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Most companies treat effectiveness like a scoreboard. Traci Alford, Global CEO of Effies Worldwide, sees the entries from 130 countries, and she says that is exactly where it goes wrong.Measuring the crop does not grow it.In this conversation recorded in Cannes, Traci lays out the 4 things behind every winning case:understand the business problemfind a real insight rather than a statement of factexecute the creative brilliantly, andmeasure what happened so you can learn from it.Plenty of companies are strong at 1 or 2. Almost nobody is strong at all 4, and fewer still can tell the story that ties them together.Traci also draws a line most of the industry blurs. Brave is not the same as risky. Risk means you have not thought about your headwinds. Brave means you made a calculated choice and you can defend it in the room. And her data says you cannot do it halfway. Stick to your knitting and execute well, or take the real swing. Hovering in the middle is where work dies.Marc and V push on the parts that hurt. Why the short term always wins the budget fight. Why agency relationships go sour when a campaign is the only unit of measurement. Why marketing jargon loses the room. And where technology spend quietly eats the money that could have gone into media.Traci keeps coming back to the same place. This is a people business, and the habit has to live at the executive table, not just in the marketing team.Timestamps00:00 Cold open and welcome02:37 The 4 pillars behind every winning case05:39 Brave is not the same as risky09:18 Why this is a people business13:24 The short term trap and shared accountability18:28 Talking to the C-suite without the jargon24:07 Insight is the one most people fail29:34 Risk retreat, tech debt, and opportunity cost36:16 What to take home from CannesShow Notes LinksEffie Worldwide: https://effie.org/Tubi "Rabbit Holes" Super Bowl spot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mROTZBUM1YkPrevious SBP episode with Karen Pearce, RethinkEhrenberg-Bass Institute 95:5 rule https://marketingscience.info/news-and-insights/the-955-rule-is-the-new-6040-rule
Today, I'm joined by Bobby Bitton, co-founder and CEO of O Positiv. Addressing topics like PMS, vaginal health, and pregnancy, O Positiv's supplements tackle generational taboos to address women's needs from first period to postmenopause. In this episode, we discuss building a category-defining women's health brand. We also cover: Why going deeper beats going wider Scaling from DTC to omnichannel retail Winning with TikTok Shop and creator-led marketing Subscribe to the podcast → insider.fitt.co/podcast Subscribe to our newsletter → insider.fitt.co/subscribe Follow us on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/fittinsider O Positiv's Website: https://opositiv.com/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/opositiv/ Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@opositiv - The Fitt Insider Podcast is brought to you by EGYM. Visit EGYM.com to learn more about its smart fitness ecosystem for fitness and health facilities. Fitt Talent: https://talent.fitt.co/ Consulting: https://consulting.fitt.co/ Investments: https://capital.fitt.co/ Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (00:28) O Positiv overview (02:27) Co-founder dynamics (04:12) Getting their start (05:01) Flow product and PMS relief (05:50) Brand voice and approach (07:30) Split talent and domain expertise (08:20) Company scale and revenue (09:35) Category leadership (10:40) White space strategy (15:00) Product innovation pipeline (18:20) Retail expansion and partnerships (20:30) Profitability trajectory (21:35) Marketing evolution (23:00) DTC to omnichannel shift (25:15) Measuring incrementality (30:00) Deeper not wider strategy (31:45) Focus and team clarity (32:25) Where to find (33:49) Conclusion
On this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Plaid CFO Seun Sodipo. Seun explains how her team is using AI to improve speed, accuracy, and ambition; why finance leaders need both bottom-up experimentation and top-down direction; and how she approaches planning, network effects, and building a durable company.—SPONSORS:RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cjPulley is an equity management platform that lets you issue options, model dilution, and complete 409As without your cap table turning into a spreadsheet disaster. Founders raising, hiring, and scaling use Pulley to keep equity clean and stay focused on building. Learn more or request a demo at https://pulley.com/mostlymetricsRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjMaximor is an autonomous finance platform that runs order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, the close, cash management, and reporting on self-learning agents instead of a dozen disconnected tools. One PE-backed customer posts 98% of transactions directly to its ERP, with the remaining 2% routed to a human for review. You pay for outcomes, not seats. See it at https://www.maximor.ai/Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered workflows that enforce expense policies at the point of sale, match receipts automatically, and reduce month-end close from weeks to hours. Thousands of companies, including Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash, already run on Brex. Stop asking A-level finance talent to do B-level admin work. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAnrok is the sales tax platform that watches your exposure everywhere, automates compliance, and flags risk before it turns into a surprise back-tax letter from a state you've never set foot in. Companies like Anthropic, Notion, and Vanta already trust Anrok to stay ahead of rules that move faster than any spreadsheet can. Talk to a sales tax expert for a personalized exposure estimate at https://www.anrok.com/rtn—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seun-sodipo-1498b580/Company: https://plaid.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:12 What Plaid does3:53 How Plaid makes money7:04 Eight months in, not new anymore8:57 Sponsors — RightRev | Pulley | Rillet11:48 Career path: Stripe, Glossier, Plaid14:32 Evaluating durability from the outside15:36 Rising expectations and AI17:23 Top-down vs. bottoms-up AI adoption20:06 Sponsors — Maximor | Brex | Anrok23:20 Coolest AI use case: sorting physical mail25:21 How her questions have changed27:11 AI should make you think deeper27:51 Finance AI Day explained31:23 A four-month journey to usable tools32:22 How AI changed her leadership style33:19 Skills that matter more now36:22 The Objective, Strategy, Tactics framework39:56 What planning reveals about an org41:36 Sequential vs. parallel planning45:38 Measuring the value of a network47:33 What people underestimate about Plaid48:56 Lightning round48:56 Screwed up: the reversed page order49:39 Advice to younger self50:32 Finance software stack51:43 Craziest expense: the photo shoots52:20 Credits
What if the calendar we follow isn't the only way to measure our lives?Tabs dives into the fascinating history of the Gregorian calendar—where it came from, why it replaced earlier calendars, and how it reshaped the way we experience time, productivity, and even our connection to nature. She also explores the lunar calendar, how ancient civilizations lived in rhythm with the moon, and what may have been gained—or lost—through the transition.Along the way, Tabs discusses the historical connection between calendars, governments, taxation, religion, and the industrialization of society, while asking thought-provoking questions about how the systems we live within influence our daily lives.You'll discover:Why the Gregorian calendar was createdHow the lunar calendar differs from the one we use todayWhat living in harmony with natural cycles can teach usHow reconnecting with seasonal and lunar rhythms may support intuition, creativity, and overall well-beingWhether you're interested in history, spirituality, or simply questioning the way we've always done things, this episode invites you to explore time from an entirely new perspective.Tune in for a fascinating conversation that bridges history, consciousness, and the rhythms of nature—and discover why something as ordinary as a calendar may have shaped your life more than you ever realized.Mediumship 101 Class https://www.tabsmccaffrey.com/development-pageInterested in booking a 1:1 session with Tabs? You can book here www.tabsmccaffrey.com
Hello Interactors,I've long been a fan of “regreening” cities, imagining replacing bits of asphalt and concrete with trees, plants, mini-parks, and green roofs to cool them down. In many cases these are indeed good interventions. But even these celebrated nature-based solutions to the “urban heat island” effect require closer inspection. It turns out any land cover change alters energy, water, and momentum exchanges between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere. Which are the right ones and where?To understand why cookie cutter greening plans can fail and how planners and policy makers can build cities that can handle climate change, we need to understand how land and the air interact. Environments vary from place to place, and this puts limits on what we can do to land to create urban climates that are both beautiful and healthy.To get a handle on what the research says, I found a literature review from 2025 that synthesized findings from 84 peer-reviewed studies. In was published in the journal Climate Risk Management.Let's see what they, and others, found.BEATING HEAT WITH BIOPHYSICAL FEATSWhat better place to start than science. Let's just delve right into how urban green spaces affect temperature. It starts with determining the energy balance at the surface of the earth. This comes from a budget equation found in physical geography. When sunlight hits the Earth's surface, it breaks down into three main fluxes, or ways heat moves around* Sensible heat flux: the heat that directly warms the surrounding air, which we measure as temperature.* Latent heat flux: the heat that's used to turn water from a liquid to a gas, like when we sweat or plants release water vapor (transpiration).* Ground heat flux: the heat stored in building materials, asphalt, and soil.In conventional urban environments dominated by concrete and asphalt, latent heat flux is minimal because we've built cities in ways that rapidly drain water away as ‘waste'. As a result, incoming solar energy is funneled into sensible heat. This raises daytime air temperatures that gets stored as ground heat, which is slowly radiated back into the city at night. Urban greening can reshuffle this thermodynamic budget through three interconnected physical mechanisms: shading, evapotranspiration, and albedo modification.Mechanism 1. Shading: Intercepting Solar RadiationShading — the most immediate and reliable cooling mechanism provided by vegetation — requires precise microclimatic quantification. Vegetative canopies act as physical shields, intercepting incoming shortwave solar radiation before it strikes impervious surfaces like concrete or asphalt. By preventing these dense materials from absorbing heat and emitting sensible heat flux back into the boundary layer, shading dramatically lowers surface temperatures and reduces the baseline thermal energy transferred to the surrounding air. (Bowler, D. E., et al. 2010)The cooling benefit of urban trees is non-linear, accelerating significantly once neighborhood canopy cover crosses a critical threshold of around 40%. Measuring daytime air temperatures across urban gradients, they found that canopy cover above this 40% mark can lower local air temperatures by up to 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius, effectively offsetting the thermal burden created by surrounding roads and impervious surfaces. (Ziter, C. D., et al. 2019)Mechanism 2. Evapotranspiration: Trading Sensible Heat for Latent HeatWhile shading blocks heat absorption, evapotranspiration actively removes heat from the air. Plants absorb soil moisture through their root systems and release it as water vapor through tiny microscopic pores in their leaves called stomata. This process requires thermal energy that turns phase-changing liquid water into gas. This energy transfer absorbs sensible heat and converts it into latent heat.Evapotranspiration from well-watered urban green spaces can lower local air temperatures by 2-4 degrees celsius. (Coutts, et al., 2013) However, physical geographers emphasize a crucial physical prerequisite that is easy to overlook: evapotranspiration is entirely dependent on available water. When the soil is dry or the air is super dry, plants close their stomata to save water. When stomata close, evapotranspiration shuts down. This leaves shading as the sole remaining cooling mechanism.Mechanism 3. Albedo Dynamics: The Surface Reflectivity ParadoxAlbedo measures the reflectivity of a surface on a scale from 0.0 (total absorption) to 1.0 (total reflection). Urban asphalt has a low albedo (0.05 to 0.10), absorbing up to 95% of incoming solar energy. Vegetation's albedo can range from 0.11 to 0.25.In temperate climates, replacing low-albedo asphalt with greenery or reflective surfaces increases surface reflectivity, sending more solar radiation back into space before it can be absorbed as sensible heat. One study documented that increasing urban surface albedo typically lowers peak ambient air temperatures by 0.3 degres Celsius to 1.0 degree Celsius — alongside much larger drops in surface pavement temperatures. While a temperature change under one degree Celsius may sound modest at first glance, a baseline shift of this magnitude across a neighborhood is enough to redefine a local microclimate. (Santamouris, 2014)But swapping out light urban surfaces for dark vegetation can also have a negative effect. Paradoxically, when researchers in 2023 replaced dry, light-colored desert soil with darker vegetation in hot, arid regions it reduced overall surface reflectivity. The drop in albedo caused an increase in daytime surface warming. (Schlaerth, et al., 2023)Furthermore, dense tree canopies inside narrow urban street canyons can act as thermal blankets at night. While trees provide valuable shade during the day, their foliage reduces the sky view factor at street level, trapping outgoing longwave thermal radiation emitted by surrounding building facades and asphalt. When combined with reduced wind permeability, this canopy barrier restricts nocturnal radiative cooling and holds warm air near ground level (Lee et al., 2016).These are the physical realities that can demonstrate how urban greening is not a consistently inherent cooling practice. It is a complex thermodynamic intervention whose success relies entirely on local environmental conditions.PLACEMENT, PATCHES, AND PARK PATTERNSBecause thermodynamic processes happen across physical spaces, cooling urban green space can be uneven. The literature review reveals that a green space's cooling capacity depends on four spatial and biological variables: vegetation density, species selection, spatial configuration, and urban morphology. Let's break them down individually.Cooling Factor 1. Vegetation Density and Species TraitsNot all greenery cools equally. One way to measure this is through a Leaf Area Index (LAI). This is the total leaf area per unit of ground area and is a primary predictor of thermal performance. As you might imagine, dense foliage absorbs more from the sun and then produces higher cumulative transpiration (so long as there's adequate water).Botanical traits also play a big role. Broadleaf deciduous species (like oaks or maples) feature large surface areas that maximize summer transpiration, but that goes away when they drop their leaves in winter. Evergreen coniferous trees, however, maintain continuous canopy coverage through every season.In temperate rainforest environments like Seattle or Vancouver, researchers found that conifers cooled urban surroundings up to 1.7 degrees celsius more effectively than broadleaf trees. Dense needle canopies continuously block incoming solar radiation due to higher LAI and the fact that clusters of spiny needles better trap a stable buffer of calm air which moderates heat exchange with the surrounding urban environment. (Eyster & Beckage, 2022, 2023) Cooling factor 2. Spatial Configuration: Landscape Ecology PrinciplesEcologists and geographers commonly evaluate green spaces through two main attributes: composition (how much green space exists) and configuration (how those green patches are arranged across the landscape). Over 58% of the mechanism-focused studies in the literature review analyzed spatial pattern metrics. The consensus is the spatial layout of green space is just as important as its total area!Other empirical studies consistently demonstrate that cooling effects decay the further you get from green spaces. Research done in 2016 and 2023 shows how urban parks can produce a primary “cooling footprint” that extends typically 100 to 300 meters from the park boundaries. If you're lucky enough to live within this buffer, temperatures drop between 1.9 and 3.1 degrees celsius, but beyond 300 meters, the cooling influence quickly falls off. (Bao, et al. 2016, Shi et al. 2023)This spatial limit leads to a couple spatial layout choices. A few big parks or connected networks of smaller green spaces. Large, consolidated parks (>2 hectares) generate intense, stable “cool islands” at their core, but their benefits remain localized. For example, a study in Xalapa, Mexico, revealed that parks larger than 2.8 hectares with over 21% tree cover provided reliable local cooling of around 2 degrees celsius . (Lemoine-Rodriguez et al., 2022)Connected networks of smaller green spaces distributed across a city create a more equitable cooling effect. Three studies in 2019 and 2021 show that fragmented, isolated green patches — like big parks — perform poorly compared to continuous, linear green corridors. Linear “green belts” or street-tree networks (in the right environment) can act as ventilation channels, allowing cool air generated by vegetation to flow into adjacent built-up neighborhoods. (Masoudi et al., 2019, 2021; Pramanik, 2019)Cooling factor 3. Urban Morphology: The Built Environment MatrixObviously, green spaces don't exist in isolation. They're embedded within a three-dimensional hodge podge of buildings, streets, and other bits of infrastructure. Urban morphologists can quantify this urban morphological cacophony using building height-to-street-width ratio and sky view factor - the extent to which surrounding structures and canopies obstruct a location's view of the open sky.High-density urban cores with tall buildings create deep “urban canyons” that generate their own shade. In these settings, building shade can combine with tree shade during peak daylight hours to significantly lower temperatures.However, studies show that if tree canopies in narrow street canyons are too dense — particularly in humid environments — they can trap anthropogenic heat emitted by vehicle exhaust and air conditioning condenser units. They can also significantly reduce localized wind speeds. As a result, maximizing green space cooling efficiency requires aligning vegetation density and canopy architecture with prevailing wind corridors to preserve urban ventilation channels (Cheung & Jim, 2019; Morakinyo et al., 2019).Nothing is every as easy as it seems.BRIDGING GAPS WITH BETTER MAPSWhile academic literature can offer detailed insights into microclimatic processes, there remains a big gap between academia and urban planning and governmental policy. That gap may be self-fulfilling. The literature review of 84 papers revealed 61% of the papers simply advocate for expanding green space area, whereas only 26% focus on optimizing existing green infrastructure.Recommending that dense, historical cities “add more large parks” ignores real-world urban constraints. In modern, rapidly expanding cities, urban land is expensive, highly contested, and structurally constrained. Space dedicated to a new park often competes directly with housing, transit infrastructure, or commercial development. To move beyond idealistic slogans, urban planning will have to recon with three major implementation challenges.Challenge 1. The Water-Energy-Heat Nexus in Arid CitiesThe most significant implementation challenge facing nature-based solutions occurs precisely where urban heat stress is most severe — in hot, arid regions. Cities like Phoenix, Cairo, Tehran, or Riyadh already suffer from intense summer heatwaves. You don't have to live in or visit these places to know water there is extremely scarce.Maintaining green spaces in places like this requires pumping groundwater or desalinating seawater. Pumping and desalinating water requires massive amounts of electricity, which only increases greenhouse gas emissions if that power is coming from fossil fuels. Furthermore, if irrigation water runs out during a heatwave, non-adapted vegetation dries out, loses its cooling capacity, and can even become a wildfire risk.To solve this dilemma, physical geographers advocate evaluating urban greening through a standardized resource efficiency metric: evapotranspirative cooling per unit of water applied. In plain language, this ratio measures how many degrees of cooling you get for each liter (or gallon) of water that plants and soil release into the air through evaporation and transpiration.In dry climates — where municipal water is already tightly rationed and turfgrass is increasingly discouraged but rarely banned (I'm looking at you Arizona) — urban greening strategies are going to have pivot away from high-water lawns and non-native foliage. These cities have to move from simply prioritizing or incentivizing drought-tolerant species to requiring them. While drought-tolerant plants transpire less water than many other plants and trees — and still require water — when combined with drip-irrigation using treated municipal wastewater (greywater), they can provide a pretty reliable canopy shade and even modest evaporative cooling without draining water reserves.Challenge 2. Environmental Justice and Thermal EquityUrban heat exposure is rarely, if ever, distributed evenly across socio-economic groups. In many cities worldwide, low-income neighborhoods exhibit significantly lower tree canopy cover, higher proportions of impervious asphalt, and higher building densities than the more affluent suburbs and ex-urbs. This imbalance leaves more vulnerable populations exposed to extreme heat hazards.When municipalities undertake uncoordinated “regreening” projects, they risk triggering green gentrification. Installing fancy attractive parks can then inflate surrounding property values, displacing residents while still not reducing their heat related vulnerability.To address this, requires targeted interventions like deploying small-scale, distributed interventions (think pocket parks, vegetated bus stops, and road corridors) directly in high-vulnerability, low-canopy/vegetation neighborhoods. You could focus on functional shading over high-maintenance aesthetics. This could better ensure that at least transit stops, pedestrian walkways, and playgrounds are prioritized for canopy cover. Lastly, combining situated green infrastructure with social policy could create and/or protect more affordable housing around old and new greened public corridors and spaces.Challenge 3. A Multi-Benefit, Context-Specific Design FrameworkNo single cooling intervention works everywhere. Planners and policy makers need to adopt an integrated, multi-tiered approach that combines nature-based solutions with material interventions.In arid and semi-arid environments, planners should prioritize structural canopy shading and end an over-reliance on water-intensive lawn evapotranspiration. It's time to demand drought-tolerant trees with greywater irrigation networks, shade sails, and high-albedo “cool pavements” that can better reflect solar radiation without draining water resources.In contrast, humid and more temperate climates would likely benefit most from maximizing green spatial connectivity. By linking existing parks through linear street-tree corridors — with select broadleaf and/or coniferous species — summer evapotranspiration can be enhanced while maintaining year-round microclimate regulation.Finally, within high-density, built-up cores where ground space for new parks is limited, cities should leverage vertical green walls and green roofs paired with reflective building materials. But they best also preserve prevailing wind corridors while preventing nighttime heat traps through street canyons.“Regreening” is a compelling slogan, but as physical geography demonstrates, simplistic blanket policies can yield unpredictable thermodynamic results. Simply planting trees without considering local climate, available water, species traits, spatial configuration, and urban geometry can lead to unintended consequences.The exhaustive synthesis of decade-long research provided by Hadi Soltanifard and Majid Amani-Beni (2025) offers a clear path forward. Nature-based solutions are not off-the-shelf products that can be copy-pasted across different global cities. They are dynamic, living interventions that alter energy fluxes across urban surfaces.By moving beyond blanket acreage targets and framing urban greening as the strategic reorganization of surface-energy relations, geographers, urban planners, and policymakers will need to work together. When we design green infrastructure that respects local environmental constraints, honors spatial equity, and optimizes microclimatic processes, urban greening moves from a vague policy promise toward tools of experimentation that can pragmatically evolve our cities and megaregions into truly climate-resilient urbanscapes.ReferencesBowler, D. E., Buyung-Ali, L., Knight, T. M., & Pullin, A. S. (2010). Urban greening to cool towns and cities: A systematic review of the empirical evidence. Landscape and Urban Planning, 97(3), 147-155.Cheung, P.K., Jim, C.Y., 2019. Differential cooling effects of landscape parameters in humid-subtropical urban parks. Landscape and Urban Planning 192, 103651.Coutts, A.M., Tapper, N.J., Beringer, J., et al., 2013. Watering our cities: the capacity for Water Sensitive Urban Design to support urban cooling and improve human thermal comfort in the Australian context. Progress in Physical Geography 37(1), 2–28.Eyster, H. N., & Beckage, B. (2022). Conifers may ameliorate urban heat waves better than broadleaf trees: Evidence from Vancouver, Canada. Atmosphere, 13(5), 830.Eyster, H. N., & Beckage, B. (2023). Arboreal urban cooling is driven by leaf area index, leaf boundary layer resistance, and dry leaf mass per leaf area: Evidence from a system dynamics model. Atmosphere, 14(3), 552.Lee, H., Mayer, H., & Chen, L. (2016). Contribution of trees and grasslands to the mitigation of human heat stress in a residential district of Freiburg, Southwest Germany. Landscape and Urban Planning 148:37–50.Lemoine-Rodríguez, R., Inostroza, L., Falfán, I., & MacGregor-Fors, I. (2022). Too hot to handle? On the cooling capacity of urban green spaces in a Neotropical Mexican city. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 74, 127633.Masoudi, M., Tan, P.Y., 2019. Multi-year comparison of the effects of spatial pattern of urban green spaces on urban land surface temperature. Landscape and Urban Planning. 184, 44–58.Masoudi, M., Tan, P.Y., Fadaei, M., 2021. The effects of land use on spatial pattern of urban green spaces and their cooling ability. Urban. Clim 35, 100743.Masoudi, M., Tan, P.Y., Liew, S.C., 2019. Multi-city comparison of the relationships between spatial pattern and cooling effect of urban green spaces in four major Asian cities. Ecol. Indic 98, 200–213.Morakinyo, T.E., Ouyang, W., Lau, K.-K.-L., et al., 2020. Right tree, right place (urban canyon): Tree species selection approach for optimum urban heat mitigation-development and evaluation. Sci. Total. Environ 719, 137461.Pramanik, M. (2019). Impacts of urban expansion on land surface temperature and urban heat island in Kolkata Municipal Corporation, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 191(12), 738.Santamouris, M. (2014). Cooling the cities—a review of reflective and green roof mitigation technologies to fight heat island and improve comfort in urban environments. Solar Energy, 103, 682-703.Schlaerth, Hannah L., et al. "Albedo as a competing warming effect of urban greening." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128.24 (2023): e2023JD038764.Soltanifard, H., & Amani-Beni, M. (2025). The cooling effect of urban green spaces as nature-based solutions for mitigating urban heat: Insights from a decade-long systematic review. Climate Risk Management, 49, 100731.Ziter, C. D., Pedersen, E. J., Kucharik, C. J., & Turner, M. G. (2019). Scale-dependent interactions between tree canopy cover and impervious surfaces reduce daytime urban heat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 116(15), 7575-7580. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io
Send us Fan MailCan hospice organizations remain relevant if they only engage patients during the final months of life?In Part Two of this thought-provoking conversation, host Chris Comeaux continues his discussion with Dr. Bethany Snider, exploring why traditional primary care often falls short for frail elders and why nonprofit healthcare organizations must rethink the future of serious illness care.Dr. Snider explains how frail elder practices, value-based care, advanced primary care, palliative care, and hospice can work together as one seamless continuum to improve patient outcomes, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and help older adults age safely in place. She also shares practical insights on reimbursement strategies, accountable care, leadership, emotional intelligence, organizational innovation, and building sustainable care models that preserve the hospice mission for decades to come.Whether you lead a hospice organization, health system, nonprofit, accountable care organization, or healthcare practice, this episode provides actionable leadership insights on preparing for the next generation of healthcare delivery.Episode Highlights- Why traditional primary care often fails frail elders- The business case for upstream serious illness care- Building sustainable value-based care models- Measuring outcomes beyond traditional healthcare metrics- The future of integrated primary care, palliative care, and hospice- Leadership lessons on innovation, emotional intelligence, and failing fast- Why partnerships will shape the future of nonprofit healthcareGuest:Dr. Bethany Snider, CMO of Everent HealthHost:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOS, author of The Anatomy of LeadershipThe Anatomy of Leadership podcast explores the art and science of leadership through candid, insightful conversations with thought leaders, innovators, and change-makers from a variety of industries. Hosted by Chris Comeaux, each episode dives into the mindsets, habits, and strategies that empower leaders to thrive in complex, fast-changing environments. With topics ranging from organizational culture and emotional intelligence to navigating disruption and inspiring teams, the show blends real-world stories with practical takeaways. The goal is simple yet ambitious: to equip leaders at every level with the tools, perspectives, and inspiration they need to lead with vision, empathy, and impact.https://www.teleioscn.org/anatomy-of-leadership
Can hospice organizations remain relevant if they only engage patients during the final months of life?In Part Two of this thought-provoking conversation, host Chris Comeaux continues his discussion with Dr. Bethany Snider, exploring why traditional primary care often falls short for frail elders and why nonprofit healthcare organizations must rethink the future of serious illness care.Dr. Snider explains how frail elder practices, value-based care, advanced primary care, palliative care, and hospice can work together as one seamless continuum to improve patient outcomes, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and help older adults age safely in place. She also shares practical insights on reimbursement strategies, accountable care, leadership, emotional intelligence, organizational innovation, and building sustainable care models that preserve the hospice mission for decades to come.Whether you lead a hospice organization, health system, nonprofit, accountable care organization, or healthcare practice, this episode provides actionable leadership insights on preparing for the next generation of healthcare delivery.Episode Highlights- Why traditional primary care often fails frail elders- The business case for upstream serious illness care- Building sustainable value-based care models- Measuring outcomes beyond traditional healthcare metrics- The future of integrated primary care, palliative care, and hospice- Leadership lessons on innovation, emotional intelligence, and failing fast- Why partnerships will shape the future of nonprofit healthcareGuest:Dr. Bethany Snider, CMO of Everent HealthHost:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOS, author of The Anatomy of LeadershipTeleios Collaborative Network / https://www.teleioscn.org/tcntalkspodcast
In this live-stream episode, Bryan is joined by Tim DeStasio, John Semmelhack, and Ty Branaman for a deep dive into residential ventilation — the often-overlooked "V" in HVAC. The group opens with quick life updates before launching into a wide-ranging conversation covering the three core ventilation strategies (circulation, extraction, and dilution), how tight home construction changes the ventilation equation, and why there is no single "magic number" that works for every house. A major theme is the physics of pressurization and depressurization. Tim walks through balanced strategies (ERVs and HRVs), positive-pressure approaches using ventilating dehumidifiers, and exhaust-only setups — explaining why exhaust-only, while still code-compliant, is his least favorite option due to the risk of pulling air from crawl spaces, attics, or combustion appliances. Using REDCalc, Tim demonstrates how even modest airflow can swing a tight house's pressure by ten or more pascals, and the group discusses how wind, stack effect, and seasonal conditions constantly change a home's natural air exchange rate. Ty brings a service-focused perspective, emphasizing measurement before intervention — checking CO2, carbon monoxide, and other indicators before jumping to solutions like bigger fans or added dehumidification. He shares real-world stories, including a rental home with elevated CO from an unvented gas range, and stresses that building science problems (duct leakage, poorly placed bath fans, depressurized combustion appliances) often hide behind symptoms that look like simple ventilation shortfalls. Large kitchen range hoods get particular attention: hoods moving 1,200 CFM or more can seriously depressurize a house, and the group discusses code thresholds for interlocked and powered makeup air, along with practical products like the Fantech MUAS. John rounds out the discussion with a walkthrough of a real high-performance home design, showing how an ERV can serve both whole-house outside air and continuous bathroom exhaust, how MERV 16 pre-filtration has become a common upgrade since the 2021—2022 wildfire smoke events, and how an ERV can be configured to boost into a makeup-air role when a range hood kicks on. The episode closes with a look at ventilating dehumidifiers, demand-controlled ventilation, the tradeoffs of leaving blower fans in the "on" position, and recommended resources for anyone wanting to go deeper into building science. Topics Covered The three ventilation strategies: circulation, extraction, and dilution How tight, high-performance construction drives the need for mechanical ventilation Calculating and understanding natural air exchange rates Balanced (ERV/HRV), positive-pressure, and exhaust-only ventilation strategies Using REDCalc to model pressurization and depressurization Why exhaust-only ventilation can create combustion safety risks Designing ventilation with flexibility beyond code-minimum rates Measuring first: CO2, CO, and pollutant levels before choosing a solution Large range hoods, makeup air requirements, and the Fantech MUAS system Passive capture and range hood geometry (corner hoods vs. center islands) A real-world high-performance home ERV design walkthrough MERV 16 pre-filtration for outside air following regional wildfire smoke events Using an ERV in a makeup-air configuration for range hood operation Ventilating dehumidifier strategy and sizing considerations Demand-controlled ventilation and the new ASHRAE 62.2-2025 guidance Risks of leaving blower fans in the "on" position, including duct leakage effects Recommended building science resources: Joseph Lstiburek, Allison Bailes, and TEC classes Have a question that you want us to answer on the podcast? Submit your questions at https://www.speakpipe.com/hvacschool Purchase your tickets or learn more about the 8th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium. Subscribe to our podcast on your iPhone or Android. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check out our handy calculators here or on the HVAC School Mobile App for Apple and Android.
Send us Fan MailWhat does Jesus actually mean when he tells us to judge a tree by its fruit - and what happens when we apply that idea to marriage and Christian teaching? Today Joanna, our resident statistician, joins us as we dig into the biblical meaning of “good fruit,” unpack the research behind our marriage studies, and explore what trust, spiritual fruit, and decision-making have to do with one another. We also welcome Dr. Camden Morgante and discuss her amazing book “Recovering From Purity Culture”. Settle in for Part 2 of our 3-part series to kick off this new season - you don't want to miss this one! CHECK OUT OUR OCTOBER SIMULCAST EVENTWe're doing our sex talk and a one-day marriage conference! Check it out for more information.TO SUPPORT US: Join our Patreon for as little as $5 a month to support our work (and get access to the book club!)And check out our Merch, or any of our courses!Give to the Good Fruit Faith Initiative of the Bosko FoundationJoin our email list!LINKS MENTIONED: About Josh Butler's book “Beautiful Union” Our podcasts referencing Josh Butler:Episode 260Episode 301M.J. Langham Thread linkDr. Camden Morgante's book, “Recovering From Purity Culture”Dr. Camden's SubstackHarmful Outcomes of Purity Culture Facebook QuotesSupport the showJoin Sheila at Bare Marriage.com!Check out her books:The Great Sex Rescue She Deserves BetterThe Marriage You Want and the Study Guide The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex and The Good Guy's Guide to Great SexAnd she has an Orgasm Course and a Libido course too!Check out all her courses, FREE resources, social media, books, and so much more at Sheila's LinkTree.
First up on the podcast, we catch up with Celina Zhao, a staff reporter for Science's AI In Science reporting initiative. She talks with host Sarah Crespi about artificial intelligence's knack for finding legal loopholes and how philosophers are navigating conflicts of interest around advising companies on AI. Next on the show, it's hard to figure out how much force a muscle is exerting without sticking invasive probes into the body. Christopher Bird, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland, discusses a new way to use ultrawideband radar to measure muscle forces that could prove useful for assistive devices and rehabilitation. Finally, the third in our limited six-part series on scientific biographies. This month, host Angela Saini talks with zoologist Matthew Cobb about his new book on the life of Francis Crick, Crick: A Mind in Motion. This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy. Image credit: Chiara Vercesi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When Clint Phillips' young daughter suffered a stroke that left the right side of her body paralyzed, his family was told she might never walk or talk. The search for answers led him to build companies focused on medical second opinions, advanced longevity testing, AI-driven personalization and safer access to emerging therapies. In this episode, Clint sits down with Dr. Josh Axe to discuss how to identify the doctors and health metrics that truly matter, why too much tracking can sometimes make people less healthy, and what his laboratory testing revealed about the purity of popular peptides. They also explore the measurable effects of hope, purpose, gratitude, forgiveness and spiritual grounding—and why optimizing every number on your health dashboard may still leave something essential missing. Uncover what's really going on in your body with advanced biomarker testing for hormones, thyroid, and metabolism— plus a 1-hour consultation with a Senior Health Advisor! → http://mybloodwork.com Thank you to our sponsors! Sunlighten Sauna: https://get.sunlighten.com/axepodcast Manukora Manuka Honey: https://manukora.com/axe Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe?sub_confirmation=1
You've been showing up. Doing the workouts. Putting in the time. And still, nothing is giving back — no strength, no visible muscle, no change in your body composition. In this episode, Melissa breaks down why muscle is the single best investment you can make in your midlife body, why so much of what women call "strength training" isn't actually building muscle, and why you can't build muscle on top of a body that isn't recovering. This is Strength — the fourth S in the 6S Method inside Well Nourished.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:Why your muscle is your 401k — the investment that compounds slowly and pays off for decadesWhat muscle is actually doing for you in midlife: regulating blood sugar, keeping your metabolism healthy, and keeping you mobile and independent as you ageHow muscle changes everything if you're on a GLP-1 — lower doses, fewer side effects, better outcomesThe truth about the fear of getting "bulky" (and why it's nearly impossible for most women)Why Pilates, hot sculpt classes, and grabbing the familiar weight in a group class are not strength trainingWhy cardio is a taking exercise and strength training is a giving-back exerciseCreative ways to apply progressive overload beyond just lifting a heavier dumbbell — sets, reps, rest time, and tempoHow to measure your progress in the data of your workouts while you wait for the mirror to catch upWhy women who already know progressive overload still lose muscle — and the other S's that make strength training actually workTIMESTAMPS:00:01 — Well Nourished waitlist + welcome 01:14 — Where Strength fits in the 6S Method 01:46 — Your muscle is your 401k 02:38 — The good news: you're not starting from zero, and muscle has memory03:10 — What muscle actually does for you (blood sugar, GLP-1, mobility, independence) 03:56 — Nobody is taking my dog from me 04:15 — The fear of doing "too much" and getting bulky 05:30 — Nobody wants to be skinny fat — what body composition change really means 06:00 — When your workouts aren't giving anything back 06:33 — Pilates vs. traditional strength training 07:15 — Hot sculpt classes: leaving strength on the table 08:15 — Grabbing the familiar weight is movement, not strength training 08:58 — Cardio: a taking exercise vs. a giving-back exercise 09:58 — How to measure if your training is working 10:30 — Progressive overload beyond heavier dumbbells: sets, reps, rest time, tempo 11:12 — Measuring body composition: InBody, DEXA, photos, trends 12:44 — Let the data motivate you while the mirror catches up 13:30 — Client story: you don't need to be good at working out, you just need a plan 15:07 — "I already do all of this and it's still not working" 15:30 — You can't build muscle on a body that isn't safe 16:45 — Why all the S's are foundational to each other 17:05 — Join the Well Nourished waitlist + what's nextRESOURCES:
Just because you've survived worse doesn't mean you should settle for this. Your past taught you resilience. It was never meant to become the standard for the rest of your life. How often do you justify staying in a situation simply because it's better than what you've experienced before? A better job. A healthier relationship. A less demanding client. A business that's "good enough." In this episode, April challenges one of the most common mindset traps among high performers: measuring today's life against yesterday's struggles instead of tomorrow's vision. Surviving your past is something to celebrate. But if your past becomes your measuring stick, you may unintentionally lower the standard for the life you're capable of creating. It's time to stop asking, "Is this better than before?" and start asking, "Is this worthy of Future Me?" In This Episode You'll Learn Why comparing your life to past hardships can quietly keep you stuck. The difference between surviving and thriving. How your past should inspire you, not define your standards. Why Future You should become your new benchmark. A simple question that helps you make better decisions in business and life. Pivot Point Your past proves what's possible. It should never determine what you'll settle for. Memorable Quotes "Your past is proof of your resilience, not the standard for your future." "Stop asking if it's better than before. Ask if it's worthy of Future You." "Surviving isn't the destination. Thriving is." "If you're going to measure anything, measure it against the life you're building." "Better than yesterday doesn't always mean good enough for tomorrow." ---------------- Want more tools to help you create momentum, clarity, and growth in your business and life? Ready to take this work beyond the podcast? Join us at Collaborate 2026, our once-a-year, in-person transformational experience in Grass Valley, California. Spend 2.5 powerful days gaining clarity, building momentum, and doing the deep work alongside growth-minded leaders. Early Bird pricing ends March 31st, and seats are limited. Reserve yours at www.theaprilgarcia.com/collaborate.
7/30/26 Host Buz Eisenberg Dr Caitlyn Pierce & Donald Snyder political scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst: measuring judicial appeasement in the U.S. Supreme Court Carol Rose Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts: Police & Government Surveillance and challenging the military as immigration judges Nate Clifford & Jade Jump Co-owners of Cornucopia Market on their move to Dwight St in Holyoke & their recent grand opening All That Jazz w/ John Anz & Musician Jason Scwartz on his musical journey and monthly performance series at Theodore's in Springfield
First up on the podcast, we catch up with Celina Zhao, a staff reporter for Science's AI In Science reporting initiative. She talks with host Sarah Crespi about artificial intelligence's knack for finding legal loopholes and how philosophers are navigating conflicts of interest around advising companies on AI. Next on the show, it's hard to figure out how much force a muscle is exerting without sticking invasive probes into the body. Christopher Bird, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland, discusses a new way to use ultrawideband radar to measure muscle forces that could prove useful for assistive devices and rehabilitation. Finally, the third in our limited six-part series on scientific biographies. This month, host Angela Saini talks with zoologist Matthew Cobb about his new book on the life of Francis Crick, Crick: A Mind in Motion. This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy. Image credit: Chiara Vercesi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Zaretta Hammond has spent her career pushing school leaders past feel-good equity language and into the instructional core, where the real gaps live. Her latest book, Rebuilding Students' Learning Power: Teaching for Instructional Equity and Cognitive Justice, names a pattern she calls cognition redlining — the quiet, well-intentioned way schools underdevelop the thinking capacity of historically marginalized students. She's the author behind Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, a text already sitting on most instructional coaches' shelves. Districts have poured billions into equity work for three decades, and the outcomes for Black, brown, Indigenous, and linguistically diverse students haven't moved. Zaretta Hammond says that's not a funding problem or an effort problem — it's a cognition problem, and most principals have never been trained to see it.
Are you not reaching for the higher things in God because you never realized you have been given a choice? Many times we think things have already been determined by God. But in truth, He is waiting for us to make a choice, and then He will help us get to the higher place by faith.
Episode Summary Senior IT change and adoption consultant Janie McNeil joins host Justin Lake to talk about why new technology so often goes unused, and what it actually takes to change that. She makes the case that adoption is a people problem long before it's a technology problem: when workers aren't brought in early, tools that cost millions sit idle and the damage trickles downstream for months. Janie digs into using data to prove adoption is working, why frontline teams learn by doing and watching rather than reading dense documentation, and why change management and learning teams get the best results when they're pulled in from the start instead of the eleventh hour. She closes on AI, arguing that the way to get people to embrace it is to show them their worth, not warn them about restructuring, and she shares a simple task list anyone can use to see where AI helps and where a human is still the answer. It's a practical, empathetic look at keeping people at the center of technological change. Key Topics The operational cost of poor technology adoption Downstream effects of adoption failure Bringing change management in early Measuring adoption with data The product manager's role in system success How frontline workers actually learn Change management and L&D working together Building trust to get involved sooner Supporting AI adoption without fear Episode Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the episode and guest 00:30 Janie McNeil's background and expertise 01:02 The operational impact of failed technology adoption 01:35 The importance of early stakeholder engagement 02:00 The cost of unused tools and systems 02:47 Downstream effects of poor adoption 03:25 The prolonged impact of adoption issues 04:25 Measuring adoption through metrics and data 05:24 The role of product managers in system success 06:21 Aligning success metrics with organizational goals 07:17 The importance of user behavior and process adherence 08:00 Challenges faced by product managers 09:07 Diverse user groups and their needs 10:01 Including change management early in projects 11:12 The late involvement of change management teams 12:24 The undervaluation of change management 13:32 The power of data literacy in adoption 14:54 Using data storytelling to demonstrate value 16:04 Microsoft's investments in adoption tools 18:06 The ongoing challenge of software adoption 19:50 Supporting frontline workers through community and education 22:21 Effective learning methods for frontline teams 24:36 The strategic role of L&D and change management 26:43 Defining responsibilities of change management vs. L&D 28:45 Streamlining project delivery with integrated teams 30:56 The risks of delaying documentation and training 32:40 Building relationships and trust in change initiatives 36:50 Managing overwhelm and delegation in change projects 39:03 Supporting AI adoption and addressing fears 44:52 The importance of human value in technological change 47:02 Embracing AI as a tool for growth and development 48:38 Closing remarks and key takeaways About Janie McNeil Janie McNeil is a senior IT change and adoption consultant who helps organizations turn new technology into lasting behavior change, working at the intersection of people and the tools meant to support them. She grew up in one of the world's largest manufacturing communities, and that experience shapes how she thinks about supporting frontline and deskless workers through change. Her work spans organizational change management, learning and development, product adoption, and using data to show that adoption is actually taking hold. Resources Frontline Innovators Podcast: https://skyllful.com/podcast Connect with Janie McNeil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janie-rosales-mcneil Microsoft adoption resources: https://adoption.microsoft.com Prosci change management resources: https://www.prosci.com
Episode # 157: We walk through how we build an FP&A training plan that develops individual talent while raising the effectiveness of the whole finance organization. That starts with a formal development strategy, not ad hoc learning squeezed in when time allows. We talk about the capabilities that separate high-performing FP&A teams from strong reporting teams: business acumen, critical thinking, stakeholder management, leadership, decision support, and financial storytelling that makes recommendations clear and usable.We also get practical about how to turn analysts into trusted strategic business partners. That means immersing FP&A in the functions they support, teaching curiosity and root-cause thinking, and creating real exposure to strategic planning, capital decisions, pricing, product discussions, and post-implementation reviews. Along the way, we address how to build a culture of continuous improvement through peer learning and safe experimentation with automation and AI in FP&A, plus how to measure training success by impact, not courses completed.Episode outline: Why FP&A needs a formal development plan,Our goal is to develop strategic business partners,Creating a culture of continuous improvement,Measuring training success.Please connect with me on:1. Instagram: stephen.mclain2. Twitter: smclainiii3. Facebook: stephenmclainconsultant4. LinkedIn: stephenjmclainiiiFor more resources, please visit Finance Leader Academy: financeleaderacademy.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the showStephen is an experienced Finance Professional and Leader who offers fractional CFO services and development opportunities. Please visit his LinkedIn profile or Finance Leader Academy for more information.
High performance has traditionally been measured by individual output, but that definition is starting to change. In this episode of HR Superstars, Karina Young continues her conversation with Chris Walker, entrepreneur and author of The Frequency Era. They discuss why companies need to move beyond measuring individual output, how hiring practices can better identify potential, and how HR leaders can recognize the people who elevate the performance of those around them. Listen as Chris shares his perspective on building organizations where people continue to grow, evolve, and create meaningful impact in a rapidly changing workplace. You'll learn: Why traditional performance metrics are becoming outdated How HR can move beyond training programs to shape culture, behavior, and leadership effectiveness How to create a hiring process that better reflects the realities of modern work Join us as we discuss: (00:00) Meet HR Superstar: Chris Walker (00:38) Why leaders should trace every problem back to the top (04:17) The quality of your people is your biggest strategic advantage (06:53) How to treat skills as trainable capacities (11:29) Measuring the ROI of your people (14:58) How HR business partners can help unlock unique capabilities (18:35) Why resumes are ineffective as a primary way to filter candidates (22:50) Trial-based hiring models to assess talent Resources: For the entire interview, subscribe to HR Superstars on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube, or tune in on our website. Original podcast track produced by Entheo. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for HR Superstars in your favorite podcast player. Hear Karina's thoughts on elevating your HR career by following her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinayoung11/ Download 15Five's Manager Enablement Playbook: https://www.15five.com/resources/ebook/15fives-manager-enablement-playbook-for-hr-leaders?hsLang=en?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=2026_Podcast&utm_content=ebook For more on maximizing employee performance, engagement, and retention, click here: https://www.15five.com/demo?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Q2-Podcast-Ads&utm_content=Schedule-a-demo Chris Walker's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriswalker171/ The Frequency Era: https://www.amazon.com/Frequency-Era-Chris-Walker-ebook/dp/B0GXGBWSWQ
Ronnie Chatterji is the Chief Economist at OpenAI, where he leads research on how AI reshapes growth, jobs, and the economy. He is also an economics professor at Duke. He was previously the White House CHIPS coordinator implementing the $52B CHIPS Act, and before that the chief economist at the US Department of Commerce.In this episode of Summation, Ronnie and Auren discuss:The three things people actually do with ChatGPTThe 10x jump in people handing their work to AI Why the next big leap in AI is adoption and not capabilityThe case that AI could cause a population boom You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Ronnie Chatterji on X at @RonnieChatterji
When we think of people that are fleeing conflict or being displaced by natural disasters, we rightly think about food, water and shelter as critical basic needs, but do we consider the psychological trauma that these populations have just undergone? How does mental health support factor into our relief responses? In this episode, we explore the critical role of mental health in humanitarian work with Weanne Estrada from the Adventist Relief and Development Agency. We discuss how mental health support can be integrated into disaster relief, refugee assistance, and community development, emphasizing culturally sensitive approaches and sustainable strategies. Subscribe to Our New YouTube Channel Podcast Sponsors Are you ready to take your impact to the next level? Then join this year's OneAccord conference October 13th-15th in Washington, D.C.! Use Code "Global" for Discount Register for OneAccord 2026 The MA in Global Development and Justice at Multnomah Seminary (part of Jessup University) is a fully online, accredited graduate program designed for practitioners and advocates seeking meaningful, sustainable change in today's world. Learn More About MAGDJ Resources and Links From The Show Adventist Development and Relief Agency Online Kaya Connect Psychological First Aid Training from NCTSN Conversation Notes (AI Generated) 02:20 Weanne Estrada's background and motivation for humanitarian work 05:19 Refugee communities in the Philippines and their self-built systems 09:13 The importance of mental health in disaster response 12:22 Psychological first aid: what it is and how to do it 17:16 Measuring mental health in humanitarian settings 21:04 Sustainable mental health support and task shifting 25:14 Cultural sensitivity in mental health interventions 29:23 The role of churches in mental health support 37:48 ADRA's current projects and global engagement in Yemen, Myanmar, Sudan and Venezuela 41:00 Advice for those pursuing God's justice in nations Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License
Hiring more sales heads won't fix your revenue problems and it might be your most expensive mistake. In this episode, you'll hear why building the right sales system first is key to scaling sustainably. Janice B Gordon sits down with Jacek Dukat, unpacking why the traditional sales leadership playbook is broken and what works now. What you'll learn: a) Why evidence-based, risk-shared commercial execution outperforms traditional hiring b) The steps to build, test, and validate outbound sales models before scaling c) How to win complex enterprise deals cold, even against bigger competitors Jacek Dukat is a fractional sales director and new business specialist with over 25 years' experience scaling B2B tech revenue across European markets, winning over €80 million in complex enterprise IT engagements, all without warm introductions or inherited relationships. Timestamps: 05:09 Hiring challenges in scaling businesses 10:12 Customer experience and market testing 11:57 Interim sales director role dynamics 16:28 Working as a contractor 19:33 Discussing broken sales systems 24:03 Challenges in improving conversion rates 25:24 Measuring client engagement and sales 28:45 Understanding the client business environment 33:58 Starting a proof of concept 35:39 Winning a deal with a client Connect with Jacek Dukat LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacekdukat/ Connect with Janice Book Janice to speak at your next sales or leadership event: https://janicebgordon.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/janice-b-gordon/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicebgordon Scale Your Sales Podcast: https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/podcast Enjoy the episode? Share your takeaway in the comments and leave a review on Apple Podcasts to help more leaders discover the show.
On the latest 100 Year Thinkers, Robert Hagstrom joins Matt Zeigler and Bogumil Baranowski to revisit the 25th anniversary edition of The Warren Buffett Portfolio and explain why volatility is not the same as investment risk.They discuss concentrated portfolios, active share, business valuation, behavioral finance, complex adaptive systems, and Warren Buffett's warning that the market's casino can overwhelm its cathedral.The Warren Buffett Portfolio – 25th Anniversary Editionhttps://amzn.to/3TVXoruRobert Hagstrom on Xhttps://x.com/RobertGHagstromEquity Compasshttps://www.equitycompass.com/Topics coveredWhy Markowitz's definition of risk as variance shaped modern portfolio theoryWhy Buffett views permanent capital loss, not volatility, as the real investing riskWhat Hagstrom's study of 3,000 portfolios revealed about concentration and market outperformanceThe difference between know-something investors and investors better served by indexingHow benchmark awareness creates closet indexers and weakens active managementWhat loss aversion and prospect theory explain about investor behaviorWhy Darwin, William James, and complex adaptive systems offer better models for marketsBuffett's cathedral and casino metaphor for business ownership versus speculationThe El Farol problem, Jim Simons, and why successful market models stop workingWhy options trading, leveraged ETFs, and record single-stock dispersion may be strengthening the casinoHow to evaluate portfolios using cash flow, return on invested capital, and look-through earningsWhy permanent capital and System 2 thinking are essential for focused investingTimestamps00:00 Intro04:00 Why Markowitz defined risk as variance11:47 What 3,000 portfolios revealed about concentration17:17 Know-something versus know-nothing investors22:23 Kahneman, loss aversion, and modern portfolio theory26:58 Darwin, pragmatism, and adaptive markets32:28 Buffett's cathedral and casino metaphor37:37 The El Farol problem and why markets resist prediction42:08 Why investors crave market forecasts46:16 Why investing is most intelligent when businesslike51:38 Record stock dispersion, options, and leveraged ETFs56:00 Measuring portfolio progress through business economics01:00:43 Why permanent capital enables focus investing01:04:43 How markets survive widespread investor mistakesLearn more about the Excess Returns podcast network:https://excessreturns.coNo information discussed in this podcast should be construed as investment advice. Securities discussed may be held by the hosts and guests, their firms, or their clients.
There are roughly 100x more people who use code than who can write code. As code that “just works” becomes easier to generate, this group may be the biggest prize of all — if you can get the agentic interface right.A key trend we have been tracking over at AINews is the absolute explosion in Codex usage this year, with MAU now up >10x from Jan 2026. Less than two weeks after their July 9th launch, OpenAI said ChatGPT Work and Codex had reached 10M users combined (as we cover in the pod, Codex now powers ChatGPT Work, so all ChatGPT Work users are now users of the Codex harness, even if they aren't traditional engineers) — showing the early innings of what happens when you graduate from coding agents to knowledge work agents:We've been calling out how coding agents are “breaking containment” to do everything else this year to power every other part of knowledge work - and it started with the org chart, with a major reorg last month that amounted to two of Codex's most prominent leaders, Greg and Tibo, taking responsibility over product and ChatGPT specifically, completing a “Superapp” consolidation cycle first discussed in March.With these updates Codex is no longer just a coding tool. In June, OpenAI said knowledge workers already accounting for roughly 20% of Codex's user base and growing more than 3x as quickly as developers. A product dedicated for knowledge workers was being pulled out of the Codex team.However, knowledge work has a different set of problems and environments than coding. For decades, knowledge work has been scattered across different primitives like documents for writing, spreadsheets for analysis, slide decks for communication, and specialized applications for everything else. ChatGPT Work now enables users to work across every primitive with agents. Instead of opening an application and manually operating its features, the user can describe an outcome and collaborates with an agent that can assemble the tools, context, and artifact needed to reach it.From building no-code products at Airtable to leading Productivity Engineering at OpenAI, Akshay Nathan has spent much of his career trying to make the power of software accessible to people who do not write code. In this episode, Akshay joins swyx and Vibhu to unpack the launch of ChatGPT Work, why Codex unexpectedly took off among non-developers inside OpenAI, and the company's broader plan to bring useful agents from software engineers to knowledge workers and eventually everyone.We go deep on the shared agent harness behind Codex and ChatGPT Work, why OpenAI brought the experiences together without making them identical, and how persistent computers, artifacts, Sites, plugins, memory, and sub-agents are changing what people can delegate to AI. Akshay explains why some teams are replacing decks and spreadsheets with interactive websites, how agents can gather context across code, Slack, documents, and local files, and what OpenAI learned from personal-agent products like OpenClaw.Side note: also don't miss Abhihek's sandbox track keynote at AIE, which now powers a lot of the sandboxing for ChatGPT Work… and yes was also broken by an unreleased OpenAI model in the recent HuggingFace incident.Akshay also reflects on how AI is transforming product development itself: why more people will become generalists with a specialty, why ideas and taste become the bottlenecks when almost anyone can build, why LLMs still struggle to generate genuinely grounded new ideas, and why teams must distinguish increased motion from actual progress.We discuss:* Why Codex unexpectedly took off among non-developers inside OpenAI* Why employees felt like using Codex gave them a new superpower* The product insight that led OpenAI to build ChatGPT Work* Why Codex and ChatGPT Work share the same underlying agent harness* How their UX, Git visibility, artifacts, and sandboxing defaults differ* Why OpenAI merged its agent experiences instead of building separate products* How AI is blurring the boundaries between engineering, design, strategy, and operations* Why OpenAI wants the default model configuration to work for most users* When power users should use deeper reasoning, Ultra, or multi-agent modes* Artifacts, agentic spreadsheets, and creating high-fidelity work products* Why interactive Sites may replace decks and spreadsheets* The challenge of designing a simple interface for an agent that can build almost anything* Why users should retry tasks that models could not handle three or six months ago* How AI can gather context for performance reviews without replacing human judgment* The OpenAI automation that turns internal Slack and document activity into memes* What reaching ten million ChatGPT Work and Codex users means for the product* How OpenClaw inspired persistent environments, scheduled tasks, and personal agents* Using ChatGPT for financial planning, budgeting, workouts, meals, and household management* The design tradeoffs behind sub-agents and how much of their work users should see* ChatGPT memory, Chronicle, and long-term context* Why AI may make more people generalists with deep specialties* Why ideas and taste become more important when almost anyone can build* Why LLMs still struggle with the instruction “bring me new ideas”* Measuring productivity through quality at-bats instead of commits, tokens, or pull requests* The critical difference between AI-generated motion and meaningful progressAkshay Nathan* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshaynathan/* X: https://x.com/akshaynathan_Timestamps00:00:00 Introduction and Bringing the Power of Code to Everyone00:01:33 Joining OpenAI and Preserving a Startup Culture00:02:40 What OpenAI Learned from Enterprise AI Adoption00:05:28 Why OpenAI Built ChatGPT Work00:07:17 Codex vs. ChatGPT Work and the Shared Agent Harness00:12:07 Why OpenAI Merged Its Agent Experiences00:16:24 Models, Reasoning Levels, and Choosing the Right Default00:20:26 Artifacts, Agentic Spreadsheets, and Model–Product Collaboration00:24:22 Why Sites Could Replace Decks and Spreadsheets00:30:08 Designing an Agent That Can Build Almost Anything00:34:28 From Developer Agents to Knowledge Work—and Everyone00:36:07 Power-User Advice and AI-Assisted Performance Reviews00:40:41 OpenAI's Internal AI Memes and the Ten-Million-User Launch00:44:39 OpenClaw, Personal Agents, and ChatGPT as an Operating System00:50:24 Sub-Agents, Ultra Mode, and How Much Control Users Need00:54:39 ChatGPT Memory, Personalization, and Chronicle01:00:19 How AI Is Reshaping Product Development and Tech Roles01:03:15 Ideas, Taste, and Why LLMs Struggle to Generate New Ideas01:04:42 Measuring Productivity, Quality At-Bats, and Motion vs. ProgressTranscriptIntroduction: Akshay Nathan, ChatGPT Work, and the No-Code ArcSwyx [00:00:00]: We're here in the studio with Akshay from OpenAI. Welcome.Akshay Nathan [00:00:07]: Thank you.Swyx [00:00:08]: And with our trusty co-host, Vibhu. So you recently launched ChatGPT Work. You lead Core Product Engineering. It's been a long journey, into all this. I find it very interesting that you started with no code or low code, with Walrus and Airtable. And to some extent, ChatGPT Work is like the super app of super apps of, well, here is the ultimate no code. You just write a prompt.Akshay Nathan [00:00:32]: Yeah. It's funny how things come, full circle. I think for a long time in my career, I started my career working consumer fintech, but then after that, like, there's this hypothesis that, the things that we were able to do with code, like, as engineers, like, if we could bring that to many more people in a more, accessible way, then that would be truly magical. We were working on a startup. It's funny, like, before LLMs, before vision LLMs, on how to do automated testing with AI. It was just kinda jank, back then, but doing what we can, and then worked at Airtable for a while on the same thesis that, like, if we can bring a database or the primitives behind a database to people, that'd be really useful to them. But once LLMs came onto the scene, it became clear that, this was the missing piece, like, the missing technology required to, like, bring the magic of code to everyone without them having to know what's going on underneath the hood. And so, like, I think this launch and a lot of the stuff that we've been up to is, like, the manifestation of that.From Walrus and Airtable to OpenAIVibhu [00:01:33]: How was stuff when you joined? So you joined OpenAI 2023. Now we've got, so much more stuff, so ChatGPT, Codex app, ChatGPT Work. Have things changed?Joining OpenAI and What Hasn't ChangedAkshay Nathan [00:01:44]: I think the more interesting thing is how things haven't changed. Like, one, I joined I remember when I joined, it was, like, five hundred people. One thing I was worried about was, like, I was looking for something, more early stage and, like, was it gonna feel startup enough? And I joined, and I was like, “This feels even more startup-y than I could ever imagine.” And, like, that really hasn't changed even till now. I think the, like, level of, like, bottoms-up ambition and, like, the ability of anyone to, like, do anything or have an idea and ship it is really cool. But on the, like, mission side, I think what was really compelling to me is this mission of, bringing frontier intelligence to everyone. Like, building AGI and then bringing it to everyone. And, I think acknowledging back then that, like, that vision is gonna, not be a linear progression. Like, we're probably gonna, like, try different products and have different things that succeed and don't. But the vision has stayed the same, and the mission has stayed the same, and we're starting to see the pieces, fall together, and that's really cool.Enterprise Lessons: No One-Size-Fits-All AISwyx [00:02:40]: You worked on Enterprise. What A lot of people never touch ChatGPT Enterprise. What is something that you learned from there that you're bringing into your work now?Akshay Nathan [00:02:52]: I think how there's no one-size-fits-all solution in Enterprise. I remember in the early days of ChatGPT Enterprise, like, when we talked to customers and, like, everyone. That was, like, when I think it was a year after ChatGPT was released, and everyone was so excited to bring, AI into their enterprise. And, there were all these teams being stood up. It was, like, the AI deployment team with, like, these enormous budgets. And if you asked anyone, like, what were they excited about? Like, what were they excited about solving? Like, at first, you'd get, like, kinda like the baseline answers of, like, “Yeah, we have all this context and data and all this stuff.” But then if you ask them, like, “What was, like, a discrete use case that, like, they want AI to enable in their workplace?” You get such a different, like, variance, like, explosion of, different types of answers. And it's interesting, like, you using, like, these models and these products, you have this box, and you can say anything to it, which is the magic. But it'on the flip side, it also means that, like, you don't know what to do with it. And in Enterprise, I think a big part of that is, like, meeting the users where they are, like, what use case were they trying to solve, and then teaching them how they can use AI to, like, gain leverage there.Swyx [00:03:56]: Do you meaningfully differentiate that from forward-deployed engineering?Akshay Nathan [00:04:01]: I think there is the go-to-market side of it and then there is the product side of it. I think you need someone on the product side. And I think, like, however good we get at FDE motion, like, I think at the end of the day, if we have a user who's, like, looking at their computer or looking at their phone, like, it's our job in the product to, like, be enabling them and showing them where to go. So we're really excited about that.Vibhu [00:04:24]: Do you think there's been changes, over the past three years of adoption? So there have been, step function changes. You have reasoning models and whatnot. Is there still the same problems of Enterprise has black box, don't know what to do with it, or have things changed?Adoption, Agents, and the Next 10x MarketAkshay Nathan [00:04:39]: We're seeing now that, like, there's this huge uptake, right? Everyone is extremely excited about it. It feels like, many people are, millions, hundreds of millions of people are using ChatGPT. They understand, like, how generally to work with AI. But then, like, every time, like, a new capability gets unlocked, so now, like, we're seeing with agents, like, there is probably a contingent of, like, early adopters still who, truly get it, who are like, “ we you can do anything. You just have to make sure the right context is there, it's connected to the right tools, and that you are supervising it, but, like, anything is possible.” But then there's, like, this, like, 10x or 100x bigger market where, like, they don't yet get that, or they don't yet see that. And so I think that's the next stage here. So to answer your question, like, I think the adoption is there and growing fast, but I think the opportunity is, like, far bigger than that. That's where we wanna play, especially with ChatGPT Work.ChatGPT Work, Codex, and the Super App MergeSwyx [00:05:27]: Yeah. well, let's, let's skip ahead to ChatGPT Work. only, like, a month ago or so, announced. what was the decision process that led into it? there was this, overall merging of the super app. Is that what we're officially calling it? you deprecated the browser as well. Just, summarize your last, like, couple months of working on this thing.Akshay Nathan [00:05:50]: Yeah. It feels like forever now, but it's only been a few months. I think maybe the one, impetus that, like- Is most salient is when we release Codex, or even internally had Codex, like, it was really surprising to us, I think we recently put out some stats on this, that there was this, like, real inflection of, like, adoption among non-developers at OpenAI. And, I, through this product development process, like, would go to, like, these UXR sessions to talk to people internally. And the thing that stuck out to me is, like, one, like, you go talk to, like, strategic finance or marketing or whatever, and they're all using Codex for, their use cases. That part's cool, but the thing that really stuck out to me is how proud people were that they were using Codex. Like, how, likeSwyx [00:06:34]: It's like, “I'm not supposed to be using it, but I am.”Akshay Nathan [00:06:36]: It was that. It was, like, that they were, early to this, like, new thing, but it was also this thing of, like, they felt like they had a superpower, right? And, what we recognized then is that, like, the power of Codex, the power of agents, like, we already had this massive distribution base of people who have, come to know and love ChatGPT. Like, how do we show that to them? Like, how do we bring it to them? Which is, like, a hard product problem, and it's, like, a tricky thing, right? There's many ways you can go about it. And so that's what we called the Merge and the Super App over time, and ultimately launched it in ChatGPT Work, is how do we do that? But it came from that initial realization that, like, the power was not only for developers, like, much earlier than probably even we thought. Like, it could be extended to everyone.Swyx [00:07:17]: How do you see the products differently? So, like, who is it for, right? So Codex started out even CLI, then app. Now there's a merge of ChatGPT Codex and ChatGPT Work, so is it the opening for the average user, for enterprise, for work? How do you position it?Akshay Nathan [00:07:36]: I think we want to get it to position it for if you're doing work-related things, for lack of a better word, right?Who ChatGPT Work Is ForAkshay Nathan [00:07:42]: I think productivity is what, like, the pillar that I support. Like, that's the name of the team. And the reason for that, the reason we call it productivity and not, like, enterprise or, like, work or something like that, is because there's also personal productivity, right? And, like, I think ChatGPT Work is I've seen people do things in their personal lives that you wouldn't classify as, like, work technically, but, like, these agents are, super capable for. Like, one recent example that someone posted about, on our Slack is, like, someone had, like, a missed package, like they didn't receive it, and then they got, like, the picture of it, from Amazon or whoever the courier was, and they, like, asked ChatGPT Work to, like, find out where that package is. And, like, the agent, is extremely tenacious and, like, took the image and, like, looked at a bunch of, like, listings around their neighborhood and figured out exactly the apartment complex in which the package was, like, gave them some information. And so, like, I think there's all these things that, like, you, work-related or productivity-related things, I think that's what we want the product to be. You asked about Codex. I think we think Codex is, a durable brand, but we have a principle that, like, the user we don't want a user to get stuck in a tab or an experience where they don't get the power of the product. And so, like, everything that you can do, in the Codex portion of the product on desktop, you can do in ChatGPT Work and vice versa. But we made some opinionated product decisions on, like, how much of the Git state, if you're in a Git repo, do we wanna expose to the end user? Or how much do we wanna make the experience of seeing the agents thinking, like, diff forward so that you get exposed to the diffs out of the box. And then, like, on the safety side, like, how do we wanna think about, like, sandboxing and making sure that we have the right defaults in one state versus the other? So, there's, like, some opinions that go behind that, but we do want We don't want the user to need to choose which experience they're in.Swyx [00:09:26]: That is a good goal for AGI, right? Like, people don't want, like, to hide to choose what version of AGI they want. They just want the AGI to decide for them. can I get an answer or, like It's not super clear to me. Is the Codex harness and the ChatGPT Work harness the same? Is it just UI affordances, or are there prompt level or even deeper differences?Shared Harness, Different UX: Codex vs. WorkAkshay Nathan [00:09:49]: So the harness is the same. The harness is shared. on In both of the products, we made improvements to the harness to make it good for knowledge work, especially as it relates to plug-ins or computer use or artifacts. You get that power regardless of which experience you're in. On the UX side, there's opinionated takes that we have when you're in Codex mode, what the UX should be how the UX should behave, and some stuff around the sandbox like I mentioned, but the underlying harness and capabilities should be the same.Swyx [00:10:16]: I'm just kinda curious. Maybe we can, -- Is there a query that we can run that would look different in the two modes?Akshay Nathan [00:10:23]: Yeah. I tried to create, like ask it to create, like, a retirement calculator spreadsheet or something, in both modes. And then in Codex mode, you might have to be in a repo for this, but you'll see, like, the diffs of, like, the sheet that it's creating and stuff like that, and the file edits. But in Work you won't be able to see that.Swyx [00:10:42]: I think that's, that's super clear. And then also the other thing I wanted to dive into was your, the productivity team. what else is there? first of all, what are the top-level teams other than productivity? Isn't productivity everything?Productivity Teams and Core ChatAkshay Nathan [00:10:55]: SoSwyx [00:10:55]: Science?Akshay Nathan [00:10:55]: We have a team focused on ChatGPT. Like, the core chat experience, for consumer, which is like, not, I think all productivity. Like, there'People are using ChatGPT every day for search to, figure out how to write messages to loved ones, to think about, how to, like, learn a new topic, et cetera. And so there's so much more inside to create images. And there's so much more in chat that, the hundreds of millions of users are using that warrants, like, a very dedicated effort. And there's teams focused on enterprise and infrastructure and API and stuff like that, so.Swyx [00:11:33]: I will bring it up.Retirement Calculator Demo and Git-First UXSwyx [00:11:34]: Yeah. So I have them both running. This is ChatGPT Work. There's a Codex version here. I picked “Five Little Ducks” song, so this will take a while.Akshay Nathan [00:11:43]: Huh.Swyx [00:11:43]: I think we'll just keep it in the background and, as they finish, we'll look into some of the differences.Akshay Nathan [00:11:48]: Yeah. But immediately, I think if you flip back to the Codex version you'll see that,Swyx [00:11:53]: That it assumesAkshay Nathan [00:11:54]: Like theSwyx [00:11:54]: It assumes Git. Yeah. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:11:56]: The, like, dynamic island assumes that you're in a Git repo. And you might miss some stuff because some of it is, like, in the actual chain of thought with those changes and how we display that, but yeah.Swyx [00:12:07]: Is there an unintuitive like, is there a thing that you wanted to ship and then you got feedback, and you were like, “No, let's not do it?” Like, what's the thinking behind that?Why Merge the ExperiencesAkshay Nathan [00:12:14]: In, ChatGPT Work?Akshay Nathan [00:12:17]: I think one direction we could have gone with this is, like, keeping the experiences, like, completely separate. So it's like, whySwyx [00:12:22]: Different apps.Akshay Nathan [00:12:23]: Exactly, like different apps or even in the same app, like different, completely different experiences. Like, why merge it all? Like, what is. Codex, people love. Like, why bring these products together? And I think the intuition here is that, like, all of our jobs are, like, changing dramatically with AI. Like, for, like, every few months, like, I feel like I wake up, and I'm, like, doing a completely different thing than I was doing a few months ago. And my hypothesis here is that, or I should say our hypothesis is that, like, part of what we're, we're building, this technology is giving people leverage. Like, the things, maybe it's the more mundane parts of your job or parts that, like, if you were able to automate, you'd be able to share more ideas faster or whatever, like, you're able to do now. And because of that, like, that might blur the lines between someone who's, like, only writing code or creating strategy docs or, planning events or, helping with marketing or doing podcasts or whatever, right? And so, like, these things are gonna get blurred over time. And so, like, trying to draw a hard boundary based on, like, the who you are is gonna be, is gonna be tough. And, like, we should enable users to choose, but we shouldn't box them in. And so a lot of the work that went in here, like, keeping the primitives the same, like for example, plugins are, like, unified across, this product and ChatGPT and the cloud, was because of that. It's this thesis that, like, eventually things are gonna come together and we don't wanna be Like, we wanna be prescriptive about when to be in either experience, but we don't want to box anyone in.Swyx [00:13:45]: I wonder if there's users who are very tuned to the old ChatGPT harness that is effectively now replaced by the Codex harness. I can't imagine what that was, but maybe they're more the more conversational side. Can you compare and contrast the two harnesses? ‘Cause only you've seen it.Akshay Nathan [00:14:02]: Yeah. I think ChatGPT, the existing harness, like, still exists today. Like, it exists in this app,Harness Engineering: ChatGPT vs. CodexSwyx [00:14:08]: The classic, right?Akshay Nathan [00:14:09]: TheVibhu [00:14:09]: You just start a new chat, and you don't go under Work, right?Akshay Nathan [00:14:13]: Yeah. If you startVibhu [00:14:13]: SoAkshay Nathan [00:14:14]: A new chat and go to chat, then you're, you're talking to ChatGPT with the instant model.Vibhu [00:14:16]: Oh, we can technically do another. But on instant.Swyx [00:14:21]: Yeah. So this one's not gonna code or it's gonna be in line. It's on a in line in a sandbox.Akshay Nathan [00:14:26]: It'llVibhu [00:14:27]: Oh, that's coolAkshay Nathan [00:14:27]: We try to push you to go to Work if you're creating a spreadsheet. Yeah, but this isSwyx [00:14:30]: And this is a router decision? Sorry. Is it a router decision?Akshay Nathan [00:14:34]: This is the decision that, the model is making, and then, like it sees that you're able to. or you're trying to do something that would be better served in Work mode. But I think your question was like, what are the advantages of, like, the chat, like ChatGPT chat harness?Swyx [00:14:48]: It's more broadly, like, I wanna, do an oral history of harness engineering. Right? the ChatGPT harness lasted us from, let's call it the ‘01 era, until now, and now it's being replaced by the Codex harness effectively. And they're, they're overlapping somewhat, but I'm curious what changed if there is.Akshay Nathan [00:15:10]: My perspective on this is, like, there's, there's, there's there's like a constant process of, like, divergence, convergence, divergence, convergence. And in chat, like, many of the use cases I was talking about before, like, search or learning, I think we're, we're really optimizing for latency and optimizing for personality and, like, different things that, over time, like the product The reason people love ChatGPT is because we've been optimizing for those things and working on them for so long. Codex, what we learned was that, like, if you give the agent access to this infinitely flexible environment as a computer, it can do really powerful things. And so when we think about, like, okay, well, for knowledge work, like, what is which mode should we choose? It was like it felt more natural to us to bring that to this, like, computer environment and, maybe abstract some of the details of this computer away from users who might not be used to that, but, like, give them that same power. But ultimately, I think that we want the power in all places, right? We wanna meet people where they are. So I'm sure there'll be work down the road in order to get things to be, equivalently capable in all scenarios. But it's just a question of, like, what we've been focusing on the product on historically and what we're focusing on now.Models, Defaults, and the Reasoning SliderVibhu [00:16:24]: I think alongside that, outside of just harness and when to use Codex, ChatGPT, or Work, there's also the new models you've released, right? any guidance there? So people love to min-max what to use, like only use Terra on high reasoning versus, for this, you wanna use Sol here, ignore all theseAkshay Nathan [00:16:44]: There's 32 options.Vibhu [00:16:46]: But, that being said, for people that are expanding, so, productivity trying stuff for work that don't have the breakdown of what all this is what's, what's the advice, right?Akshay Nathan [00:16:59]: Well, I think before the advice, like the first thing is, like, none of this would be possible without these models. Like, the, I think you asked earlier, like, what was, like, the inspiration for work and, like, early on, like I mentioned, like, what we were seeing with Codex, but that was also because the models were getting infinitely more capable. That's happening again. I think it's like another step function jump now. And to answer the question on advice, like we want this default to be the best possible. Like, we wanna be opinionated about the default, and so we've we've chosen a default that we think is gonna be the best for everyone. And, we have for power users options under the hood. We could One could argue that there might be too many right now, and we're, working on simplifying it. But you can extend, the reasoning level, and you can change between the different model classes if you need to, but the default should be the best for most use cases. So my advice to most people would be to stick to that. And then, if you reach a situation in which you think that you could, you wanna try, a different configuration, if you're not seeing either the efficiency on the cost side or the quality on the intelligence side, then you can change the defaults and see if you can get something better. But we think that the default should be good enough.Swyx [00:18:09]: I have, I'm just gonna run something by you since you have way more experience than me. I've recently been doing Sol Lite but with goal, with the idea that the goal augments the reasoning effort, but with more terminations and turns.Swyx [00:18:24]: Is that a good way to think about it as opposed to Sol Ultra or Sol, Extra High?Akshay Nathan [00:18:29]: Yeah. It's hard to say becauseSwyx [00:18:31]: Yeah. It's like an interaction effect.Akshay Nathan [00:18:33]: exactly. It's like there's a preference on, for you as an individual, like how do you like to collaborate with the models? Like how many of those like terminations, as you call them, do you want where, you can steer or make sure that it's doing the right thing?Akshay Nathan [00:18:46]: I think generally people should try whatever works for them. I think that like using Ultra or the like multi-agent setups are best for like when you have like tasks that are either incredibly complicated, like open explorations or very paralyzable. I think even for tasks using goal, I think is best for tasks that you'll be able to make consistent progress in a way that's verifiable over time. But I think for most tasks, they don't fall into either of those buckets. And so like at least when they're starting, and so that's why I think the best first step is like trying it with the default configuration and then seeing like where you wanna go from there.Swyx [00:19:29]: Right. You guys worked on a slider, which is super helpful for reducing the amount of panic.Vibhu [00:19:36]: It's nice on mobile at least. There's a nice slider there.Swyx [00:19:38]: It's nicer.Vibhu [00:19:39]: I haven't tried it.Swyx [00:19:40]: So you have the advanced view there, but if you click advanced view. Yeah.Vibhu [00:19:44]: Ooh, it's just a nice slider. Yeah.Swyx [00:19:46]: Very pretty, very colorful.Akshay Nathan [00:19:48]: Yeah. The idea was here was like reduce it to like one dimension even though there's multiple dimensions, right? Try to project it onto a single dimension for the user. Like, something from that represents like, speed and efficiency on one side and then like quality and thoroughness on the other side.Artifacts, Spreadsheets, and the Work LaunchSwyx [00:20:04]: I am just puzzled that it uses Sol so much, like the lowerVibhu [00:20:07]: NoSwyx [00:20:07]: Grounds I would've usedVibhu [00:20:08]: I think the slider, if I'm not mistaken, isSwyx [00:20:09]: Terra.Vibhu [00:20:10]: Oh, it is.Swyx [00:20:11]: Yeah. See? So they preset Terra to only be the light one. But like I think a lot of people would more people should use Terra. One, because Sol keeps running out of capacity.Vibhu [00:20:22]: I'm the reason. Here's ten minutes of ourSwyx [00:20:24]: There you goVibhu [00:20:25]: Retirement calculator.Swyx [00:20:26]: Oh, that's the Excel thing working for you.Vibhu [00:20:28]: This is,Swyx [00:20:28]: Oh my God. Look at thatVibhu [00:20:28]: This is work, and then Codex is still cooking, so we'll get back into it. I think it'll be interesting to see the thought process, the reasoning, and also, this is eight minutes on work. Codex is still cooking.Swyx [00:20:41]: Yeah. And by the way, so I've, do Gabriel Chua? He's part of the OpenAI Singapore team. He showed me this, and I was like pretty shocked that this looks like Excel. It edits Excel files. You never paid an Excel license, right? Like, but somehow this is like workable and it's agentic Excel.Akshay Nathan [00:21:01]: Yeah. one of the big like pushes that we made for this launch was like artifacts, right?Akshay Nathan [00:21:05]: Like both on the model side, like I think if you compare this with GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 before that, you'll see that there's been pretty dramatic improvements in the quality of these artifacts and then also on the product side.Vibhu [00:21:16]: The UX side is also crazy, like hosted sites and whatnot. No longer needing to host your own little webpage, like itSwyx [00:21:23]: Oh, I have a story about that. I can do, a separate thing. I'll need to take the visuals here, but we-we'll, we'll cut to that later. Was there co-training, because you were moving making this big move and you launched GPT-5.6 on the same day as ChatGPT Work? Was there influence between the model training teams and the harness teams, or did they did the launch dates just happen to line up the same day?Akshay Nathan [00:21:46]: I think the we collaborate heavily with the research teams, and I think that's like one of the most magical parts of the job, like the most fun parts of the job. But yeah, just using artifacts as an example. Like, a lot of what you're seeing, like underneath the hood, there's a lot of work that went into making sure that like, we had the right infra to be able to train the models to get better at this. And then on the product side, like had the right experience for users to be able to collaborate with the model on an artifact like this. In fact, like this whole viewer, like the intuition here is that like, it's not necessarily that you wouldn't need an Excel license. This is stage one, right? Like, this is probably not what you meant when you're like making a retirement calculator.Vibhu [00:22:24]: Yeah, you can iterate very easily. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:22:24]: You wanna iterate and like when you're seeing it, and if this thing is high fidelity to like what you would see in or what your coworkers would see if you were to send this to Sean, like that I think makes it so easier and makes you trust the product in terms of iteration.Vibhu [00:22:39]: When you say coworkers would see, do you see a multiplayer, multi-team collaboration with artifacts? Any things you guys think about that?Multiplayer Artifacts and CollaborationSwyx [00:22:46]: You can already share it, right?Akshay Nathan [00:22:48]: Yeah. It's inter It's something that, we're actively thinking about. one thing that, we've noticed internally without talking too much about the roadmap is that like there's many times when someone will ping me about something, and I will ask ChatGPT Work the question, and then I'll ping them back the answer.Akshay Nathan [00:23:04]: And then I'll be thinking likeVibhu [00:23:04]: Like the simplest would be, the three of us are just all on one hosted.Akshay Nathan [00:23:07]: Exactly. And I'll think about like was I required in this loop or and then maybe it was, rephrase like what they were asking or pulled from certain context or whatever. But like, when I gave them back the answer, that process was also lossy, right? Like I gave them just like my interpretation of what ChatGPT Work cooked up. But like underneath the hood, there's so much context like in the rollout and stuff that could be interesting.Vibhu [00:23:28]: Yeah, it'sSwyx [00:23:28]: So like the answer was preemptively respond to every inbound request?Akshay Nathan [00:23:33]: No, it was just like literally like this is what I do sometimes as my job.Swyx [00:23:36]: I know you copy-paste and then you're just a message forwarding serviceAkshay Nathan [00:23:39]: Yeah. Yeah, exactlySwyx [00:23:39]: From AI to AI.Vibhu [00:23:40]: But I think it's interesting, right? It helps people understand the capability of what you can ask and delegate that oftentimes people don't realize until they try or someone shows you, and then you're like, “Oh, okay. Okay, I see.”Swyx [00:23:52]: I think it's als there's also like a, light security issue, where like you're the permissions layer. Like yes, I could query everything that you query, and I could get an automated response, but maybe I'm not supposed to see it. And that there's no way I would know because I'm not supposed to know what I don't know.Akshay Nathan [00:24:07]: Especially as like, with ChatGPT Work, we're, we're asking you to connect your plug-ins and, it's pulling from your local files and stuff like that. Like the amount of context that the agent has access to is like- Deeply personal and like that's something I think we need to preserve, so that'll be definitely a challenge.Swyx [00:24:22]: There's Excel, there's PowerPoint, there's Docs, the, grand trio of work. What other formats of work do you think about? like you worked on Airtable. Is there a future where there's like OpenAI Airtable? Like what does that look like if you ever ended up doing it?Akshay Nathan [00:24:41]: It's a really good question. I think,Formats of Work: Sites as Knowledge ArtifactsAkshay Nathan [00:24:43]: one that you didn't bring up was Sites, and I think that wasSwyx [00:24:46]: SitesAkshay Nathan [00:24:46]: A core part of this launch. There's one side of Sites that I think people commonly talk about, especially on Twitter and stuff or X, of like, this like prototyping tool. And like we saw that happen with this launch even. The model slider that you guys were referencing earlier, like that was developed almost fully in a Site. Like, the collaboration between design and engineering and product on that was like on a site where we play with, the affordance and figure out how it feels and all of that. But the other aspect that I think is a little bit less talked about is like Sites as like an artifact for knowledge work. I was talking to someone the other day who's on like our corporate finance team, and like we were mentioning how like now when they have these reports that they're, they're working on as a team month to month, historically those things were in slide decks and in spreadsheets, and now they're just in Sites. And like Sites is the mechanism that they collaborate across the team. And the reason is ‘cause it's like, it's like somewhat higher bandwidth. Like, at these tools like PowerPoint and Excel are like infinitely flexible, but at some point you reach the boundary of like either as a human you may not know how to use some feature or something, or the product itself doesn't support it. But with a site you can do anything. You ask for anything and you can get that. once people see that magic, I think it's been really valuable.Swyx [00:26:02]: Yeah, let me show you my case study. this involves all the hot topics including ChatGPT Work, but also GPT-5.6 token billionaires and token maxing and Sites and auto research. I'm a fan of this game called Strata. It's, it's like a little board game that youSites, Auto Research, and Research DashboardsSwyx [00:26:17]: That you play with, physical blocks, that come on top of it like that. So over the weekend I took like thirty photos and just threw into ChatGPT. one point seven billion tokens later, out comes this site with a fully playable thingAkshay Nathan [00:26:32]: WowSwyx [00:26:32]: With 3D, block placement and everything. Because it requires physical blocks and I needed friends to train on it so they can get better, so I can play against them. But also, I could also, do things like train an AI on it and that's, thatAkshay Nathan [00:26:45]: That's your auto researchSwyx [00:26:46]: That gets into auto research. So, you want to train your own AIs, and then make sure they self-play against, each other. I need to set both AIs. So this is AI versus AI, and they're, they're gonna self-play. the AIs start out bad and then you want to define a loss function and get good. I wasn't gonna supervise all this. I was at, I was down in San Mateo, attending a conference. What I ended up doing was, auto researching and on this and creating benchmarks and that there was just way too many parameters for me to read. So I started asking it for a site, and it's created this lab, panel. Where is there a, is there a shortcut for a site that is created?Akshay Nathan [00:27:28]: You should be able to go in the sidebar to Sites, top of the sidebar. The left sidebar.Swyx [00:27:33]: This one? Oh, left?Akshay Nathan [00:27:35]: Yeah. Just scroll all the way to the top.Swyx [00:27:36]: Oh. Oh, it says Sites. Oh, there you go. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:27:39]: Ooh.Swyx [00:27:40]: So it create, it creates the sites. I don't, I don't think this is, it is exactly what I wanted, but let me show you what it popped up, right? Like I think as a research artifact, it is very important to communicate, exactly, what is being done. Outputs this thing which I eventually started publishing. So I moved it off of Sites because I wanted more, database and infrastructure than Sites afforded me. But this is like a research output that you can start to mess with and like try to think about like what hyperparameters are you tuning for training AIs. And like I was trying to make like scaling laws and everything and doing all sorts of like game optimization stuff. And the fact that you can just throw this up as a research artifact, like I no longer need to read ChatGPT output. I read Site output. But then there's also a huge sprawl. Like look at how long this thing is. There's so many numbers. It is pretty overwhelming, so then I have to start pruning it from there. But, it's an interesting transition from Markdown effectively that you're putting out to, you're putting out a whole functional site.Akshay Nathan [00:28:41]: I think Markdown just isn't that optimal for people to read, right? Might as well just write HTML website and I don't know. I think you can do a lot with customizing this, right? You have your skills that explain what you want. Like I noticed they're quite verbose. I don't need a lot of this information.Swyx [00:28:57]: It's very verbose.Akshay Nathan [00:28:58]: So and then the nice thing of having a site side by side is, you just iterate on what you want and what you don't, right?Swyx [00:29:05]: Yeah. I don't know if, any that triggers any stories for you of how it's run internally. Am I doing this right?Akshay Nathan [00:29:11]: Yeah. I think that this is like a workflow that we're seeing like all different types of teams use, where like the canonical artifact that was previously a deck or something is now becoming a site. And like with a site you, because it's just HTML, you can like. It's infinitely flexible. And so, if you want to give more prominence to a certain thing that like in a slide deck would, feel like it was buried, like you can do that. You can have it be like the hero image, right? And so I think that like, people are starting to see that. There's more work to be done to make these things like much more easier, easy to collaborate on. You mentioned that they're very, they're long and verbose, could be broken up. I'm sure that there's still something to do there.Swyx [00:29:53]: They're super long. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:29:54]: Yeah. But I think we're starting to see that like there is this aspect of this is a really interesting, format, for people to use, that's like much more flexible than what they ever had before.Swyx [00:30:07]: I think your job also comes becomes meta. You're not designing the products. You're designing a product to make products, and I'm curious how you manage that.Designing a Product That Makes ProductsAkshay Nathan [00:30:18]: I think one thing that we've been Like when we look at the UX, like that we've been thinking a lot about is how can we balance like simplicity with capability? Like if we're designing a product, like you said, that like is made to make up build other things, right? You can build so many different things. But we can't put that all in front of you because you'll get overwhelmed.Vibhu [00:30:41]: Yes.Akshay Nathan [00:30:41]: And so we had similar problem or similar challenges even Chat-with ChatGPT, but especially now, like when there's so much that can be done, I think the balance that we're constantly trying to strike is like, how can we give the user enough of a UI surface where, they can be expressive, they can tell the agent what they need, they can verify that it's using the right tools, it's pulling from the right sources, et cetera, but then it gets out of the way. And then how can we build the right system such that we can show them instead of telling them what can be done? Because so much of this is gonna be like, how do they discover the next use case and the next one after that if they really want to be super powered by the AI.Games, Private Evals, and Show-Don'TellVibhu [00:31:19]: Yeah. It's interesting. I feel like everyone also just has a different way to do it, right? I made a similar version of this same game. I didn't take any pictures of board or rule game. I threw in at goal eighteen minutes, fifty-three seconds later, a lot of tokens later, I've got a similar version. not with all the auto research and whatnot, butAkshay Nathan [00:31:39]: You gotta do all the latest trends.Vibhu [00:31:40]: And yeah, I did it with, did it with Codex, not Work, but it's interesting, right?Akshay Nathan [00:31:45]: Yeah. And this is GPT Image generating the pro avatars. Very good for game design. LikeVibhu [00:31:51]: AndAkshay Nathan [00:31:52]: A lot of game designers were like really into GPT Image for assets.Vibhu [00:31:54]: I will say like the broader takeaway probably is the reason that we do this is more so just to test the tools, right? Like, this was also a test for GPT-5.6 came out. I had done the game on GPT-5.5, right? The ability for me to no longer need it to. I had to feed it the rules. It's, it's a pretty niche game. It couldn't find how to do this on its own.Akshay Nathan [00:32:15]: Oh, yeah.Vibhu [00:32:15]: GPT-5.6Akshay Nathan [00:32:16]: It is out-of-distribution, which is why I was also very keen on testing the GPT-5.6 capability.Vibhu [00:32:21]: But, this is just as work comes out, as new things come out, these are just our side ways to test things, right?Akshay Nathan [00:32:27]: Yeah. It's some private eval. That is not this private.Vibhu [00:32:31]: But also valuable because now you can send this to your friends and I learned about this game through seeing this.Akshay Nathan [00:32:36]: It's a hard game. He's very good.Vibhu [00:32:39]: It's good to when no one is competing with you. But yes, it's a classic RL problem of like self-play, bootstrapping your game AI. yeah, you see how easily work becomes personal and personal becomes work because the thing I do for personal, it directly informs people I work with because I showed it to them. They were like, “Oh, you can do that with GPT?” Which like I imagine is the growth strategy.Akshay Nathan [00:33:02]: Yeah. The show not tell is a big piece that, I think we've we're not still not fully cracked of like, showing people all the things that they can do with the product versus like trying to teach that to them through like, articles or onboarding or whatever.Akshay Nathan [00:33:18]: So meeting them in the moment.Vibhu [00:33:19]: It's a career risk for me, because I used to be in developer relations, right? Where your job is to show, and then you're like, “What do you mean? You don't, you don't need.” your job is to tell. And then. But the product people are like, “Well, we don't need you if our product is intuitive enough.” SoAkshay Nathan [00:33:37]: Yeah. that's the magic of the models. So you can tailor the telling or the showing to like specifically what the user needs, like what they care about, what they've done in the past, exactly where they are on the adoption journey. So I think that's like gonna be a super big opportunity.Vibhu [00:33:50]: Seems easier and easier now to tailor custom showing, right? People have different use cases. As much as you said you don't wanna segment different people into different buckets, right? It's also not that hard to for people that are in different categories. But the question, is you said your team is more broadly on. What was the term you used? Productivity?From Developers to Knowledge Work to EveryoneAkshay Nathan [00:34:12]: Productivity.Vibhu [00:34:12]: Productivity. So howAkshay Nathan [00:34:12]: Which is now work.Vibhu [00:34:14]: Is it work? Is there another distribution that we're not hitting? Is there a group of people that will have something different than ChatGPT, Codex or Work? Is there more that the mass isn't targeting?Akshay Nathan [00:34:28]: I see it as like a sequencing, like. The vision is like bring useful agents to everyone. We started with like developers. Like developers historically are like early adopters that are willing to put up with more friction, set things up, et cetera. Like that's where, Codex started. I think the next opportunity is like what we call general knowledge work, all the other functions around developers. I think when you go from developers to this segment, like there's inherent challenges with like, this show not tell thing that we're talking about, making the product more understandable, bringing in new capabilities that matter more for this cohort than matter for developers, things like artifacts, things like computer use, et cetera. And then I think like the same learnings, like similarly how we took the learnings from developers and brought it to, general knowledge work, the next stage will be like taking the learnings from general knowledge work and bringing it to everyone no matter what they're doing in their lives. And we're already seeing that a little bit. Like this game example that you have is, something that's like on the border of like fun and personal life to, your professional life. I use ChatGPT Work full-time at home for everything, like for whatever I'm doing. I used it the other day to come up with a meal plan and like, save that on the like computer environment that it has and something that I can continue going back to. Like is everyone doing that yet? Probably not because the thing says work on it, but eventually, we wanna get people there.Vibhu [00:35:51]: ChatGPT life.Akshay Nathan [00:35:52]: Yeah, exactly. ChatGPT cooking. But I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of opportunity there, but I see it as like, we're, we're built we built a foundation in software engineering, and we're gonna take the same learnings that we take from software engineering to knowledge work to everyone.Vibhu [00:36:07]: Do you have any power user advice? I feel like, there's a group of people that will live it, use it for everything, stay on it twenty four-seven. And then there's a bit of a gap between that crew and people that, okay, I use it for work. I use it occasionally. Sometimes I type questions. any advice, any learnings, anything you recommend or just, takeaways that you've found that help bridge that gap?Power User Advice: Push the Frontier of ImaginationAkshay Nathan [00:36:30]: I think a couple things that I've seen is like, one, that it really helps to broaden your imagination of what's possible, and this has been a learning even for me. Like, the technology has progressed so fast that, something that, like, even three months ago, like, no way the models can do this. Like, now it's like, wow, it's like it can. Like,Swyx [00:36:52]: Give an exampleAkshay Nathan [00:36:52]: We're going through right now our, like, review cycle internally, and, people always talked about this as, like, a thing that the models are good at and like, there's a cliché of like: Okay, like, no one wants to be writing reviews and, like, we just use AI to do it. But in all seriousnessSwyx [00:37:09]: And it can evaluate it as well.Akshay Nathan [00:37:10]: Yeah, exactly. In all seriousness, before it was, like, just, like, slop and, like, I think it was helpful, but, not super productive. Now I've found that, like, the model can do a much better job than me, especially in this environment of, like, pulling context on, like, what people are up to, how they've like the things that they've done to make a difference, highlighting like, wins that they've had that, like, I might may not even have seen. It has access to, like, everything, right? Like the code, like, things that they've caught, reviews, Slack, everything. And so it's, like, incredibly powerful in that domain and, like, just like six months ago, the last time we did this cycle, like, I didn't even I tried using it, but it was not at all helpful. And this time it's been, like, incredibly helpful and, like, so I think continuing to push the frontier of imagination of what's possible, even if you tried something before, I think is maybe the my biggest piece of advice. The other, thing is, like, the more you put in, especially in this environment where, like, the model has access to everything on your computer or in ChatGPT Work, like you can create, artifacts over time and save them in your library and, like, the model will continue having access to those. Like, the more information you give it about whatever domain you're in, whether it's your life or your work, the more valuable it becomes, and it'll become valuable in, like, ways that might surprise you. Like, it might pull from context in a way that, may be proactive and that you might not even have thought about. But it needs to have access to those, to that those tools or that context first.Reviews, Agentic Search, and Context GatheringSwyx [00:38:27]: One thing I just wanna talk about the review stuff because I'm still that's a very sensitive thing and you're, you're a founder, you've managed people, you've hired people. As manager myself, I'm very reticent to put out any LLM-generated things especially when it comes to people, ‘cause it feels like you don't care.Swyx [00:38:46]: Presumably at OpenAI, people are more open to being eval rated by GPT. But are there any unofficial rules around this? Like, what's the etiquette?Akshay Nathan [00:38:57]: Oh, I think the etiquette is that, like, I would never write something via, like, well, solely via AI and, like, present it as, like, a review for someone. What I was talking about is more, like, gathering context. That's the place where it's incredibly helpful.Swyx [00:39:08]: So it's just search.Akshay Nathan [00:39:09]: Yeah, exactly.Swyx [00:39:09]: It's agentic search. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:39:10]: It's like agentic search, but, that you can tailor and steer much more capably than you could before, ‘cause, like, the thing is it's all there's a flywheel happening, right? Because of Codex, people are able to do, and because of ChatGPT, people are able to do so much more now than ever before. And if you're able to do so much more, it's easy to miss things as well. And so, like, I think we need to use these same tools to keep up with all the impact that people are having and understand, where we can be helpful.Swyx [00:39:39]: I think the thing, like, I run a small company, so easy to search, but at the scale of OpenAI with the amount of messages that you guys put in Slack, do you think that it misses things?Remembering What Humans MissAkshay Nathan [00:39:50]: Probably, but I think that I also miss things.Swyx [00:39:52]: Like, it doesn't matter, right?Vibhu [00:39:53]: I think sometimes it'sSwyx [00:39:53]: Like it's, as it needs to be human-levelAkshay Nathan [00:39:54]: It's all relative, right? Yeah.Vibhu [00:39:56]: Sometimes it's nice when it finds things you wouldn't, right? Like right now, my Codex system prompts, they're set up in such a way that every project I have has a secret- separate, notes MD, and it just writes learnings to there. And then the global one can pull from all these. So sometimes it'll be like: Oh, there's this project you did like four months ago. Here's a note that we had, and it randomly pulls it back into context that I would never do, I haven't thought about.Vibhu [00:40:20]: And I'm like, okay, this is quite superhuman, right? Like, stuff that would. And, it'll save like hours on chunking of stuff or find something that's already been done. I'm like, as much as it might miss stuff, I would too, but it's very useful when it finds stuff. And I have like a very, non-super engineered solution to this. It's just marked down files that get pulled whenever they want.Akshay Nathan [00:40:41]: Yeah. I have a funny anecdote about this. Like, recently gearing up to this launch, the team has been, really cooking on it for a couple months, and over that time, like there's so much conversation and chatter going on in Slack and Docs and elsewhere. And, one of the members of the team set up this, scheduled tasks, like automation to like look at everything that's going on and, like, come up with the best memes and then post it in one of our shared channels. And like, there are two cool things about this. Like, the first is, like, I think the models are, over time, like starting to become like funny.Swyx [00:41:13]: Funny. Nice.Akshay Nathan [00:41:13]: Whereas like, a year ago, like that was not at all the case. The second is, it was what you were saying, like they find things that in surprising ways that you may not have thought of and like create connections that you may not have thought of. And that really helps with like the meme generation because then you can see something that, genuinely surprises you and, is funny in that way. So yeah, that's like not like the most productive, use of this the technology, but it does it does uncover this, like this capability that's emerging, which is just like to find information that you otherwise would not know of.Launch Momentum and the 10 Million User MilestoneSwyx [00:41:43]: Talking about the launch, I think, I have pretty much said this is the most successful launch in a long time. I think even more successful personally than 5.0, and they're announcing ten million users. Does it feel different? You've been through a lot of launches.Akshay Nathan [00:41:58]: I think it feels like a culmination. Well, I think two things. One, it feels like a culmination, like I was mentioning earlier, like this like vision mission that we've been on for a long time. Like I said, we saw the magic of Codex internally, and then we're like extremely excited to bring this to many more people and to see it working, to like see us reach, the distribution goal, numbers that you mentioned, like I think that's like huge and super exciting. The flip side of that is like, there's so much more to do too. Like, that's also really exciting. Like, ChatGPT as a whole, like the this product that, everyone almost equates to AI and like loves, has hundreds of millions of users. And so like ten million is really cool, but like we need to get this to everyone. Like, we need everyone to feel this magic. And so that's the next step from here. But yeah, I think extremely pumped about how it's going so far and the opportunities.Swyx [00:42:46]: Awesome. I did want to also Because I've, I've, I've been tracking the number closely, it transitioned at some point from just Codex users to Codex plus ChatGPT Work, because they're same harness. The whole point is that you don't, you can't, count them separately. Do you have roughly a billion, ChatGPT users? Why did it just jump to one billion right away? Like, isn't that the default on ChatGPT or no?Codex, ChatGPT Work, and the Developer BrandAkshay Nathan [00:43:11]: We don't default you into ChatGPT Work if you're on ChatGPTSwyx [00:43:14]: If you're free. YeahAkshay Nathan [00:43:15]: It's also only available to paid users right now. And I think there's like a process of, educating users of what is the value of this product, having them try it, learning from their feedback, and making it better over time. But the goal is to, get as many of the people who love ChatGPT today to like feel the power of ChatGPT Work. But I think it'll be a journey.Swyx [00:43:36]: Yeah. And Codex will still be alive as a brand for the foreseeable future. And we'll just toggle between them as needed for UI stuff.Akshay Nathan [00:43:44]: Yeah, I think it's even stronger point than that. Like, I think we fully intend to like, treat developer. Like, developers have been, a core market for us for so long, and like there's, there's so much more that we can do to make Codex great specifically for, software development, and we'll continue to do that. This doesn't take away from that at all. If anything, it should increase the utility of something like Codex, because now you can move seamlessly between writing a diff to creating an artifact or, doing a search over your factor.Swyx [00:44:11]: I do wonder how much this terminology leaks to the non-technical user. Like, do they have to learn to say artifact if I want artifact? Or.Akshay Nathan [00:44:20]: It's funny, like we call it artifacts internally ‘cause that's what the teams call it.Swyx [00:44:23]: It's nice. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:44:23]: But like externally, like no one says that, no one calls it an artifact. But I think that people like often, like describe things, whatever they're used to, right? So if, ChatGPT Work is good at creating slides, they'll say ChatGPT Work is good at creating slides, and that's what we want.OpenClaw, Personal OS, and Persistent ComputersSwyx [00:44:38]: One big Another, it's July of twenty-six. One big thing that also happens in, for OpenAI was OpenClaw, and that's I think a lot of people's first time really maxing a agent for personal stuff, but also crossing over to work in essence same way. As far as I understand, OpenClaw is still independent, but did you go through your own OpenClaw moments? Were there any lessons you took from OpenClaw to Codex or back? Whatever.Akshay Nathan [00:45:06]: I think there's a lot of inspiration. I did go through my own OpenClaw moment. I,Swyx [00:45:10]: Yeah, tell the storyAkshay Nathan [00:45:10]: Me and my wife like set up an OpenClaw to like try to manage everything in our house. Not that there's like a ton, but it was like quite useful. We gave it a calendar. It started, creating events for us and stuff. At some point, the laptop that we were running on, it died and never got a chance to pick it back up. But there was a lot of inspiration there, like, in ChatGPT Work, in web and mobile, like you get access to this like persistent computer environment where, you can store files, and those files stay around between sessions. And the idea is to be able to enable use cases like this. one of the members of our team uses ChatGPT Work for what they used OpenClaw from before, and then feel like it has like completely transitioned, which is like, workout planning and like meal tracking. which again, it's like a work-related thing, right? It's like not work necessarily, but it's like in personal productivity space. But it has all the same primitives. So it has scheduled tasks. It has the ability to store files on a file system. It has the ability to like reference those things over time. And so you start to see the same types of use cases emerge, which has been really cool.Swyx [00:46:14]: Is there a point that ChatGPT Work completely replaces OpenClaw? they're independent, so.Akshay Nathan [00:46:20]: Yeah, I'm, I'm not close to it, so I can't speak to the OpenClaw roadmap, but I don't think so. I think that there's gonna be, there's always a need for like this like incredible, like open source technology that team has built. And I think that we can draw inspiration, in the product and, ChatGPT, I think many more people have like heard about and used ChatGPT than have used OpenClaw. And if we can take the magic from OpenClaw and bring it to them, I think that'll be a success. I think that like one thing on the ChatGPT Work side that we feel strongly about is that like the core experience is that you come to this product and you have a conversation, start a session, whatever you wanna call it, with this agent. And the magic of the product is that you can do anything in that moment. And we would like to create a product where you don't have to click a button or to go to a different place, whatever, and you can get whatever functionality exists in, your finances app or where or any other product like in this one place. And so that's the goal. It's like it we want an extensible system with plugins where you can connect to the tools that you need in order to be able to accomplish like a financial task, where you can, if you're doing like science work, like we have an ability to like extend the system in such that you can like write the tech and it performs well. There'll always be like products that we support that are best in class at those things, but we want as much of the magic as possible in that core experience.Swyx [00:47:45]: Yeah. Do you think that you can do everything you used to do with Wealthfront in ChatGPT Finance?Finance, Data Access, and Centralized ContextAkshay Nathan [00:47:50]: I tried it. like ChatGPT doesn't yet custody, cash and assets for me. So that part, no, not yet. But I, there was like a whole component of like retirement planning and, like financial planning and budgeting and stuff that, we were looking into when I was there. And like with the finances plugin, like that's all possible with ChatGPT today. So, I feel
Some people have everything they thought they wanted and still feel like they're losing. In this bonus episode, hear an excerpt from Ryan's conversation with Sahil Bloom, author of The 5 Types of Wealth. Together, they talk about the strange way success can distort your sense of what is enough, why the easiest things to measure often matter the least, and how quickly the life you once dreamed about can start to feel like it still isn't enough.Check out the full episode with Sahil Bloom | Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTubeSahil Bloom is the owner of SRB Holdings, the managing partner of SRB Ventures, and author of The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.Follow Sahil on Instagram and X @SahilBloom
Enterprise technology has long promised to unlock operational potential, but the trade-offs between monolithic ERP systems and fragmented best-of-breed stacks continue to slow organizations down in ways most leaders don't fully account for. In this episode of Enterprise Unleashed on Supply Chain Now, Scott W. Luton and Wiley Jones (Co-founder at DOSS) are joined by Jindra Zitek (Partner and Head of Scale at Stripes), a former McKinsey consultant and C-level operator whose career spans Chobani, HelloFresh, and a range of board and advisory roles across industry. Together, they unpack what it actually takes to build operations that are truly AI-ready, and why the answer starts with people long before it reaches technology. Jindra draws on firsthand experience leading through hypergrowth and crisis to make the case that both ERP consolidation and best-of-breed ecosystems carry a hidden coordination tax, one that only gets more expensive the longer organizations avoid naming it. He challenges leaders to stop framing AI as a job automation tool and start treating it as a lever for dignity and purpose, giving people the ability to focus on the work that actually requires human judgment. The conversation lands on what separates organizations that experiment successfully from those stuck in pilot purgatory: shared business objectives, cross-functional coalitions, and guardrails that free people to move fast without losing control. Wiley grounds the discussion in what Doss is seeing in practice, where the complexity of edge cases is finally collapsing, and where the real work of comprehension still cannot be skipped. Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Intro (02:29) Jindra Zitek's background across McKinsey, Chobani, and HelloFresh (04:16) Lessons from family, farming, and leadership (06:09) Why people should come before systems (10:28) The trade-off between ERP and best-of-breed tools (15:24) The hidden cost of technology choices (17:09) How company DNA shapes technology strategy (20:57) Eliminating the human tax of broken systems (21:49) Automation should enable people, not replace them (25:57) The rise of agentic operations (28:57) Building trust and control with AI systems (31:34) Measuring real ROI from AI investments (35:17) Building cross-functional teams for AI success (37:30) Creating guardrails for enterprise AI adoption (40:40) The first workflow to transform with AI (42:10) Finding business problems AI can solve (47:56) How AI changes workflow design and implementation Additional Links & Resources: Connect with Jindra Zitek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jindrazitek/ Connect with Wiley Jones: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wileycwjones/ Learn more about DOSS: https://www.doss.com/ Learn more about Stripes: https://www.stripes.co/ Learn more about Supply Chain Insights: http://www.supplychaininsights.com Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on your favorite platform: https://supplychainnow.com/join Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now's NEW Media Kit: https://supplychainnow.com/media-kit/ WEBINAR- Peak Reality Check: What Shippers, Analysts, and AI Models Are Predicting for 2026: https://bit.ly/4aTlsRv WEBINAR- From Volume to Resilience: How Automotive Supply Chains Are Adapting to a New Market Reality: https://bit.ly/4f6SUGA WEBINAR- The Automotive Industry's Next Digital Breakthrough: https://bit.ly/4vhUwT4 WEBINAR- From Disruption to Stability: Building Resilient Logistics Solutions in a Rapidly Changing Global Market: https://bit.ly/3TguZMt This episode was hosted by Scott Luton and Wiley Jones, and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/beyond-erp-tradeoff-building-ai-ready-operations-1614 The content in this episode, including all audio, videos, visuals, and graphics, is the property of Supply Chain Now and is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or re-uploading of this content in any form is strictly prohibited without explicit written permission from Supply Chain Now.For licensing inquiries or permissions, please contact us at production@supplychainnow.com© 2026 Supply Chain Now. All rights reserved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, GT Boston Shareholder Greg Bombard joins Jordan to discuss a Federal Circuit case addressing measuring trade secret damages, and a Fifth Circuit case allowing misappropriation to serve as a RICO predicate at the pleading stage.
What does it mean to carry both grief and joy on the same road home? Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk reflects on a solo drive down Route 66 this summer — and what 19 months of grief have taught her about memory as something we tend, together.Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk traces a single road trip into a reflection on grief, home, and belonging. Drawing on John Steinbeck's "Mother Road," a poem by Joy Harjo, the history of Tulsa's Council Oak, and stories from members of this congregation, she makes the case that memory isn't something we carry alone — it's something a community holds with us.KEY THEMES:What do we choose to remember — and what do we let go?Can grief and joy travel the same road?What does it mean to "guard" a memory on purpose?How does a community help each other remember?Where is home, if it's a direction and not a place?CHAPTERS:0:00 Introduction and road trip context1:05 Measuring distance between Oklahoma cities2:30 Route 66's 100th anniversary and Tulsa's role3:26 Steinbeck's "Mother Road" from The Grapes of Wrath5:28 Grief, 19 months after her husband's death6:50 Joy Harjo's poem "Remember"9:19 The Council Oak and Muscogee history12:10 A conversation about guarding memories13:35 A memory her son gave back to her15:00 Bluegrass music and collective memory17:07 Closing reflection and blessingSUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE: @allsoulsunitarianGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org
As we finish up the month, it's a good chance to stop and have a look at how things are really going in your practice. Not just the income or the number of clients you've seen, but the difference you've made.How have your clients changed? What have they achieved? What conversations have stayed with you? We'll also have a look at client retention, whether it's time to ask for a review, and why the impact you have every day is often the most valuable part of your work.Strategy Lab members, your one-to-one link is in last week's workbook. Not a Strategy Lab Member Yet? Join the Strategy Lab here: www.geraldineheadley.com/strategy_lab
A scorecard is one of the most practical leadership tools for churches, but most pastors have never seen one built. In this episode of Breaking Barriers, we break down what a ministry scorecard is, why lead measures matter more than lag measures, and the exact step-by-step process our team uses to create one — including real examples from church planting, missions, and student ministry. If you've ever wondered how to measure ministry effectiveness without waiting until year-end to find out if you're winning, this episode gives you a simple, repeatable framework you can use with your own team this week.Conference: https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com/conferenceWebsite: https://breakinggrowthbarriers.comFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakinggrowthbarriersFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakinggrowthbarriersInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/breakinggrowthbarriers
Maren Perry reveals why most leaders are "optimistically naive" about their team's friction-and how to move from avoiding difficult conversations to building a culture of continuous "work-ons."If you've ever felt like your team offsite was a "one-and-done" event that changed nothing, this conversation is for you. Maren Perry, Founder and CEO of Arden Coaching, joins Cam and Otis to break down the "discovery process" that reveals what's actually happening in your organization. From the staggering gap in self-awareness to the "inflation" of performance reviews, Maren shares how to measure the soft skills that actually drive results.In this episode, you'll discover:• The "Optimistically Naive" Leader - Why leaders often ignore body language and team friction, hoping it will just "work itself out" (17:32) • The Self-Awareness Gap - Why 85% of people believe they are self-aware while only 10-15% actually are- and what that means for your leadership (38:48) • Measuring Soft Skills - How to turn vague values like "transparency" into concrete, measurable behaviors and KPIs (22:09) • The Feedback Disconnect - Why employees are starving for honest feedback while leaders are too uncomfortable to give it (30:50) • Offsites That Actually Work - Why the "Moses coming down from the mountain" approach fails and how to ensure retreat lessons stick (11:24) • The "Work-On" Culture - Borrowing from the rugby world to make continuous improvement a disarming, weekly habit rather than a scary annual event (45:22)About Maren Perry: Maren Perry is the Founder and CEO of Arden Coaching, a leadership development firm specializing in turning technically brilliant people into high-performing leaders. With a background in cognitive science and thousands of coaching hours, Maren helps mid-market companies deliver serious leadership development across their entire employee pipeline.Are you leading the team you think you are, or the one that actually exists? Hit play to learn how to close the gap through better discovery and honest feedback.Chapters with Timestamps and Descriptions00:00 — Introduction: Problems, Dryers, and Action Bias• Otis and Cam discuss the "knucklehead" urge to fix things immediately • Maren joins the conversation to discuss the balance between action and planning • The "Pace" planning model: Why having options is the key to empowered leadership09:32 — The Truth About Executive Offsites• Why offsites are underutilized and often poorly executed • The "Moses" problem: Why plans shouldn't just sit on a shelf after the retreat • The necessity of an outside facilitator to allow the leader to actually listen13:16 — The Discovery Process: Finding the "Real Deal"• Why the leader is often the last to know the real issues on the team • Using interviews to identify "oil and water" dynamics before the meeting starts • Challenging leaders: "Who are you being that people don't tell you the truth?"20:36 — Measuring the "Unmeasurable" Soft Skills• How to turn "meaningless" wall values into a functional scoreboard • Breaking down "transparency" and "respect" into trackable behaviors • Why the conversation around the number matters more than the number itself30:50 — The Feedback Disconnect and Organizational Courage• Why leaders avoid difficult conversations to protect their own comfort • The data shows employees want constructive feedback more than no feedback at all • How "optimistic naivety" prevents leaders from seeing performance gaps37:44 — The Self-Awareness Gap and Performance Inflation• The "Lake Wobegon" effect: Why everyone thinks they are above average • Why "Meets Expectations" has become an insult instead of a success • How to handle the reactivity that comes with honest performance ratings45:22 — Creating a Culture of "Work-Ons"• Moving from annual evaluations to weekly developmental conversations • How the rugby concept of "work-ons" disarms the fear of feedback • Final takeaways: Using data as an access to options, not a way to shirk responsibility49:20 — Closing and Resources• Where to find Maren Perry and Arden Coaching • Final thoughts on rugby, dryers, and executive teams • How to follow 10x Your Team for more leadership insightsConnect with Maren Perry:https://www.linkedin.com/in/marenperry/https://www.linkedin.com/company/arden-coaching/https://www.facebook.com/ardencoaching/https://www.instagram.com/arden.coaching/https://www.youtube.com/@Ardencoachinghttps://ardencoaching.com/
#376 | Eight marketers. Two minutes each. One live bracket to crown the best-performing paid ad play. We brought back the Blitz Exit Five Live session format - this time for the Paid Ads Playoff: a head-to-head paid ads showdown, where marketers pitch their single best ad from 2026 in real time to our live voting audience. The plays cover a lot of ground: scroll-stopping creative for an unfamiliar category, testing TV as a full-funnel channel, measuring out-of-home, a 9-minute LinkedIn video that beat every short clip, incentivized demo offers, ChatGPT ads, fighting Google's AI Overviews in paid search, and the most creative ad creative you've ever seen. Presenters include Alexander Goodwin (Fingerprint), Stefanie Wlotzki (SurveyMonkey), Jake Newby (Lendio), Anthony Blatner (Speedwork), Dylan Wingrove (Pacvue), Kenna Rooney (EasyLlama), and Shlomo Genchin (Unbored.com), co-hosted by Jess Cook of Vector.Timestamps (00:00) - - Welcome to the Paid Ads Playoff format (05:32) - - Making an unfamiliar B2B category scroll-stopping on paid social (08:04) - - Testing TV as an always-on demand channel (10:23) - - Measuring out-of-home ads with control markets (13:03) - - Why a 9-minute LinkedIn video beat every short clip (15:48) - - Q&A: targeting, TV attribution, and matching creative to the platform (25:49) - - Incentivized demos and gift-card offers that convert (28:32) - - Testing ChatGPT ads and shifting budget out of Google (32:40) - - Fighting back against Google's AI Overviews in paid search (34:50) - - The soap opera ad and turning boring software into a story (48:13) - - Tracking signals and structuring content for a long-form ad (55:05) - - The analogy framework behind the year's best-performing ad Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive.Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn how to build an ABM program that scales at vector.co/exitfive.Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more
When organizations or platforms encounter a quality crisis or an onslaught of unpopular noise, the default response is to rush toward compliance, policing, and labeling. However, wrapping an algorithmic guess in a false sense of mathematical certainty doesn't fix a quality problem. It creates an illusion of control while breeding paranoia and driving bad behavior underground. This week, I unpack Substack's recent partnership with Pangram Labs to combat what they're calling "Claudefishing." As an avid Substack user watching this play out, I recognize how closely this mirrors the exact same trap happening inside corporate C-suites and higher education institutions. Burned-out leaders facing an onslaught of low-effort "AI slop" are reaching for algorithmic surveillance tools as an easy button. However, trying to judge the merit of work by auditing its inputs is like looking at someone's shopping list to decide whether or not they're a good cook. My goal this week is to help you resist the compliance reflex and implement a sustainable, human-centric approach to quality and accountability: Exposing the Illusion of Objective Labels: A percentage score like "AI-generated" sounds like a cold, scientific measurement, but it is actually a statistical guess wrapped in mathematical security. By forcing creators and employees to cater to arbitrary compliance badges, we strip away human agency, punish structured thinkers, and completely abandon the conversation about actual quality and merit. Escaping the Algorithmic Surveillance Trap: Reaching for digital hall monitors fails to address the underlying pressure cooker of leadership burnout. Surveillance doesn't stop workslop. It simply pushes bad behavior underground while forcing your best performers to waste energy proving their innocence rather than driving real impact. Anchoring on Observable, Measurable Outcomes: You cannot hold people accountable for an outcome if you strip away their agency over how they think and execute. Rather than auditing how the kitchen operates or policing tools, leaders must shift their focus toward clear, observable standards. If you haven't clearly defined what success looks like, it isn't just AI that's struggling. Your people are, too. By the end, my hope is that you'll resist the urge to pick sides in a divisive "human vs. bot" tribal war or slap meaningless red letters on your team. Sustainable leadership in the AI age isn't about building a better digital prison; it's about rebuilding trust, asking curious process questions, and elevating standards for observable outcomes. —If this conversation was helpful, make sure to like, share, subscribe, or buy me a coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/christopherlindAnd if you'd benefit from help balancing performance, technology, and people, check out my website at https://christopherlind.co—Chapters00:00 – The Claudefishing Impulse: Rushing to Compliance and False Objectivity 04:15 – The Shopping List Fallacy: Why AI Detectors Miss the Quality Conversation 08:10 – The Leadership Pressure Cooker: Why We Reach for the "Easy Button" 12:30 – Stripping Human Agency: How Algorithmic Hall Monitors Backfire 17:45 – The Four-Part Playbook: Sustainable Moves for Outcome-Driven Leadership 25:30 – Leading with Curiosity: Asking Questions Before Jumping to Conclusions 31:10 – Conclusion: Rebuilding Trust Over Digital Prisons #Leadership #AIStrategy #FutureFocused #WorkforceTransformation #OrganizationalTrust
Stop Measuring Alcoholism by What You Still Have A job, a house, a car, money in the bank, or the fact that you have never been arrested does not prove that alcohol is not destroying your life. Too often, people measure alcoholism by what has not collapsed yet. But what about the relationships that are gone, the children you are not present for, the jobs you keep changing, the friends who no longer call, the dishonesty, the isolation, and the way everyone around you has learned to adjust to your drinking? Today we'll talk about why “functioning alcoholic” can be such a misleading label, how comparison keeps people from seeing the truth, and why the better question is not, “What do I still have?” but, “What is alcohol already taking from me?” #TheDailyTrudge #Alcoholism #FunctioningAlcoholic #AlcoholUseDisorder #Recovery #Sobriety #AlcoholicsAnonymous #Denial #HighFunctioningAlcoholic #OneDayAtATime
Niels Kaastrup-Larsen and Nick Baltas explore how artificial intelligence, thematic investing and narrative momentum are beginning to reshape systematic investing. Alongside a review of recent CTA performance, they discuss new research on expanding trend following universes, defensive portfolio construction and portable alpha before taking a deep dive into the growing role of AI and thematic risk models. The conversation examines whether future investment signals may come from more than price alone and how systematic investors can combine traditional trend following with new sources of information without losing the discipline that has defined the strategy for decades.-----50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE-----Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Nick on Twitter.Episode TimeStamps:00:00 - AI, memories and the changing pace of innovation06:32 - How investment firms are integrating artificial intelligence13:01 - CTA performance and the trend following environment20:34 - Expanding the market universe for trend followers28:17 - Building the perfect hedge with trend following34:25 - Portable alpha and leveraging trend strategies37:44 - Introducing thematic investing and missing factors44:59 - How narratives create momentum in financial markets50:43 - Measuring thematic strength versus price momentum58:41 - Can thematic investing be backtested?01:04:14 - Are narratives really different from traditional sectors?01:07:06 - Final thoughts on AI, research and the future of systematic investingCopyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved----PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score One of the things I'm really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here3. Other Resources that can help youAnd if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click HerePrivacy PolicyDisclaimer
Navigational Keywords - Business Strategies for Websites (Best Practices)The conversation focused on the critical role of navigational keywords in business website strategies and best practices for SEO. Several points were raised, including the distinction between informational and navigational keywords, the practical implications for website structure, and how search engines and users interact with these elements.Key Themes & ConceptsWhat Are Navigational Keywords?One concept discussed was the definition of navigational keywords: these are brand-specific queries used to find specific web pages or destinations within a website, such as "Brand + login," "Brand + pricing," or "Brand + contact." Navigational keywords contrast with informational keywords, which are broad and unbranded, like "best restaurant near me" or "how to tie a tie" 09:06.Why Are Navigational Keywords Important?A key theme that emerged was the way navigational keywords indicate high search intent. Users searching with these terms already know the brand and are seeking specific information or functionality—like product pages, contact details, or policy documents 10:15.How to Implement Best PracticesThe discussion explored actionable best practices for leveraging navigational keywords on business websites:Dedicated Pages: Businesses should create clear, dedicated pages for key navigational actions—such as /contact, /about, /pricing, /reviews, /careers—so that search engines have specific, easily indexed URLs to display in search results 14:03.URL Structure & Keyword Density: URLs should reflect the navigational query and use clear, hyphenated keywords to make it easier for algorithms and users to understand (e.g., yourwebsite.com/privacy-policy). Hyphens are treated as word separators by search engines 15:12.Sitemaps & Technical SEO: XML sitemaps act as a roadmap for algorithms to crawl a website efficiently. Keeping both HTML (what users see) and XML (what bots crawl) structures organized is vital 26:31.Regular Updates: Pages should be maintained and regularly updated. The two critical dates for each page are the date published and the date last modified—these inform algorithms the content is current and relevant, improving SEO performance 45:04.Importance of Brand & Action PairingsThe conversation emphasized that effective navigational keywords pair the brand with a specific action or destination (e.g., "Sephora privacy policy," "Amazon shipping"), which allows businesses to "own" those key queries and drive high-intent traffic 12:24.Measuring & Managing SEOThe discussion also touched on website management:The number of well-structured, dedicated pages can impact investment and SEO value 18:03.Regular auditing and technical optimization of all primary and secondary web properties ensures consistency, compliance, and discoverability 22:41.Understanding audience awareness stages (unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, most aware) helps align SEO content and navigational structure with user intent 35:12.TakeawaysNavigational keywords are essential for brand recognition and conversion, providing shortcuts for users seeking specific brand information.Businesses should invest in user-focused, clearly named, and regularly maintained navigational pages to capture high-intent searches 43:06.Effective technical SEO, including XML sitemaps and proper URL structures, boosts a website's usefulness to both users and search engines.By adopting these best practices, businesses ensure their websites are easily navigable for users and highly visible to search engines, setting the stage for better awareness, engagement, and growth.Who Is This For?The conversation focused on business owners, entrepreneurs, creators, and anyone looking to optimize their website's visibility and effectiveness, particularly through the strategic use of navigational keywords.It is especially relevant for those responsible for maintaining or improving the web presence of a brand, including solopreneurs and those with multiple or complex sites seeking clarity on SEO best practices and site structure (00:01:45, 00:21:48, 00:39:24).Key Moments & SEO Summary with TimestampsIntroduction to Navigational Keywords & Series Context: Outlining the focus on keywords for website business strategies (00:00:10).Website as a Core Asset: Emphasizing the necessity of a website as a brand hub for discovery and operations (00:03:00).Value of Quick Links and Site Accessibility: How having links to websites, calendars, and resources streamlines connections at events (00:04:02).Technological Tools for Networking: RFID/NFC and QR codes as ways to share multifaceted digital presences instantly (00:05:27, 00:07:00).Defining Navigational Keywords: Explained as brand-specific, high-intent search queries driving direct access to internal pages (e.g. “Brand + Contact,” “Brand + Login”) (00:08:39-00:12:24).Site Structure & Essential Pages: Importance of clear, dedicated URLs for contact, about, pricing, policies, reviews, etc. for both users and search engines (00:14:03, 00:16:17).Keyword Density, URL Structure, and Modifiers: The technical aspects affecting SEO on navigational and branded queries (00:13:33).Role of Sitemaps and Algorithm Interaction: Front- and back-end elements (HTML/XML) and the importance of current, updated content (00:26:31, 00:28:12).Awareness Stages: Moving from “unaware” to “most aware” for web users and the importance of matching their journey (00:34:42-00:36:46).Regular Updates and Maintenance: The necessity of revisiting and updating site pages to keep them “alive” in the algorithm (00:44:46, 00:45:50).Summary and Call to Action: Clarity, connection, and proactive site management—with encouragement to take the next steps (00:47:12, 00:48:28).FAQs1. What are navigational keywords and why do they matter?Navigational keywords are search queries aimed at finding specific branded pages (e.g. “Brand + Contact”). They guide users directly to the information or action they seek, playing a key role in brand visibility and customer experience (00:08:39, 00:10:15).2. What essential pages should every business website have?Contact, About, Pricing, Privacy Policy, Reviews, Careers, Locations, Return Policy, and Service pages—all clearly labeled with descriptive, hyphenated URLs (00:16:08).3. How often should I update my website pages?Regular updates signal activity and relevance to both users and algorithms. Important dates include “published” and “modified,” which should reflect recent engagement (00:45:04).4. How can I connect multiple websites or domains effectively?Centralize branding, ensure consistent linking, and consolidate scattered domains when possible so search engines understand their relationship and users can easily navigate between them (00:21:57).5. What's the role of awareness stages in website strategy?Your content and site structure should serve users at different familiarity levels—from “unaware” to “most aware”—with easy access to relevant information at every stage (00:35:12).Action Steps from Favour Obasi-ikeAudit All Active Website Pages:Ensure every required page exists, is linked clearly, and contains current information (00:16:17).Check and Update URLs:Use descriptive, hyphenated slugs for internal navigation—e.g., /about-us, /contact, /pricing (00:15:12).Establish an Update Routine:Schedule regular reviews to update modified dates—especially for high-traffic or business critical pages (00:44:46).Centralize Links Across Platforms:Use tools (link aggregators, NFC cards, QR codes) for seamless access from all touchpoints (00:05:52, 00:07:00).Monitor User Awareness:Identify which stage (unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, most aware) your visitors occupy and tailor CTAs and navigation accordingly (00:35:12).Encourage Feedback and Continuous Learning:Collect responses (like the “put a 1 in the chat”) to gauge clarity and adjust future content and site structures (00:46:10).Ready to Rank? 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A successful Shopify store can generate sales. A strong DTC brand gives customers a reason to choose you, remember you and buy again.Nadine Killoran joins Nick Trueman to explain how ecommerce businesses can move beyond building a good store and create a brand with long-term customer loyalty. Drawing on her experience with brands including Absolute Collagen, Aion Bank and MYJAR, Nadine shares practical advice on brand investment, customer retention, subscriptions, pricing and securing CFO buy-in.Learn what customers actually care about, why the second purchase is more important than the first and how to build a DTC brand that customers choose over cheaper alternatives.In this episode:00:00 - Store vs brand: the real difference01:57 - What customers actually care about03:11 - Nadine's journey to becoming a CMO05:57 - Getting CFO buy-in for brand investment09:16 - Measuring awareness and brand stickiness11:29 - Retention, churn and the second purchase18:25 - Turning customers into subscribers24:45 - Pricing a growing DTC brand29:15 - Difficult brand and pricing conversations33:02 - Final thoughtsExclusive listener offers:Seguno - Shopify email marketingGet a free customer analysis and strategy session with an email expert.Claim your free Seguno sessionYoast - Shopify SEOGet 15% off Yoast for Shopify and WordPress with code WWS15.Visit YoastInventory Planner - Shopify inventory managementJoin the free seven-day inventory planning bootcamp.Join the free inventory bootcampTaxCloud - Shopify sales tax managementGet free migration onboarding as a Winning With Shopify listener.Claim free TaxCloud onboarding
Cyberattacks are expensive—but just how expensive? This episode dives into a brand-new study that finally puts real numbers behind the financial impact of data breaches, using thousands of cyber insurance claims instead of scary headlines and wild guesses. From ransomware and business interruption to cyber insurance surprises, you'll discover why the biggest cost isn't always what you think. If you've ever wondered whether your organization is truly prepared for a breach—or just hoping insurance will magically save the day—this conversation is packed with practical insights, a few laughs, and plenty of reasons to take another look at your risk management strategy. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/570
A strong and shallow earthquake jolted the central North Island at 4.51am, around five kilometres southwest of Taumarunui, Measuring 5.9, and only nine kilometres deep, the intensity was severe - felt as far as Auckland, right down to the top of the South Island. Ruapehu District Mayor Weston Kirton joins MIhi.
Ken and Adam Blake discuss how interactions between players and position groups influence outcomes and how to analyze that.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We're breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.In this episode, Elena and Rob break down why proving ad ROI is far harder than most marketers assume, even with millions of dollars and millions of customers. They also unpack why the Super Bowl might be the hardest ad buy of all to measure.Topics covered: [01:00] "The Unfavorable Economics of Measuring the Returns to Advertising"[02:00] Why the spirit of ROI gets abused[03:35] Why customer spending is too noisy to spot small ad effects[06:00] How targeting bias can inflate results by 30 times[07:00] Why the Super Bowl isn't a coupon, it's fame[09:00] Could anyone actually solve the ROI theorem?To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter. Resources: Lewis, R., & Rao, J. (2015). The unfavorable economics of measuring the returns to advertising. The Economic Journal, 125(585), 1–27. Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
In 2020, Andrea Ghez shared the Nobel Prize for her observations of a supermassive compact object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy—an object that has all the hallmarks of a supermassive black hole. Ghez had developed techniques that allowed her to peer through galactic dust clouds with the Keck telescopes and observe the movements of stars orbiting the galactic center. Measuring their velocity and orbits provided information about the galactic core. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about this game-changing discovery, what we've learned about the galactic center, and her own orbit in science. Guest: Dr. Andrea Ghez is a Nobel Laureate in Physics (2020) and a professor of physics & astronomy at UCLA. Other episodes you may enjoy: The Monster At The Heart Of The Milky Way A Mysterious Gas Is Discovered In The Milky Way Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that's keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Seattle has a new celebrity, and he's short, round, furry, and built like a raccoon somebody accidentally compressed into a carry-on bag. World, meet Jimothy, the unusually shaped trash panda whose possible spinal deformity, fearless neighborhood adventures, and magnificent little strut have transformed him into an internet sensation, local icon, and living reminder that charisma has absolutely nothing to do with having a neck. No word yet on who he is dating, but our money is on a Kardashian!Then we stomp into even more forbidden scientific territory to investigate one of cryptozoology's least-requested mysteries: How big is Bigfoot's... member? An anthropologist uses primate anatomy, evolutionary biology, and far more professionalism than this question deserves to determine whether Sasquatch is proportionally impressive or merely overcompensating with those enormous feet. Also, peen bone??? Maybe!Join us for viral raccoon mania, Sasquatch bedroom speculation, penis bones, and unfortunate proportions. All that and more on the only podcast stupid enough to ask whether Jimothy may secretly be the better-endowed cryptid. Hysteria 51!Links & Resources
Send us Fan MailHow can each subsequent generation both be making more money and be considerably less wealthy? The answer is obvious. The solution may not be.
It's our choice where we want to be with God, but we have to determine in our hearts to reach to the highest point. You won't get to the highest point accidentally. It takes intentionally believing God to reach the highest point on the measuring stick of faith in each area of life.
Trauma surgeons report the lowest quality of life among 13 surgical specialties and work the greatest number of hours. Jamie Coleman MD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Louisville and Deputy & Web Editor of JAMA Surgery, set out to quantify what that can cost. She and co-authors tracked sleep, stress, and recovery in 224 acute care surgeons using wearable devices and daily surveys. The data revealed that sleep loss correlates directly with burnout. Interestingly, doing the work you trained for, even at 2 a.m., offsets burnout in ways that sitting on call at home does not. Jamie and I discuss what system-level changes are needed so surgeons can actually recover. ▶ Subscribe YouTube @resaelewissmd
View the Show Notes Page for This Episode Become a Member to Receive Exclusive Content Sign Up to Receive Peter's Weekly Newsletter In this "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) episode, Peter explores the evidence behind environmental pollution and its impact on long-term health, separating well-supported risks from less substantiated claims while providing a practical framework for deciding which exposures deserve attention. He explains what environmental pollution encompasses, where it fits within the broader hierarchy of longevity interventions, and why studying its health effects is uniquely challenging. Peter examines the evidence linking air pollution to disease and shares actionable strategies for improving indoor and outdoor air quality. He also discusses how noise and light pollution can influence sleep, cardiovascular health, and overall well-being, offering practical ways to reduce their effects in daily life. Finally, Peter takes an evidence-based look at electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and 5G technology, evaluating the current science and whether concerns about these exposures are supported by the available data. If you're not a subscriber and are listening on a podcast player, you'll only be able to hear a preview of the AMA. If you're a subscriber, you can now listen to this full episode on your private RSS feed or our website at the AMA #87 show notes page. If you are not a subscriber, you can learn more about the subscriber benefits here. We discuss: Defining environmental pollution and its role in longevity [1:45]; Why the topic of environmental pollution is both polarizing and difficult to study [6:00]; Where environmental exposures fit within the hierarchy of health priorities, and a framework for evaluating which environmental risks are worth addressing [13:15]; Understanding air pollution: the major pollutants and why PM2.5 is a key marker of health risk [16:00]; Indoor air pollution: why indoor air quality often matters most for reducing personal air pollution exposure [21:45]; How air pollution is measured and how the Air Quality Index (AQI) translates pollution data into practical guidance [25:00]; The health effects of air pollution: evidence linking exposure to respiratory and cardiovascular disease [27:00]; How air pollution causes disease: biological mechanisms linking pollution to respiratory and cardiovascular health [29:15]; Who is most susceptible to the health effects of air pollution? [31:45]; Understanding air pollution thresholds and the differences between WHO and EPA air quality guidelines [34:15]; Comparing acute air pollution events with chronic exposure and cumulative health risk [36:15]; Best strategies for mitigating air pollution exposure [38:00]; Noise pollution: effects on hearing, sleep, and cardiovascular health [44:30]; Measuring noise exposure and understanding the thresholds for hearing loss and chronic health effects [48:00]; Practical strategies to reduce noise exposure and protect your hearing [54:15]; Light pollution: defining light pollution and the importance of timing for circadian health [58:15]; The health effects of artificial light at night and the evidence behind blue light and blue light-blocking glasses [1:00:00]; Practical strategies for optimizing light exposure to support circadian rhythms and sleep [1:04:00]; Concerns about EMF and 5G exposure: understanding electromagnetic fields and the distinction between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation [1:06:30]; Evaluating the evidence linking radiofrequency electromagnetic fields to cancer risk [1:10:15]; Evaluating the evidence for electromagnetic hypersensitivity and EMF-related symptoms [1:14:00]; Practical recommendations for managing everyday EMF and 5G exposure and avoiding unnecessary interventions [1:15:30]; Prioritizing environmental exposures based on their impact on health and longevity [1:18:00]; The highest-ROI strategies for reducing environmental pollution exposure and protecting long-term health [1:19:30]; and More. Connect With Peter on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
"The very thing that you're most embarrassed to talk about at times— that may be the very story that you need to talk about." —Daniel Gomez Everyone has a million-dollar story hiding behind the parts of life they'd rather not mention — and this episode is about why those exact moments are the ones worth telling. Daniel Gomez opens up about the season his wife's breast cancer diagnosis cracked his life open, and how that crisis became the unlikely start of his speaking career. He walks through the specific turning points that built his business: writing his first book, "You Were Born to Fly," which has generated over a quarter-million dollars in revenue; launching Sticker Shock Speaking Academy after pivoting hard during COVID; and writing "The Makings of a Millionaire Mind" to challenge the poverty mindset so many people are raised with. Then Daniel gets personal in a way most speakers won't — sharing the story of a suicide attempt at 18 and the scar he carried with shame for years, until he reframed it as a mark of grace instead of failure. The throughline is simple and repeated on purpose: the story you're most embarrassed to tell is often the one that heals you and the one your audience needs most. This episode is a working framework for turning your hardest chapter into impact, income, and a message worth sharing. Press play, take notes, and start writing down your own million-dollar story. Be Inspired! with Daniel: Website (Makings of a Millionaire Mindset) Website (Daniel Gomez Global) Facebook Facebook Group X Instagram LinkedIn Pinterest YouTube Podcast Episode Highlights: 01:24 What Is Your Million-Dollar Story? 09:07 From Book Royalties to Sticker Shock Speaking Academy 11:45 Rewriting Money Beliefs in The Makings of a Millionaire Mind 13:51 Measuring the Real Impact of Your Message 16:20 The Story Behind the Scar: Surviving a Suicide Attempt 18:36 Turning Shame Into Grace Through Forgiveness 23:35 Growing a Bilingual Audience and Staying Humble 25:40 Why Your Voice Matters 27:51 Turn the Page