Sapient Slingshot, Bodhi, and Sapient Sustain—to market, turning AI innovation into measurable, enterprise-wide outcomes.

The opening verses of Parashat Yitro tell of Yitro's arrival at Beneh Yisrael's camp. Yitro, Moshe's father-in-law, had been a pagan priest, but then recognized the truth of monotheism. He now took the next step, and joined Beneh Yisrael as they encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. Rashi comments that Yitro was motivated to join the nation upon hearing of two events: Keri'at Yam Suf (the splitting of the sea), and the war against Amalek. It seems difficult to understand why the war with Amalek contributed to Yitro's decision. The splitting of the sea was, of course, an extraordinary miracle, an event that was heard throughout the ancient world and led all the nations to look at Beneh Yisrael with awe. It is understandable that this miracle inspired Yitro to come and join Beneh Yisrael. But how did the war against Amalek have this kind of effect? What about this event inspired Yitro? One answer is that Yitro was struck by the drastic decline that Beneh Yisrael experienced from the event of Keri'at Yan Suf to the war against Amalek. The Sages teach that at the time of Keri'a Yam Suf, every member of the nation, even the most unlearned among them, reached a certain level of prophecy. The nation at that moment rose to the greatest heights. Just several weeks later, however, when they found themselves without water, their faith was shaken, and they started asking, "Is G-d in our midst or not?" (Shemot 17:7). It was in response to this lack of faith that Hashem led Amalek to attack Beneh Yisrael. Yitro saw how the people so quickly fell from the stature of prophets to the point where they could actually question whether Hashem was with them. This rapid decline is what prompted Yitro to join Beneh Yisrael. The Gemara teaches that Torah is the "antidote" to the Yeser Ha'ra (evil inclination). Sinful tendencies are part of the human condition; as long as a person is alive, he is going to tempted by some lure, by some human weakness, by one or several of the many negative traits with which people are created. And in order to withstand these inclinations, we need to immerse ourselves in Torah. Therefore, when Yitro saw how fast people are capable of falling, he made the decision to join Beneh Yisrael, so he can access the Torah, the "antidote" to the Yeser Ha'ra and protect himself from spiritual decline. Rav Yosef Salant (Jerusalem, 1885-1981) offers a different explanation of Rashi's comment. He writes that after the miracle of the sea, many people throughout the world attributed this event to Moshe Rabbenu. Rather than recognize the existence of a single, omnipotent Creator, they instead concluded that Moshe was a superior sorcerer who succeeded in defeating the Egyptians through his magical prowess. Yitro, who was well-versed in all the various forms of ancient paganism, including sorcery, likewise suspected that it was Moshe who split the sea by lifting his staff over the water. Beneh Yisrael's miraculous victory against Amalek, however, was clearly not brought about by Moshe. At the time of the battle, Moshe stood at a distance, on a hill overlooking the battlefield. And when the people looked heavenward, they received Hashem's assistance and defeated the Amalekites. This event showed that the splitting of the sea was wrought not by Moshe, but by an all-powerful G-d, and this motivated Yitro to come join Beneh Yisrael. There might also be a third interpretation. In the Book of Debarim (25:18), Moshe describes Amalek's attack with the word "Karecha." The Sages explained this term as a derivative of the word "Kar" – "cool." After the miracle of the sea, Beneh Yisrael were feared throughout the world. The Rabbis drew a comparison to a tub filled with scalding hot water, that nobody dared touch. When Amalek launched their attack, they were like a person who jumped into the tub of boiling hot water – he suffered bad burns, but cooled the water for anyone else who wished to bathe afterward. Amalek was defeated, but this battle had the effect of "cooling" Beneh Yisrael, of exposing their vulnerability. Beneh Yisrael now appeared far less fearsome, and no longer seemed invincible. Yitro saw the grave Hillul Hashem – defamation of Hashem's Name – caused by Amalek's attack. The awe and admiration that the world felt toward Beneh Yisrael after the splitting of the sea were now gone. And Yitro understood that the only way to rectify a Hillul Hashem is by creating a Kiddush Hashem – a glorification of Hashem's Name. He therefore decided to join Beneh Yisrael. As a respected and wealthy public figure, his arrival would "make the news," and become widely known. People all over would hear that a prominent former pagan cleric had recognized the truth of the Jewish faith and decided to join Beneh Yisrael's ranks. This would repair, at least somewhat, the damage caused by Amalek's attack. And thus Yitro's decision was driven by these two events – the splitting of the sea and Amalek's attack, as he sought to restore the respect for Beneh Yisrael that was achieved by the miracle of Keri'at Yam Suf.

The opening verses of Parashat Yitro tell of Yitro's arrival at Beneh Yisrael's camp. Yitro, Moshe's father-in-law, had been a pagan priest, but then recognized the truth of monotheism. He now took the next step, and joined Beneh Yisrael as they encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. Rashi comments that Yitro was motivated to join the nation upon hearing of two events: Keri'at Yam Suf (the splitting of the sea), and the war against Amalek. It seems difficult to understand why the war with Amalek contributed to Yitro's decision. The splitting of the sea was, of course, an extraordinary miracle, an event that was heard throughout the ancient world and led all the nations to look at Beneh Yisrael with awe. It is understandable that this miracle inspired Yitro to come and join Beneh Yisrael. But how did the war against Amalek have this kind of effect? What about this event inspired Yitro? One answer is that Yitro was struck by the drastic decline that Beneh Yisrael experienced from the event of Keri'at Yan Suf to the war against Amalek. The Sages teach that at the time of Keri'a Yam Suf, every member of the nation, even the most unlearned among them, reached a certain level of prophecy. The nation at that moment rose to the greatest heights. Just several weeks later, however, when they found themselves without water, their faith was shaken, and they started asking, "Is G-d in our midst or not?" (Shemot 17:7). It was in response to this lack of faith that Hashem led Amalek to attack Beneh Yisrael. Yitro saw how the people so quickly fell from the stature of prophets to the point where they could actually question whether Hashem was with them. This rapid decline is what prompted Yitro to join Beneh Yisrael. The Gemara teaches that Torah is the "antidote" to the Yeser Ha'ra (evil inclination). Sinful tendencies are part of the human condition; as long as a person is alive, he is going to tempted by some lure, by some human weakness, by one or several of the many negative traits with which people are created. And in order to withstand these inclinations, we need to immerse ourselves in Torah. Therefore, when Yitro saw how fast people are capable of falling, he made the decision to join Beneh Yisrael, so he can access the Torah, the "antidote" to the Yeser Ha'ra and protect himself from spiritual decline. Rav Yosef Salant (Jerusalem, 1885-1981) offers a different explanation of Rashi's comment. He writes that after the miracle of the sea, many people throughout the world attributed this event to Moshe Rabbenu. Rather than recognize the existence of a single, omnipotent Creator, they instead concluded that Moshe was a superior sorcerer who succeeded in defeating the Egyptians through his magical prowess. Yitro, who was well-versed in all the various forms of ancient paganism, including sorcery, likewise suspected that it was Moshe who split the sea by lifting his staff over the water. Beneh Yisrael's miraculous victory against Amalek, however, was clearly not brought about by Moshe. At the time of the battle, Moshe stood at a distance, on a hill overlooking the battlefield. And when the people looked heavenward, they received Hashem's assistance and defeated the Amalekites. This event showed that the splitting of the sea was wrought not by Moshe, but by an all-powerful G-d, and this motivated Yitro to come join Beneh Yisrael. There might also be a third interpretation. In the Book of Debarim (25:18), Moshe describes Amalek's attack with the word "Karecha." The Sages explained this term as a derivative of the word "Kar" – "cool." After the miracle of the sea, Beneh Yisrael were feared throughout the world. The Rabbis drew a comparison to a tub filled with scalding hot water, that nobody dared touch. When Amalek launched their attack, they were like a person who jumped into the tub of boiling hot water – he suffered bad burns, but cooled the water for anyone else who wished to bathe afterward. Amalek was defeated, but this battle had the effect of "cooling" Beneh Yisrael, of exposing their vulnerability. Beneh Yisrael now appeared far less fearsome, and no longer seemed invincible. Yitro saw the grave Hillul Hashem – defamation of Hashem's Name – caused by Amalek's attack. The awe and admiration that the world felt toward Beneh Yisrael after the splitting of the sea were now gone. And Yitro understood that the only way to rectify a Hillul Hashem is by creating a Kiddush Hashem – a glorification of Hashem's Name. He therefore decided to join Beneh Yisrael. As a respected and wealthy public figure, his arrival would "make the news," and become widely known. People all over would hear that a prominent former pagan cleric had recognized the truth of the Jewish faith and decided to join Beneh Yisrael's ranks. This would repair, at least somewhat, the damage caused by Amalek's attack. And thus Yitro's decision was driven by these two events – the splitting of the sea and Amalek's attack, as he sought to restore the respect for Beneh Yisrael that was achieved by the miracle of Keri'at Yam Suf.

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics: 15th of Shevat Why do we celebrate the New Year for Trees? Why don't we celebrate it on the third day of creation, when trees and vegetation were created?  How do trees celebrate their new year? What is the basis of Shammai and Hillel's different opinions of when we celebrate the new year for trees? Can it serve as an analogy for stages in the revelation of Moshiach? Was this day celebrated in Biblical times? What is a 15th of Shevat Seder and how do we conduct one? What are some lessons we learn from trees? Is there a source that Shevat is the acronym of sheyihi besuros tovos? Why is Shevat considered a month of good news when sad events took place in it, such as the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka? What lessons do we learn from living with the times, with this week's Torah parsha? How do the three major events in the book Shemos – Exodus, Matan Torah, building the mishkan – reflect three key stages in our personal, collective and cosmic journey? Why is Matan Torah in Parshas Yisro?How would you describe G-d? Is G-d aware of His own existence? Why did the giving of the Torah begin with the Ten Commandments? How did Matan Torah change the world? Why were they not allowed to approach Mt. Sinai, but today anyone can climb that mountain? Why are the Jewish people called a “kingdom of priests”? Is Mitzrayim compared to the meitzar ha'goron, the narrow neck?   Why was there a need for the parting of the sea, when their path to Israel did not require going through the Red Sea? Was the parting of the sea an actual event or a metaphor? What is the significance of the people singing the song of the sea after it was parted? What is the power of song? Shevat Yisro Beshalach What lessons do we learn from the car ramming into 770 on the night of Yud Shevat?  How do I know if I am doing the right thing in launching a new training program based on Chassidus? 

Goldman Sachs' Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, head of the Investment Strategy Group and chief investment officer of Wealth Management, shares her team's investment views for the year ahead. Find all our outlooks for the year ahead here: https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/outlooks/2026-outlooks This episode was recorded on January 9, 2026. The opinions and views expressed herein are as of the date of publication, subject to change without notice and may not necessarily reflect the institutional views of Goldman Sachs or its affiliates.  The material provided is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation from any Goldman Sachs entity to take any particular action, or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any securities or financial products.  This material may contain forward-looking statements.  Past performance is not indicative of future results.  Neither Goldman Sachs nor any of its affiliates make any representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements or information contained herein and disclaim any liability whatsoever for reliance on such information for any purpose.  Each name of a third-party organization mentioned is the property of the company to which it relates is used here strictly for informational and identification purposes only and is not used to imply any ownership or license rights between any such company and Goldman Sachs.  A transcript is provided for convenience and may differ from the original video or audio content.  Goldman Sachs is not responsible for any errors in the transcript.  This material should not be copied, distributed, published, or reproduced in whole or in part or disclosed by any recipient to any other person without the express written consent of Goldman Sachs.   Disclosures applicable to research with respect to issuers, if any, mentioned herein are available through your Goldman Sachs representative or at www.GS.com/research/hedge.html.  Goldman Sachs does not endorse any candidate or any political party.   This material represents the views of the Wealth Management Investment Strategy Group and is not a product of Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research (GIR). It is not research and is not intended as such. The views and opinions expressed by ISG may differ from those expressed by GIR, LP, or other departments or businesses of Goldman Sachs. Past performance is not indicative of future results which may vary.  Copyright 2026, Goldman Sachs, all rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textPeter Basica ( https://peterbasica.com/ ) is the Founder and Chairman of 360 Smarter Care ( https://360smartercare.com/ ), an independent, AI-driven healthcare company redefining how self-funded employers manage healthcare costs and population health. Under his leadership, 360 Smarter Care applies advanced behavioral science, proprietary artificial intelligence, and deep human empathy to deliver personalized, one-to-one engagement at scale — improving health outcomes while significantly reducing costs. Free from venture capital pressure and legacy healthcare conflicts, Peter built 360 to challenge a system he believes too often prioritizes profit over people.Before launching 360, Peter spent nearly three decades building and leading high-performance organizations across industries including insurance, automotive, marine, manufacturing, and financial services. He is the founder of Silver Bullet Partners, where for 18 years he served as President and Senior Educator, working directly with C-suite executives on sales performance, leadership development, executive coaching, and culture change. His proprietary methodologies helped clients dramatically increase revenue, reverse sales declines, and build durable performance cultures — including doubling sales at Fountain Powerboats, adding tens of millions in revenue at Monterey Boats, and restoring growth at ISG.Earlier in his career, Peter held senior leadership roles in sales, marketing, and operations, including transforming Pier 33 Marina from an underperforming two-location business into a five-location, multi-state powerhouse growing revenues from $8 million to $50 million. As Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Arrington Performance Industries, he led market expansion initiatives, operational turnarounds, and high-profile brand placements — blending strategic vision with hands-on execution.In parallel with his business ventures, Peter is also the Founder of Digital Consumerism ( https://digitalconsumerism.com/ ), a platform designed to help individuals maximize financial wellness, protect digital assets, and make smarter everyday decisions across banking, healthcare, travel, and cybersecurity.Deeply committed to service, Peter founded Remember Our Military ( https://www.rememberourmilitary.com/ ), a volunteer-driven nonprofit ensuring that no active-duty service member or veteran spends a holiday meal alone. He also serves on advisory boards including the Carle Illinois College of Medicine's Global Consortium for Innovation and Engineering in Medicine and Newark Youth Career Pathways, reflecting his dedication to education, innovation, and community impact.#PeterBasica #360SmarterCare #RuralHealthTransformationFund #OneBigBeautifulBillAct #ExpandingAccess #ImprovingHealthOutcomes #WorkforceDevelopment #InnovativeCareModels #Telehealth #RemoteCare #PrimaryCare #PrenatalCare #MaternalServices #ChronicDiseaseManagement #BehavioralHealthServices #CommunityHealthWorkers #DataSharing #Interoperability #ValueBasedCare #AlternativePaymentModels #AdvancedAI #RuralPatients #STEM #Innovation #Science #Technology #Research #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #Podcasting #ViralPodcastSupport the show

Where do I look for direction? Is G-d just speaking the world into existence, or is G-d speaking to me through all that exists in my life?The Sfas Emes teaches that the plagues transformed the ten divine utterances of creation into the ten commandments, reflecting a clear unveiling of God's hidden creative forces.What is the difference between background speech and directed speech? How can we reinforce G-d's guidance through the ways we notice His words to us? How can we transform the concealed divine within all of creation, into a felt experience of Hashem's guidance in our lives?Source:Sfas Emes Parshas Bo 5631* * * * * * *To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at info@humanandholy.comTo support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor.Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday & Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.

Parshas Shemos: What Is His Name A nation is born through suffering, and a leader emerges through humility. As Moshe encounters G-d at the burning bush, he asks a question that cuts to the core of exile: Which G-d is coming to redeem us now? Not a question of belief, but of presence. Is G-d still with us inside the darkness? This episode explores the power of G-d's answer, Eh'yeh Asher Eh'yeh, a promise that Divine presence does not wait for redemption, but lives within the struggle itself. When clarity feels distant and identity feels pressured, this Parsha reminds us that G-d has not withdrawn. He remains with us, calling us forward, asking us to stand, even before freedom arrives.

In this episode of 10X Growth Strategies, host Saradha Sriram sits down with John Boccuzzi — author of The Art of Seducing Your Customers and President of Research at ISG — to unpack why the best businesses don't sell harder, they build emotional connection, trust, and clarity. Drawing from decades of research and real-world experience, John reframes sales and customer experience through an unconventional but powerful lens: seduction over manipulation. From the origins of his TEDx talk to stories spanning Uber, Kodak, UPS, and Zappos, he explains how storytelling, friction reduction, and employee empowerment quietly separate companies that retain customers for decades from those that lose them overnight. A sharp, experience-backed conversation on why sales is a job of rejection, why cost-cutting often destroys customer experience, and how leaders can immediately diagnose friction inside their own organizations. ⸻ ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 – 00:45 • Intro 00:45 – 01:30 • Saradha introduces John Boccuzzi & his work 01:30 – 02:40 • Why “Seduction” — The TEDx origin behind the book's title 02:40 – 04:30 • The Frame Store Story — Confidence, storytelling & 27 years of loyalty 04:30 – 05:50 • Seduction vs Manipulation — Emotional appeal, trust & value creation 05:50 – 08:35 • Sales Is Dating — Listening, timing & relationship-building 08:35 – 10:40 • The Seduction Framework — Empowering employees & retention-first design 10:40 – 12:25 • Friction Hunting — How Uber exposed broken customer experiences 12:25 – 13:45 • Operational Insight — UPS, right-hand turns & invisible efficiency 13:45 – 14:45 • Kodak's Failure — Fear, disruption & missed opportunity 14:45 – 16:15 • Hiring the Wrong Way — Jobs vs careers & the EQ gap 16:15 – 17:25 • The Cost-Cutting Trap — Why CX isn't a savings exercise 17:25 – 18:55 • Handling Rejection — Knowing when to walk away 18:55 – 20:00 • Storytelling That Endures — The Budweiser Super Bowl lesson 20:00 – 21:40 • B2B vs B2C — Why customer principles don't change 21:40 – 23:45 • Losing $300M Deals — The 500-page contract mistake 23:45 – 25:40 • Immediate Action — Running a friction audit 25:40 – 26:55 • The Missing Chapter — AI & the future of customer experience 26:55 – 28:45 • What's Next — Keynotes, research & closing thoughts

Inside Edge is our series on the business of cricket, presented with co-host Mike Jakeman. Our guest is Phil Weston, head of cricket at TGI Sport, the agency owned jointly by George Pyne's Bruin Sports Capital and Quadrant Private Equity. England star Harry Brook is one of an impressive roster of talent across both the male and female games, including Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Jofra Archer and Sophie Devine. In 2024 TGI acquired Insignia to its international network that includes European-based tech-led media rights and virtual production agency ISG, New York-based virtual advertising solution provider Brand Brigade, UK-based Media Sales agency Sportseen, leading Australian sports agency TLA and talent management company SFX Sports Group. This episode of the Unofficial Partner podcast is brought to you by Sid Lee Sport.Sid Lee Sport is the fame-making creative and sponsorship agency for brands in sport. Through exceptional creativity, deep sponsorship expertise, and flawless on-site delivery, they help brands, sponsors, and rightsholders unlock their full potential in sport - most recently picking up a Leaders Sports Award for their work with Lidl at UEFA EURO 2024.Everything they do is driven by a culture of effectiveness - because in sport, performance matters. Not just on the pitch, but in the work too. So whether you want to build buzz, connect with audiences, or do something that actually cuts through, Sid Lee Sport knows how.Visit sidleesport.com Sid Lee Sport - where brands become champions.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner' on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you're interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Vitale christuszentrierte Gemeinden sind eine Hoffnung für die Kirche. Deshalb gilt: Ortsgemeinden haben Vorfahrt und dürfen nicht verkümmern. Sie sind zu stärken. Im Gespräch mit Andreas Schmierer berichtet Dirk Scheuermann, warum das Bengelhaus ein "Institut zur Stärkung von Gemeinden" (ISG) gründet.

How do we move AI from hype to helpful in civil and site design? Live from AU 2025, ISG's Jason Douglas shares how connected workflows across Forma, Revit, Civil 3D, and ACC are becoming real; why fast, responsive partners matter; and how Dynamo scripts eliminated version ping-pong to save time in production. We dig into training at scale, automation wins, and what it takes to keep multidisciplinary teams in sync. You'll learn: How connected workflows across Forma, Revit, Civil 3D, and ACC are breaking down data silos in AEC Why practical automation—like Dynamo scripting—creates real productivity gains for design teams What strong partnerships and responsive support mean for successful tech adoption How AI is shifting from hype to helpful through applied machine learning and predictive tools Ways to keep multidisciplinary teams aligned and trained as technology evolves Why communication and collaboration matter more than ever in achieving digital transformation   MEET OUR GUEST Jason Douglas is a CAD Manager at ISG, with roots in civil design and a passion for practical tech. After starting in architectural drafting, he shifted to civil, became a go-to champion for software adoption, and now leads standards, support, and training across platforms like Civil 3D and ACC—lately extending automation with Dynamo to boost team efficiency. TODD TAKES Connected Workflows Are Becoming Real For years we've talked about connected construction as a vision. Now, with tools like Forma and Revit integrating more tightly with Civil 3D and ACC, we're seeing the walls between disciplines start to come down. This isn't theory anymore—it's the beginning of a truly unified way to design, build, and manage projects. Partnerships Drive Practical Innovation Innovation isn't just about software features; it's about the relationships and support that make technology adoption possible. The right partner listens, responds quickly, and helps translate tools into outcomes. That kind of support accelerates adoption and creates measurable productivity gains across teams. AI and Automation Need to Deliver Value AI has dominated headlines, but the real impact comes when it moves from hype to reality. Practical applications—whether through automation in ACC, Dynamo scripts in Civil 3D, or predictive insights—are what will change daily workflows. The key is building trust in the technology so it's seen as a time-saver, not a risk.   More Resources  Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating and/or review and follow up our social accounts. Bridging the Gap Website Bridging the Gap LinkedIn Bridging the Gap Instagram Bridging the Gap YouTube Todd's LinkedIn   Thank you to our sponsors! Graitec North America Graitec North America LinkedIn Autodesk's Website   Other Relevant Links: Jason's LinkedIn ISG Website

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics: Post Holidays Follow-Up What should be the focus of our work during these first days of Cheshvan? Why do the revelations of Tishrei, specifically on Shemini Atzeres, give birth only on Pesach? And if that's the case, what does our avodah entail during these months? Can MarCheshvan also mean Gmar Cheshvan? Why the need for Tohu? Why does G-d elaborate on the place of Abraham's departure (lech lecha m'artzecha, um'moladetecha um'beis avicha) and is vague about his destination (el ha'aretz asher er'echa)? Why was it important for Abraham to leave his land, birthplace, and parents' home? What are the three types of subjectivity that impede your ability to discover your true self and move forward in life?  Is “G-d speaking to Abraham” literal or metaphorical? Was Terach an abusive father? Was Abraham the first Jew? How do we explain “those that bless you shall be blessed”? Who was Melchizedek King of Salem? Why was the priesthood taken from him due to his blessing Abraham before G-d? What is the significance of adding a hei to Abram and changing his name to Abraham? What was the bris bein ha'besarim? Why does the Torah not tell us specifics about Abraham's great deeds and only uses hints that seem materialistic (about his wealth, cattle, battle victories, travels)? What can we learn from Yishmael about Hamas and the Arab/Muslim world today?  What was the sin of building the Tower of Babel? What do we learn from the fact that G-d stopped their conspiracy by confusing their languages and disrupting their unity? How can we express our gratitude to G-d for his blessings in releasing the last hostages safely? What should we do about the upcoming NYC mayoral election? Are we allowed to pray and write notes to the Ohel asking for brochos that Mamdani should not win the election?Lech Lecha Noach  Hostages Freed New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani 

In this episode of Manufacturing Unscripted, host Peter Parsons talks with Ryan Hamze, Director at ISG, about the exciting transition the manufacturing industry is making from Industry 3.0 into the worlds of Industry 4.0 and 5.0. Ryan shares his optimistic perspective on how emerging technologies are shaping the future of manufacturing and why now is such a pivotal moment for the industry. The conversation covers the role of AI in manufacturing systems, including how it may transform jobs, processes, and the overall workforce. Ryan also highlights the successes — and struggles — companies face as they navigate the leap from outdated systems into advanced, digitally connected operations. If you're curious about the future of manufacturing, the impact of AI, or what career opportunities lie ahead as the industry evolves, this episode is packed with insight you won't want to miss.  Watch on Youtube --> https://youtu.be/WgtQRH628CE  @Ryan Hamze @Peter Parsons  @Promess  #ManufacturingUnscripted #Industry40 #Industry50 #SmartManufacturing #AIinManufacturing #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfWork #ManufacturingCareers #PeterParsons #RyanHamze #ManufacturingPodcast 

Rückenbeschwerden haben viele Facetten. Psychologin Catrin Marnitz erklärt, welche Rolle unsere Gedanken dabei spielen. Und wie wir selbst anhaltenden Schmerzen begegnen können. Wir freuen uns über Kritik, Anregungen und Vorschläge! Per Mail an smarterleben@spiegel.de oder auch per WhatsApp an +49 151 728 29 182. Mehr Infos: Buch: Ein gesunder Rücken ist auch Kopfsache Catrin Marnitz: ruecken-zentrum.de DER SPIEGEL (+): Wie Sie wirklich Ihren Rücken stärken Smarter leben: Rückenschmerzen – Warum Bewegung und Psyche wichtig sind+++ Alle Infos zu unseren Werbepartnern finden Sie hier. Die SPIEGEL-Gruppe ist nicht für den Inhalt dieser Seite verantwortlich. +++ Den SPIEGEL-WhatsApp-Kanal finden Sie hier. Alle SPIEGEL Podcasts finden Sie hier. Mehr Hintergründe zum Thema erhalten Sie mit SPIEGEL+. Entdecken Sie die digitale Welt des SPIEGEL, unter spiegel.de/abonnieren finden Sie das passende Angebot. Informationen zu unserer Datenschutzerklärung.

Do you have moments that feel out of character? Is G-d calling you to enter His presence more? Join guest speaker Rabbi Dr. Bruce Tucker of Congregation Beth Judah in Ormond Beach, Florida, as he encourages us to pursue G-d and receive His love at every turn, because G-d wants to keep us closer. He is faithful to keep His promises, and we should put forth our best effort to give Him our all in return. Be blessed as we prepare for the High Holy Days!Psalm 8.6; Numbers 22.1; Deuteronomy 26.1-2; Deuteronomy 26.5; Deuteronomy 26.9-11; Deuteronomy 28.69; Deuteronomy 29.1-5; Deuteronomy 29.8; Jude 1.20-21; Jude 1.24-25; Revelation 1.4-8Prayer Requests or send an email to info@bethhallel.orgCBH WebsiteDonateYouTube Channel

“To boldly go where no SIM has gone before.” That was the theme at the Advantix booth during ScanSource Partner First, where Ansley Hoke, Senior Vice President of ScanSource's Integrated Solutions Group (ISG), joined Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, to discuss the company's expanding role in wireless connectivity. Hoke explained that Advantix, now part of ScanSource's ISG, is the multi-carrier wireless connectivity arm of the business, designed to help partners extend connectivity beyond the four walls with WAN-enabled devices. Through ScanSource's distribution facilities, partners can provision physical SIMs or eSIMs directly into devices, kit them, and ship them to end customers—streamlining deployment and reducing friction. The integration of Advantix into ISG reflects ScanSource's commitment to delivering recurring revenue services and enabling partners to compete more effectively in the growing mobility market. With Advantix's always-on, multi-carrier SmartSIM technology, end users are assured seamless connectivity regardless of carrier or coverage area. To simplify adoption, Advantix provides a full suite of enablement resources and training videos, alongside a revamped website to support partners with onboarding and activation. As Hoke emphasized, “It is really seamless on being able to onboard quickly and get the activations working out of the box.” For more information, visit scansource.com or explore resources directly at advantixsolutions.com.

“Our charter is to make it easy for our partners to add,” says Ansley Hoke, Senior Vice President of ScanSource's Integrated Solutions Group (ISG). In a conversation with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, at ScanSource Partner First, Hoke outlined how the newly launched ISG is designed to help partners expand their technology stacks, increase margins, and enter new markets with less complexity. The ISG brings together software, services, and next-generation products—from connectivity and deployment solutions to robotics, AI-driven worker safety software, and private cellular networks. At the show, ScanSource unveiled LaunchPoint, a dedicated team within ISG focused on scouting and scaling emerging technologies such as smart carts, drones, robotics, and AI applications. Hoke emphasized that ISG is not just about introducing new products but also about enabling services-based revenue models. Through simplified onboarding, enablement resources, and flexible deployment and billing models, partners can more easily add recurring revenue opportunities without being burdened by complexity. A key showcase at Partner First was ScanSource's Smart Warehouse Solution, which integrates advanced technologies like robotics and AI with core warehouse systems. This “smart series” approach provides a blueprint for partners to expand into vertical markets by layering innovation onto existing infrastructure. Importantly, ISG supports both current and new partners. For organizations not yet working with ScanSource, Hoke highlighted the company's dedicated onboarding team that helps accelerate engagement and adoption. “We just want to make sure that we are an accelerator engine for them to grow,” she said. For more information, visit scansource.com and explore the Integrated Solutions Group section.

Is Göbekli Tepe where the Garden of Eden was located? Is there any biblical significance to the Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey?

If you grew up in the '90s, there's a good chance Matilda made you believe two things: libraries are magical, and adults DEFINITELY don't always know best... The 1996 movie, adapted from Roald Dahl's classic book, gave us a hero who wasn't loud or flashy - but smart, kind, and quietly powerful. Oh, and she had telekinesis. So yeah, iconic. In this episode, we dive into why Matilda still hits all these years later. From the hilariously awful Wormwoods to the nightmare-fuel that is Miss Trunchbull, it's a story that balances dark humor with real heart. But beyond the fantasy, there's something incredibly real about a kid discovering her voice and the courage to use it. Whether you're an educator, a parent, or just someone who remembers rewinding the chocolate cake scene way too many times, this one's worth revisiting. Join us as we unpack what Matilda can still teach us about agency, learning, and the power of finding just one person who believes in you.   Takeaways: Miss Trunchbull's classroom is fear-based, while Miss Honey's is nurturing, and that contrast highlights just how much learning environments shape students' confidence and curiosity. Miss Honey shows the life-changing impact a caring, attentive educator can have. A single person believing in a student's potential can rewrite their story. Bruce Bogtrotter vs. the giant chocolate cake is one of the most memorable scenes in Matilda—and not just because it's grossly hilarious. It's a perfect metaphor for standing up to power. What starts as a cruel punishment turns into a full-on moment of triumph, as the entire student body silently shifts from fear to cheering him on.       About Charlotte Nienhaus, AIA: Charlotte Nienhaus is an architect at ISG based in southern MN with 10 years of experience in the industry. She specializes in education design and enjoys helping school districts maximize student environments through architecture. Through the years, Charlotte has completed projects from small interior renovations all the way up to complete K-12 new builds and has found a niche in working with smaller rural school districts to help bring the same opportunities to those students as larger districts are able to offer.   Learn More About Charlotte Nienhaus, AIA: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-nienhaus-aia-848ba8104/   Learn More About ISG: Website: https://www.isginc.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ISGInc1973 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isginc1973/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/isginc/ X: https://x.com/isginc1973         Connect with host, Kevin Stoller: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinstoller/   Connect with co-host, Carla Cummins: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-cummins-01449659/   Learn More About Kay-Twelve: Website: https://kay-twelve.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kay-twelve-com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kay_twelve/       Episode 239 of the Better Learning Podcast Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.     For more information on our partners: Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) - https://www.a4le.org/ Education Leaders' Organization - https://www.ed-leaders.org/ Second Class Foundation - https://secondclassfoundation.org/ EDmarket - https://www.edmarket.org/ Catapult @ Penn GSE - https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/ Want to be a Guest Speaker? Request on our website

Is your HR tech stack fixing real business problems, or just fuelling the shiny object hype? With new HR technologies arriving faster than ever, many organisations are quick to jump on the next big thing. But in the rush to modernise, are we losing sight of the real business problems we're meant to be solving? In this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, host David Green is joined by Matthew Brown, Director of Research, HCM at ISG, whose diverse career spans practitioner, former Chief People Officer, and now respected industry analyst. And together they tackle a fundamental question: Are we truly leveraging HR technology to create business value, or are we just keeping up with trends? Tune in and join them as they explore: Why the disconnect between HR and tech adoption persists, and how to bridge it The risks of adopting AI without clear business purpose Why data quality remains an overlooked but critical obstacle What HR tech vendors should be doing to ethically upskill their customers When reimplementation of existing systems may be a smarter choice than replacement How to distinguish genuine tech partners from transactional vendors If you're questioning whether your HR tech strategy is driving real results or just driving activity, this conversation, sponsored by HiBob, offers timely insight, practical guidance, and fresh perspective from both sides of the industry. HiBob is a fast-growing new leader in the HCM market. In fact, according to HR tech guru Josh Bersin, HiBob is one of the few SaaS companies that have successfully cracked the code on user experience. Josh Bersin says that Bob is not only feature-rich but genuinely enjoyable to use. Read his review of Bob--as an HR tech analyst and user--at www.hibob.com/davidgreen2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

GlobalLogic Inc., a Hitachi Group Company, has been named a Leader in the ISG Provider Lens Digital Engineering Services 2025 by Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm. This recognition highlights GlobalLogic's strengths in delivering innovative digital engineering solutions across a wide range of services and industries. The 2025 ISG Provider Lens Digital Engineering Services report provides a comprehensive assessment of leading service providers' capabilities in digital engineering, evaluating their strengths and positioning in key areas like Design & Development, Integrated Customer/User Engagement, Intelligent Operations, and Platform and Application Services across the U.S. This year's report finds that the U.S. digital engineering landscape is undergoing a major transformation, driven by the rapid infusion of generative and agentic AI into engineering workflows. GlobalLogic's recognition as a Leader in all four quadrants in the U.S. underscores its ability to meet these demands, fuelled in part by its recent launch of VelocityAI, which powers the entire software development lifecycle, enhances digital product engineering, and enables organisations to improve operations and monetize data. This recognition showcases GlobalLogic's expertise in delivering innovative solutions across areas like AI-powered customer experiences, cloud-native intelligent operations, and responsible product design. GlobalLogic was recognised as a Leader in the U.S. for all four quadrants: Design & Development (Products, Services, and Experiences) GlobalLogic accelerates product innovation through advanced design and development services, combining digital advisory with model-based system engineering. Leveraging tools for rapid product concept evaluation and concept prioritisation, GlobalLogic delivers human-centred and data-driven digital experiences, while GlobalLogic VelocityAI accelerates design-to-code workflows. The company's focus on digital product design, UX, and collaborative innovation labs enables clients to rapidly prototype and bring impactful digital products to market. Integrated Customer/User Engagement GlobalLogic enhances customer engagement by delivering immersive digital experiences and AI-powered service automation. Leveraging connected product services for remote monitoring, automating knowledge management, and offering personalised aftermarket experiences through intelligent analytics, GlobalLogic helps businesses continuously improve product functionality and build stronger customer connections via cloud-based CX platforms. "GlobalLogic impresses by using analytics and AI to offer services and recommendations that personalise aftermarket experiences for individuals," says Dr. Tapati Bandopadhyay, an analyst at ISG. Intelligent Operations GlobalLogic is revolutionising operations by treating data as a strategic asset, leveraging cloud-based solutions and AI-powered automation to enhance operational efficiencies, drive innovation, and improve user experiences for both customers and employees across industries like manufacturing, retail, and healthcare. Operating at the intersection of design, engineering, and intelligence, GlobalLogic accelerates its clients' journey to becoming Intelligent Enterprises. "GlobalLogic's digital operations leverage cloud technologies, GenAI, and automation to accelerate product manufacturing and optimise engineering processes," Bandopadhyay adds. Platform and Application Services GlobalLogic drives rapid platform modernisation with its Platform-of-Platforms architecture and prebuilt accelerators, and integrates AI to create intelligent algorithmic applications for more personalised and effective connected experiences. GlobalLogic accelerates platform development with VelocityAI, automating code generation and system upgrades. "We are honoured to be recognised by ISG for our leadership and innovation in digital engineering," says Sumit Sood, H...

Join us for a unique episode recorded live on a pontoon on the beautiful Lake Washington! Our guest, Chuck Brandel, is the Chair of the Lake Washington Improvement Association and Vice President - National Agriculture Drainage Expert at ISG. We discuss the importance of community-driven efforts to maintain and improve lake health, explore the challenges of managing water quality in the face of environmental pressures, and share actionable steps residents can take to protect their local lakes.Tune in for an inspiring conversation about the intersection of engineering, stewardship, and community.Learn more about the improvement association here: https://www.lakewashingtonmn.com

Jim Jones has over 50 years of baseball coaching experience at the youth, high school, college, semi-pro and international levels. He served as assistant coach at Stanford University before becoming head coach at the University of Wyoming and St. Mary's College (CA). Presently he is retired from teaching, is assistant golf coach at Oregon Tech and is PastPresident of International Sports Group, Inc. In 1991, Jim began his international experience by becoming coach in residence in Czechoslovakia as part of a joint IBA-MLBI program. Following that “Lone Ranger” assignment, he served with Bill Arce as MLBI's Co-coordinator of Game Development in Europe. His duties there allowed him to over-see the selection and evaluation of Envoy Coaches assigned to various European federations as well as overseeing many of MLBI's winter coaches' clinics. When his MLB duties took him further away from the baseball field and into the administration offices, Jim decided he wanted to return to activities that allowed him to work directly with European coaches and players. That desire allowed him to take a new path in international baseball. Since that return to the field, he has worked with baseball federations in the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Holland, Croatia and Portugal. He has served as an instructor, manager and assistant coach at all levels from Cadets through the Senior level of play. At the 2006 European Baseball Coaches Association's winter convention, Jim received EBCA's Achievement Award in recognition of his work in European Baseball since the early 1990's. He also has received MLB's Julio Puente Award for his outstanding work as an MLB Envoy Coach From 2005 to 2009, Coach Jones worked with the Spanish Baseball Federation working with coaches and players in clubs and camps - as well as serving as the pitching and catching coach from the Cadet, Junior and Senior National Teams. Following his work in Spain, Coach Jones worked 5 years with the French Baseball Academies in Toulouse, Rouen, Montpellier, Bretagne and Talence, helping them prepare for various up-coming international tournaments. During June 2010, while back in the USA, Jim served as head coach of the Armed Forces team, US9, during an exhibition tour in Western Wisconsin. An additional international opportunity arose in 1998 when he joined with Bill Arce and International Sports Group to take over the administration of the winter baseball and softball clinics. The demand for coaching clinics remains high in Europe and ISG is committed to fulfill that game development need with the help of outside sponsorship. Jim served as ISG's president until he chose to step back on his administrative duties. He remains as an active board member of this important organization. Jim has had the opportunity to work with players of all ages and coaches from many European countries and Canada as well as staging baseball camps in New Zealand. These experiences combine with his USA coaching to give him a strong background to help game development programs in those federations desiring outside assistance. Jim and his wife, Sally, have two grown sons, Don and Mickey and a grandson Kalliah Creek

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:Yud Shevat – 75 Years  What is the significance of this milestone?  How does Basi L'Gani capture the central theme and mission of our seventh generation?  What lessons do we learn from chapter 15 of Basi L'Gani?  What is the chiddush that the most hidden treasures – l'maaleh maaleh ad ayn kaytz – are splurged on to the foot soldiers empowering them to be victorious over the enemies?  What did each Rebbe add to the understanding of tzimtzum?  Why did the maamar Basi L'Gani 5745 create a buzz by Chassidim?  What are the practical applications of knowing that there are tzimtzumim before the tzimtzum ha'rishon (as explained in Basi L'Gani 5745)?  What does chassidus mean when it refers to Hashem's essence as light – etzem ha'ohr?  Why is ohr so fundamental in uniting G-d with existence?  What's the point of knowing that G-d is so great that we can never really know him?  Can we say that spreading the teachings of Chassidus by the Rebbeim is an expression of “splurging the treasures” (bizbuz ha'otzros)?   How do we apply the statement that all sevenths are precious?  If the Alter Rebbe opposed France and the West, why did the Frierdiker Rebbe settle in the United States?  What's the best way to receive a response from the Rebbe today? What is the central theme of this Torah chapter?  What personal and global lessons does it offer us?  Can we apply the continuing story of exodus to the hostages today?   Is G-d hardening the hearts of Hamas?  Does the recent release of some hostages reflect the energy of redemption we read about in these weekly portions? How do we tap into this energy?  Once G-d promised Jacob that He Himself would redeem him and his children, why did He appoint Moshe to lead the Jews out of Egypt? 

As BTR concludes, here are some highlights from a career that began in 2008 to 2025. Thanks for all the listens. The shows are available @Wanda's Picks at iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wandas-picks/id297197493 and via Spreaker at https://www.spreaker.com/tags/wandaspicks. Stay in touch. I am revamping my website, wandaspicks.com However, you can email me there as well as follow my interviews and commentary on YouTube.com/wandaspicks and FB, ISG, X or TW @wandaspicks My blog is wandasabir.blogspot.com  Be well! Stay present. God is change. We shape God with our beingness. Stay present. We matter, as in elemental, like the sun and the air and the starlight. Planets don't blink, but people do. Don't travel alone. 

In this special breaking analysis, we're pleased to host our fourth annual data predictions power panel with some of our collaborators in the CUBE Collective and members of the Data Gang. Joining theCUBE Research's Dave Vellante are five of the top industry analysts focused on data platforms. Sanjeev Mohan of Sanjmo, Tony Baer of dbInsight, recent IDC graduate Carl Olofson, the always engaging Dave Menninger, who is with ISG, and Brad Schimmin with Omdia.Follow theCUBE's live event coverage https://www.thecube.net/Their discussion focuses on the rapid transformation of the technology and data landscape, driven by advancements in AI and accelerated computing. They also analyze market trends, highlighting the increasing dominance of machine learning and AI in enterprise spending priorities. For daily news for CIOs, check out our parent publication at https://siliconangle.com/In addition, they explore emerging technologies such as inference-time data consumption, the evolution of AI-driven enterprise applications and the importance of metadata management. The conversation also turns to the growing security challenges associated with AI implementation and the need for better tools to manage and protect AI systems effectively.Be sure to follow Dave's weekly Breaking Analysis podcast as well, for the deep data dives on enterprise computing trends, from spending patterns to Wall Street implications.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLenh213llmcZMTRZKjnAwesSCiuLQT21E#theCUBE #BreakingAnalysis #theCUBEResearch #CUBECollective #TechPredictions #DataGang

Goldman Sachs' Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, head of the Investment Strategy Group (ISG) and chief investment officer of Goldman Sachs Wealth Management, shares ISG's 2025 outlook, Keep on Truckin', and why the team's long-held investment recommendations—US preeminence and staying invested—remain intact. 

A recent survey by ISG indicates that nearly two-thirds of executives in the Americas and Europe are utilizing MSPs for their AI initiatives, with enterprise spending on these projects expected to rise by 50% in 2025. Sobel highlights the shift towards smaller, domain-specific AI models, which are anticipated to become mainstream as organizations seek more cost-effective and efficient solutions tailored to their specific needs.Host Dave Sobel elaborates on the advantages of small language models, which require less computing power and can be trained more quickly than their larger counterparts. Major tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google are already developing these models for applications such as marketing and customer support. This trend presents MSPs with opportunities to pivot from generic IT services to specialized, process-driven support, focusing on process reengineering and small AI model specialization to meet the evolving demands of enterprises.The episode also covers recent developments from OpenAI, including the launch of ChatGPT Pro, which features an upgraded reasoning model, O1. This new model promises enhanced performance in coding and mathematics, while OpenAI's new text-to-video AI model, Sora, allows users to generate videos from text. Sobel notes that while these advancements are exciting, they come with challenges, particularly regarding the potential for deceptive behavior in AI models, as highlighted by recent research.Finally, Sobel discusses the broader implications of AI adoption in the enterprise sector, emphasizing the need for a sustainable revenue model as the industry faces high operational costs and legal challenges. He raises critical questions about the right applications for AI and the importance of profitability across the supply chain. As businesses increasingly integrate AI to enhance efficiency, Sobel encourages listeners to remain informed about the strengths and limitations of AI technologies, particularly in high-stakes environments.Four things to know today00:00 MSPs Drive Generative AI Adoption as Enterprise Spending on AI Projects Grows by 50% by 202505:15 ChatGPT Pro Debuts with Enhanced o1 Model: IT Services Brace for Advanced AI in Coding and Decision-Making 09:50 Domain-Specific AI: How Shopping Agents and 15-Day Forecasts Highlight Contrasting Use Cases11:42 Generative AI at a Crossroads: Balancing Practical Applications with Sustainable Revenue Models  Supported by:  https://tdsynnex.com/StreamOneIonhttps://www.huntress.com/mspradio/   All our Sponsors: https://businessof.tech/sponsors/ Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/ Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/ Want to be a guest on Business of Tech: Daily 10-Minute IT Services Insights? Send Dave Sobel a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/businessoftech Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com Follow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftechBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/businessof.tech

Guiding Question: How do we develop compassion for ourselves, compassion for others, and compassion for nature, and how might we turn that compassion into action? Key Takeaways:Connecting the Japanese philosophy Wabi Sabi with compassion for selfThe importance of compassion in school and cultivating a culture of compassionPeer to peer learning - multi-grade level collaboration to deepen our learning***Stick around until the end of the episode for some amazing student reflectionsIf you have enjoyed the podcast please take a moment to subscribe, and also please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. The way the algorithm works, this helps our podcast reach more listeners. Thanks from IC for your support. Learn more about how Inspire Citizens co-designs customized student leadership and changemakers programsConnect with more stories from the Inspire Citizens network in our vignettesAccess free resources for global citizenship educationYou can book a discovery call with Inspire Citizens at this linkShare on social media using #EmpathytoImpactEpisode Summary On this episode, I am off to Saudi Arabia to connect with middle school students from ISG. My guests on this episode are Maria, Hyeonsu, Amelia, and Sarah. At the time of recording, they were all in grade 7 except for Maria, who was in 8th grade. These students are part of the Compassion Club at the American School of Dhahran and have been working on a project called Operation Kindness. Join us as we talk about a recent compassion workshop with Inspire Citizens facilitator Ivy Yan, and about how they were able to design a multi-grade-level collaboration working with fourth graders and first graders at their school.A big shout out to Magic Mind for sponsoring this episode. Get Magic Mind at 50% off with this Black Friday offer, available only through my link until December 6th: https://magicmind.com/impactltbfDiscover a transformative podcast on education and learning from a student perspective and student voice, exploring media, media literacy, and media production to inspire citizens in schools through a media lab focused on 21st-century learning, empathy to impact, Global citizenship, collaboration, systems thinking, service learning, PBL, CAS, MYP, PYP, DP, Service as Action, futures thinking, project-based learning, sustainability, well-being, harmony with nature, community engagement, experiential learning, and the role of teachers and teaching in fostering well-being and a better future.

Welcome to another episode of The Chief Strategy Officer Podcast. Today's discussion centers on one of the most transformative and rapidly evolving topics in business— artificial intelligence.  We're joined by three distinguished strategy leaders --- Joanne Sheppard of Holtzbrinck, Ed Knapp from American Tower, and Prashant Kelker of ISG, who bring unique perspectives about how organizations can think strategically about making investments in AI to minimize risk and maximize ROI.  In this episode, our guests explore the critical considerations for integrating AI into corporate strategy, from navigating the fast-changing AI landscape to evaluating the infrastructure and ethical implications. They share insights on how their organizations are leveraging AI for operational efficiency, data-driven innovation, and enhancing customer experiences. Things We Will Cover: The three areas that you as a CSO should consider applying AI to in your organization. How organizations can build strong data infrastructure that supports AI and enables responsible innovation. Practical steps for CSOs to stay informed and strategically engaged with AI without needing deep technical expertise. Join us to learn how other strategists are navigating the complexities of investing in and implementing AI solutions for their organizations.   Learn more about Outthinker's community of chief strategy officers - https://outthinkernetwork.com/ Follow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/outthinker-networks

Have you got your tickets for Watts Occurring Live? Come for a night out with Luke and G at the Lowry Theatre in Salford on November 8th. The last tickets are available here: https://premier.ticketek.co.uk/shows/show.aspx?sh=GERAINT24 Did you catch the Gravel World Championships this weekend? It was a cracking race, won by the multi-disciplinary weapon that is Mathieu van der Poel. The British gravel champ Connor Swift battled to a very impressive sixth in amongst the Belgian mafia - and as an INEOS Grenadier, the boys thought it was time to get him on the pod to learn all about the inner workings of a major gravel race. Is G tempted to give it a bash, as Connor's wingman?! With a bit of peer pressure, we think it could happen... We loved having Connor on the pod - and realised we should have done this years ago. Ledge. And, as you'll have heard at the start of the pod, Luke will be on stage at Rouleur Live this November, on Friday 15th - and we've got a cheeky 10% off tickets for Watts Occurring listeners. Use code Watts10 at rouleur.cc/collections/rouleur-live-tickets. We'll be back next week with a big Lombardia review. See you then. Watts Occurring is powered by Eurosport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we're digging into The B1M's recent video "Saudi Arabia Built a $16BN Clock Tower". The Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia pushes engineering to the extreme.This episode is sponsored by Trimble Construction. Learn more about Trimble here: https://bit.ly/3XD3iNNLater in the episode, we cover:World's second tallest building confirmed for Dubai = https://www.instagram.com/p/C_0hmwrsPpe/?img_index=1Nashville's new skyscraper = https://www.instagram.com/p/C_tU8WCO-jS/?img_index=1We end the show with an email from Ryan Fullwood who asks about the ISG collapse.Join Fred for the Construction Mental Health Summit - https://bit.ly/4dZnLBBGet in touch! Podcast@TheB1M.comwww.TheB1M.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you have enjoyed the podcast please take a moment to subscribe, and also please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. The way the algorithm works, this helps our podcast reach more listeners. Thanks from IC for your support. Thinking of developing compassion in your classroom? Collaborate with Inspire Citizens and check out Inspired Coaching opportunities, Inspired Experiences, and other ways to partner with usFor more information or to register for the Inspire Citizens Global Citizenship Certificate click hereYou can book a discovery call with Inspire Citizens at this linkShare on social media using #EmpathytoImpactEpisode Summary At the American School of Dhahran, an ISG school in Saudi Arabia, there is an initiative to develop compassion in the middle school. In collaboration with Ivy Yan from Inspire Citizens, students participated in workshops that focused on compassion for self, compassion for others and compassion for nature. From there, students collaborated in groups to design projects, within their school, based on compassion. The student-led initiative that we are focusing on in this episode is Flipping the Switch for a Better Day led by grade 8 students, Apoovra, Maazen, and Rishi. Listen to learn more.

On this episode of the Six Five Webcast, host Paul Nashawaty is joined by Jen Aspesi, Sr. Consultant DevOps and Automation Marketing for ISG at Dell Technologies. Jen shares her profound insights on the pivotal role of Infrastructure as Code, the emerging trends in Platform Engineering, and the transformative impact of Generative AI in advancing DevOps practices. Their discussion covers: Summarize the following into one short sentence: The evolution and growing importance of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in DevOps. Key strategies and best practices for implementing effective Platform Engineering. The integration and influence of Generative AI technologies in DevOps workflows. The future outlook of DevOps with the rise of Generative AI and automation technologies. Insights into how organizations can adapt to these changes to enhance their DevOps capabilities.  

Naomi Ionita and Derek Xiao are investors at Menlo Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's most successful and storied venture capital funds. Menlo has backed over 80 public companies, manages over $5 billion in assets, and has been a pillar of the VC community for an astonishing 47 years. You likely know many of Menlo's recent high-profile investments in companies like Anthropic, Chime, and Harness and historical investments such as 3Com, Hotmail, and Roku. Naomi and Derek recently led the firm's publication of a 3,500-word report chronicling the state of generative AI in the enterprise.In this episode, we discussHow they decide what to invest in The tripling of budgets for AI projects by 2025, according to a report from ISG and GleanEnterprise leaders face challenges in proving ROI and building trust in AI solutions.The top use cases for AI investment include customer service and enterprise searchMenlo Ventures' perspective on the current state of VC and the opportunities in AI investing.Insights from Menlo Ventures' report on generative AI in the enterprise, including barriers to adoption and the potential for transformationThe broader societal impacts and considerations of AI adoption in business and technology.ResourcesThe Menlo Ventures Enterprise AI reportMenlo Ventures websiteFun fact article 

Goldman Sachs' Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, head of the Investment Strategy Group (ISG) and chief investment officer of GS Wealth Management, shares ISG's 2024 outlook, America Powers On, and her recommendations for clients in the year ahead.

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:What is our overall responsibility during this time of war in Israel? Are there parallels between the current battles and events that transpired in the Egyptian exile?  What does this week's Torah portion teach us about today's war?  What can we learn from the fact that G-d revealed the name Havaya specifically to Moshe in Egypt and not to the Patriarchs?  What does this teach us about darkness and about challenge?  Why are there four expressions of freedom?  Why did G-d not just redeem the Jews quickly and in one move? Why did it need to be a prolonged process?   Same question today: Why can't G-d just grant Israel a quick victory?  What can we learn from Moshe looking around and then slaying the Egyptian striking a Jew?  What is someone called a “rasha” when only raising his hand against another? What do we learn from this about our present enemies?  Can we compare Jewish antisemites to Dasan and Aviram?  Why did Hashem ask Moshe “what is in your hand?” What is the significance of Moshe's staff?  Is G-d hardening the hearts of Hamas as he did Pharoah's?  Will Hashem bring ten plagues upon Hamas and their supporters?    Should we encourage the Gazans to move elsewhere?  Should we be publicly protesting the atrocities and abuses perpetrated against women?  Is it appropriate to publicly insult the enemy?  Should we threaten to destroy their mosques?  How do we properly channel anger toward our enemies?  What should we make of the Turkish parliament member who died after cursing the Jews?  How should we react to miracle stories coming out of Israel?  Why not place a curse on our enemies?  Why not build a golem?  Can we use supernatural means in times of emergency?  Does Tof Shin Pey Daled stand for T'hei Shnas Palestinian Demise?  Should we be looking for astrological signs to explain today's events?  Does Basi L'Gani offer us any lessons for today?  What does it teach us about times of war? 

Dr Jordan B Peterson and Stephen J Shaw discuss the Birthgap, a term recently coined by Shaw– and the subject of his new documentary by the same name. In this interview, they examine the long building but invisible causes of what may be the most pressing issue facing the western world in the next few decades. Worst case scenario: total societal collapse due to a lack of new children being born, and a rise in senior citizens living longer. Stephen is a British national who has studied and lived on three continents. He trained as a computer engineer and then as a data scientist before starting his first film project, “Birthgap,” at age 49. He is president and co-founder of the data analytics company, Autometrics Analytics LLC. Stephen holds an MBA graduate business degree from ISG in Paris, France, and is continuing his studies at Harvard Extension School.

Welcome back to the Mommy-Dome! Tom Segura and Christina P are back in Los Angeles and reminisce about past studio sets and deals that never happened. We watch a cool guy at a gas station who's looking for girls, Senator Josh Hawley's confrontation during a reproductive rights hearing, and Garth crying over loving his fans... Is G an R?Then we welcome comedian and podcaster, Andrew Schulz! Go to https://theandrewschulz.com/ to check out his brand new special! Andrew and the mommies talk about YouTube VS Netflix specials, Andrew's recipe for conquering the internet, and Andrew "Cobra" Tate. We talk about what made Andrew self release his comedy special, Ted Bundy, Garth Brooks, and the triumphant return of the popular YMH game: Tom or Black!https://tomsegura.com/tourhttps://christinaponline.com/tour-dateshttps://store.ymhstudios.com/https://www.reddit.com/r/yourmomshousepodcast