Podcast appearances and mentions of James Phillips

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Best podcasts about James Phillips

Latest podcast episodes about James Phillips

The Wild Courage Podcast
JP Phillips, from fighting wars overseas to fighting for what matters most.

The Wild Courage Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2025 161:28


Send us a textThe podcast episode introduces James Phillips, who finds himself transitioning from military life to exploring horsemanship with passion in southeastern Idaho. His life story unfolds with roots in England where he first rode Shetland ponies, and later life in America following a family split. Navigating the emotional rollercoasters of family dynamics, James sought solace in learning and faith, engaging deeply with the lessons from the military and horses. He now channels his energy into being a intentional father and dedicated husband embracing the chaos and beauty of his life.

HC Audio Stories
The Play No One Talks About

HC Audio Stories

Play Episode Listen Later May 16, 2025 4:24


Beacon actors will 'cold read' work Like thousands of actors before him, from Australia to Zimbabwe, Alexander Florez will rip open a sealed manila envelope tonight (May 16) and cold read a 2010 play, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, in the backyard of his Beacon home. Two other performers will take the plunge in yards on Saturday and Sunday. The premise - some call it a gimmick - is that everyone in a confined space takes an hour-long journey akin to a one-off jazz solo. Though details have leaked, audiences and the theater community (including reporters) have kept the broad outline and most revealing moments under wraps. The playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, includes a clause in the contract for producers: "This play is not overtly political and should not be portrayed as such. It operates on a deeper, metaphoric level, and very expressly avoids overt political comment. All media and press agents have to keep in mind that the playwright lives in Iran. We therefore ask the press to be judicious in their reportage." Florez is a math teacher who will never pass muster with the grammar police. He avoids capital letters as an act of resistance and his email tag links to "the case for lowercase" style guide on his website, which includes instructions about turning off caps on devices and in programs. "I have a lot of respect and disdain for academia," he says. "I'm impressed with education but also dismayed with the gatekeeping and barriers to entry. One way to oppress is by making complicated grammar and spelling rules the standard for everyone, even though a select few invented them." Pushback against authority is reflected in the play. According to Soleimanpour, he wrote it after he refused to serve in the Iranian military and the regime denied him a visa to leave the country. (He is now thought to live in Berlin.) The production requires props, but the playwright's website touts the lack of sets, directors and rehearsals. Studying for his practical teaching certificate at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, Florez fell in with the acting crowd (he works at the Manitou School in Philipstown). After bouncing around the Hudson Valley, he moved to Beacon in 2022 and got involved with the improv and comedy scene. White Rabbit Red Rabbit had an off-Broadway run in 2016: Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg and Alan Cumming, among others, unsealed the script and got to work - for the first and last time. Playbill called it "the most-talked about (and least-talked about) new show." Beacon resident Jamie Mulligan read the script to prepare the actors, gather props and make staging suggestions. But per the legal agreement, the plot and other elements may not be divulged or discussed by anyone involved. At first, Florez figured he'd reach out to local performance venues, but Mulligan suggested staging the play at an art gallery, coffeehouse or other offbeat space. James Phillips, a theater professor at Mount Saint Mary, will read in his yard on Saturday and Twinkle Burke walks the high wire on Sunday outside the home of Hannah Brooks (with contingency plans for inclement weather). The play stems from experimental theater of the 1960s, Mulligan says, and "requires the audience and actor to encounter these subjects simultaneously, a connection that creates a level of spark that can only happen when everyone learns about this together." Broad outlines address elements of existential oppression and the role of individuals in society. "Someone told me that every play is about hope, so it places the human condition into primal conflicts, like man versus nature or man versus god," says Mulligan. That so many details have remained a secret for 15 years "speaks to the integrity of theater-makers." White Rabbit Red Rabbit will be performed by Florez at 7 p.m. at 119 Howland Ave. in Beacon, at 7 p.m., on Saturday (May 17) at 24 Willow St. by Phillips and at 3 p.m. on Sunday at 99 E. Main St. by Burke. Tickets are $10 to $32.24 at dub.sh/white-rabbit.

The Maker’s Quest
Influential People That Shaped us Into Makers

The Maker’s Quest

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2024 88:32


In this episode, we talk about influential people who shaped us into makers. Brian and Greg reminisce about people from their past who helped guide them and inspired them as they journeyed along the path of becoming makers. Hosted by Brian Benham Portfolio: https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/ Brian's Woodworking Plans: https://www.digitaldesignconcepts.art/ Brian On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benham_design/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXO8f1IIliMKKlu5PgSpodQ Greg Porter https://skyscraperguitars.com/ Greg On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregsgaragekc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SkyscraperGuitars  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GregsGarage Show Notes Mel's Influence on Greg's Curiosity Greg's grandfather Mel was an influential figure who taught him to pursue his interests and make things himself. Despite having limited resources, Mel built his own house by learning from books and lived in the basement for years while saving money to complete the top floor. Every year, he would take on a project to make something for his grandchildren, like box kites. When Greg expressed interest in having stilts as a child, Mel immediately dropped what he was doing to make a pair with him, exemplifying his willingness to explore new skills and nurture curiosity. Embracing Failure in Creative Endeavors Greg and Brian discussed the importance of allowing children to experience failure in their creative endeavors. Greg shared his childhood experiences of building a skateboard ramp and a pair of stilts, which were not successful but taught him valuable lessons. Brian emphasized the value of spending time with children, even if the projects they work on are not perfect, as it fosters problem-solving and thought processes. They also discussed the concept of failure as a necessary step towards success and the importance of understanding what is acceptable in a project. Both agreed that failure should not be an endpoint but a milestone in the creative process. Mentors and Teachers' Lasting Impact Greg and Brian discussed their experiences with mentors and teachers who had a significant impact on their lives. Brian shared his experiences with his saxophone teacher, James Phillips, who taught him the importance of learning from others and not taking life too seriously. Greg shared his experiences with Mr. Canetto, who taught him about guitar making and the importance of seeing the process of building a guitar from start to finish. Both agreed that these experiences had a profound impact on their lives and shaped their future careers. They also discussed their admiration for guitar makers like Les Godfreed and Lloyd Lohr, who are known for their intricate designs and craftsmanship. Lessons From Craftsmen and Risks Greg and Brian discussed their experiences with craftsmen and the lessons they've learned from them. Greg shared his experiences with Dan Rockhill, a professor who taught him how to weld well and the importance of modifying tools to suit the purpose. Brian shared his experience with a client who had a decommissioned Boeing 727 compressor. They also discussed the importance of learning from others, taking risks, and not letting roadblocks deter them from realizing their vision. They concluded that sometimes, it's necessary to compromise on the design to achieve the desired outcome. Design, Problem-Solving, and Software Evolution Greg shared his experiences and insights about design and problem-solving, emphasizing the importance of not being limited by tools or others' opinions. He recounted a story about a challenging ceiling design that was initially dismissed by a contractor, but was successfully executed by a skilled carpenter. Greg also discussed his evaluation of software for architectural design, highlighting the need for tools that don't hinder creativity. Brian then shared his own experiences of learning from clients and how they pushed him to develop new skills. The conversation ended with a discussion about the software Rhino, which was in its infancy when Greg first encountered it. Lessons Learned and Knowledge Sharing Brian and Greg discussed their experiences and lessons learned from various projects and mentors. Brian shared how clients have pushed him out of his comfort zone and helped him develop new skills. Greg talked about the influence of his wife's family on his construction skills and how they continue to inspire him. They also discussed the importance of learning from others and passing on knowledge to the next generation. Greg shared an example of how he taught a high school student about blacksmithing and machining, hoping to inspire him and potentially change his life trajectory. The conversation ended with Greg expressing his desire to continue teaching and influencing others. Personal Journeys and Entrepreneurial Passions Greg and Brian discussed their personal journeys and the impact of influential people on their lives. Greg shared his experiences as a corporate employee and his plans to retire and focus on his passion for making things. He also mentioned his YouTube channel and his desire to leave a legacy through his work. Brian shared his admiration for Sam Maloof and his aspirations to become a furniture maker, teaching apprentices and creating jobs for them. Both expressed their desire to pass on their knowledge and skills to others, and their passion for entrepreneurship and making things. They ended the conversation with plans for their future endeavors.  

Wild Chaos
#39 - From Combat to Cowboy: James Phillips on Family Legacy, & Life as a Girl Dad after the Corps

Wild Chaos

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2024 225:08 Transcription Available


Tell us what you think!Join us as James Phillips, also known as JW or Phil, shares his incredible journey from growing up on a farm near Stonehenge to serving in the Marine Corps and navigating life beyond the military. From childhood adventures and cultural shifts to building a life as a proud girl dad, homesteader, and family man, James reflects on the pivotal moments that shaped him. He opens up about his dedication to leaving a legacy, being a better husband and father, and raising his daughters with the values of respect, self-worth, and how a man should treat them through his own example. With gripping tales of military operations, survival training, and personal transformation, this episode offers a compelling look at resilience, identity, and living beyond past roles.Follow Wild Chaos on Social Media: ⁠⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildchaosshowYoutube: https://youtube.com/@wildchaos2308?si=8aj6bb-GgcsMhJw7TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@wildchaospodX (Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/thewildchaosMeta (Facebook): ⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/wildchaos/LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/wildchaos

Eastmans' Journal Podcast Edition
From Marine Raider to Rancher with James Phillips

Eastmans' Journal Podcast Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2024 110:03


In episode #54 of the Eastmans' Journal Podcast, host Ike Eastman sits down with former Marine Raider James Phillips “Phil”. The guys talk about their experiences growing up in the U.K. and Phil becoming a Marine. They also delve into Phil's love and passion for ranching and how that has impacted his family and mental well-being after his service. This is a great conversation that we know you will enjoy!   Watch all of the EHJ Podcast episodes:    • Eastmans' Journal Podcast   Eastmans' Journal Podcast Sponsors Kryptek - https://kryptek.com/ Silencer Central - https://www.silencercentral.com/ Team Lodge - https://team-lodge.com/ Sawyer - https://sawyer.com/ Hornady - https://www.hornady.com/ FoldAR - https://foldar.com/ Eberlestock - https://eberlestock.com/

Veterans In Politics by CampaignForce
Col (Retd) James Phillips- The Veterans' Commissioner for Wales

Veterans In Politics by CampaignForce

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2024 60:17


Send us a textColonel (Retd) James Phillips is the first veterans commissioner for Wales.James, who lives in Pembrokeshire, left the Army after serving 33 years, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and the Balkans.He believes Wales has a "long tradition of service and sacrifice".His appointment means Wales joins Northern Ireland and Scotland in having a dedicated commissioner, though at the time of the recording, England is yet to appoint.This was recorded before the General Election and we thank James for his patience.  We had to delay due to the restrictions placed on appointed persons like James, but as you will hear, it was an amazing chat.We cover his lengthy military career as well as what a commissioner's role is.  Don't forget to listen to our host Jonny's 3 key takeaways at the end!Huge thanks to Bags at Bare Arms Support to Film & TV for the lend of the studio.  For more on their work, see here: Bare Arms – Military Advisers to the Theatrical Industries – Film, TV, Theatre, GamesSupport the show✅Support The Show Help Us Grow! Help us reach more veterans by donating the cost of a cup of coffee today...

Statecraft
How to Build the British ARPA

Statecraft

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2024 55:55


Today's interviewee, James Phillips, was formerly the science and tech adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. An acclaimed systems neuroscientist, Phillips helped develop the UK's rapid COVID testing and helped create the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). We discussed:Dominic Cummings' band of “weirdos and misfits”Red-teaming WestminsterWhy you should always be willing to resignThe problem with the British civil serviceProtecting ARIA from mission creepWhether the UK can end economic stagnation This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

The Optimistic American
Is the Supreme Court Doing Congress's Job? The Debate on Judicial Overreach

The Optimistic American

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2024 51:32


In this episode of The Optimistic American, host Paul Johnson sits down with James Phillips, a law professor at BYU and the Constitutional Government Initiative Director at the Wheatley Institute. The conversation dives into Phillips' thought-provoking theory on “juristocracy”—the idea that the Supreme Court has assumed an overactive role in shaping American policy, thereby undermining the role of Congress and, by extension, the people's voice in democracy. Topics Discussed in the Video: The Concept of Juristocracy: James Phillips introduces his concept of juristocracy, explaining how the Supreme Court's expanded role in deciding key political and moral issues is shifting power away from Congress, leading to an imbalance in American democracy. Historical Context and Modern Implications: The discussion explores how the framers of the Constitution envisioned Congress as the most powerful branch, responsible for addressing contentious issues. Phillips uses historical examples, such as the Dred Scott decision and the civil rights movement, to illustrate the dangers of over-relying on the courts. Chevron Doctrine and Judicial Overreach: Phillips and Johnson discuss the Chevron Doctrine and its implications, particularly in how it has allowed agencies to interpret laws, often at the expense of the individual's rights. Phillips argues for a return to a more restrained judicial role, advocating for Congress to reclaim its lawmaking responsibilities. The Impact of Partisan Primaries and Political Polarization: The conversation delves into how the current primary system fosters extreme positions within both major political parties, making compromise and effective legislation more difficult. Phillips suggests reforms that could restore balance and reduce polarization. Originalism, Textualism, and the Future of the Court: Finally, Phillips discusses his originalist and textualist approach to interpreting the Constitution and how this contrasts with both liberal and conservative judicial activism. The episode touches on the growing movement for "common good constitutionalism" and its implications for the future of American jurisprudence.

Rod Arquette Show
Rod Arquette Show: Reaction to Joe Biden's Press Conference; Role of Hispanic Voters in 2024 Election

Rod Arquette Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2024 92:23 Transcription Available


Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown – Friday, July 12, 20244:20 pm: James Phillips, Constitutional Government Initiative Director at BYU's Wheatley Institute joins Rod for a conversation about his piece in the Deseret News about the danger of relying on the Supreme Court to solve problems in America.4:38 pm: Fox News columnist Liz Peek joins Rod to give us her reaction to Joe Biden's performance in yesterday's “big boy” press conference.5:05 pm: Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz joins the program to give us his reaction to Joe Biden's press conference, as well as discuss his piece on efforts by some Democrats to replace Biden as the party's presidential nominee.6:05 pm: Steven Hayward of Powerline joins the program for a conversation about his piece in which he calls the media lazy and degenerate, all stemming from their coverage, or lack thereof, of the Biden administration.6:20 pm: Mary Thomas, Executive Director of the Hispanic Vote Coalition joins the program to discuss the importance of Hispanic voters in the 2024 election.6:38 pm: We'll listen back to Rod's conversations this week with James Varney of Real Clear Investigations, who spoke with Rod and Greg Hughes about educators working to suppress news about sex-assault cases in American schools, and (at 6:50 pm) with Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition about why he says natural gas is a winner for the climate and economy in America.

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson
Inside Sources Full Show July 12th, 2024: Tom Nichols, James Phillips, Veronique de Rugy, Joseph Grenny, and More!

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2024 79:34


Finish this week of news with Boyd Matheson! Boyd dives into the NATO Summit and President Zelensky’s remarks on the National Governors Association meeting. Tom Nichols weighs in on the accusations of the double standard in the media surrounding Biden and Trump. Dive into how we cannot rely on the Supreme Court to solve all of our problems with James Phillips. Veronique de Rugy shares the GOP’s fiscal goals in 2024 and how they would play out in reality. Learn the skills to have crucial conversations with Joseph Grenny and More!

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson
James Phillips: We Shouldn't Rely on the Supreme Court to Solve our Problems

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2024 10:53


We just passed through another slate of Supreme Court decisions, and it predictably led to the same uproar we have seen time and time again. Rather than debate particular rulings or decry our court as an institution, I want to take us around that discussion to the founding principles. What is our highest court for, what is enshrined in the Constitution? And how have we gotten away from that? By relying so much on court litigation to determine our laws, how much has Congress, and we the people, abdicated our responsibility in governance? James Phillips from the Wheatley Institute joins the show.

FinTalk by VERMEG
Shaping Finance: The Role of RegTech, AI, and Data Quality

FinTalk by VERMEG

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2024 19:20


Welcome to FinTalk by Vermeg, the leading podcast in financial services that addresses the most pressing topics in the financial services industry.In this episode, our host Jawad Akhtar is joined by renowned RegTech expert James Phillips. Together, they delve into how technological innovations and regulatory changes are reshaping the financial services landscape.This episode of FinTalk by Vermeg covers:The Role of Technological Innovations: How new technologies are essential for staying competitive in the financial market.The Importance of Data Quality: Discussing why high-quality data is crucial for operational success and compliance.Proactive Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC): Exploring the benefits of adopting a forward-thinking approach to GRC.The Impact and Integration of AI in Compliance: How AI is revolutionising compliance processes in financial services.

The Nonlinear Library
LW - Making every researcher seek grants is a broken model by jasoncrawford

The Nonlinear Library

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2024 5:52


Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Making every researcher seek grants is a broken model, published by jasoncrawford on January 26, 2024 on LessWrong. When Galileo wanted to study the heavens through his telescope, he got money from those legendary patrons of the Renaissance, the Medici. To win their favor, when he discovered the moons of Jupiter, he named them the Medicean Stars. Other scientists and inventors offered flashy gifts, such as Cornelis Drebbel's perpetuum mobile (a sort of astronomical clock) given to King James, who made Drebbel court engineer in return. The other way to do research in those days was to be independently wealthy: the Victorian model of the gentleman scientist. Eventually we decided that requiring researchers to seek wealthy patrons or have independent means was not the best way to do science. Today, researchers, in their role as "principal investigators" (PIs), apply to science funders for grants. In the US, the NIH spends nearly $48B annually, and the NSF over $11B, mainly to give such grants. Compared to the Renaissance, it is a rational, objective, democratic system. However, I have come to believe that this principal investigator model is deeply broken and needs to be replaced. That was the thought at the top of my mind coming out of a working group on "Accelerating Science" hosted by the Santa Fe Institute a few months ago. (The thoughts in this essay were inspired by many of the participants, but I take responsibility for any opinions expressed here. My thinking on this was also influenced by a talk given by James Phillips at a previous metascience conference. My own talk at the workshop was written up here earlier.) What should we do instead of the PI model? Funding should go in a single block to a relatively large research organization of, say, hundreds of scientists. This is how some of the most effective, transformative labs in the world have been organized, from Bell Labs to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. It has been referred to as the "block funding" model. Here's why I think this model works: Specialization A principal investigator has to play multiple roles. They have to do science (researcher), recruit and manage grad students or research assistants (manager), maintain a lab budget (administrator), and write grants (fundraiser). These are different roles, and not everyone has the skill or inclination to do them all. The university model adds teaching, a fifth role. The block organization allows for specialization: researchers can focus on research, managers can manage, and one leader can fundraise for the whole org. This allows each person to do what they are best at and enjoy, and it frees researchers from spending 30-50% of their time writing grants, as is typical for PIs. I suspect it also creates more of an opportunity for leadership in research. Research leadership involves having a vision for an area to explore that will be highly fruitful - semiconductors, molecular biology, etc. - and then recruiting talent and resources to the cause. This seems more effective when done at the block level. Side note: the distinction I'm talking about here, between block funding and PI funding, doesn't say anything about where the funding comes from or how those decisions are made. But today, researchers are often asked to serve on committees that evaluate grants. Making funding decisions is yet another role we add to researchers, and one that also deserves to be its own specialty (especially since having researchers evaluate their own competitors sets up an inherent conflict of interest). Research freedom and time horizons There's nothing inherent to the PI grant model that dictates the size of the grant, the scope of activities it covers, the length of time it is for, or the degree of freedom it allows the researcher. But in practice, PI funding has evol...

Seeking Light Podcast
310. Without CONNECTION you have no INFLUENCE, a families JOURNEY with their transgender child with Monica & James Phillips

Seeking Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2024 71:56


Monica and James raised their young family in Southern California. When their second child came to them in their late teens and shared that they believed they were transgender, Monica and James had entered a world that they were unfamiliar with. As children of God and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they sought personal revelation on how to love their child, show compassion and stay connected. Please join me today as Monica and James share some feelings and experiences over the last eight years with their children that have kept them anchored in Jesus Christ. https://www.northstarsaints.org/ bethnewellcoaching.com bethnewellcoaching@gmail.com

Turn That Sh*t Down
#113 - James Phillips

Turn That Sh*t Down

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2023 60:04


James joins the podcast to discuss creativity, guitar clichés, modern metal, navigating social media, his passion for cars and much more!James' Artist Pick - Caskets - https://www.instagram.com/caskets_bandCHAPTERS0:00 Cash or Pizza?4:31 Why so serious?6:35 What You Put Online8:34 Endorsements17:40 How to grow online 22:10 Pressure and Creativity30:22 How Your Playing has Changed35:15 Pitfalls to avoid in music41:41 Guitar Clichés48:25 Cars54:30 James' Artist Pick57:15 The Next Guest's Question58:48 Finishing UpNew Episodes Mondays and Thursdays - Subscribe for more!Find us on Socials:https://www.instagram.com/ttsdpodhttps://www.instagram.com/joe_rowley_97https://www.tiktok.com/@ttsdpod*About The Podcast*Turn That Sh*t Down hosts some of the most exciting and compelling conversations between host Joe Rowley and a variety of guitarists, drummers, bassists, producers, vocalists and music industry professionals spanning across multiple genres from Heavy Metal, to Rock, Blues and so much more! Topics of conversation tend to include mental health, self improvement, issues in the music industry, trends in heavy metal, guitar playing and more.*Current Credits*Current Credits -  Ryan Roxie (Alice Cooper Band), Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth), Gus G / Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne), Anders Fridn (In Flames), Rob Chapman, James Monteith (Tesseract), Justin Derrico (P!nk), Rabea Massaad, Ben Wells (Black Stone Cherry), Frank Turner, Adam De Micco (Lorna Shore), Joey Sturgis, Lena Scissorhands (Infected Rain), Mike Dawes, Dean Lamb (Archspire), David Davidson (Revocation), Rusty Cooley, Nick Johnston, Baard Kolstad (Leprous) George Lever (Producer), Josh Baines (Malevolence), Cole Rolland, Jacob Umansky (Intervals), Rudy Ayoub, Gabe Mangold (Enterprise Earth), Tim Mills (BareKnuckle Pickups), Simon Dobson (Parallax Orchestra), Craig 'Goonzi' Gowans (Bleed From Within), Mike Malyan / Andy Cizek (Monuments), Eric Steckel, Greg Koch and more!*Affiliate Links*Looking to start a podcast yourself? Head over to Buzzsprout using the link below to claim your FREE $20 Amazon Gift Voucher when you sign up!Buzzsprout - https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1906077*Thanks for reading this far - you're the best.*

Radio Brews News
James Phillips - CGA by NielsenIQ

Radio Brews News

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2023 50:11


This week we're speaking with James Phillips, Client Solutions Director, Australia New Zealand, for CGA by NielsenIQ.  We spoke to James last October for the first time to hear his company's insights as Australia came out of the pandemic economy.  Brews News has recently had a lot of focus on data, and particularly squishy data, so we thought it might be a good idea to go back and speak to James and see what CGA by NielsenIQ is seeing now and how that applies to craft breweries. I also push James to look a little bit beyond just the data and see what analysis he can provide about what's driving some of the things that they are seeing. It's an interesting conversation, especially for businesses negotiating the current market forces and economy. This episode of Beer is a Conversation is presented by HPA. Australia's leading hop grower offers a huge range of Aussie, international and innovative hop products that can help breweries of all sizes become more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable. If you like what we do at Radio Brews News you can help us out by: Sponsoring the show Reviewing us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcasting service Emailing us at producer@brewsnews.com.au to share your thoughts

DIY Musician Podcast
#344: Growing a Band into a Business (with Bombadil)

DIY Musician Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2023 64:03


After 18 years as a band AND business, Bombadil is still going strong. In this "Artist Spotlight" episode of the DIY Musician Podcast, Cristina and Chris interview James Phillips of the independent indie-folk group about their long journey as a recording and touring act, the challenges they faced along the way, and how the keys to their longevity are creative respect, daily habits of collaboration and communication, and treating every aspect of their music like a business. -- Check out Bombadil's music and tour dates. Follow their touring and recording adventures. -- Distribute your music with no annal fees. Plan your successful release with a customized timeline.  Learn how to grow your audience, boost your streams, and build a sustainable music career on your own terms. 

Founded and Funded
Google's James Phillips and Former Tableau CEO Mark Nelson on PLG and Scaling in the Face of Stiff Competition

Founded and Funded

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2023 37:49


This week, investor Aseem Datar is possibly making app dev and product development history with his guests. We've got former Tableau CEO Mark Nelson and James Phillips, the former president of Microsoft who drove the creation of many of the company's most successful products, including, of course, Tableau's number one competitor — Power BI. James was also just named the VP of Google Cloud. Mark and James are both part of the Madrona family, as venture partner and strategic director respectively. And today, we have the rare treat of them together sharing their learnings and experiences about modern app development, data and analytics, product-led growth, and scaling in the face of stiff competition. You won't want to miss this.

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler
Episode 673: Landon Phillips (Transgender) and his Parents (Monica and James Phillips)

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2023 74:19


My friend Landon Phillips and his parents Monica and James Phillips join us to update listeners on Landon's journey (check out Episode 230 for their earlier podcast). Landon talks about getting, as a Christmas gift from his parents, a full genome sequencing kit. Landon, who was assigned female at birth but who transitioned over 5 years ago, got his results in June and learned that he is genetically male with XY chromosomes. The family discusses the impact of receiving these DNA results. Landon doesn't want his story to invalidate the stories of transgender men who don't have XY chromosomes. Landon—so thoughtfully—writes about this in his Facebook post (see show notes). Monica and James share their experience parenting a transgender child—principles that are super helpful for any parent. Monica and James talk about their North Star presentation and the things they are sharing with both parents and local leaders to better support transgender Latter-day Saints. This is a super powerful podcast. The Phillips family are trailblazers in this space and their story helps all of us better see, understand, love and support our transgender friends. ,Thank you Landon, Monica, and James for being on the podcast and your great work in our community! Links: Landon's DNA Facebook post: www.facebook.com/landon.phillips.3386585/posts/pfbid02CC17be7CS6cHgzbLFr1bejAtGogrECZH415gLzWjS7BhdGCSEJvdj8zKfDzz6cm8l Gender Curious podcast (hosted by Landon and Michael Soto): podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gender-curious/id1676327715 Dave and Kimi Martin Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-631-dave-and-kimi-martin-transgender-son-levi/id1347971725?i=1000607948078 Dr Julia Bernards Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-664-dr-julia-bernards-byu-dissertation-on-transgender/id1347971725?i=1000619444998 LDS Church's transgender page: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/transgender?lang=eng North Star International Conference Index https://www.northstarsaints.org/conference-keynote-index (this link will be updated as 2023 conference sessions become available for purchase.)

Spectator Radio
The Week in 60: Barbie Britain & Yudkowsky on death by AI

Spectator Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2023 69:00


James Heale is joined by Tom Hunt MP and Tim Farron MP to debate the illegal migration bill. Also on the show, will AI kill us all? Eliezer Yudkowsky and James Phillips discuss; Katy Balls and Stephen Bush look at Labour's future relationship with the trade unions; Louise Perry on Britain's addiction to plastic surgery and Alice Hoxton on Britain's love for gossip.  00:00 Welcome from James Heale  01:47 How to stop the boats? With Tom Hunt MP and Tim Farron MP  19:03 Will AI kill us? With Eliezer Yudkowsky & James Phillip  33:46 Will Starmer win over the unions? With Katy Balls & Stephen Bush  45:41 Britain's plastic surgery addiction. With Louise Perry  57:55 Why do Britons love to gossip? With Alice Loxton  Produced by Natasha Feroze.

AZ Wildcats Podcast
Mega Arizona basketball commit Jamari Phillips and his father talk Arizona hoops, Tommy Lloyd, and the next step for Jamari's game

AZ Wildcats Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2023 23:02


Jamari and James Phillips break down what made Arizona basketball the right spot for Jamari's next stop and what impresses them so much about Tommy Lloyd. An ALLCITY Network Production WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS HERE: https://www.fubotv.com/phnx  SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports  Keepin It 100 Golf Scramble: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/phnx-keepin-it-100-classic-scramble-golf-tournament-tickets-617328515207  Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. BetMGM: Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code PHNX (betmgm.com/phnx).  Place a pre-game, moneyline wager in the amount of at least $10 on any market at standard odds price. You will receive $200 in Bonus Bets instantly regardless of the outcome of your wager! Just make sure you use bonus code PHNX when you sign up! Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, DC, IL, IN, LA, MD, MS, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA) 21+ to wager. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS, NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI).  Visit BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US promotional offers not available in DC, Nevada, New York or Ontario. Knockout Nights: Join our cornhole league during the 1st Friday night of every month! They're free to enter and will include food and beverage specials, giveaways, and BetMGM prizes: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/622016186157 Pins & Aces: Check out pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping. PHNX: Join us at the BetMGM Sportsbook at State Farm Stadium for all Suns' away playoff games. Our PHNX Suns watch parties, presented by NUTRL, will feature food and drink specials, PHNX giveaways, and BetMGM deposit matches. Join us by grabbing your free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/616706063437 Circle K: Make sure you're not missing out on all this great stuff, and be stocked all March Madness long! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase. Four Peaks: Enjoy a refreshing Four Peaks' Red Bird Lager during the NFL Draft on April 27th. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.  Roman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order.  When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saturday Live
Harlan Coben

Saturday Live

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2023 84:01


Harlan Coben joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The multiple award-winning thriller writer has sold over 80 million books, many of which have been adapted for TV. The Netflix adaption of Fool Me Once is currently being filmed. A New Jersey native, Harlan's latest book I Will Find You explores the darker side of suburban living. Fergus Durrant and Romy Dixon found something unexpected in his father's effects, a discovery that was to lead them on a journey made 125 years earlier. James Phillips won the ARIAS Best New Presenter Gold award for 2022 and a Bronze award for his National Prison Radio programme, The Rock Show. James talks about the events that led him to prison and his life now, after serving his sentence. Matthew Modine shares his Inheritance Tracks: Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto and On My Feelings by Ruby Modine. Dr Sian Williams has been an anchor of some of the BBC's biggest shows, including BBC Breakfast. During her career she's also presented Saturday Live, and most recently Life Changing on Radio 4. Ten years ago she retrained as a psychologist and will talk about how her two areas of specialism collide. Producer: Claire Bartleet

Pass the Jar
Stun, Phillips, Stun with James Phillips

Pass the Jar

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2023 90:22


James Phillips joins the pod for the third time to discuss the roller coaster of a year he's had. From sickness to triumph, he comes back with quite the story to tell. James also has started a new project with an alternate approach of delivering news to the people of Walker County. Sips up, enjoy and don't forget to leave a rating and review! Cheers.

Pass the Jar
Stun, Phillips, Stun with James Phillips

Pass the Jar

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2023 90:22


James Phillips joins the pod for the third time to discuss the roller coaster of a year he's had. From sickness to triumph, he comes back with quite the story to tell. James also has started a new project with an alternate approach of delivering news to the people of Walker County. Sips up, enjoy and don't forget to leave a rating and review! Cheers.

Accidental Gods
Be Kind, Be Useful, Create Giants in the Sky: transforming community with Alan Lane of Slung Low

Accidental Gods

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2023 66:31


The Accidental Gods podcast exists to set the conditions for emergence into a new system: to bring a critical mass of us to a place where emergence into a new system is a rewarding reality.  To get there, we bring to you some of the many astonishingly creative, compassionate, switched-on people who are working at the leading edge of change. Alan Lane is one of these people. He's the artistic director of the theatre company Slung Low, which in turn is one of the most innovative theatre companies in the UK, if not in the world. Absolutely embedded in the neighbourhood in which they work, Slung Low are committed to their core principles of 'Be Kind, Be Useful, Everyone gets to do what they want. Nobody gets to tell anyone else what they can't do.' (within obvious limits - as you'll hear). Alan is also the author of the book 'The Club on the Edge of Town' which is subtitled 'A Pandemic Memoir' but is so, so much more - this is the story of how Slung Low arose, how it came to be entered in the oldest Working Mens' Club in England (unable to change the name), and ultimately became a Food Bank during the pandemic. It's the story of standing in the rain, of keeping promises, of integrity and grit and sheer bloody-minded tenacity. Most of all, it's a story of how a small group of committed people made a huge difference to the lives of their neighbours and community. It is also the story of the culture clash that you'll hear more about in the podcast, and that led, ultimately, to Slung Low moving elsewhere in Leeds. Since then, their transformation to being part of the team that put on the utterly magical opening event of the Leeds Year of Culture 2023, where the city's most famous pop star spoke to a god - is the stuff of legend. In their new world, their core purpose is to make Awe and Wonder happen - and they are doing it with commitment, integrity, enthusiasm and raw inspiration. In this episode, Alan tells the story that led from standing in the rain in Nottinghill to creating technical magic on a stage in Leeds. We explore the power of story to change people's lives and the value of commitment to the things we believe in.  We dig deep into Alan's absolute moral imperatives and his compassion for the people around him, people he values, people he teaches to value themselves in a world that, in his words, 'teaches us we're cogs in a machine and we're scum' is heartbreakingly wonderful.  Truly, if the whole world was inspired as Leeds is being inspired, we'd be in a different place. (And the god that rose out of the river was a world first: made with drones, everyone said it was impossible. And Alan and the team made it happen anyway.  How good of a metaphor is that for what we have to do now in our emerging new system?)Bio: Alan Lane is Artistic Director of Slung Low directing most of their work over the last decade including projects with the Barbican, the RSC, The Almeida, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman, Sheffield Theatres, Singapore Arts Festival and the Lowry. Slung Low make large scale people's theatre work on stages, trains, castles, swimming pools, fishing boats and town centres.In 2017 Slung Low headlined Hull UK City of Culture 2017 with Flood by James Phillips: a 4 Part epic performed online, live and on the BBC. Over half a million people saw a part of Flood. It won a Royal Televisual Award Yorkshire for innovation in drama.In 2019 the company took over management of the oldest working men's club in Britain, The Holbeck in South Leeds. Initially, they ran this venue as a Pay What You Decide creative and community space, but during lockdown, they transformed into one of the only non-means-tested Food Banks in the country.  Their work there was transformative and Alan wrote the book 'The Club on the Edge of Town' out of their experiences there. Late last year, the company moved venues to a warehouse next to their favourite primary school and began to help organise the astonishing, miraculous, technologically outstanding (and magically wonderful) opening event to Leeds Year of Culture 2023, which culminated in Corrine Bailey Rae talking to a god in front of a rugby stadium filled with 10,000 artists.  Slung Low https://www.slunglow.org/Arts Together Leeds https://artstogetherleeds.co.uk/partner/slung-low/Leeds 2023 https://leeds2023.co.uk/Buy 'The Club on the Edge of Town' https://salamanderstreet.com/product/the-club-on-the-edge-of-town-paperback/The Club on the Edge of Town audio version https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Club-on-the-Edge-of-Town-Audiobook/B0B8TKMXWQ

Honest Jams Podcast
Episode #91- "delight" with James Phillips (Sumner James, Bombadil)

Honest Jams Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2023 63:44


SO YOU DID A THING
SYDAT #082 w/ James Phillips (Roll Call, Final Fight, Seahaven)

SO YOU DID A THING

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2022 58:50


I had James Phillips on to discuss Roll Call and their debut EP, Perpetuate, released via Bridge 9 records. (Theme song by Honor Nezzo)

Getting It Out
Episode 258 - Roll Call

Getting It Out

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2022 71:43


ROLL CALL came out of nowhere with their debut EP, Perpetuate, on BRIDGE NINE RECORDS earlier this year. Guitarist Brian Kemsley and drummer James Phillips explain where exactly the straight up hardcore band came from and where they plan to go from here.Music by:Paternity TestRoll CallOne Step CloserIntro music by:Hot ZonePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/GettingitoutpodcastEmail: dan@gettingitout.netWebsite: http://gettingitout.net/Instagram: @getting_it_out_podcastFacebook: www.facebook.com/gettingitoutpodcastTwitter: @GettingItOutPod Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/getting-it-out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Legends Behind the Craft
From Film School to the Vineyards With James Phillips of Madrigal Family Winery

Legends Behind the Craft

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2022 50:31


James Phillips is the Winemaker at the Madrigal Family Winery. He started in the filmmaking industry but eventually gravitated towards winemaking. While in film school, James took a part-time job at a small winery. This experience sparked his interest in and love for winemaking. Aside from bringing his expertise to the Madrigal Family Winery, James is also a consulting winemaker for seven different wineries. In this episode with James Phillips Film and wine both tell stories to people. You share your viewpoint, communicate your message, and evoke different experiences in people. A bottle of wine can transport people to faraway places. The Madrigal Family Winery invites people to the vineyards and tells the story of how it all started. People recognize that the beauty of wine is in its history and that it is more than what is in the glass.  In today's episode of the Legends Behind the Craft podcast, Drew Thomas Hendricks and Bianca Harmon welcome James Phillips, Winemaker at the Madrigal Family Winery, to talk about the parallels between filmmaking and winemaking. James also shares his experience working with wine from different places and the challenges that come with it.

Radio Brews News
James Phillips - CGA by NielsenIQ

Radio Brews News

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2022 54:58


This week, we look at on-premise data as we speak with CGA by NielsenIQ client solutions director ANZ James Phillips.  During the chat, we discuss consumer on-premise trends from the latest CGA by NielsenIQ On Premise Consumer Pulse Report.  Our partners Yakima Chief Hops – 100% grower-owned hop supplier with a mission to connect brewers worldwide with the family farms that grow their hops. Liquorloop - Your new weapon in brewing hose and floor protection. If you like what we do at Radio Brews News you can help us out by: Sponsoring the show Reviewing us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcasting service Emailing us at producer@brewsnews.com.au to share your thoughts

Porch Matters
James Phillips Returns

Porch Matters

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2022 51:25


On this episode, James Phillips returns to the porch to talk about his new business venture, The Community Journal, and New Era Wrestling. James and Terry also come up with a really good idea for a joint venture. Food Review This Episode is The Loveless Cafe in Nashville, TN. Terry also reads your answers for last Episode's Would You Rather question and gives a new question. Find The Community Journal on Facebook Find New Era Wrestling by typing in New Era Wrestling-Alabama 

nashville tn would you rather james phillips loveless cafe new era wrestling
Cut To The Race | By FormulaNerds
How Max Verstappen became the 2022 F1 World Champion

Cut To The Race | By FormulaNerds

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2022 66:56


On this week's Cut to the Race Podcast, Oli is joined by James Mackenzie, James Phillips (aka The Preacher Man), Sam and Catherine to discuss the Drivers Championship this year. We discuss: The season's battle for the title between Verstappen Vs Leclerc How Leclerc and Ferrari lost points and the mistakes that lost the title The greatest moments of the season so far Redbull's performance compared to Ferrari How Perez and Sainz have performed so far this year. Keep up to date with all the latest Formula 1 News @ www.formulanerds.com Follow Us: Facebook - www.Facebook.com/FormulaNerds Twitter - www.twitter.com/Formula_Nerds Instagram www.instagram.com/FormulaNerds For Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities:- Email Business@FormulaNerds.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Traveling To Consciousness
The #2 Most Underrated Podcast From The First Year - Episode #014 with James Phillips on Shrooms

Traveling To Consciousness

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2022 106:10


#014: Diving Into The 3D, 4D, and 5D Realities of Consciousness with James Phillips on ShroomsAbout JamesJames is a yoga teacher who has battled anxiety and depression his entire life. He is back for his second time on the podcast! James is now getting into breathe work and other fun things.Clayton's NotesThis podcast has a lot of firsts. I'll let myself explain those to you in the actual interview. Loved having James on again and as the title suggests, yes, we both micro-dosed before recording. I believe this will be one of the most engaging interviews to date.James' LinksInsta: https://www.instagram.com/jamesdoinsomeyoga/Clayton's LinksWebsite and App: https://www.travelingtoconsciousness.com/Master Link: http://linktr.ee/claytoncuteriSponsors: https://travelingtoconsciousness.com/article/133008Email List: https://traveling-to-consciousness-22480601.hubspotpagebuilder.com/general-clayton-cuteri-subscriber (if broken, check master link to join)Support The ShowPayPal: https://paypal.me/travelingtoconsciousPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/claytoncuteriSupport the show

Steve reads his Blog
Steve has a Chat with Vahe Torossian

Steve reads his Blog

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2022 56:59


  I had a chance to sneak up on Vahe Torossian, a Microsoft Corporate Vice President and the man in charge of Sales for Microsoft Business Applications. While Vahe has been with Microsoft for 30 years, many of you may not know him, so I wanted to fix that. Vahe is no ordinary Seller; he's the “Top” guy who sets the sales strategy and motions for the entire global team. Vahe is also the guy who runs the really big enterprise customer meetings, and he's super-friendly, as you would expect for the Chief Rainmaker. We covered a lot of ground in this one, so enjoy! Transcript Below: Vahe: Hey, Vahe Torossian speaking. Steve: Vahe, Steve Mordue, how are you? Vahe: Hey Steve. In fairness let's say Charles mentioned that somehow you were going to call me. I didn't know when, but it's great to talk to you. Steve: After I interviewed him, I asked him who would be a good person to talk to? And he dropped your name. So it doesn't surprise me that he gave you a little heads up. Have you got a few minutes to chat? Vahe: Yeah, of course. Thanks Steve. Steve: Oh, perfect, perfect. So before we get into it, maybe we can tell the listeners a little bit about what your role is. I know you've been at Microsoft forever, I think like 30 years or something like that, and you've held a lot of different positions. But now you're in the business application space and that's been fairly recent. So there's probably a lot of folks that might not be familiar with you, who should be. Vahe: Oh yeah, thanks Steve. You're right. I've been celebrating my 30 years anniversary at Microsoft in April in 2022. I actually took the helm of the Biz Apps sales organization globally in late 2020. So basically I took my one way ticket to Redmond in December 2020. And the plane was almost empty, it was during the pandemic. And it was kind of a strange feeling for someone who has been traveling so much in the past. And of course, let's say I came with the lens of the business application, of course. Having led let's say Western Europe in my past role, having all the businesses of Microsoft. And I think Western Europe was quite successful on Biz Apps, our trajectory growth. And I guess that was also in fact the good match to some degree to try to take it at the global level. Steve: So is it a little easier to think about a smaller segment of the product mix, now really being able to focus like a business application? So I think before you were looking over all sorts of different things, weren't you? Vahe: Yeah, actually it's a great question. Because I think it's very different way of looking at the business. When you are, let's say almost you are the CEO of Microsoft in the countries that you are, let's say leading. You have all the levers to engage customers, partners, government, in different circumstances. And you try to leverage as much as you can the portfolio that you have to maximize the value. In the context of let's say the business application. I think it was, the interesting bet to some degree Steve, was to say, Hey, this has been a portfolio at Microsoft, whether you call it Dynamics 365 or Dynamics only as a brand in the past. And if you go back 20 years, let's say almost, with the Navision and Axapta, and Solomon Software and Great Plains. All these stories, all these product came together. And 20 years later, I think it has been part of a portfolio somewhere. Vahe: And you had almost what I will call the strong, let's say, portfolio of Microsoft, the platform, the modern workplace and environment. And I felt the work that James Phillips in the past, and with Alyssa, and Charles, and Amy here now on the marketing side. Have been a strong inflection point to bring together both the technology in the cloud environment. But at the same time, a market environment that requires very different, let's say tools to make the most of this transformation. And I felt that there's one piece at Microsoft that requires a huge catalyst leveraging the innovation. But responding as much as we can to what the customer need or even don't know yet what they need. And I think that's what I think to me was almost a bet. It's almost like all of a sudden you move to the little dog, if I may say. But with a huge potential of transforming something with great asset for Microsoft, and the customers and partners. Steve: Well I have to say, having been involved with Microsoft for a while, we have a phrase over here called redheaded stepchild, which is kind of what Dynamics was for many, many years. It was off campus, it was just this thing out there and under Satya, when Satya came in, he's the first one that I think came into the position that recognized this should be another leg on the stool, not some remote thing out there. And I think that's made a huge. Difference because I was involved in the years before Satya with business applications and they were not just something over here on the back shelf, and now they're right front and center. I think that between Dynamics and what's happened with the power platform, cloud in general. Microsoft's ability to get into and help customers is massively different than it used to be. And in your role now, you're dealing with a lot different type of customer. You're talking about Office 365 or Azure, you're dealing with IT. And now you're mostly dealing with business users. It's a completely different audience you're having to work with today, isn't it? Vahe: Absolutely. I think also you're right since Satya took the helm of the company, to some degree you of course we have seen how we tackle the cloud computing hyper-scale environment. But at the same time, in fact what happened with the Covid in the last two years, have seen an acceleration of what we call in the past, the productivity tools to become more and more collaboration environment. And from almost an application or a set of application, it became more and more a platform on its own. And so it's almost like when you think about where we are today and we were talking about the Covid, I don't think the Covid is yet over fully everywhere. But now everybody's talking about recession, right? And there's no one headline that you look, you say, oh my goodness, what's going to happen? Which just means in terms of planning for 22, 23. Vahe: So I think the assets that is now quite unique to some degree, or differentiated as you said, between the Dynamics 365 platform components and the Power Platform, it's almost bringing together. But I think, I don't remember Steve, in a few years back, I think Satya was talking about the mobility of the experience. And that was more from a device perspective initially. But actually what you see now is that with Teams as a platform, the system of productivity almost connect with the system of record more and more. And it's re-transforming the way you are thinking. It's almost like, you think about, you don't have to go to a CRM environment or ERP environment to get access to the data. It's almost like wherever you work, if you use an Excel or if you use Teams or whatever, you get access naturally, almost intuitively to your data set. And the data set are that's almost fulfilled naturally. And so we have no additional task. Vahe: And so I think that's the transformation world in which we are. Which connects cheaper well. We almost do more with less, right? And that's going to be almost the conversation we're going to have in the coming month. And it started already with many customers and partners. How we can optimize the assets that they have, how they can let's say increase the deep provisioning of some assets that they have. They are paying too much to concentrate a bit more, to get more agility. And I think this is where also, from a partner perspective, Steve, I see a lot of potential. You are referring to Power Platform, it's fascinating to see what it was in the very beginning, this notion of citizens developer, what does it mean? Vahe: People didn't know exactly what it is, we're quite afraid to touch it. But now when you see the shortage of developers in the market in general. And how you can make the most of some absolutely topnotch people who are not developer, touching the last mile execution challenges. Have been facing crazy environment and situation that they say, I can't believe how my IT guide doesn't solve these things. I've been telling them the customer pain point for so many years. And now with some, let's say [inaudible 00:08:45] place, let's say available for them, along with some let's say technical assets, you can really make the magic in the very, very, very time. Steve: Charles came up with a term on the fly, ambient CRM. Kind of where we're heading here when you talk about things like Viva Sales and some of these pieces that are really wiring all these components together. Covid was a terrible thing, but it certainly was a perfect storm for pushing the technology forward into a place that it's been fighting to get to, it's really been fighting to get to that point. And Teams was a great product. But certainly Covid created the perfect environment where Teams made insane sense for companies that were maybe just thinking about it or dabbling with it, and suddenly they're all diving into it. And you guys of course poured the investment on top of that. And I think that the silver lining of Covid, for technology, is how far it really allowed it to advance in that period of time. Maybe we just need a pandemic every five years to push a technology forward. I don't know. Vahe: No, but I have to say that even in my previous role when I was running Western Europe. Even the most skeptical people in regard to the cloud or the transition to a cloud environment. Having the one that rushed in the first, almost to a cloud environment, once the pandemic has been a bit of a real situation to face, and to drive the economy or the public services let's say on. So I think you're right, so you don't want to wish for another pandemic or whatever, but it has been absolutely a forcing function in many domains. And that's true. Steve: I think the challenge we have is particularly in the business application space. You guys have launched so many things in such a short period of time. And as you mentioned before, Power Apps, people picking it with a stick, they don't even know what it is. And there's also this first mover fear, I think. Microsoft has been, in my mind, kind of famous for coming to the game late and then just taking over the game. We were very late to the cloud, but once we got there we just took over the cloud, and it seems to be a pattern. But when you look back at the early days of cloud before you guys stepped into it, it was wild west. And all sorts of challenges with cloud. And I think that that gave a lot of people fear about, I remember I moved into cloud early and we got destroyed. Steve: And so I think there's a lot of folks out there, just from a technology standpoint, that have gotten their hands burnt by moving too quickly. And we're at that point with the platform and dynamics, where these are not new anymore. Relatively in history, they're new. But they're not new products and they're not built by some garage shop somewhere with a couple of developers. This is what 15,000 people building this stuff back there. This is professionally built, well built stuff, that is ready for prime time. So the first movers have already come through and they all survived. So I really feel like we're at that point where it should just take off now, it should just absolutely take off. And I'm sure you guys are seeing this. Vahe: Yeah. And Steve, I think one thing also is that you're right, there's a usual thing about let's say the first mover advantage. At the same time from a customer perspective, you don't want to be the Guinea pig, right? On any situation, especially from the technology standpoint. I think that increasingly what I see in the conversation is that there's almost now, because of the quality of the native integration of the several different applications. Whether you are in the customer experience environment, on the service side, on the supply chain, on the finance or the local no code or app. All these components are absolutely connected to each other. And basically whether you have Teams as a platform in your company, or Azure in environment, all these component are connected very, very easily to each other. Vahe: And so I would say that the beauty of it now is that you have all almost the notion of marginal cost. If you really want to leverage many of the assets that we can bring, and you don't have to take all of them at once, of course it has to be matching what you need now. But the right is that, let's say there's an almost fully integrated benefit all the connectors with the rest of the world outside of Microsoft environment, which is a great value for the partners, ISV and [inaudible 00:13:58], and at the same time to the customers. Who think now, hey I should do more with less. How should I think about my investments for the next, let's say five years? Most of the customers now are really thinking about the longer term relationship. And defining what's the value SLA almost that you're expecting both from the partner of the vendor and the vendor itself. Vahe: And so it's almost like, you remember when we transition from a world of build revenue and licensing, to now more consumption and usage. It's almost the user and consumption discussion is a forcing function about the customer success, how we align on the same definition of the customer success. And what's the time to value that you committed? What are the key milestones, in full transparency, that you need to bring in? And I think that's where we are now. And because Microsoft, I think overall as a company, have been increasing tremendously the level of trust. From the security standpoint, the compliance components, and so on, and the scalability. Vahe: I think that's the great leverage for us now in terms of the conversation and making sure that the customers are getting the value that we have been selling to them. How we show how much skin in the game we have to make them successful. And then it's a flying wheel. It's almost like the innovation will help you to bring new things, respond, anticipate, take the feedback of the customer to the engineering, develop new stuff quickly to the market. So I think it's what we are heading to now, Steve. And I think from a partner perspective you might even see and feel it, right, more and more. Steve: Oh yeah, I mean I think the sales motion has changed completely. Only a few years ago we go into a customer and try and convince them to replace Salesforce with Dynamics. And they'd say no, and we were done. We'd say okay, well we'll come back in a couple years and ask again. We had nothing else to sell them. And now today, I mean if they have Salesforce, fine that's great, keep Salesforce, let's add some things around it. Salesforce will work with Viva Sales, Salesforce will work with Power Platform. Steve: There's so many doors now, I think, for a seller to be able to get into a customer and solve problems for that customer without having to do the one big yank and replace. Which is very difficult to do, it's difficult to do on opposite as well. I mean once a customer gets a big solution like Salesforce or Dynamics 365 installed, those are very difficult to uproot, it takes a very long time. And you guys have created now, this product mix, where we don't have to uproot something to sell that customer and to get engaged with that customer. We can go all over that business without having to uproot something. And I think that's huge. Vahe: I agree Steve. And I think that it's almost this notion of rip and replace type of strategy, right? In some cases it works because this is what the customer wants. They are fed up about let's say competitive environment that didn't deliver on the expectation. And we should be ready to cope with that and respond, and we have a lot of this. But at the same time as you said, what we call the strategy of having a hub and spoke, let's say, almost environment, gives us for every line of business. That we decided as a company to go and have a significant acceleration of growth and market share, is very much to give that option to say, Hey, you know what, Mr. Customer, Mrs. Customer, you decide to be on that type of environment, who we are to ask you to change? Vahe: If you are happy that's fine. But what we can bring you is almost to enhance what you have with some component that absolutely will be transparently integrated to what you're using. And it's a great circuit, an additional circuit for the partner, it's a great value for the customer. We don't feel harassed to change something because we know the cost of transitioning from one to another one. And then it's up to us to demonstrate the value we can bring and eventually we can take from there to the next level in the future. Steve: It's got to put some pressure on the competitors also. I if think of, I might just use Salesforce because they've always been the big competitor. I'm sure that they were confident sitting there at their large customer when all we had was trying to replace their instance that was going to be difficult to do and then we'd go away and they didn't have to worry about us. Now we're coming in and we're circling around, and we're solving problems in this department, and we're building apps in this department, and we're literally bolting into Salesforce. And one potential outcome is that the customer decides over time that wow, all of this Microsoft stuff that we've brought in works really, really well. Steve: That's gotta put some pressure on the incumbent big application in there that hey, you're surrounded by a bunch of stuff the customer is very happy with, you better make sure they're happy with your stuff and they don't reach that point. Cause like you say, oftentimes when you see those rip and replace, it's because the product, or the company, or something hasn't met the expectation. And to be fair, that could actually happen with any of us, right? It has a lot to do with implementation, design, how thing was put together. Less to do with the application itself, that could happen to any vendor. But certainly raises the bar to some of these competitors when they're surrounded by well performing Microsoft products that are satisfying customers. Would you think? Vahe: Yes. Absolutely. And that's why there's a continuity between what we sell, how we sell, to who we sell, and how we drive the implementation. It's an ongoing wheel that is a very different mindset that we all learn in the transition to the cloud, let's say, environment. But absolutely. I think it's a good forcing function to raise the bar to some degree, raise the bar for the benefit of the customer. You mentioned the competitiveness of what this type of hub and spoke strategy can create. You're right. But in the end, the biggest, let's say winner, will be the customer, right? Which I think is always and should always be the north star for us and our partners. Vahe: And I would say the relevance of the innovation should be in fact the pressure that we put to each other to make sure that say we listen carefully to what the customer is facing as a challenge, but potentially to translate their current challenge into the future challenge, to push them also to think differently. Because I think the notion of rip and replace [inaudible 00:21:06] One of the thing was, I don't know if you remember that the initial issue and worry was that people were saying Oh, we are moving to the cloud, therefore we are transforming. Well it was not that tried and true. People were just keeping the same processes in the cloud and the one that they had on premise. Which was not benefiting at all of the scalability and the agility of the cloud environment. Yeah, you remember that right? Yeah. Steve: They just changed the way they were paying for it. Vahe: Absolutely. Absolutely. So I think that's what we have seen on this application modernization, on some of the enterprise wide innovation also opportunities that we had discussed, is how much you can really say, in this new world of competitiveness, of un-expected challenges. How you can, let's say, keep your applications fitting always in fact proactively the challenges that you're going to have too. As opposed to keep going with a quite heavy code to maintain, with people who leave that cost you a fortune to maintain. So I think this agility that the power apps, [inaudible 00:22:22] to made, have been bringing I think is the reason why we have seen this huge acceleration of growth, which is today is six, seven times faster than the market growth of local no code. Vahe: So I think it's a great, let's say indication, of what people start to realize. And I think in the conversation that you had with Charles when he was referring to, hey some of the AI capability have been slower to be picked up by the vast majority of customers. And it's true because there's a level of, let's say, can I trust this thing? Am I going to lose completely ground and control of what I'm doing? All these natural thing. I think as we bring more and more, let's say tools, are manageable. The Power Platform environment, or let's say the device sales capability on top of the teams or Salesforce environment. That people will start to test this. Vahe: And I think we're going to be more and more advocate about Hey, what are the benefits of the organization that are using this technology and how we can trust them lean forward. And I think Charles was referring to our digital sellers. Their daily life is very much, let's say, using all these AI lead capabilities in terms of reporting, in terms of let's say incident management, in terms of even coaching for themselves to do a better call next time, is just fascinating to see. Maybe we should even do a kind of, let's say talk on this, once we have a bit more, let's say after the GA, maybe a few months after, we should have, let's say what the key learnings and [inaudible 00:24:00] from a customer standpoint. Steve: Yeah, it always makes a customer confident when they know that the vendor is using the product that they're trying to sell them. It's interesting, everything moving to a subscription has changed kind of the mindset, not just of you guys obviously, where there's no big sale. There's a sale of a big subscription, the revenue of which will come over a long period of time. But the customer has this option every month to say, you know what, I'm not happy, you're not solving my problem. In the old days they were kind of stuck, they bought all this stuff and they had to make it work. Now they don't have to make it work, we have to make it work, we have to keep them happy enough. Steve: We recently launched a professional services on a subscription, which is an interesting model, that I lay awake at night thinking about that same thing. That before a customer would pay you a bunch of money to a bunch of stuff and now they're paying you a little bit of money every month for as long as you keep them happy. And this bar of, I mean we've always wanted to keep customers happy. But it's never had the impact or importance that it does when you're on a subscription with that customer who can just any time say, “I'm not happy, goodbye.” It raises the bar I think for you guys to have to continuously innovate, what do you done for me lately? You got to continuously innovate and bring new things. And you've got more motivation probably than the company's ever had in history because of the subscription model. Do you feel that internally? Vahe: Yes, yes. As I said, it has been a great enabler to raise the bar. And it's almost like you know can have a beautiful slide deck and saying the right things, but the execution doesn't match what you are saying somehow, that you don't walk the talk. I think you could have been in that situation in a kind of on-premise environment. I think the cloud has been a forcing function to say, hey you know what, you can claim you are customer success, or you are customer first, or you are customer obsessed. But the reality is that if you don't deliver the service properly, if you are not as responsive timely, if you're not proactive, customer will say enough is enough, I can stop my subscription. Steve: I have options. Vahe: I have options. So I think it's a good hygiene, how it makes you having an embracing habits, that I would say are the natural thing when you engage with customer. But I think it's almost, let's say, for the one who might have forgotten that basics, it has been a great, let's say, opportunity to bring back the roots of what is it to satisfy a customer, right? And I think that's what the cloud licensing model helped put together. And I think there are still always room for improvement. Vahe: And similarly I would say, what you have seen on the collaborative applications, what we have seen on the low-code, no-code, you are going to see it now, also I would say on the supply chain environment, which is shipper, shipper at stress because of what we have seen on the Covid, but also in fact on the geopolitical aspect and some of the recession discussion. And also, on the overall, what I would say the contact center in our environment at large. How this world is going to change is going to be led a lot by the capability that technology can bring, and the ability to listen carefully to the strategies and the challenges of the corporation that are involved in. So it's quite exciting actually. Steve: I don't get involved a lot with the call center operations. But I picture the old call center is this massive building full of cubicles and people with headphones. And I picture that now that most of those people are probably working remote. A call center now could operate at my desk, just about, and have thousands of people all working from their home. So, that whole industry feels like it's changed significantly. And yes, I'm sure they're starving for the technology that fits the model that they're being pushed to adopt. Vahe: Yeah, yeah absolutely. I mean it's interesting, if you summarize some of the business challenges or the things that are coming from multiple conversation. We had the nuanced [inaudible 00:29:04] a few months back. And so it's almost the first fiscal year where we're going to be able to strategize, operate together as one organization. And it's great because somehow you take their own experience in terms of conversational AI and what they have been leading in for many years. And at the same time you hear both, let's say, the customer feedback when it comes to, as you said, the traditional contact center or call center evolution. How to translate this into a modern service experience, right? Vahe: And how AI can contribute to that on the seamless integrated way. How to think about customer retention in this world where people are a bit more struggling with their bottom line. How to protect the customer privacy as well. Because you talk about voice capability and recording, but how you cope with the privacy and the security during this service journey. So all these are absolutely great opportunities for us to combine what we're hearing, the technology and the acquisition that we did a few months back, to put that into a great component. And I would say the data analytics that the power Platform Power BI gives us on the back end, is going to be a great platform for us again to differentiate from the rest of the world. Steve: Well and it'll also help kind offset the fact that these people are all remote now, right? They used all be sitting in this big room. And people were standing up there looking over a rail at them making sure they were doing what they were doing and available. And you can't lose any of the customer service quality just because you've moved everybody out of the building and nobody can physically see them anymore. AI is the only way to plug that hole really of being able to know what's going on in this organization with all those people remote. In your day-to-day activities, I'm assuming that since you're head of sales that you get engaged with all of the big opportunities that come to Microsoft. And you're in there leading the charge to get them to make a decision for the services. What are the areas that you're seeing among those larger customers that they're really excited about? Is it the low-code stuff, is that very exciting to them? Or are they still wrapping their arms around that? Vahe: No, no. I would say that the notion of, let's say, application modernization, which doesn't mean I do the same thing I was doing before in the cloud. Really thinking about, what do I want to fix? And how much I can include some perspective about what could happen in some, let's say options or scenario? That capability that Power Apps has been giving them. And now we see that the corporations who are the most successful are the one who are almost creating a center of excellence within their own organization, that let's say help the IT to monitor someone, in fact the usage rate. But also to amplify the user experience and to spread it across the organization. And the ability to almost measure the positive impact. Vahe: The second thing I've seen is on the low-code, no-code, is the time to value. It's almost like you can almost now, and when I say “we,” it's almost we with the partners. We can almost say for this type of let's say expectation, or application, or challenge, it will take three month to be ready, not three years, two years. Or we have a heavy development environment. And so this center of excellence, let's say mindset or framework, is a very powerful one. Because it helps to almost create a concentration of hey, what are the most critical things to fix and how long it's going to take? Vahe: And people are almost, let's say very impressed, about how quickly you can have great quality because you bring both the expertise of, as I said, almost the person who is facing the challenge every single day. Being non-technical guy, we have in fact the support of IT. And I think that's the business decision makers along with the IT. I think to me, that's why we have been on this six, seven times faster than the market rate. We have huge ambition there. And be aware that we have also 20 million of users of Power Apps today that came from the city campaigns. So people are actively using it, not yet paying it. So that means that it's great, it's the future almost by, for us to go after. Because people are starting to use in fact at least the basic functions to get adjusted customers to and so on. Vahe: The second thing I would say is that people have realized how easy it is, and recognizing that Teams became a platform close to 300 million users. It started at 25 or 30 million almost pre-pandemic. And so that became, almost as you said, you are at home, or you are wherever you are and that's the interaction that you have with your customers, partners, ecosystem and employees. And so now it's a marginal component to say hey, can I have one tab that is going to do that type of task? My forecasting, my thing. So this is again the connection between what you use every single day at scale, and the marginal cost of bringing a component of Dynamics 365, a component of the application that you create quickly for Power Apps or Power Automate from the process, implementation, and automation. So I think that's what I see the two biggest part of the customer reaction, and I would say feedback for us. And encouragement to be fair, to keep going in that direction. Steve: We've got lots of examples that you guys have got out on the case studies of large companies that have really got in head first. And just thousands of apps in the organization solving thousands of problems. And just excellent, I mean you just have to almost grin when you look and hear about these things. But for every one of those there's still a bunch of them out there where, I don't know, IT maybe is still an obstacle. I mean IT has been, it's interesting because IT's been a friend of Microsoft for a long time because a lot of the products that they have engaged with were Microsoft products, servers, et cetera. They've had to make this transition to cloud, which was scary for them. But they ultimately did it for the most part, not all of them, did it. And now here comes low-code, no-code that's got to scare the bejesus out of a lot of IT folks. And how are you at that company size? Because frankly, we struggle with the same thing in the mid-market. How, at that big company size, do you deal with that occasional obstinance from it? Vahe: Yeah, it's a great point. You're right. I think Microsoft in general, I don't want to generalize, but in general have been for the last four years, very, very close to the IT decision makers. And rightfully so, because there were so many and still so many things to achieve in partnership with the IT and CIO environment. At the same time, when it comes to business applications or business process, I would say that you need to find the balance between the business decision makers, who are the ultimate decision makers when it comes to what is going to affect their business, or the way they work from a Salesforce perspective, or the way the marketing leaders wants to automate some of the processes that they believe is important. Vahe: And so that we probably are in a unique business case at Microsoft, where you have to talk to both. And the learning is that in the very beginning where you were only talking to IT, for example in the low-code, no-code, you could have signed a deal with IT, but then you know almost had to start to sell it again internally. Because you had to knock to all the doors of the business decision makers to say, Hey, do you know that you have this thing in your corporation, and anyway this is the thing that you can do, do you mind starting over there? Vahe: And so that was basically almost a waste of cycle. And so we said we have to do these two things together. We need to be able to articulate what is the value of low-code, no-code, maybe in FSI, financial service, or manufacturing, or in retail. And of course there's a strong common denominator. But there are some specifics that may resonate more for some industries more than others, and therefore the decision makers. And we have seen that when we do these things well together in parallel, when you sign the contract, or the deal, or the agreement, the time to move to usage or the business case implementation is much faster. Basically you bring more value both to IT and the business, and for Microsoft. And so I think that's the piece where I think it evolved on low-code, no-code, from being afraid in the beginning or skeptical, to a place where they are increasingly embracing this center of excellence environment. Where they own it as [inaudible 00:38:55]. It is connected to the business decision makers, therefore it brings value. Vahe: And so IT brings value to the business decisions or the business unit and the line of business. And then what was missing so far was, how can we give them the monitoring environment, almost the control board to manage the budget, to manage let's say, or having warning to say, hey, business A, you know are over consuming. Should we lower the investment or should we accelerate because of what you are doing? So I think that the kind of tools that we are bringing now to the IT, so that they are absolutely part of the success of the company and they are connected to the business decision makers. I think that's the best way for us to demonstrate value and keep it completely aligned with the business directions. Steve: And the opposite would be true also if you're going in trying to sell the line of business owner without talking to IT. And you convince the, now you got to go sell IT. So it's two cycles. Vahe: Absolutely. Steve: You have to somehow get them both in the same room and do it at once. So we've got so many products coming, we've got so many products here. And if you imagine a generic customer of a large size that you're going to be going to talk to next week about all the Microsoft has to offer. What are a couple of the key products that you're going to want to make sure you land in their head, that you feel across all companies are extremely high value or differentiators? The thing you don't want to walk out of that room without mentioning? Vahe: Yeah, I would say, and somehow you touch on it Steve, earlier on. As part of the transition that we are driving, one of the thing is also to simplify. To simplify the portfolio, to simplify the go-to market, to simplify the strategy. We discussed the hub and spoke, let's say strategy. And so I would say at the very beginning, what we said is that instead of saying, hey, there's a proliferation of products. And every year we add more and more and more. And at some point you confuse your own sellers, you confuse the customer, you confuse the product, it's super tough to digest everything, and even understanding what's the hierarchy across all these things? Steve: For licensing Vahe: And licensing on top all this complexity, right? I mean we have gone through it, and it's still not perfect. But at the same time I think what we said is that there are the categories, or the line of business, that we want to go in. We want to have a fair shot to take a leadership position in the next let's say years. And what it takes to get to that point, from an innovation perspective, from a go-to market perspective, from a part program perspective, from a sales and seller investment capacity perspective. And so on. And so I would say that's more the starting point Steve, where we say we define five categories, a fine line of business, where we believe we have a shot to become a leader. And these categories we need to be able to be clear on where the value that we bring. Vahe: For example, if you take the customer experience, let's say OLAP, which is more the connected sales and marketing, if I may summarize at the high level. It's going to be all the conversation about the collaborative apps, the customer experience transformation. You have already Teams for the vast batch of you, hey that's what you want to achieve. The Dynamic 65 sales is going to give you that capability, or the LinkedIn Sales Navigator on top of it is going to give you that type of insight. You know are not touching about AI, you think about almost sales automation, Salesforce automation. Let's show you how the AI infused capability within Dynamics 365 sales and marketing, give you that asset absolutely naturally integrated on your team's environment. Vahe: And same thing on Viva Sales, the sales productivity, we can measure it the way you want, and you're on control of that. And by the way, if it works on the environment that you are working, could be Microsoft, could not be as we discussed, that's more the conversation that we want to have. And of course on the back end you are going to have Dynamics 365 sales, and marketing, and Viva sales, most of the time for that line of business. If you think about let's say low-code no-code, I would say you will have probably three type of conversations. You know will have a conversation about hey, you're a large enterprise, multi-deals coverage. And basically the benefit of having an enterprise wide, let's say engagement, what does it mean? What's the framework for you to make the most of it? And how we commit with our partners to deliver you the value. Vahe: And so you can commit on five years maybe with Microsoft and how much value we can bring already to you. Or it's purely an application modernization. You move to a hyper-scale environment, but you have all these old fashioned applications. So basically, you are a platform that is modern but all your application are still old fashioned. How low-code, no-code is going to help you to accelerate that transition. And let's start with one company, one app. Pick one and let's do it right, and then replicate from there. And then potentially, in fact, the last one which I think is going to be the biggest one potentially, is the business process automation. Think about the forecasting process. I have to say that when I was running my business in Western Europe, we have been doing this traditional forecasting process, which in every company when we talk with business leaders or CFOs, that's the same thing. You ask the forecast at the lowest level of the organization, then the manager of that organization, do a judgment. That judgment moves to the next level of management. The management do another judgment. Vahe: So all the way up to the top level, who does a judgment anyway on top of it. Or they find, depending on who is doing the forecast, almost let's say a coefficient of let's say correction based on who is doing the forecast. When you start to do that thing into AI and you say what, we know the behavior of people [inaudible 00:45:26] potentially, you come after 18 months or one year to a trend of forecast that is so close to in fact what you were getting before. That you say how many hours, thousands and thousands of hours of productivity saving I'm going to have just because of this AI forecasting capability? That's the kind of example of it, for say an application for low-code, no-code, that is just checking in fact the behavior or the intelligence so far to help you to drive your business. Vahe: And so we have been running that internally as well and it's quite impressive. And so that's the kind of conversation that you want to have both with the IT, but you see this perfect example of hey, having that conversation with the CFO, or the sales leader, is a great one. Because it's a marginal cost again, to what you are using already. And the same thing happened on finance, and supply chain, and service when it comes to, all right so where you, what are you using? Are you still on-prem? The vast majority of ERP, the vast majority of contact center and call center are still on-prem. So you can think about hey, what does it take to move to a cloud and more agile environment? What are the best that you want to do? Which is the strategic partner or vendor, who are going to take this? Because you're not going to change this environment every two years. It's a 5 year, 10 year bets, right? Steve: The marriage. Vahe: It's a marriage. Yeah, absolutely. So I mean does it help Steve? Steve: Yeah. And I think interesting, one of the things I think about AI in forecasting, is it doesn't have any personal bias. And obviously in larger companies I'm sure there's a lot of checking and cross checking. In the middle market it's a bunch of optimistic sales people coming up with optimistic projections that have no basis in history or anything else that's going on, of what's going on. And I've been in meetings where we've been displaying some AI facts, or figures, or forecasts, or projections. And listen to senior people just adamantly disagree. That number is absolutely not correct. And I've had them tell me I've been doing this for 30 years, I know, I know. And then here comes next month and guess what was right? The AI model was right and the guy who's been doing it for 30 years is making up some excuses. Steve: So I think that the world right now is fraught with bad projections on everything. Cost projections, sales projections, there's too much personal bias involved in the process of creating those things. And as leadership of a company, you're relying on these things. They're going to drive you right over a cliff potentially, if you're not careful, if you don't have good information, if you can't get the bias out of it. And I think that's one of the big things that AI brings that I've found resonates with leadership sometimes, is kind of remove all the bias. I mean it's just removing all the bias. You don't want to hear smoke, you know want to hear reality so you can act accordingly. You're surrounded by a bunch of people who want to make you feel good, but AI doesn't care how you feel. It's going to tell you the truth, doesn't care if you get mad. Vahe: Steve also, it's interesting because sometime, you point to this that sometime when you are too early on the innovation, some people might be again scared or skeptical as we said. But I remember we were looking at let's say some numbers when it comes to, are we operating consistency, for example, in the world? Or there are some that say practices that are bringing more growth or more relevant than other places. And so, one thing was interesting was in the services line of business or category, you think of case management. And it's one of the opportunities. And you might say well case management is not super innovative. Well, it's something that is quite well known. But case management was one of the fastest growth in majors. And that was because it was responding to the fact that vast majority of the case management processes are still on-prem today. Vahe: And the one we're moving to the cloud, especially in public sector, to make sure that the queuing system is working, you have a full up, let's say email to tell you and tracing where you are on the request that you put in place. All these things we believe is generic everywhere, but it's not, it's by far not. And across mid-market, and large corporation, and private sector, and public sector. So it's not always innovation that drives in fact the next generation of work. It's also in fact the basics that are not fulfilled today and that create a bad customer experience. And that's interesting, in a way, to keep very humble about let's say what we still have on our plate. Steve: I can remember not that long ago, when you talk about customer service, the goal of many companies was to provide as bad as service as possible so they didn't have to do it. I mean it was a cost center for them. They hadn't come to the realization yet, this is decades, but hadn't come to realization yet that customer service is what drives future revenue. They just looked at as a cost center and figured the worst it is, the less people will use it and it'll cost us less, so that mindset has changed. You talk about fears that people have of technology. And so a lot of this is people self preservation fears. They see something coming, we saw it even in the partner channel, uh-oh here comes low-code, no-code, customers are going to be doing all the work themselves, they're not going to need us partners anymore. And it's like this first reaction that people have about anything new, is how's that going to affect me? And generally they're going to assume negatively. Steve: Our business is busier than we've ever been as a result of low-code. So it's actually been the opposite. But partners, and just like people, you know need to be prepared to pivot into that wind. If you're just going to stand there with your arms crossed and not move, yeah low-code's going to hurt you. You know need to lean into that. And the same thing with individuals that are looking at new technology. It's coming and you can either stand there with your arms crossed and let it knock you down, which is a foregone conclusion. Or you can bend with it. And to be honest, the younger folks are more flexible than us older folks. So they're not having any trouble with this technology at all. We recently signed a new customer, it's all young people and man they just get it. I mean there's no explaining anything. They understand every single thing you're talking about, why and what. And I mean they're born with a cell phone in their hand. None of this is foreign, but we still got to get rid of all of us old guys. Vahe: I agree, I agree. And time flies. And it's almost like, often, let's say, you need read to embrace that. Always a zero regret strategy in this type of, let's say, evolving environment. Anything that you postpone, to some degree, is almost let say a loss. And that has been proven in the technology run. And when I look at, we always have to be humble. It's a highly competitive market, and people are smart, and that's great. Cause as we discussed, it's all good for the customer. But I think that when I look back to the commitment of the company, the investment that we put in place last year with the support of Satya, Amy Hood, [inaudible 00:53:27]. With more than 1000 sellers injected in the marketplace, we keep going on the investment on the local no-code, even more so to drive the acceleration of the growth in addition to the Dynamic 365. Vahe: When I look at every category that we are in now, and I think it's a good confidence level that we on the path here. That first of all, we are between two times and three times the growth of the market for each of these category, that's a good indication. And I think that also raise the confidence level of the product sellers at Microsoft. To bring these different components together and add more value to the customer. So look, it's a journey Steve, and it's quite exciting to be on this. And people like yourself because we have been there also for a long time, and you know what it takes to transition. And you never fail, you learn always. And everything that you learn and that works, it's almost to think how we can scale and bring that to the mass as quick as we can so that people can benefit from it. Steve: Well success breeds success. And you know guys have got it going right now. I've taken up enough of your time. Anything that you want to get out there that I didn't ask or we didn't talk about? Vahe: No, I think, Steve, you did a good overview of let's say where we are, how we think. Again, I think that the simplification, the portfolio, the much more focused approach, the category, and more consistent execution on the go-to market is really the next level for us. And the hub and spoke strategy across all these categories gives much more room to increase the business opportunity for us and the partners. Steve: Yep, I think so, I think so. All right, listen, it was great talking to you, I'm glad you made the time. And I definitely hope to able to talk to you again in the future, get something new to talk about. Any time you want to reach out, and jump on, and talk about some stuff, let me know. We're happy to get you on. Vahe: We are all, let's say reading all these, let's say headlines on the recession. In a few months from now, between now and then of calendar year, we're to see a bit more clarity on how the planning is happening for the mid-market, large corporation, how the public sector is evolving in this dimension. And also, we'll have a few, let's say product launched that we talked about, Viva Sales, any learning from that, let's say maybe the first two, three months, would be interesting to see how people react. And maybe that could be a great opportunity for us to chat. Also what's going on the [inaudible 00:56:17] Steve: Yeah, yeah. Vahe: Plenty of things to talk, I guess. Steve: Sounds good. All right, well hey, thanks again for your time. Vahe: Thank you. Take care Steve, have a great day.

Midnight Train Podcast
The Servant Girl Annihilator (Your Jack the Ripper is Showing)

Midnight Train Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2022 108:18


Become a producer of the show and get your bonuses! Sign up for our Patreon! www.themidnighttrainpodcast.com    We've all heard the story of Jack the Ripper, right? Hell, we did a two-parter on the case not too long ago. You know the story. Some crazy person, running around hacking up people, disemboweling them, and nobody knows who it was. You know, that old chestnut. There were other cases similar to the Jack the Ripper case, like the Vallisca ax murders, the Hinterkaifeck Murders, and quite a few more that we've covered right here on the Midnight Train.    Well, this story is right in line with those unsolved atrocities and… it happened before Jack the Ripper decided to go all willy nilly and mutilate a bunch of poor women.   The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Austin Axe Murderer and the Midnight Assassin (which is my favorite for obvious reasons), was a still, as of yet, unidentified serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, between 1884 and 1885. The murderer's nickname originated with the writer O. Henry. Apparently he had mentioned the murderer in a letter he had written, coining the dipshit murderers name.   The brutal killings in Austin occurred three years before Jack the Ripper terrorized London's East End (and there are some who believe the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same person and we'll touch on that later). Although these murders happened 75 years before the term serial killer was coined, it still sealed Austin's reputation as the first city in America to have a serial killer — and the peice of crap responsible to be known as the first serial murderer in the country. Not exactly someone sane is running to be the first, but someone has to be the first something, right?   First, let's talk about Austin, Texas and a smidge of its history.   As per Wikipedia: Evidence of habitation of the Balcones Escarpment region of Texas can be traced to at least 11,000 years ago. Two of the oldest Paleolithic archeological sites in Texas, the Levi Rock Shelter and Smith Rock Shelter, are located southwest and southeast of present-day Austin respectively. Several hundred years before the arrival of European settlers, the area was inhabited by a variety of nomadic Native American tribes. These indigenous peoples fished and hunted along the creeks, including present-day Barton Springs, which proved to be a reliable campsite. At the time of the first permanent settlement of the area, the Tonkawa tribe was the most common, with the Comanches and Lipan Apaches also frequenting the area. The first European settlers in the present-day Austin were a group of Spanish friars who arrived from East Texas in July 1730. They established three temporary missions, La Purísima Concepción, San Francisco de los Neches and San José de los Nazonis, on a site by the Colorado River, near Barton Springs. The friars found conditions undesirable and relocated to the San Antonio River within a year of their arrival. Following Mexico's Independence from Spain, Anglo-American settlers began to populate Texas and reached present-day Central Texas by the 1830s. The first documented permanent settlement in the area dates to 1837 when the village of Waterloo was founded near the confluence of the Colorado River and Shoal Creek.   Got all that? Good… maybe you can explain it to me later. Just kidding… kind of. The victims   The first unfortunate victim was Mollie Smith, a 25-year-old cook working for the Walter Hall residence on Sixth Street (then named Pecan Street). She was killed on December 30, 1884, in a grisly killing filled with an extreme amount of blood due to the ax wounds to her head, abdomen, chest, legs, and arms. Her body was found outside and placed in the snow next to the family outhouse. She was attacked with an axe in her sleep, dragged into the backyard, raped and murdered. Walter Spencer, 30 yrs. old, also attacked and wounded.   The second poor victim was Eliza Shelly, a young woman who worked as a cook for the family of Dr. Lucian Johnson. Killed a few months after Mollie Smith, Shelly had been brutally murdered on Cypress Street on May 7, 1885, and her head left almost completely split from the blows of an axe. She was the mother of three children.   Because of the killer's apparent weapon of choice — an axe — the murders were first known as the Austin Axe Murders until a well-known resident, William Sydney Porter (that writer guy with the pen name, O. Henry) wrote in a letter to a friend: "Town is fearfully dull, except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively during the dead of night." After his letter became public, locals and reporters began referring to the murderer as the Servant Girl Annihilator.    On May 23, 1885, a third hapless woman, also a young servant person, became the next victim. Her name was Irene Cross and she lived on East Linden Street, just across from Scholz Garten. A reporter on the scene after her vicious attack stated that she looked as if she had been scalped. This victim was killed with a knife, as opposed to the aforementioned ax. Was this attack the work of the Annihilator or a different lunatic?    As summer dwindled down, August brought forth the arrival of a horrendous attack on Clara Dick. Later that month, another servant named Rebecca Ramey was wounded and her 11-year-old daughter Mary was killed.   At this time, the citizens of Austin were scared as shit and began protecting their homes with extra measures. Other cautions, such as increased patrols in neighborhoods, going home before sunset, and 24-hour saloons closing at midnight, we all also put into place. (It's worth noting that despite the legend, Austin's famous moontowers were not constructed during this time. They came later in the 1890s.)   Next victims were 20 year old Gracie Vance and her 25 year old boyfriend Orange Washington. They were sleeping in a shack behind the home of Vance's boss when the couple was brutally attacked with an ax. According to the local paper, Vance's "head was almost beaten into a jelly." Gracie was also dragged into the backyard, raped and murdered. Lucinda Boddy and Patsy Gibson, both only 17 yrs. old, were also attacked and wounded.    Weird note here, up to this point all the victims were African-American, but they were not all servant girls. And many noted that white residents had not been attacked. At least not yet.   The final two murders occurred on Christmas Eve (or possibly December 28th), 1885. First, 41 year old Sue Hancock, the mother of two, described as "one of the most refined ladies in Austin," was found in her backyard (now the Four Seasons Austin) by her husband. She had been dragged there while sleeping and succumbed to her wounds.   Hours later, 17 year old Eula Phillips, "one of the prettiest women in Austin," was found dead in her in-laws backyard (where the Austin Central Library is now located) she was also dragged into the back yard, raped and murdered. Her 24 year old husband, Jimmy Phillips Jr, sustained severe wounds in the attack. Ultimately, both spouses of Sue Hancock and Eula Phillips were accused, but found not guilty of the murders.   After the Christmas Eve murders in 1885, the killings stopped, but the fear was still palpable. At the time of the murders, Austin had been changing from a small frontier town to a cosmopolitan city, but the reputation it acquired because of the crimes put a halt to the city's growth.   The suspects Although approximately 400 men were eventually rounded up by authorities and questioned in the killings, all suspects were released and the murders remain unsolved. However, there are a few names from history that stand out as possible murder suspects.   Nathan Elgin was native of Austin and a young African-American domestic servant who knew the streets of his hometown.    The majority of this next part was taken from the website servantgirlmurders.com   Late one night in February 1886 a saloon in Masontown in east Austin was the scene of a violent and disturbing incident. The surrounding neighborhood was in an uproar because a drunken, raging man had dragged a girl from the saloon to a nearby house where he could be heard beating and cursing her while she screamed for help. The entire neighborhood had come out in the streets and the commotion caught the attention of a nearby police officer. Police officer John Bracken arrived on the scene and the saloon keeper, Dick Rogers and a neighbor, Claibe Hawkins, went with Bracken to stop the man from beating the girl to death.   Rogers and Hawkins went into the house and pulled the man away from the girl and into the front yard. As Rogers and Hawkins grappled with the man, Officer Bracken got out the handcuffs. The man would not be subdued – he threw off Rogers and Hawkins and knocked Bracken off his feet. The man turned on them and brandished a knife. As Bracken tried to recover a shot rang out. Bracken drew his pistol and fired. The shot brought down the raging man. The man's name was Nathan Elgin. There was no explanation for Elgin's rage at the girl, named Julia. Bracken's shot did not kill Elgin instantly but it did leave him paralyzed and mortally wounded; he died the following day. A subsequent autopsy revealed that Bracken's bullet had lodged in Elgin's spine which accounted for the paralysis. The doctors had also noticed another detail – Elgin was missing a toe from his right foot. During the investigations of the crimes the authorities had carefully noted the footprints which were often bloodstained and had made distinct impressions in the soil as the perpetrator carried the weight of the victim. Apart from general measurements of size and shape, footprints in most instances are not especially distinctive and they would not have been much use to the authorities had they not possessed some unusual feature. But the footprints left behind at the Servant Girl Murder crime scenes did share a very distinct feature – one of the footprints had only four toes. The authorities never shared this fact with the press or the general public during the course of 1885. The press frequently complained about the secrecy surrounding the murder inquests and argued that making all the details of the crimes public would facilitate the capture of the responsible parties more quickly. The authorities disagreed and kept certain details of the cases to themselves – details that they hoped would eventually identify the perpetrator and link him to the crime scenes. After Nathan Elgin's death the authorities unexpectedly had the direct physical evidence they had been waiting for – a foot that matched the distinctive footprints of the killer. But the foot belonged to a dead man. What were they to do with that information? What could they do with it? To imagine the state of mind of the authorities at that time one has to understand the heightened state of fear and suspicion that was present in Austin at the beginning of 1886. In the month since the last murders in December 1885, the city's police force had been tripled in size. A curfew had been enacted and private citizens had organized into patrols to guard the neighborhoods after dark. Strangers were forced to identify themselves or be evicted from the city. Saloons and other raucous downtown establishments, usually open twenty-four hours a day, were forced to close at midnight. A new era of law and order had begun. Would there have been any advantage in revealing that perhaps the midnight assassin was dead? And what if Elgin was not the mysterious murderer of servant girls? It was in the authorities' best interest to wait and see if the murders continued. Maybe the authorities believed they had gotten lucky – they couldn't arrest, prosecute of convict Elgin, but perhaps the problem had been solved. But in February 1886 it was still too early to be sure. It is important to remember that at the beginning of 1886, the Christmas Eve murders were not the last murders, simply the latest, and the investigations into the murders continued, notably with detectives still shadowing other suspects. While the authorities were not able to make use of the evidence against Elgin, the defense attorneys for James Phillips and Moses Hancock certainly were. Eula Phillips, wife of James Phillips, and Susan Hancock, wife of Moses Hancock, had both been murdered on December 24, 1885 and both husbands were subsequently charged with murdering their wives. In May 1886, during the trial of James Phillips, defense attorneys introduced into evidence floorboards marked with bloody footprints that had been removed from the Phillips house after the murder. They were compared to the footprints of the defendant, who removed his shoes and had his feet inked and printed in an elaborate demonstration in the courtroom. Even though Phillip's footprints were substantially different in size than the bloody footprints on the floorboards, the jury was unconvinced. The motives of jealousy and drunkenness as argued by the prosecution convinced the jury and they found Phillips guilty of second degree murder. When the case against Moses Hancock was finally brought to trial, the Hancock received some substantial legal help in the form of pro bono representation by John Hancock (no relation) a former U.S. Congressman, one of the state's most prominent political figures and one of Austin's most astute legal practitioners. Also providing assistance for the defense rather than the prosecution, was Sheriff Malcolm Hornsby, who during his testimony, described making a cast of Elgin's foot after his death, the significance of the missing toe, the similarities between Elgin's footprint and the footprints left at the Phillips and Ramey murders, and that fact that there had been no further servant girl murders committed since Elgin's death. Even so, the jury was not completely persuaded and after two days of deliberation, a hung jury was declared and the case was discharged without a verdict. The verdicts in the Phillips and Hancock trials illustrated the consensus on the Servant Girl Murders and the motives behind them – that the murders had been committed by different persons with conventional motives. Was Nathan Elgin the Servant Girl Annihilator? In my opinion, he most likely was based on 1) direct physical evidence linking Elgin to the crimes, 2) testimony of Sheriff Malcolm Hornsby as to Elgin's ostensible guilt, 3) the fact that there were no further Servant Girl Murders after his death, and 4) Elgin fits the criminal profile of such a killer. *** Nathan Elgin – A Criminology The Servant Girl Murders were over 130 years ago and few official records pertaining to them have survived. Likewise, there is little surviving biographical information about Nathan Elgin, however the information that is available strongly correlates to traits associated with a Disorganized/Anger-Retaliatory (D/AR) serial killer profile, and the crime scenes of the Servant Girl Murders correspond exactly to that of anger-retaliatory crime scenes: In the anger-retaliatory rape-murder, the rape is planned and the initial murder involves overkill. It is an anger-venting act that expresses symbolic revenge on a female victim. Nettled by poor relationships with women, the aggressor distills his anguish and contempt into explosive revenge on the victim… the aggressive killer will either direct his anger at that woman or redirect his anger to a substitute woman. Because the latter type of scapegoating retaliation does not eliminate the direct source of hate, it is likely that it will be episodically repeated to relieve internal stresses. Dynamically, the rape-homicide is committed in a stylized violent burst attack for purposes of retaliation, getting even, and revenge on women. The perpetrator tends to choose victims from familiar areas… and may use weapons of opportunity in percussive assaults with fists, blunt objects or a knife. The subject tends to leave a disorganized crime scene, and the improvised murder weapon may be found within 15 feet of the body. The following traits are common to the D/AR serial killer profile and I would argue that they are present in the historical record specifically in connection to Nathan Elgin: childhood abuse or neglect early violent episodes violent fantasy resentment of authority escalation stressors Additionally, Nathan Elgin would have possessed the locational expertise critical to successfully enacting the murders and eluding the authorities, culminating in a distinctive signature killing style – the attack on sleeping female victim using blunt force to the head, carrying the body away from the house into the yard where the victim was then raped. Childhood Abuse Suspicions All of the murderers were subjected to serious emotional abuse during their childhoods. And all of them developed into what psychiatrists label as sexually dysfunctional adults.  From birth to age six or seven, studies have shown, the most important adult figure in a child's life is the mother, and it is in this time period that the child learns what love is. Relationships between our subjects and their mothers were uniformly cool, unloving and neglectful. (4) The disorganized offender grows up in a household where the father's work is often unstable, where childhood discipline is harsh, and where the family is subject to serious strain brought on by alcohol, mental illness, and the like. (5) One of the primary components in the creation of the D/AR serial killer profile is a dysfunctional, abusive relationship within the family and especially between the mother and the subject. The mothers often have psychological disorders or they have been victims of emotional and sexual abuse themselves and are then subsequently abusive with their own children. At best the mothers are emotionally distant and at worst they are physically and psychologically abusive. Nathan Elgin was born in 1866, the fourth of five children in his family. The Elgin family had moved to Austin from Arkansas after the war, to the freedman's community that came to be known as Wheatville. Nathan had three older siblings that had already married, started their own families and evidently lived normal lives while Nathan was still a child growing up in Austin. However the older siblings' mother, Angeline, had been a different woman than Nathan's mother, Susan. (6) There is no record of what happened to Angeline, she presumably died or separated from her husband, Richard Elgin, but after she left, a woman named Susan Pearce appeared in her place to raise Nathan – whether she was his biological mother is unknown. I think this substitution in the maternal line is significant and I would speculate that Susan Pearce was an abusive catalyst in Nathan's emotional development. The 1880 census listed 14-year-old Nathan Elgin as still living with his parents; it noted his ability to read and write, and his occupation as “servant.” He was likely placed into service by his mother. For Nathan, being a domestic servant at that period in time would have entailed working in an environment with Victorian strictures and discipline, submitting to the authority of women, both black and white, carrying out whatever tasks were ordered without argument.  Habitual abuse or humiliation of young Nathan could have been facilitated by such conditions and it is easy to imagine him having suffered abuse in such a position considering the rage directed at this particular class of women only a few years later. Any abuse Nathan experienced as a child without having the physical ability to stop it, would in the meantime have fueled an inner world of revenge fantasy and anger waiting to be unleashed. Not until he was a teenager would he finally gain the physical ability to express that anger, except toward whomever was the source. The source or its memory, the humiliation and shame they had used to define him, would retain the ability to make him feel helpless and impotent. The result, once he had gained maturity, would be not just fantasies of rage, but their physical expression, enacted again and again upon victims who were substitute for its source. Early Violent Episodes – Resentment of Authority – Violent Fantasy These adolescents overcompensated for the aggression in their early lives by repeating the abuse in fantasy – but, this time, with themselves as the aggressors. He is seen as an explosive personality who is impulsive, quick-tempered, and self-centered. In the summer of 1881, Nathan Elgin was arrested for carrying a pistol and getting into a confrontation with another young man near the Governor's mansion, “they cursed each other for some time and aroused the neighborhood.” Such incidents were not particularly remarkable for that time period and the newspaper frequently reported similar skirmishes between young “bloods,” however it does demonstrate that Elgin already had a violent disposition at a young age.   More remarkable was an incident in 1882, when Elgin sent a threatening letter to a deputy sheriff promising to “whip destroy and kill” the deputy the next time they met. The written expression of violent threats and fantasies, especially toward the police or other authorities, is one of the classic serial killer tells. Nathan's letter was described “reckless and bloodthirsty” in the newspaper, a description that would later be more fittingly applied to the murders of 1885.  Locational Expertise Apart from committing the murders in the middle of the night and using the cover of darkness for concealment, an intimate knowledge of the city would have been key to the killer's ability to elude the authorities. Nathan Elgin had locational expertise – he had grown up in Austin as it was being built. As a child in the 1870s he would have seen the wood-framed buildings that lined Congress Avenue and Pecan Street replaced by brick and mortar storefronts. He would have seen the streets graded and the wooded hills cleared for elegant neighborhoods, schools and churches. By 1885 he would have been intimately familiar with how the city worked and moved. He would have known all the shortcuts, the hiding places, which yards had dogs, which doors were left unlocked. He would have known how to go unnoticed and he would have known what was around every corner. Escalation The disorganized killer has no idea of, or interest in, the personalities of the victims. He does not want to know who they are, and many times takes steps to obliterate their personalities by quickly knocking them unconscious or covering their faces or otherwise disfiguring them.  [The victim] will often have horrendous wounds. [The killer] does not move the body or conceal it. The offender is usually somewhat younger than his victims.  In July 1884, there were two instances of women, both African American, being stabbed in the face as they slept. The women survived; the authorities investigated them as separate incidents. In August 1884, an African American woman was struck in the head with a smoothing iron as she slept. These nocturnal attacks, though not fatal, were so idiosyncratic in style that they must have been a fledgling attempt by an anger-retaliatory killer who would later escalate with gruesome results.  In November 1884, police reports mentioned a non-fatal nocturnal assault on a domestic servant as she slept in her bed. This incident never appeared in the newspaper.  A little over a month later, an African American woman named Mollie Smith was struck in the head with an axe as she slept; she was dragged into the backyard and raped. Her body was hacked to pieces by the killer and left at the scene.  Mollie Smith's murder set the pattern for all that followed. Locational Expertise and Escalation and Signature in the Vance/Washington and Hancock/Phillips Murders The disorganized killer doesn't choose victims logically, and so often takes a victim at high risk to himself, one not selected because he or she can be easily controlled…  …the assault continues until the subject is emotionally satisfied  The killer's personal expression takes the form of his unique signature, an imprint left by him at the scene, an imprint the killer is psychologically compelled to leave to satisfy himself sexually. After four murders the killer had become very adept and perhaps overly confident and by the time he entered the cabin of Gracie Vance he was confident enough to attack four persons simultaneously. Gracie Vance was a domestic servant employed by William Dunham and she lived, along with Orange Washington, in a cabin in the rear of his property. When the killer entered Gracie's cabin, instead of finding a solitary sleeping woman, he found three women and one man. Undeterred he proceeded to incapacitate all four as quickly as possible; however, one of the women was only briefly insensible and she went for help while the crime was still in progress. Neighbors were awakened by the disturbance and the police were called. Dunham and the neighbors went to investigate and a man was seen fleeing the scene. They fired their pistols at him as he made his escape in the darkness. As with the other victims, Gracie Vance was found in the backyard; her face had been pulverized with a rock. The suspect had fled in the direction of Wheatville, just to the west — the neighborhood Nathan Elgin had grown up in.  The Christmas Eve murders were in many ways the skeleton key to all the murders in that they demonstrated all the specific facets of the killer's MO and signature — his locational expertise, his ability to improvise and adjust at the scene as well as his emotional escalation which demonstrated the extent to which he would go to enact a very specific sex murder scenario – an attack in the bedroom upon a sleeping victim, then rape and murder in the backyard – even when the completion of that scenario was problematic.  Susan Hancock, unlike the other victims, was white, but other than that, the murder was carried out identically to the previous murders. It is unlikely the killer had the specific intent to select a white victim; rather something about the location, the house, and the fact that there was an axe in the backyard attuned to the killer's preferences. As with the other victims, Susan Hancock was struck in the head with an axe while she slept and then carried into the backyard. Susan's husband was asleep in another room but was awakened by the disturbance. He went into the backyard, saw a figure standing over his wife and threw a brick at him. Even though the perpetrator was armed with an axe he didn't retaliate against Hancock – instead he fled the scene by jumping over a fence into the alley. Hancock then ran to the east side of the house to cut him off but he wasn't there.  Instead of fleeing into the darkness, the perpetrator ran west, back toward Congress Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare. This peculiar evasion demonstrated that the perpetrator was very confident about where he was going — that he expected he could hide in plain sight. It is interesting to note that had Hancock gone west to cut off the fleeing perpetrator he might have been able to stop him, which could have brought a definitive resolution to the murderous events of that year. However, seeing the perpetrator had escaped he went back to his wife and called for help. Heading toward Congress Avenue, the perpetrator cut through the yard of the residence of May Tobin where his sudden appearance out of the darkness startled a young woman and her male companion – in his haste he could have literally run into the young woman. A confrontation occurs – the man threatens and insults him in demeaning and racist terms, perhaps the woman does too. The perpetrator has to retreat again and this would have been too much. The urge to kill had not been satisfied and would only have intensified after a humiliating confrontation. He follows the couple's cab across town to the residence of James Phillips. The cab arrives, the young woman, Eula Phillips, discreetly makes her way into the quiet house. Less than an hour later she is found in the backyard, raped and murdered. The killer could have dispatched Mr. Hancock and completed the crime at the Hancock residence but he did not. Likewise, he could have attempted to kill Eula and her companion in the relative seclusion of May Tobin's premises. Instead, the killer's primary motivation was the realization of a very specific violent sexual murder scenario. I believe a confrontation must have occurred at May Tobin's residence between Eula Phillips, her imperious companion, John Dickinson, and a very volatile Nathan Elgin. The confrontation had to have made him angry enough to pursue her across town — even though he had no idea where they were going or what he would find when he got there. I believe he was so angry that he pursued her at his own peril, when other, easier opportunities for a kill were in closer proximity. The bloody footprints left at the Phillips house would subsequently be affirmatively compared to the footprints of the deceased Elgin.  Austin Daily Statesman 3 June 1887 Stressors …by the very nature of their childhood, serial killers are most likely to lead lives full of stressful events. As children and adolescents they lack self-esteem, are isolated and maladjusted, and are therefore poorly prepared for coping with life as adults.  Historically, the retaliatory killer's marriage will have been ill-fated and he will usually be in some phase of estrangement. …If he has a relationship, there will have generally been a history of long-term spousal abuse, which will not likely have been covered by criminal complaints.  In the study of serial sexual homicides, a “stressor” is defined as an event, interaction or conflict in which the killer is reminded of past humiliations and abuses. To purge his feelings of shame, inadequacy or powerlessness the killer will endeavor to enact a murderous scene in which he is powerful and in total control. In the case of Nathan Elgin, there is a remarkable example of a pre-crime stressor in the instance of his wife, Sallie, giving birth to a child the same night two women were being murdered on Christmas Eve. I believe that this was more than a coincidence and whatever stressors Elgin was susceptible to were triggered by this event. While the birth of a child would not normally seem to be cause for a murderous rampage, in the case of a D/AR profile it very well could. Nathan had married Sallie Wheat in 1882. She was a year older than him. They did not live together. It is not unusual for serial killers to be married, however it is rare in the case of the D/AR killer profile because of their volatile temperament towards women. Sallie could have held the power in the relationship; conversely she could have been subjected to abuse herself. There is an indication that Sallie was aware, at least subsequently, of Nathan's responsibility for the murders – as a means of disassociation she raised Nathan's son under the surname Davis rather than Elgin.  Post Mortem We read a great deal of theorizing about the series of murders in Austin, that all the assassinations were the work of a cunning lunatic — a monomaniac on the subject of murder.  From what I can learn, I don't believe anything of the kind, and it is my deliberate opinion that these murders can not only be unearthed, but when probed to the bottom, it will be found that they were committed by different individuals and that in each case they were prompted by lust, jealousy, or hatred. (27) A Monomaniac On the Subject of Murder would be an apt title for a 19th century dime novel. The quote above by Waco Marshal Luke Moore was closer to the truth than he realized but the ideas he articulated were not exclusive; Nathan Elgin was indeed a monomaniac on the subject of murder and he was motivated by lust, hatred and revenge. In contemporary criminal investigations of serial sexual homicides, law enforcement will have decades of criminal profiles at their disposal which have been painstakingly created as a resource to match types of murders to specific types of offenders. In other words, they know who they're looking for. And the more unusual the murders, the easier it is to focus the investigation toward a specific type of offender. If the Servant Girl Murders were committed in this day and age and the perpetrator had left behind similar evidence, contemporary forensic resources and methods would create a criminal profile and evidence collected could confirm or eliminate potential suspects. The perpetrator would most likely be apprehended very quickly. Serial killers who are apprehended and convicted are later questioned extensively by the authorities and they are usually quiet happy to talk about themselves because they frequently have an inherent superiority complex and are eager to expound upon their mastery and superiority even though they are behind bars. It is interesting to note that the wounded Elgin was not interviewed by reporters, which was unusual – almost everyone involved in a shooting at that period in time had a reporter waiting for them after being attended to by a physician. Nor did the police make any statement regarding Elgin. The inquest of his death was held in secret. Elgin most likely spent his last hours delirious as doctors made a futile attempt at finding and removing the bullet that entered his side and lodged in his spine. If Elgin's murder spree had followed the trajectory of most disorganized serial killers, he would have continued to escalate until his confidence overcame his self-restraint and he would have eventually been caught or killed fleeing the scene. Hypothetically, if he had been arrested for a murder, unless he specifically admitted to it, I doubt the authorities would have connected him to all the murders. Had he been arrested and interrogated I think Elgin would have baffled the police, but they wouldn't have spent much time contemplating him; he would have undoubtedly been indicted, tried and hung in short order. The newspaper account of him would have been a typically villainous caricature from that time period, and people today would still wonder if he was responsible. So now, another suspect and a possible connection to Jack The Ripper.   The next suspect was Maurice (no last name given), a Malaysian cook who worked at the Pearl House in downtown Austin. The Pearl House had connections to a majority of the victims of the Annihilator, therefore this theory took off like a mother fucker..   Allegedly, once Maurice left Austin only 3 weeks after the last murder, bound for New Orleans and ultimately London, the murders ended. And although the killings by Jack the Ripper were arguably more brutal in nature, many believe the Austin and London killers were actually the same person — a murderer that began to escalate his killings. Something that has been studied and noted by psychologists and other people smarter than us. Maurice apparently told acquaintances at the hotel that he was going to work aboard ships as a cook to earn his passage to London for a fresh start. A little known fact: the cook Maurice was actually suspected after the last murder and put under surveillance   According to Reddit author Sciencebzzt:   So many people who follow the Ripper case seem to want him to be a suave, elegant dude. A surgeon or a royal or a tormented upper class freak of some kind. But the facts don't suggest that. People say whoever killed the girls must have been skilled with a blade, that may be true, but the "brutality" suggests they were cut up like animals, skinned and gutted almost. The way a butcher... or a cook... might. Anyway, back to Austin in 1886. Most experts on serial killers will tell you it's unlikely that the murders will just stop, unless the murderer is dead, in prison, or has moved elsewhere. In fact, most will say that the serial killers M.O. usually evolves, and changes... while the main motivation doesn't. This would explain the difference in the Ripper murders 3 years later... and also why they seem to have the same extremely brutal motivations. Jack the Ripper didn't use an axe the way the Servant Girl Annihilator did, however, this may have been because an axe was not a common thing to carry around in 1888 London, the largest city in the world at the time. In 1884 Austin, a town of 10,000 at the westernmost terminus of a railroad line, an axe was likely less conspicuous. The scariest part though... is what happened after 1888. Whoever "he" was, he was obviously a highly driven, aggressive murderer, and he already had success (probably) in leaving Austin and getting away with murder. Well, consider this: After 1888, similar serial murders of women started happening in port towns along major trade routes, like Nicaragua, Tunis, and Jamaica. If the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same man, given the highly aggressive style, brutality and rapid succession of the murders, one quickly after the other... it's likely he killed far, far more girls than we know about, all over the world.   Did Maurice leave to avoid the authorities and escalate his murders or did her simply leave because his reputation was tarnished?    The Jack the ripper murders were allegedly from april 3 1888 to 1891.    The Vallisca ax murders were on June 10th, 1912   New orleans ax murders May 1918 to October 1919   I spent countless hours looking up ship records from 1886 and there is one record of a “Maurice” that went to England from the US. The funny thing is, his name was Maurice Kelly. The Ripper's last known and documented victim was Mary Jane Kelly. It's probably just a coincidence but what if it isn't?   TOP 10 MOVIES BASED ON REAL UNSOLVED MYSTERIES https://www.watchmojo.com/video/id/44882

EWTN NEWS NIGHTLY
2022-08-26 - EWTN News Nightly | Friday, August 26, 2022

EWTN NEWS NIGHTLY

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2022 30:00


On "EWTN News Nightly" tonight: A Catholic cardinal tells journalists that only the Holy Spirit will be hijacking the Church's Synod on Synodality. EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief, Andreas Thonhauser has more from Rome. Meanwhile, pro-lifer and former Vice President Mike Pence said in a speech: “we stand today at long last when Roe v. Wade has been sent to the ash heap of history where it belongs.” While President Joe Biden called for Congress to “codify Roe once and for all.” And at the request of Congressional Democrats, the search engine "Google" is suppressing results for those who offer alternatives to abortions. The Pentagon says US military airstrikes earlier this week killed 4 Iranian-backed militia members. The attack was in response to recent strikes against US service members. Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation, James Phillips, joins to share whether this was the right response and whether the situation will escalate. And tomorrow, Pope Francis will hold a consistory that will lead to the creation of 20 new cardinals. EWTN journalist Hannah Brockhaus provides a preview. Finally this evening, the PGA Tour has made its boldest response to date against a rival professional golf league funded by Saudi Arabia. Founder and Managing Partner of DLE Agency and Achilles Public Relations, Doug Eldridge, joins to tell us more about LIV Golf League. Don't miss out on the latest news and analysis from a Catholic perspective. Get EWTN News Nightly delivered to your email: https://ewtn.com/enn

Morning Mayhem
Hog Song-I Cheer for the Hogs by James Phillips

Morning Mayhem

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2022 2:56


Submit yours by Friday (8/26) to rj@1037thebuzz.com

BATCH, A Bitter Southerner Podcast
Sheri Castle: The Seven Essential Southern Dishes

BATCH, A Bitter Southerner Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2022 61:13


We're so excited to bring y'all our grand finale for this first BATCH: a conversation with writer and TV host Sheri Castle as she talks us through her piece, “The Seven Essential Southern Dishes.” This is a good one y'all - it's the Bitter Southerner's second most read, discussed, shared and argued over story of all time. We're talking about highly contentious stuff here. Sugar in cornbread. Cream cheese in poundcake. Thank y'all so much for listening to this first BATCH of stories! We are so grateful for all of the feedback you've given us and time you've spent with us. We're taking just a few weeks to get the next BACTH of stories together; we'll be back soon! Original Story The Seven Essential Southern Dishes Credits Hosted by Kyle Tibbs Jones Produced by Ryan Engelberger Engineered by Kayla Dover, Thomas Sully Allen and James Phillips Featuring original music by Curt Castle Recorded at Tweed Recording and Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA and at James Phillips' studio in Old North Durham

15-Minute History
Two Revolutions and the Constitution (Part Two) | Special Interview with James Phillips

15-Minute History

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2022 43:58


Join us for part two of our interview with James Philips to discuss his book, Two Revolutions and the Constitution | How the English and American Revolutions Produced the American Constitution. In this discussion, we talk about taxation without representation, what it means to put principles ahead of prosperity, the Articles of Confederation...and more. James D.R. Philips studied at the Universities of Oxford and Sydney and holds degrees in liberal arts and in law. He has been a successful mergers and acquisitions attorney for more than thirty years and is a visiting lecturer at the University of Sydney's Law School. He held leadership positions at two law firms and is now a non-executive director of several organizations, including a leading Australian public-policy-research institute. Philips first read the American Constitution in school and began reading about the English revolutionary and American colonial periods in 2005. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/15minutehistory/support

Mark Reardon Show
Research Fellow breaks down Biden's trip to the Middle East

Mark Reardon Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2022 35:49


Hour 1: Mark Reardon shares on the current political happenings before welcoming Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, James Phillips joins to discuss Biden's Middle East trip.

15-Minute History
Two Revolutions and the Constitution (Part One) | Special Interview with James Phillips

15-Minute History

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2022 32:26


Join us for part one of our interview with James Philips to discuss his book, Two Revolutions and the Constitution | How the English and American Revolutions Produced the American Constitution. In this special discussion, we talk about the origins of the book, the links between the US and British constitutions, the power of personality within history...and more. James D.R. Philips studied at the Universities of Oxford and Sydney and holds degrees in liberal arts and in law. He has been a successful mergers and acquisitions attorney for more than thirty years and is a visiting lecturer at the University of Sydney's Law School. He held leadership positions at two law firms and is now a non-executive director of several organizations, including a leading Australian public-policy-research institute. Philips first read the American Constitution in school and began reading about the English revolutionary and American colonial periods in 2005. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/15minutehistory/support

Steve reads his Blog
Steve has yet another Chat with Charles

Steve reads his Blog

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2022 27:51


I have had my head down working on some big things since RapidStart CRM growth exploded, and it has been a while since you heard from me. Well, I'm getting back to it with a follow-up chat with Charles Lamanna who recently took over for James Phillips as head of Business Applications for Microsoft. This was my fourth chat with Charles, and it was interesting to back listen to them in order. It really gives you a sense of where Microsoft has come. I managed to catch him in his office having just wrapped up their year-end. Enjoy! If you want to listen to my chats with Charles in order, The first one was October of 2018, the second one was September of 2019, the third one was March of 2020. Transcript Below: Steve: Welcome to the Steve Has a Chat Podcast. Where I call someone out of the blue with a record button on, and hope to have an unscripted conversation about Microsoft business applications. Let's see how it goes. Enjoy. Charles: Hey, this is Charles Lamanna. Steve: Charles. Steve Mordue. How are you doing? Charles: Good. Great to hear from you, Steve. It's been a long time. Steve: It has been a while. Have you got some time for a chat? Charles: For you, anytime. Steve: I appreciate it. Well, I guess the big news for you obviously is putting on the big boy hat, huh? Charles: Yes. I moved up an extra floor in the Advanta building in the Microsoft Campus. Steve: Oh did you? Charles: No, I'm just kidding. But metaphorically speaking at least. Because for folks that don't know, James Phillips leaving in March of this year, I kinda stepped in across all aspects of business applications of Microsoft. And, over the last four years, I've gotten to know the place, know the people, know the business and I'm super excited about the opportunity. And I think the future has never been brighter for business at Microsoft. Steve: Well, I never got the feeling that James held you back, or any of the folks on your team back, but he certainly, we have to give him a lot of credit for really taking this thing to a whole nother level. You weren't here before, I don't think, at least with the business apps, but it was really run by morons before he took over. And he completely turned that thing around and turned it in a whole nother business. And now with you taking over, I'm expecting that to continue. I don't know if there's been some things that have been in your bag that you've wanted to do that James was keeping you from, that you're going to pull out, or if you're just going to continue the path, or what's your thinking now that you've got that gavel? Charles: So definitely not held back. I would say I was super fortunate I worked for James for, I think seven, eight years in total. So I was able to learn a bunch and he was without a doubt, the most supportive manager I've ever had in my career, in terms of both enabling and clearing paths for what we wanted to do from a vision and dreaming perspective. And if it weren't for his support, things like Power Apps would have never gotten off the ground. So, definitely. And I think as we go to the future, we have this amazing foundation. I mean, BizApps is a major and key component and pillar of the Microsoft Cloud. Charles: 10 years ago, you probably would've thought that impossible. Right. To have Dynamics and Power Platform alongside Azure and Office. Now that we're here, let's go take it to the next level. And that's the push, and it's continuing a lot of the great innovation we've already done from a data-first, AI-first approach. Kind of sprinkling in some more collaboration with teams, and really revisiting the end-user experience, the platform, to go increasingly modernize and scale it and make sure that all our components from CRM, to ERP, to Power Platform work great together. Steve: I don't think it could have achieved that status with Dynamics 365 alone. It really took the Power Platform coming into being, I think, to give it the breadth that it needed to be able to get there. With Dynamics 365, we didn't have apps for users to do small things, there was no way it was going to permeate an organization the way the Power Apps do. Charles: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I say two things are interesting. The first is, Power Platform has allowed us to help more users and more customers with business process transformation, which is what BizApps are all about. Right? Steve: Yeah. Charles: How do you make your sales processes better, your financial processes better, and Power Platform really turbocharged that. And that earned us credibility in a lot of those departments and with a lot of those users, and we have some great data about every user who adopts Power Platform is significantly more likely to adopt Dynamics within the next year or two. So we see that symbiosis working in a way which is incredibly customer-friendly, and it helps our business. Second thing is Power Platform has even helped us reimagine parts of the Dynamics apps themselves. And I think probably two of the best examples are the connectors, which are key to the Power Platform. Charles: You see the connectors starting to show up inside all these Dynamics apps, like Customer Insights uses Power Query for data ingestion, or Viva Sales even connects to Salesforce. So there's this amazing interoperability that we have, and also enabling the end-user. Our team built Viva Sales, even though it's not in the Dynamics or Power Platform brand. But it's this idea of having an integrated experience in Office for sellers, built on connectors and built on the Office integration. So it's changed the way you think about some products, and it's also helped us go expand our user base. Steve: Yeah. I saw I was on a PGI call with that yesterday. Very, very cool stuff. At the last PAC meeting, I was supposed to be on the Viva Sales round table, but I'm like, "Yeah, that sounds boring. I think I'm going to go to this one." And I really, I went to the wrong one, I missed a good one. But you know where I am, right? I'm on the platform. Charles: Yep. Steve: And we're exploding. Our app is continuing to grow on the platform as a low-cost simpler alternative to Dynamics 365 for companies that aren't ready for that. And I'm always bugging you about, "Hey, that cool new feature you guys got in the first-party. When are we going to get that at the platform level? So ISVs, and people that are just building their own stuff from scratch, could take advantage of some of the syncs." We got the Outlook app a while ago, we've been getting some things. And when I saw Viva Sales, that was probably my only disappointment was that, at least as I understand it, it's hardwired to Dynamics or hardwired to Salesforce. And I get that trying to play those two against each other, but it's leaving guys like me out in the cold. Charles: Well, I'd say for Viva Sales, the intent is to support any CRM, and I really do mean that generally. And even customers, because there are customers out there that we talked to today who have homegrown CRMs, they coded 15 years ago. They have a whole dev team still working on it. The idea is to support interoperability with your account records, your lead records, your opportunity records, standard pipeline data. And to do that in a way which works through the connector. So today it'll earn V1, it'll only be Dynamics in Salesforce, but the intent is to make that be a general purpose adapter. And you could have a RapidStart CRM connector, which shows up and supports the contacts the way we want, and it would be connectable. That's not going to happen in the next three months, but that's the ambition. Steve: I can call you in four. Charles: I go down and said... What was that, in four Months? Steve: I can call you in four months. Charles: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I might not pick up the phone then in four months, no I'm just kidding. Because even talking about, if people are even on Seibal. We should be able to support them with their sales. Because the idea is, you shouldn't have to transform the seller experience at the same pace that you transform your core CRM, your core system of record, and that's just the way the world's moving. Steve: Well, I love the idea that one of the challenges that CRM has always had, of course, is user adoption. It's one more place they need to go to do something. Outlook app helped with that, getting data into CRM without them having to actually go to it. It seems like yet another way for people to engage with their CRM without actually realizing they're engaging with their CRM. Charles: Exactly. Yeah. It's almost like ambient... Yeah for sure. Sorry. Yeah. I say it's almost like ambient CRM basically. How do you make it so that, instead of the user goes to your CRM, the CRM goes to the user where they are. And the outlook app was the beginnings of that. Some of the Team's integrations we've done are the beginnings of that. And that Viva Sales and that whole Viva idea is how do you elevate it? So anywhere you go, your CRM data is accessible without you having to go to a different user interface. Steve: Very cool. Very cool. So I ask you every time we get on a call about exciting features that are coming up. And in particular, maybe even some features that have launched, that didn't take off the way you thought they would and people are just missing something. We have this problem with our app sometimes, people don't understand and so they don't move forward, and it would be perfect for them. And I'm sure there's lots of features and capabilities that you guys broke a sweat building, and know in your heart, this would be awesome, but people don't seem to be getting that. What's a good example of one of those? Charles: I'd say a product which we've had a capability, where we've had a lot of customer usage from a small number of customers, but very deeply and with huge impact, and we wish were with more customers, is probably Conversation Intelligence. I'm not sure if you've seen that around the Sales app, and where that actually will sit in inside of say a phone call or a meeting and help you generate action items, and summaries, and coaching, and help you understand sentiment, and listening and talk ratio. We've used that internally at Microsoft with great success. So our digital sales reps and the folks who work our phones, they are diehard fans. We have this amazing video we released a couple months ago where we actually went out and interviewed these digital sales reps and their managers, and they just were going on and on about how great it is. Charles: And that's rare where you hear that about a piece of technology for a seller. And we have a few other external customers that have gone through that same journey, where they have a thousand digital reps, 2000 digital reps using this and just in love with it. But it's not as pervasive as we thought it would be at this point. And it's one of those things where, it's a product discovery, and easing people into the capability, because then you got to go out of your way to enable it and configure it. So we're doing work now to simplify it, and make it more accessible to more users. And we're doing that partly through Viva Sales, like conversation intelligence, the major capability of Viva Sales. Charles: And the second thing is also, there's even some culture aspects to it. Because if you use it, it's generating transcripts and recordings of a call, and not everyone's necessarily super comfortable with that. So we're even working about how do you enable more features without having to record the call, and how do you enable capabilities without having to get a transcript? Or how do you make it more natural to say, "Hey, I have a sales co-pilot thing. Are you okay if I enable it?" So there's a lot of interesting things, it's never just a technology problem. It's also a discovery and a, I'd say, change culture management problem. Steve: Yeah. I think that's been the challenge with anything AI really. A lot of people, it seem to think it might be a little too futuristic. They look at the benefit and think that's really cool, but they have no idea how to get it. And AI just in general, doesn't feel that approachable to people, even though in certain cases, it's extremely approachable. You don't have to do anything, it's approaching you. So it's a learning curve, you got to wait until my generation dies off and then you guys will see. Charles: I don't have as myopic of you, as you Steve. But I would say that, the big thing that we have to do is, there's been this evolution of AI where the AI is going to be something that automates away what humans do. And what we've realized is, AI is not even remotely close to being able to do that. But what AI can do, is it can turbocharge the people that use it. And so what we're trying to do is, how do we go expose these AI capabilities in a way where you or anyone else who uses them feels so much more productive. And just like when you first got the ability to use PC or a spreadsheet, you're like, "How did I exist before?" We're hoping we'll get to the point where, once you start using some of these AI assistive capabilities, like we've done in Conversation Intelligence, you'll be like, "How did I ever do a customer call before? And I had to take notes on paper while listening as opposed to having the AI take notes for me?" Yeah, exactly. Steve: I'm terrible about that. I'll be chicken scratching over here while I'm talking to people, and then we get off the phone I look at and I can't understand a word I wrote. Charles: Yeah. I like post-it notes next to my desk where I'm always writing stuff down. Steve: Yeah. So what else cool's coming on the horizon that we should be... That sounds like the Conversational Intelligence has been around. Sounds like Viva Sales is going to really bring that to the masses, so that one's on a path. What are some other new things that we should pay attention to that you're able to talk about? Charles: Yeah. Another one of my favorite things, which we've started to reveal some capabilities going back to last Ignite, so November of 2021. And we have some big announcements planned for the second half of 2022, is the new Contact Center related capabilities inside of Dynamics Customer Service. We have Omnichannel, we announced integrated voice, the Nuance acquisition closed, and the Nuance contact center AI team joined my group to align with customer service and contact center. So there's a lot of really exciting innovation happening there. And I'm really excited about the potential to make it super easy to get a comprehensive customer engagement story, without having to wire up eight different pieces of technology and do a ton of different complex integrations. So that's a place where there's a lot of innovation, there's new capabilities, Omnichannel, Power Virtual Agent, even the same type of conversation intelligence applied to support cases, Nuance for their Gatekeeper, which is identity and authentication verification based on voice and biometrics. Charles: There's a lot of cool stuff in that space. And that's one of the places where so many of the customers we work with are trying to improve the customer experience, and to go reduce costs. So I say that's a place where we've had a lot of exciting announcements over the last six to nine months, and we have a whole bunch more planned for the next six to nine months. So I say, stay tuned. And I won't say more than that to avoid getting in trouble by leaking information. But I just say, that's a place to really pay close attention. Steve: Who knew call centers could be cool? Charles: Yeah, exactly. Who would have thought that I'd be talking about contact centers, and how it's the next generation or next frontier of AI applications in 2022. Steve: Oh, well. Well I do have to thank you guys for the low-code advances you've continued to make in that platform. It actually allowed us to launch a, I think we're the first ones to try this, a new Service as a Subscription. Which includes awesome includes deployment, customization, training, everything except development code, which as you know today in so many of these projects, there's so little, if any of that. Charles: Yeah. Steve: Just a few years ago, if you tried to offer something like this, it really would be little more than a support agreement. But now, we're deploying, we're building, we're customizing, we're building entire things for customers all on a monthly subscription. It's an interesting concept, and hopefully I don't go broke, but... Charles: But you know what, it's fascinating. I literally was talking about this with the Power Platform team this morning. About a future where we'll have more partners who are able to sell a comprehensive service agreement, which includes the cloud hosting licenses, but also some incremental custom development and also ongoing maintenance and support. And it'll be almost this whole new industry, which will push a lot of innovation to the edges of the ecosystem, right? Steve: Yep. Charles: Not built by Microsoft, built by partners who really understand particular regions, particular industries, or particular segments. Like y'all are targeting a space where we're not trying to go take Dynamics, CRM, and go bring it down there. You can go build a world-class experience on top of our platform and provide a very much all-in-one, which exactly serves the needs of that audience and that market. And we can stay focused on building the super horizontal platform, which has great performance, great usability, incredible power, those types of things. Steve: Yeah, it sounds great. I'm glad that we had the same idea you guys did. I'll let you know, in a few months, if it was a smart one. Time will tell. Charles: Yes. Yeah. Steve: So, how are the rest of the team doing? It seems like some folks have moved around a little bit in the org, who's moved where? Charles: Yeah. So one of the big things we've been really focused on the engineering side, for the engineering organization, is bringing together strength from a product perspective that target the same type of user. And for example, we have a new customer experience platform team underneath Lori Lamkin, who leads all of our Dynamic Sales apps. So the Core Sales and Viva Sales, as well as commerce, as well as marketing, as well as customer insights. And it's very much focused on revenue generation, customer journeys, customer experiences. And what's great is by bringing those assets together, we have a great answer for B2B customers, as well as B2C. Like if you want to have self service, no touch eCommerce experience with lightweight telesales, you can do that all with those sets of applications. If you want to do a high relationship, high touch B2B sales process, you can do all of that. You're not going to use commerce, but you're probably going to use customer insights and sales, and maybe a little bit of account-based marketing. So we brought together these things, which are solving similar problems under a single leader. And that way the engineering teams can go back and forth between these different places to finish out full end-to-end customer journeys. And so that's a big area that we've spent a lot of time on, and that's a place where it's really the biggest and fastest growing category for us in the Dynamics 365 application portfolio. So that's one interesting example. Jeff Comstock, folks may know him. He's been around Dynamics 365 for a while. He continues customer service, he leads omnichannel, he's done some of this great expansion around the contact center for us. Ray Smith leads our supply chain team. So that includes things like more supply chain. Steve: So Ray moved? Charles: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He by way of acquisition to SAP then moved. He worked in Dynamic Sales for a bit, where people may have known him. And now the supply chain, and really helping us be this new data driven, AI powered, supply chain story for core supply chain execution. Then we also had some exciting announcements around process advisor and the minor acquisition to help turbocharge that. Or Georg Glantschnig who leads our finance room of the house. And basically we call the room of the house, is the collection of products which focus on serving the CFO and the finance department. And that includes the Suplari acquisition, which we had done a couple years ago, as well as the Core Dynamics, 365 finance, HR, and project operations products. Charles: So you can see how we started to build these critical paths around particular departments and particular lines of businesses with our products. And in addition to that, we also of course have Power Platform to support all of it. So it's amazing to see these things come together and converge. And we've been on this incredible run of innovation around Dynamics. I was counting it earlier this year, 29 different products in Dynamics, and really coalesced around these specific areas where we have a lot of energy, and also very well understood. I'd say synergies between the products that we have. So I'd say exciting times. Very exciting times. Steve: Customers are starting to understand it better also. Business Applications was the same thing for a long time. Then it spent the last five years reinventing itself every month, and new things exploding out of Advanta. And I think a lot of customers were having trouble just keeping up with... It's like little whackamole for them. And it takes a little time for customers to absorb what's happening, and what it's for, or what it does, and then to adopt it. And we're seeing that now. We used to have to go out and promote Power Apps to people who didn't understand what this was, or why it was. And now it's the opposite. They always come to us, looking for Power Apps, looking at those sorts of things. So that understanding seems to have finally permeated down to the customer level. But boy, it took a while. Charles: Yeah. It warms my heart. And I would say one of my favorite books is by Jim Collins, 'Good to great.' I always recommend it to folks on my team to read it. And he talks about this idea of the flywheel. It takes time to get a flywheel spinning, for the first period of time it looks like it's barely moving, but then eventually it's going super fast and it's just a blur. And you need to be consistent, and convicted, and believe in the strategy and the approach. And what's amazing about BizApps is for the last four years, we've been on the same mission, the same vision, the same ambition. And we just spend all the folks in advance at turning that flywheel, turning that flywheel. And it's started to reach that blur phase where it's spinning so fast, you can't even see it. Charles: And this, this all started years and years ago with a ton of work, but we're really at that magical moment where customers know what Power Platform is. Customers know that Microsoft gets customer experience and customer engagement. They know that Microsoft can help them optimize their supply chain. And what the good news is once that thing is going, it really builds upon itself, and I think it'll only continue that momentum further. And my favorite story is, I used to always do these executive briefings at Microsoft where we have executives come in from our customers to Redmond and we have a briefing center. It's very nice. And I would always say, let me talk about Power Apps and low-code. Charles: And everybody gives me a blank stare like, "What the heck is Power Apps? What the heck is low-code?" I go in those meetings now, and people know what Power Apps is, and they know the low-code strategy. And the only question is, "how?". Not, "should I?" Or "if?" "How do I do it with you, Microsoft?" And so different from three years ago. So anyway, so you're exactly right. A long winded answer, but I'd say it's exciting to see all of these things come together, and the benefits of just consistently repeating a message that resonates with customers. Steve: I would say at least three quarters of my customer calls today, they're bringing up right out of the gate, "We don't want any development. We want to do everything low-code, no code." So this is coming from the customer side where we used to have to explain to them what low-code, no code meant. Now they're coming demanding, "I only want low-code, no code." I think that they've come to this realization that, while low-code, no code might not be easy enough for your mom to do, it doesn't require a developer, and code does require developer. And once you've got this little blob of code in your environment, it's a black box for you. And so they don't want any of these black boxes. They want everything to be accessible. Steve: Use your knowledge to build us something complex out of low-code, but then I can still go back in there later and manipulate it, adjust it myself, or our team. So they have absolutely bought into that. And I know we originally, a lot of us partners were concerned early on that this was going to reduce the workload for partners, while our workload is more than it has ever been. Although the developers on the bench don't stay as busy as they used to. We've completely pivoted the team from developer heavy to now, we haven't even got a good title for them. A citizen developer doesn't sound right. We tell customers that, but citizen developers is what we've got so... Charles: This guy we found on the street, or gal found on the street, we just asked them to start building out. But no, it makes sense. There is almost this new role which is, it's not just pure coding expertise, it's technical development concept expertise. But even more importantly is business process and solution expertise. And that fusion of those two skill sets, that's the magic. That's what makes it special, because you understand it. Steve: Yeah. The challenge that we have with this brand new model that we just launched, because, first of all, being the first one out there is not always good because people have no idea what you're talking about. They're trying to compare it to other things. But we've got this little caveat that it's all you can eat, everything, except development code. And trying to define what that is hasn't been easy, and you get these customers coming in, "Oh, we're going to need a lot of customization. So this isn't going to work for us." And so you may need a lot of customizations, but you don't need any "development code". Charles: Yeah. Steve: And getting them to grasp that development code and customization are not synonymous, not even close. Charles: Exactly. Steve: Development code is a very small component today of customization. And once I think that they understand that, then we'll probably see more partners coming into a model like this. Because it makes a lot of sense for customers, makes a lot of sense for partners. Charles: Yeah. And if you go look at building solutions that last a decade, this is to your point, code is this little black box opaque thing, which is hard to maintain over time. If it's no code, low-code, it's easy to open it up and reconfigure as business requirements change. And it's how you build solutions that last. And I think we're getting to the phase with business software where customers are expecting to make long term technology bets. You're not going to replace your CRM every five years from now on. It's like building manufacturing plants and warehouses. These are big investments that you need to be able to amortize over a long time, to justify. And so I think to your point, no code doesn't mean no flexibility, no customization, also doesn't mean no agility. It just means you're doing it in a different way. Couldn't say it better myself. Steve: All right. Cool. Hey, listen, I'm going to let you go. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day here when I caught you, to chat with me about this stuff, always fun talking to you Charles. I'm going to call you in four months and ask you about Viva Sales for the platform. Charles: Sounds good. Sounds good. Steve: I've got you on record there. Charles: So really appreciate you taking the time, giving me a ring, Steve. Hope you have a great rest of the summer. Steve: All right, man. Have a good one. Charles: Yep. You too.  

Flying F Ranch Podcast
15. Living the Simple Life and Beginning Stages of Ranching with James Phillips

Flying F Ranch Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2022 65:15


James Phillips, AKA "Phil" is a SOCOM Veteran who truly found comfort in nature, outdoors and around animals after he came back from deployment, Phil grew up in the farming space in the UK and moved to the USA when he was a young boy. He has always enjoyed being outside and feels grounded in that space. He and his wife, Maddie just moved to Idaho to start their dream farm and business. Phil also trains horses and helps cowboy on nearby ranches and really enjoys the lifestyle. We talk about that amazing non-profit NODENS who help veterans reset after getting back from deployment by integrating archery, hunting and outdoor skills. I was lucky enough to see the first class go through the process last year at a friend's ranch which was their retreat spot for the recipients, which is how Bryce and I met Phil. This is a fun conversation I know you will love!NODENS website: https://www.nodensoutdoors.org/NODENS instagram: @nodensoutdoorsJames Phillips instagram: @j.w.phillips**********************************************************Did you enjoy this episode? It would help SO MUCH if you subscribe and share with friends & family by word of mouth or taking a screenshot and sharing on your social media platforms! As well, leaving a review  is HUGE to get the show in  front of the eyes of people like you, who are eager to learn about ranching and entrepreneurship. Want to connect? Check out flyingfranch.org or email me at afender614@gmail.com I am super active on our instagram @flying_f_ranch or Facebook page at Flying F Ranch you can always drop a DM and I will get back to you quickly!Ways to support the podcast:Patreon: Become a Patron! You can support the podcast by selecting a tier that fits your desires and budget to help me produce this podcast and keep it going! There are different perks that are designed to help you become a better business owner and also build a community of rural, “ranchy” entrepreneurs. Join here: patreon.com/flyingfranchSponsors: Flodesk- Check out: https://flodesk.com/c/FLYINGFRANCH to receive 50% off your Flodesk subscription!Bonfire- Check out: https://www.bonfire.com/welcome/cde68e574ddc4/ to get started!  You can also visit https://flyingfranch.org/pages/apparel to get on the bonfire wagon!Flying F Ranch- Enter code “podcast” at check out on flyingfranch.org to score 20% off a leather patch “I GIVE A FLYING F ABOUT BEEF” hat!Interested in being a guest? Email me at afender614@gmail.com with the subject line as "Podcast Guest" and I would be happy to chat and get you on the show if it is a good fit!~Alli at Flying F RanchSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/flyingfranch)

Anderson Cooper 360
Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty of Sex Trafficking

Anderson Cooper 360

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2021 43:01


A jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty on five of six counts related to her role in Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of minor girls between 1994 and 2004. She faces up to 65 years in prison. Former federal prosecutor and CNN Legal Analyst Jennifer Rodgers joins AC360 to discuss the verdict and explains why it was “a good day for justice.” Plus, the CDC predicts more than 44,000 new Covid-19 deaths over the next four weeks as cases continue to surge. The U.S. hit a seven-day average of 256,427 new coronavirus cases, blowing past the country's previous record. Dr. James Phillips is the Chief of Disaster Medicine at George Washington University Hospital. He tells AC360 the rise in cases is “unlike anything” he's ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Traveling To Consciousness
#014: Diving Into The 3D, 4D, and 5D Realities of Consciousness with James Phillips on Shrooms

Traveling To Consciousness

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2021 103:16 Transcription Available


About James James is a yoga teacher who has battled anxiety and depression his entire life. He is back for his second time on the podcast! James is now getting into breathe work and other fun things. Clayton's NotesThis podcast has a lot of firsts. I'll let myself explain those to you in the actual interview. Loved having James on again and as the title suggests, yes, we both micro-dosed before recording. I believe this will be one of the most engaging interviews to date.FREE 96 Life Changing Affirmations E-Bookhttps://www.claytoncuteritakesontheworld.com/free-96-life-changing-affirmations-e-bookFind Your Life's Purpose By Healing Trauma Course and Communityhttps://www.claytoncuteritakesontheworld.com/ James' LinksInsta: https://www.instagram.com/jamesdoinsomeyoga/Clayton's LinksConscious Monkey Society Discord: https://discord.gg/42CyNs73Linktree: https://linktr.ee/claytoncuteriInsta: https://www.instagram.com/travelingtoconsciousness/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOVg7hsqAZT5SGddCq0iSRgClayton's PromosHow Do I Distribute My Podcasts?I use Buzzsprout to distribute my podcast to all the different streaming platforms. You can get a $20 Amazon gift card when you pay for a month with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1823669How Do I Record My Podcasts?I use Riverside.fm to record my podcasts. They have dope customer support too. I do truly enjoy using their service. I did find one bug, but their customer support made it work. Super responsive. If you want to give them a try, click here for my affiliate linkHardware I Use To Record The PodcastMicrophone: https://tinyurl.com/36wmaaueMic Pop Filter: https://tinyurl.com/2c679pbfMic Stand: https://tinyurl.com/ytd4ndyhCamera: https://tinyurl.com/ybe3v3d5Laptop: https://tinyurl.com/bddzuvcjNote: I do get a percentage when you sign up - or if you click on an Amazon link and make ANY purchase in 24 hours. I take promoting seriously and will only promote products that have worked for me.Support The ShowPayPal: https://paypal.me/travelingtoconsciousPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/claytoncuteriMore Ways to Support Coming Soon!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/claytoncuteri)

Traveling To Consciousness
#003: Conquering Depression To Create Your Dream Life with James Phillips

Traveling To Consciousness

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2021 127:15


About James  James is a 500 hour certified yoga instructor, as well as a certified health and life coach. After many years of battling anxiety and depression, James is here to share his story about what has worked for him to manage those dark parts of his life.Clayton's NotesJames has certainly been one of the most positive influences in my life. He has battled a lot and always keeps a positive mindset. In this, you'll get to see some of his battles. We talk about everything from trauma to overcoming your fears, to psychedelics, and much more! Thank you James. James' LinkInsta: https://www.instagram.com/jamesdoinsomeyoga/Clayton's LinksConscious Monkey Society Discord: https://discord.gg/42CyNs73Linktree: https://linktr.ee/claytoncuteriInsta: https://www.instagram.com/travelingtoconsciousness/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOVg7hsqAZT5SGddCq0iSRgClayton's PromosHow Do I Distribute My Podcasts?I use Buzzsprout to distribute my podcast to all the different streaming platforms. You can get a $20 Amazon gift card when you pay for a month with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1823669How Do I Record My Podcasts?I use Riverside.fm to record my podcasts. They have dope customer support too. I do truly enjoy using their service. I did find one bug, but their customer support made it work. Super responsive. If you want to give them a try, click here for my affiliate linkHardware I Use To Record The PodcastMicrophone: https://tinyurl.com/36wmaaueMic Pop Filter: https://tinyurl.com/2c679pbfMic Stand: https://tinyurl.com/ytd4ndyhCamera: https://tinyurl.com/ybe3v3d5Laptop: https://tinyurl.com/bddzuvcjNote: I do get a percentage when you sign up - or if you click on an Amazon link and make ANY purchase in 24 hours. I take promoting seriously and will only promote products that have worked for me.Support The ShowPayPal: https://paypal.me/travelingtoconsciousPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/claytoncuteriMore Ways to Support Coming Soon!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/claytoncuteri)

Recalibrate Reality
James Phillips, President of the Digital Transformation Platform Group at Microsoft

Recalibrate Reality

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2021 36:11


Hear from James Phillips, the President of the Digital Transformation Platform Group at Microsoft, on how advances in technology will change how we work, live, and operate in a post-COVID world. Recalibrate Reality is presented in collaboration with 92nd Street Y and the Regional Plan Association (RPA).  

Explicit Measures Podcast
17: If I Was James Phillips For a Year

Explicit Measures Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2021 61:47


The guys are back before the summer kicks off, and it is time to think about the future. James Phillips, who runs Microsoft's Power Platform, has an amazing job. He is responsible for the direction of Power BI, Power Apps, and the Dynamics platforms. But what if the guys had the reigns? Take $100 dollar "budget" and what would we do for the next year if we had the control? Get in touch: Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/ Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPwPrIpZwlfIKcoUpRwl9OQ Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎ Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/ Follow Seth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-bauer/ Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Fieldcraft Survival
Episode 194 Kevin Owens and James Phillips

Fieldcraft Survival

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2020 74:00


Kevin sits down with James Phillips, a former MARSOC operator turned Fieldcraft Mobility Guru. They talk origins, life, and where they see Fieldcraft headed.

Anderson Cooper 360
Millions of Americans traveling despite CDC warning

Anderson Cooper 360

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2020 44:22


One health expert is warning Thanksgiving could be “the mother of all super spreader events” and Dr. Anthony Fauci is asking Americans to keep indoor gatherings “as small as you possibly can.” Millions are traveling for Thanksgiving despite the CDC recommending not to. More than 261,000 people have died from Covid-19 and the U.S. is seeing record hospitalizations. Dr. James Phillips is the Chief of Disease Medicine at George Washington University Hospital. He tells AC360 “people are going to die because they’re choosing to go home for Thanksgiving” and “if we had proper messaging from the top, from the beginning, more lives would’ve have been saved.” Plus, President Trump has pardoned former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Carrie Cordero is a CNN National Security Analyst and a Senior Fellow Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. She joins AC360 to react to the President’s decision and says she thinks this is “just the beginning of the pardons that we’re probably going to see between now and January 20th.” Airdate: November 25, 2020 Guests: Dr. James Phillips Carrie CorderoTo learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy