Podcasts about organizations

Some organizations have no heart at all. The best have three! That's the thesis of the new book, The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation, co-authored by our guests, Phil Le Brun and Jana Werner. Both work with leaders operating at global scale—Phil as an Executive in Residence at Amazon Web Services, and Jana as a Global Executive Advisor at AWS—helping organizations navigate complexity, change, and continuous transformation. In their book, Phil and Jana introduce a clear contrast between what they call Tin Man organizations and Octopus organizations. Tin Man organizations are rigid, highly centralized, and overly dependent on a small group of decision-makers at the top. Like the character in The Wizard of Oz, they operate with structure but no heart. Decision-making slows, intelligence gets trapped in the hierarchy, and employees often wait for direction rather than contributing meaningfully. Octopus organizations, by contrast, are alive with three hearts. They are intelligent, adaptive, and responsive. A strong central purpose keeps everyone aligned, but authority and decision-making are distributed to the people closest to the work. Teams are empowered to sense, decide, and act, allowing the organization to learn, adapt, and thrive in real time. A central contribution of the book is the identification of what Phil and Jana call organizational “anti-patterns”—recurring leadership behaviors and systems that feel reasonable in the moment but consistently undermine clarity, trust, cohesion, and performance. These patterns exist even in organizations with talented people and strong intentions. In this episode, we explore several anti-patterns in depth: the lack of clarity that leaves people guessing what truly matters; the overuse of corporate jargon that creates distance and mistrust; purpose statements that are words on a page rather than guides for behavior; and cultures that elevate individual stars at the expense of cohesive, high-performing teams. We also discuss why fast, open information flow is essential for adaptability and well-being. Phil and Jana also reconfirm our own understanding that well-being cannot be created through perks or programs—it emerges from how people are treated, trusted, and empowered, and how work is designed and decisions flow. For leaders who care about performance, well-being, and building more humane organizations, this episode offers practical insight into creating workplaces that truly thrive. The post Phil Le-Brun & Jana Werner: How Organizations Thrive When They Have Three Hearts appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

How to make friends and influence people? Consider sitting down and shutting up! All this and more in this tome of Edwardian university advice.

Organizations are moving fast on AI. New tools are being piloted. Hackathons are being hosted. Dashboards are lighting up with sentiment data, productivity metrics, collaboration trends, and predictive signals.But most companies are missing the harder question: who owns the output?AI can surface cultural risk, burnout signals, innovation pockets, communication breakdowns, pipeline friction, and brand perception shifts. That part is getting easier by the day. What remains rare is structured accountability for turning those signals into operational change.This conversation challenges HR and executive leaders to rethink AI adoption beyond installation. It explores why many AI initiatives lose momentum after the demo, why insight without ownership becomes noise, and why every meaningful AI deployment requires a defined six-month execution layer tied to measurable outcomes.The future of AI in large organizations won't be defined by model sophistication. It will be defined by whether leaders build the infrastructure, roles, and decision authority required to translate intelligence into behavior change.The tool is not the transformation. The operational discipline behind it is.

"American culture likes martyrs, not marchers." — David Masciotra, quoting Jesse JacksonA couple of days ago, a great American died. Jesse Jackson was 84. He was somebody. Even Donald Trump acknowledged the passing of "a good man"—which, as my guest today notes, Jackson probably wouldn't have appreciated. David Masciotra is the author of I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters, one of the most readable biographies of the African-American leader. Having spent six years covering him and more than 100 hours in conversation, he called Jackson a friend.Masciotra borrows from Jackson on Americans preferring martyrs to marchers. It's easy to celebrate him now that he's gone. But when Jesse was being Jesse—battling economic apartheid, registering millions of voters, building a Rainbow Coalition—he had many critics and enemies, including some of those hypocrites now praising him.Jackson's legacy is vast. After King's death, he focused on economic justice, securing thousands of jobs for Black workers and entrepreneurs. He ran for President twice, nearly winning the 1988 nomination. He pushed for proportional delegate allocation—without which Obama would never have won in 2008. He debated David Duke and, in Masciotra's words, "reduced him to a sputtering mess." He was the first presidential candidate to fully support gay rights. He slept beside gay men dying of AIDS in hospices. He marched with Latino immigrants from California into Mexico.But perhaps most relevant today: Jackson showed how to build a coalition that transcended racial politics without ignoring race. "If we leave the racial battleground to find economic common ground," MLK's spiritual successor insisted, "we can reach for moral higher ground." That's the populist strategy Masciotra believes the Democrats need now—a vision, he fears, trapped between the identitarian politics of its left and the milquetoast neoliberalism of its right flank. Five Takeaways●      Martyrs, Not Marchers: American culture celebrates civil rights leaders after they're dead. When Jackson was hard at it, he had enemies—including some now praising him.●      Jackson Made Obama Possible: Jackson pushed for proportional delegate allocation. Without it, Obama—who won small states—would never have beaten Clinton in 2008.●      Jackson Debated David Duke: And reduced him to a sputtering mess. Duke's response: "Jackson's intelligence isn't typical of Blacks." Jackson believed refusing debate only empowers enemies.●      Race and Class Are Linked: Jackson showed you can't substitute race for class or use race to erase class. Leave the racial battleground for economic common ground.●      Visionaries Win the Marathon: Jackson often lost the sprint but won the marathon. His Rainbow Coalition vision is what Democrats need now—and keep fumbling. About the GuestDavid Masciotra is a cultural critic, journalist, and author of I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters. He spent six years covering Jackson and more than 100 hours in conversation with him. He is an old friend of Keen on America.ReferencesPeople mentioned:●      Martin Luther King Jr. was Jackson's mentor. Jackson was an aide to King and was with him on the balcony the day he was assassinated.●      David Duke, former KKK leader, debated Jackson in 1988. Jackson wiped the floor with him.●      W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington represent a historic dichotomy in Black political thought. Jackson occupied space between positions.●      Rosa Parks was eulogized by Jackson, who noted that she succeeded simply because "she was available."●      Robert Kennedy shared Jackson's universal vision of coalition-building across racial lines.Organizations mentioned:●      Operation PUSH was Jackson's organization focused on economic justice for Black Americans.●      The Rainbow Coalition was Jackson's political movement seeking to unite Americans across race and class.Further reading:●      Masciotra's UnHerd piece: "Jesse Jackson Transcended America's Racial Politics"About Keen On AmericaNobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States—hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction: A great man died (01:14) - Martyrs, not marchers (02:49) - Jackson in the context of King (05:07) - The Booker T.–Du Bois dichotomy (08:14) - Did Jackson make Obama possible? (11:15) - The marathon, not the sprint (13:25) - How a white guy from Chicago became Jackson's biographer (16:32) - Jackson vs. David Duke (20:43) - I Am Somebody: the origin (24:06) - Transcending racial politics (30:26) - The Rainbow Coalition as progressive populism (33:23) - What Jackson teaches us about leadership (36:26) - Will Jackson be remembered?  

Qualytics is redefining enterprise data quality by positioning it as a collaborative business function rather than an isolated data engineering problem. Founded at the start of the pandemic by Gorkem Sevinc - a former CTO and CDO who spent years managing reactive data quality firefights - Qualytics emerged from a clear practitioner pain point: writing endless custom rules to catch data issues after they'd already broken dashboards and KPIs. The company raised pre-seed and seed rounds while building with beta customers, then closed a Series A as repeatability patterns emerged in their POC process. Now, as enterprises scramble to operationalize AI initiatives, Qualytics is experiencing explosive inbound demand from organizations realizing their data foundations aren't ready for democratized data access. Topics Discussed The practitioner insight that sparked Qualytics: reactive rule-writing doesn't scale Leveraging existing CTO/CDO networks and PE portfolio connections for beta customers The evolution from free POCs to paid POCs as a mutual commitment mechanism Identifying repeatability through week-by-week POC conversion patterns Building practitioner credibility into the sales motion while hiring for enterprise sales grit The decision to hire sales and marketing leadership simultaneously post-Series A Tracking in-product engagement metrics (DQ operations frequency, anomaly detection, rule editing) as churn prevention Positioning data quality as vertical-specific business problems (premium leakage, regulatory compliance) The timing advantage: AI adoption forcing enterprises to treat data governance as mandatory infrastructure GTM Lessons For B2B Founders Talk to 100 prospects before writing code—even with deep domain expertise: After burning 18 months building a radiology second opinion product that patients didn't want (they didn't even know radiologists were doctors), Gorkem adopted a hard rule: validate with 100 conversations before building. His advantage as a former CTO who lived the data quality problem created false confidence. Practitioners often assume their pain is universal, but buyer awareness and willingness to pay are separate questions. Start with NSF I-Corps-style problem validation: show rough sketches, probe what happened when they hit the pain point, understand how it hurt them financially or operationally. Repeatability appears in micro-conversions during trials, not just closed-won rates: Gorkem didn't declare product-market fit when deals closed—he declared it when he could predict POC behavior by week. "Week two, I'm expecting this. Week three, I'm expecting this." That predictability enabled ROI calculators and internal champion enablement materials. For technical founders, this means instrumenting your trial or POC to track leading indicators: specific features activated, data volumes processed, number of team members engaged, frequency of logins. When those patterns stabilize across prospects, you have a repeatable motion. Use paid POCs as a procurement front-loading mechanism, not a revenue play: Qualytics charges nominal amounts for some POCs—not for the revenue, but to get the MSA signed and force both parties through legal/security review upfront. This eliminates the pattern where free POCs succeed technically but die in procurement. Large enterprises often refuse to pay for POCs, which Gorkem accepts—but only if they commit equivalent effort (executive time, cross-functional teams). The paid POC is a qualification tool: if they won't commit anything, they're not a real opportunity. Hire sales and marketing leadership in parallel and hold them to unified GTM metrics: Gorkem regrets hiring early sales reps before leadership and delaying marketing investment. Post-Series A, he hired both leaders simultaneously and holds them jointly accountable to pipeline generation and velocity—not siloed MQL counts or quota attainment. This structural decision forces collaboration on messaging, ICP definition, and campaign strategy from day one. For technical founders who "figured out" founder-led sales, resist the urge to replicate your motion with more SDRs. Bring in strategic leadership that can build a scalable system. Instrument product engagement as your earliest churn signal—then intervene immediately: Beyond quarterly NPS and executive QBRs, Gorkem tracks granular product usage: how many data quality operations users run, how many anomalies they discover, how actively they're editing rules. When engagement drops, he doesn't wait—he jumps into the customer's existing weekly meetings to diagnose and course-correct. For B2B founders building complex products with long time-to-value, passive health scores aren't enough. You need active usage telemetry and a low-latency intervention process. Translate technical capabilities into vertical-specific business outcomes: Gorkem doesn't pitch "data quality for data engineers." He talks about premium leakage with insurance companies and OCC/SEC data controls with banks. This reframing works because buyers recognize their problem, not a vendor category. The shift requires research: understand each vertical's regulatory environment, operational pain points, and the business metrics executives care about. When you walk in speaking their language about their P&L impact, you're not another vendor—you're someone who gets it. Time your market entry to when "nice-to-have" becomes "must-have": When Qualytics launched, some enterprises called data quality a "nice-to-have." AI adoption changed that calculus overnight. Organizations planning to let 20,000 employees interrogate data through AI interfaces suddenly realized they need robust data governance, quality controls, and cataloging first. Gorkem's timing wasn't luck—he built during the "nice-to-have" phase so he'd be ready when AI budgets made it mandatory. Technical founders should identify the external forcing function (regulation, technology shift, economic change) that will transform their solution from vitamin to painkiller. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

As a fundraising consultant and coach, Perry helps nonprofits develop strategies, systems, and relationships to improve their fundraising yield. She believes in creating environments that nurture all gifts - time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties - honoring how each person is uniquely suited to make a difference within their community. Key Takeaways:Donors are partners who bring time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties. When relationships are rooted in shared values and trust, financial support follows naturally. Sustainable fundraising honors the whole person rather than treating giving as a transaction.Scarcity culture fuels burnout, fear, and reactive decision-making. An abundance mindset focuses on transformation, sustainability, and long-term impact. Organizations that move beyond survival thinking create healthier outcomes for both staff and communities.Burnout drains capacity, while moral injury erodes trust and integrity. Misalignment between stated values and lived behavior is a common source of harm. Naming these dynamics is the first step toward healing individuals and institutions.True alignment requires that daily actions reflect the organization's declared values. Healthy conflict and psychological safety strengthen culture more than surface-level niceness. Leadership grounded in empathy and the Platinum Rule fosters belonging and lasting engagement. “People who show up to give, they often don't just want to write a check. They want to do whatever they can to help a cause that means something to them.” “Let's stop flattening people. Let's treat volunteers and donors with the same level of respect. Let's not just keep putting money on this pedestal.” “We want to treat people the way they want to be treated. We want to honor them. We want to acknowledge them. We don't want to just dismiss them and act like our way is the only way.”- Perry Radford Reach out to Perry Radford at:Website: radphilanthropy.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perryradford/    Let's Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence1. Group Coaching for Nonprofit LeadersWant to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward. 2. Team Coaching + TrainingI work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you're growing fast or feeling stuck, we'll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together. 3. Board Retreats + TrainingsYour board has big potential. I'll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.comConnect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker

AI isn't about productivity. It's about presence.In this special episode, the tables turn and I'm interviewed by Sham Colegado about my new book, Artificial Organizations. We explore why 95% of AI projects fail, why executives don't want more tools — they want their life back — and how the real competitive edge isn't automation, but judgment at speed.If you've been overwhelmed by the explosion of AI tools or unsure where to start, this episode will help you reframe the conversation. This isn't about doing more. It's about deciding better — faster, with clarity and confidence — by combining human instinct with machine intelligence.Key TakeawaysAI Used Only for Productivity Fails: When AI is treated as a cost-cutting tool instead of a transformation system, it rarely creates lasting value.Presence Is the Real Advantage: The goal isn't more output. It's showing up calmer, clearer, and better prepared — so decisions improve.Decision Velocity + Decision Advantage Wins: Make decisions faster and with better information. Speed without clarity is noise. Clarity without speed is stagnation.The Future Belongs to Human + Machine Judgment: Executives who combine instinct with machine intelligence will outperform those relying on either alone.Additional InsightsExecutives Don't Want More Tools — They Want Their Life Back: Leaders aren't overwhelmed by lack of tools. They're overwhelmed by fragmented workflows, constant context switching, and decision fatigue. AI must reduce cognitive load, not add to it.Presence Drives Performance: When AI handles capture and synthesis, leaders show up calmer, more prepared, and more focused. Productivity improves — but performance and clarity are the real unlock.The Identity Threat of AI: Many executives privately fear incompetence. They don't want to look behind or uninformed. That hesitation often shows up as skepticism or avoidance.Decision Velocity Is the New Differentiator: Artificial organizations move faster because they reduce decision latency. Meetings become focused. Context is pre-loaded. Choices are made with confidence.Traits + Tasks + Tools (T3 Model): Start with how you naturally work best. Then amplify your highest-leverage tasks with the right tools.Capture, Transcribe, Synthesize, Act: A simple workflow that turns every conversation into a reusable data asset. This loop compounds judgment and accelerates learning over time.Episode Highlights00:00 – Episode RecapBarry explains why AI used purely for productivity fails — and why the real advantage comes from transforming how leaders make decisions.02:58 – Guest Introduction: Sham ColegadoBarry welcomes Sham Colegado, a key member of the Artificial Organizations team, who interviews Barry about the book and its core ideas.03:32 – “Executives Don't Want More AI Tools”Barry shares the personal burnout moment that sparked a shift from productivity chasing to rethinking how he works.06:02 – AI's Real Promise: Presence Over ProductivityWhy performance and clarity matter more than output — and how AI can make leaders calmer and more focused.09:30 – The Identity Threat of AIExecutives reveal a hidden fear of incompetence and why one-on-one learning environments matter.12:26 – Decision Velocity & Decision AdvantageThe two engines of artificial organizations and how reducing decision latency compounds competitive advantage.15:15 – The Traits, Tasks, Tools FlywheelHow aligning natural strengths with high-leverage work determines which AI tools actually create impact.19:01 – What the Best AI...

Send a textToday's topic is More Than One Way: Secular Organizations for Sobriety part 1

In this episode, I'm joined by Rebecca Hinds — organizational behavior expert and founder of the Work AI Institute at Glean — for a practical conversation about why meetings deteriorate over time and how to redesign them. Rebecca argues that bad meetings aren't a people problem — they're a systems problem. Without intentional design, meetings default to ego, status signaling, conflict avoidance, and performative participation. Over time, low-value meetings become normalized instead of fixed. Drawing on her research at Stanford University and her leadership of the Work Innovation Lab at Asana, she shares frameworks from her new book, Your Best Meeting Ever, including: The four legitimate purposes of a meeting: decide, discuss, debate, or develop The CEO test for when synchronous time is truly required How to codify shared meeting standards Why leaders must explicitly give permission to leave low-value meetings We also explore leadership, motivation, and the myth that kindness and high standards are opposites. Rebecca explains why effective leaders diagnose what drives each individual — encouragement for some, direct challenge for others — and design environments that support both performance and belonging. Finally, we talk about AI and the future of work. Tools amplify existing culture: strong systems improve, broken systems break faster. Organizations that redesign how work happens — not just what tools they use — will have the advantage. If you want to run better meetings, lead with more clarity, and rethink how collaboration actually happens, this episode is for you. You can find Your Best Meeting Ever at major bookstores and learn more at rebeccahinds.com.  00:00 Start 00:27 Why Meetings Get Worse Over Time Robin references Good Omens and the character Crowley, who designs the M25 freeway to intentionally create frustration and misery. They use this metaphor to illustrate how systems can be designed in ways that amplify dysfunction, whether intentionally or accidentally. The idea is that once dysfunctional systems become normalized, people stop questioning them. They also discuss Cory Doctorow's concept of enshittification, where platforms and systems gradually decline as organizational priorities override user experience. Rebecca connects this pattern directly to meetings, arguing that without intentional design, meetings default to chaos and energy drain. Over time, poorly designed meetings become accepted as inevitable rather than treated as solvable design problems. Rebecca references the Simple Sabotage Field Manual created by the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. The manual advised citizens in occupied territories on how to subtly undermine organizations from within. Many of the suggested tactics involved meetings, including encouraging long speeches, focusing on irrelevant details, and sending decisions to unnecessary committees. The irony is that these sabotage techniques closely resemble common behaviors in modern corporate meetings. Rebecca argues that if meetings were designed from scratch today, without legacy habits and inherited norms, they would likely look radically different. She explains that meetings persist in their dysfunctional form because they amplify deeply human tendencies like ego, status signaling, and conflict avoidance. Rebecca traces her interest in teamwork back to her experience as a competitive swimmer in Toronto. Although swimming appears to be an individual sport, she explains that success is heavily dependent on team structure and shared preparation. Being recruited to swim at Stanford exposed her to an elite, team-first environment that reshaped how she thought about performance. She became fascinated by how a group can become greater than the sum of its parts when the right cultural conditions are present. This experience sparked her long-term curiosity about why organizations struggle to replicate the kind of cohesion often seen in sports. At Stanford, Coach Lee Mauer emphasized that emotional wellbeing and performance were deeply connected. The team included world record holders and Olympians, and the performance standards were extremely high. Despite the intensity, the culture prioritized connection and belonging. Rituals like informal story time around the hot tub helped teammates build relationships beyond performance metrics. Rebecca internalized the lesson that elite performance and strong culture are not opposing forces. She saw firsthand that intensity and warmth can coexist, and that psychological safety can actually reinforce high standards rather than weaken them. Later in her career at Asana, Rebecca encountered the company value of rejecting false trade-offs. This reinforced a lesson she had first learned in swimming, which is that many perceived either-or tensions are not actually unavoidable. She argues that organizations often assume they must choose between performance and happiness, or between kindness and accountability. In her experience, these are false binaries that can be resolved through better design and clearer expectations. She emphasizes that motivated and engaged employees tend to produce higher quality work, making culture a strategic advantage rather than a distraction. Kindness versus ruthlessness in leadership Robin raises the contrast between harsh, fear-based leadership styles and more relational, positive leadership approaches. Both styles have produced winning teams, which raises the question of whether success comes because of the leadership style or despite it. Rebecca argues that resilience and accountability are essential, regardless of tone. She stresses that kindness alone is not sufficient for high performance, but neither is harshness inherently superior. Effective leadership requires understanding what motivates each individual, since some people thrive on encouragement while others crave direct challenge. Rebecca personally identifies with wanting to be pushed and appreciates clarity when her work falls short of expectations. She concludes that the most effective leaders diagnose motivation carefully and design environments that maximize both growth and performance. 08:51 Building the Book-Launch Team: Mentors, Agents, and Choosing the Right Publisher Robin asks Rebecca about the size and structure of the team she assembled to execute the launch successfully. He is especially curious about what the team actually looked like in practice and how coordinated the effort needed to be. He also asks about the meeting cadence and work cadence required to bring a book launch to life at that level. The framing highlights that writing the book is only one phase, while launching it is an entirely different operational challenge. Rebecca explains that the process felt much more organic than it might appear from the outside. She admits that at the beginning, she underestimated the full scope of what a book launch entails. Her original motivation was simple: she believed she had a valuable perspective, wanted to help people, and loved writing. As she progressed deeper into the publishing process, she realized that writing the manuscript was only one piece of a much larger system. The operational and promotional dimensions gradually revealed themselves as a second job layered on top of authorship. Robin emphasizes that writing a book and publishing a book are fundamentally different jobs. Rebecca agrees and acknowledges that the publishing side requires a completely different skill set and infrastructure. The conversation underscores that authorship is creative work, while publishing and launching require strategy, coordination, and business acumen. Rebecca credits her Stanford mentor, Bob Sutton, as a life changing influence throughout the process. He guided her step by step, including decisions around selecting a publisher and choosing an agent. She initially did not plan to work with an agent, but through guidance and reflection, she shifted her perspective. His mentorship helped her ask better questions and approach the process more strategically rather than reactively. Rebecca reflects on an important mindset shift in her career. Earlier in life, she was comfortable being the big fish in a small pond. Over time, she came to believe that she performs better when surrounded by people who are smarter and more experienced than she is. She describes her superpower as working extremely hard and having confidence in that effort. Because of that, she prefers environments where others elevate her thinking and push her further. This philosophy became central to how she built her book launch team. As Rebecca learned more about the moving pieces required for a successful campaign, she became more intentional about who she wanted involved. She sought the best not in terms of prestige alone, but in terms of belief and commitment. She wanted people who would go to bat for her and advocate for the book with genuine enthusiasm. She noticed that some organizations that looked impressive on paper were not necessarily the right fit for her specific campaign. This led her to have extensive conversations with potential editors and publicists before making decisions. Rebecca developed a personal benchmark for evaluating partners. She paid attention to whether they were willing to apply the book's ideas within their own organizations. For her, that signaled authentic belief rather than surface level marketing support. When Simon and Schuster demonstrated early interest in implementing the book's learnings internally, it stood out as meaningful alignment. That commitment suggested they cared about the substance of the work, not just the promotional campaign. As the process unfolded, Rebecca realized that part of her job was learning what questions to ask. Each conversation with potential partners refined her understanding of what she needed. She became more deliberate about building the right bench of people around her. The team was not assembled all at once, but rather shaped through iterative learning and discernment. The launch ultimately reflected both her evolving standards and her commitment to surrounding herself with people who elevated the work. 12:12 Asking Better Questions & Going Asynchronous Robin highlights the tension between the voice of the book and the posture of a first time author entering a major publishing house. He notes that Best Meeting Ever encourages people to assert authority in meetings by asking about agendas, ownership, and structure. At the same time, Rebecca was entering conversations with an established publisher as a new author seeking partnership. The question becomes how to balance clarity and conviction with humility and openness. Robin frames it as showing up with operational authority while still saying you publish books and I want to work with you. Rebecca calls the question insightful and explains that tactically she relied heavily on asking questions. She describes herself as intentionally curious and even nosy because she did not yet know what she did not know. Rather than pretending to have answers, she used inquiry as a way to build authority through understanding. She asked questions asynchronously almost daily, emailing her agent and editor with anything that came to mind. This allowed her to learn the system while also signaling engagement and seriousness. Rebecca explains that most of the heavy lifting happened outside of meetings. By asking questions over email, she clarified information before stepping into synchronous time. Meetings were then reserved for ambiguity, decision making, and issues that required real time collaboration. As a result, the campaign involved very few meetings overall. She had a biweekly meeting with her core team and roughly monthly conversations with her editor. The rest of the coordination happened asynchronously, which aligned with her philosophy about effective meeting design. Rebecca jokes that one hidden benefit of writing a book on meetings is that everyone shows up more prepared and on time. She also felt internal pressure to model the behaviors she was advocating. The campaign therefore became a real world test of her ideas. She emphasizes that she is glad the launch was not meeting heavy and that it reflected the principles in the book. Robin shares a story about their initial connection through David Shackleford. During a short introductory call, he casually offered to spend time discussing book marketing strategies. Rebecca followed up, scheduled time, and took extensive notes during their conversation. After thanking him, she did not continue unnecessary follow up or prolonged discussion. Instead, she quietly implemented many of the practical strategies discussed. Robin later observed bulk sales, bundled speaking engagements, and structured purchase incentives that reflected disciplined execution. Robin emphasizes that generating ideas is relatively easy compared to implementing them. He connects this to Seth Godin's praise that the book is for people willing to do the work. The real difficulty lies not in brainstorming strategies but in consistently executing them. He describes watching Rebecca implement the plan as evidence that she practices what she preaches. Her hard work and disciplined follow through reinforced his confidence in the book before even reading it. Rebecca responds with gratitude and acknowledges that she took his advice seriously. She affirms that several actions she implemented were directly inspired by their conversation. At the same time, the tone remains grounded and collaborative rather than performative. The exchange illustrates her pattern of seeking input, synthesizing it, and then executing independently. Robin transitions toward the theme of self knowledge and its role in leadership and meetings. He connects Rebecca's disciplined execution to her awareness of her own strengths. The earlier theme resurfaces that she sees hard work and follow through as her superpower. The implication is that effective meetings and effective leadership both begin with understanding how you operate best. 17:48 Self-Knowledge at Work Robin shares that he knows he is motivated by carrots rather than sticks. He explains that praise energizes him and improves his performance more than criticism ever could. As a performer and athlete, he appreciates detailed notes and feedback, but encouragement is what unlocks his best work. He contrasts that with experiences like old school ballet training, where harsh discipline did not bring out his strengths. His point is that understanding how you are wired takes experience and reflection. Rebecca agrees that self knowledge is essential and ties it directly to motivation. She argues that the better you understand yourself, the more clearly you can articulate what drives you. Many people, especially early in their careers, do not pause to examine what truly motivates them. She notes that motivation is often intangible and not primarily monetary. For some people it is praise, for others criticism, learning, mastery, collaboration, or autonomy. She also emphasizes that motivation changes over time and shifts depending on organizational context. One of Rebecca's biggest lessons as a manager and contributor is the importance of codifying self knowledge. Writing down what motivates you and how you work best makes it easier to communicate those needs to others. She believes this explicitness is especially critical during times of change. When work is evolving quickly, assumptions about motivation can lead to disengagement. Making preferences visible reduces friction and prevents misalignment. Rebecca references a recent presentation she gave on the dangers of automating the soul of work. She and her mentor Bob Sutton have discussed how organizations risk stripping meaning from roles if they automate without discernment. She points to research showing that many AI startups are automating tasks people would prefer to keep human. The warning is that just because something can be automated does not mean it should be. Without understanding what makes work meaningful for employees, leaders can unintentionally remove the very elements that motivate people. Rebecca believes managers should create explicit user manuals for their team members. These documents outline how individuals prefer to communicate, what motivates them, and what their career aspirations are. She sees this as a practical leadership tool rather than a symbolic exercise. Referring back to these documents helps leaders guide their teams through uncertainty and change. When asked directly, she confirms that she has implemented this practice in previous roles and intends to do so again. When asked about the future of AI, Rebecca avoids making long term predictions. She observes that the most confident forecasters are often those with something to sell. Her shorter term view is that AI amplifies whatever already exists inside an organization. Strong workflows and cultures may improve, while broken systems may become more efficiently broken. She sees organizations over investing in technology while under investing in people and change management. As a result, productivity gains are appearing at the individual level but not consistently at the team or organizational level. Rebecca acknowledges that there is a possible future where AI creates abundance and healthier work life balance. However, she does not believe current evidence strongly supports that outcome in the near term. She does see promising examples of organizations using AI to amplify collaboration and cross functional work. These examples remain rare but signal that a more human centered future is possible. She is cautiously hopeful but not convinced that the most optimistic scenario will unfold automatically. Robin notes that time horizons for prediction have shortened dramatically. Rebecca agrees and says that six months feels like a reasonable forecasting window in the current environment. She observes that the best leaders are setting thresholds for experimentation and failure. Pilots and proofs of concept should fail at a meaningful rate if organizations are truly exploring. Shorter feedback loops allow organizations to learn quickly rather than over commit to fragile long term assumptions. Robin shares a formative story from growing up in his father's small engineering firm, where he was exposed early to office systems and processes. Later, studying in a Quaker community in Costa Rica, he experienced full consensus decision making. He recalls sitting through extended debates, including one about single versus double ply toilet paper. As a fourteen year old who would rather have been climbing trees in the rainforest, the meeting felt painfully misaligned with his energy. That experience contributed to his lifelong desire to make work and collaboration feel less draining and more intentional. The story reinforces the broader theme that poorly designed meetings can disconnect people from purpose and engagement. 28:31 Leadership vs. Tribal Instincts Rebecca explains that much of dysfunctional meeting behavior is rooted in tribal human instincts. People feel loyalty to the group and show up to meetings simply to signal belonging, even when the meeting is not meaningful. This instinct to attend regardless of value reinforces bloated calendars and performative participation. She argues that effective meeting design must actively counteract these deeply human tendencies. Without intentional structure, meetings default to social signaling rather than productive collaboration. Rebecca emphasizes that leadership plays a critical role in changing meeting culture Leaders must explicitly give employees permission to leave meetings when they are not contributing. They must also normalize asynchronous work as a legitimate and often superior alternative. Without that top down permission, employees will continue attending out of fear or habit. Meeting reform requires visible endorsement from those with authority. Power dynamics and pushing back without positional authority Robin reflects on the power of writing a book on meetings while still operating within a hierarchy. He asks how individuals without formal authority can challenge broken systems. Rebecca responds that there is no universal solution because outcomes depend heavily on psychological safety. In organizations with high trust, there is often broad recognition that meetings are ineffective and a desire to fix them. In lower trust environments, change must be approached more strategically and indirectly. Rebecca advises employees to lead with curiosity rather than confrontation. Instead of calling out a bad meeting, one might ask whether their presence is truly necessary. Framing the question around contribution rather than judgment reduces defensiveness. This approach lowers the emotional temperature and keeps the conversation constructive. Curiosity shifts the tone from personal critique to shared problem solving. In psychologically unsafe environments, Rebecca suggests shifting enforcement to systems rather than individuals. Automated rules such as canceling meetings without agendas or without sufficient confirmations can reduce personal friction. When technology enforces standards, it feels less like a personal attack. Codified rules provide employees with shared language and objective criteria. This reduces the perception that opting out is a rejection of the person rather than a rejection of the structure. Rebecca argues that every organization should have a clear and shared definition of what deserves to be a meeting. If five employees are asked what qualifies as a meeting, they should give the same answer. Without explicit criteria, decisions default to habit and hierarchy. Clear rules give employees confidence to push back constructively. Shared standards transform meeting participation from a personal negotiation into a procedural one. Rebecca outlines a two part test to determine whether a meeting should exist. First, the meeting must serve one of four purposes which are to decide, discuss, debate, or develop people. If it does not satisfy one of those four categories, it likely should not be a meeting. Even if it passes that test, it must also satisfy one of the CEO criteria. C refers to complexity and whether the issue contains enough ambiguity to require synchronous dialogue. E refers to emotional intensity and whether reading emotions or managing reactions is important. O refers to one way door decisions, meaning choices that are difficult or costly to reverse. Many organizational decisions are reversible and therefore do not justify synchronous time. Robin asks how small teams without advanced tech stacks can automate meeting discipline. Rebecca explains that many safeguards can be implemented with existing tools such as Google Calendar or simple scripts. Basic rules like requiring an agenda or minimum confirmations can be enforced through standard workflows. Not all solutions require advanced AI tools. The key is introducing friction intentionally to prevent low value meetings from forming. Rebecca notes that more advanced AI tools can measure engagement, multitasking, or participation. Some platforms now provide indicators of attention or involvement during meetings. While these tools are promising, they are not required to implement foundational meeting discipline. She cautions against over investing in shiny tools without first clarifying principles. Metrics are useful when they reinforce intentional design rather than replace it. Rebecca highlights a subtle risk of automation, particularly in scheduling. Tools can be optimized for the sender while increasing friction for recipients. Leaders should consider the system level impact rather than only individual efficiency. Productivity gains at the individual level can create hidden coordination costs for the team. Meeting automation should be evaluated through a collective lens. Rebecca distinguishes between intrusive AI bots that join meetings and simple transcription tools. She is cautious about bots that visibly attend meetings and distract participants. However, she supports consensual transcription when it enhances asynchronous follow up. Effective transcription can reduce cognitive load and free participants to engage more deeply. Used thoughtfully, these tools can strengthen collaboration rather than dilute it. 41:35 Maker vs. Manager: Balancing a Day Job with a Book Launch Robin shares an example from a webinar where attendees were asked for feedback via a short Bitly link before the session closed. He contrasts this with the ineffectiveness of "smiley face/frowny face" buttons in hotel bathrooms—easy to ignore and lacking context. The key is embedding feedback into the process in a way that's natural, timely, and comfortable for participants. Feedback mechanisms should be integrated, low-friction, and provide enough context for meaningful responses. Rebecca recommends a method inspired by Elise Keith called Roti—rating meetings on a zero-to-five scale based on whether they were worth attendees' time. She suggests asking this for roughly 10% of meetings to gather actionable insight. Follow-up question: "What could the organizer do to increase the rating by one point?" This approach removes bias, focuses on attendee experience, and identifies meetings that need restructuring. Splits in ratings reveal misaligned agendas or attendee lists and guide optimization. Robin imagines automating feedback requests via email or tools like Superhuman for convenience. Rebecca agrees and adds that simple forms (Google Forms, paper, or other methods) are effective, especially when anonymous. The goal is simplicity and consistency—given how costly meetings are, there's no excuse to skip feedback. Robin references Paul Graham's essay on maker vs. manager schedules and asks about Rebecca's approach to balancing writing, team coordination, and book marketing. Rebecca shares that 95% of her effort on the book launch was "making"—writing and outreach—thanks to a strong team handling management. She devoted time to writing, scrappy outreach, and building relationships, emphasizing giving without expecting reciprocation. The main coordination challenge was balancing her book work with her full-time job at Asana, requiring careful prioritization. Rebecca created a strict writing schedule inspired by her swimming discipline: early mornings, evenings, and weekends dedicated to writing. She prioritized her book and full-time work while maintaining family commitments. Discipline and clear prioritization were essential to manage competing but synergistic priorities. Robin asks about written vs. spoken communication, referencing Amazon's six-page memos and Zandr Media's phone-friendly quick syncs. Rebecca emphasizes that the answer depends on context but a strong written communication culture is essential in all organizations. Written communication supports clarity, asynchronous work, and complements verbal communication. It's especially important for distributed teams or virtual work. With AI, clear documentation allows better insights, reduces unnecessary content generation, and reinforces disciplined communication. 48:29 AI and the Craft of Writing Rebecca highlights that employees have varying learning preferences—introverted vs. extroverted, verbal vs. written. Effective communication systems should support both verbal and written channels to accommodate these differences. Rebecca's philosophy: writing is a deeply human craft. AI was not used for drafting or creative writing. AI supported research, coordination, tracking trends, and other auxiliary tasks—areas where efficiency is key. Human-led drafting, revising, and word choice remained central to the book. Robin praises Rebecca's use of language, noting it feels human and vivid—something AI cannot replicate in nuance or delight. Rebecca emphasizes that crafting every word, experimenting with phrasing, and tinkering with language is uniquely human. This joy and precision in writing is not replicable by AI and is part of what makes written communication stand out. Rebecca hopes human creativity in writing and oral communication remains valued despite AI advances. Strong written communication is increasingly differentiating for executive communicators and storytellers in organizations. AI can polish or mass-produce text, but human insight, nuance, and storytelling remain essential and career-relevant. Robin emphasizes the importance of reading, writing, and physical activities (like swimming) to reclaim attention from screens. These practices support deep human thinking and creativity, which are harder to replace with AI. Rebecca uses standard tools strategically: email (chunked and batched), Google Docs, Asana, Doodle, and Zoom. Writing is enhanced by switching platforms, fonts, colors, and physical locations—stimulating creativity and perspective. Physical context (plane, café, city) is strongly linked to breakthroughs and memory during writing. Emphasis is on how tools are enacted rather than which tools are used—behavior and discipline matter more than tech. Rebecca primarily recommends business books with personal relevance: Adam Grant's Give and Take – for relational insights beyond work. Bob Sutton's books – for broader lessons on organizational and personal effectiveness. Robert Cialdini's Influence – for understanding human behavior in both professional and personal contexts. Her selections highlight that business literature often offers universal lessons applicable beyond work. 59:48 Where to Find Rebecca The book is available at all major bookstores. Website: rebeccahinds.com LinkedIn: Rebecca Hinds  

Send a textWhat if the words “life is long” meant something deeper?In this powerful and important episode of the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast, Jodi Hope Grinwald sits down with:• Tom Peregrin, Founder of Life Is Long • Liz Menges, Chief Operating Officer, Ocean Partnership for Children • Jess Pepe, Development Coordinator, Ocean Partnership for ChildrenTogether, they have an honest, courageous conversation about suicide prevention, mental health, warning signs, stigma, and why connection is one of the strongest protective factors we have.Tom shares the heartbreaking story of losing his best friend to suicide and how that loss inspired him to create Life Is Long — a mission-driven apparel brand raising awareness and donating 17% of proceeds to youth mental health services in his friend's honor.Liz and Jess provide clinical insight into: • Warning signs of suicide • The danger of dismissing comments as “just for attention” • Anxiety and depression as major risk factors • The importance of monitoring social media • Why talking about suicide does not cause suicide • What actually happens when someone seeks helpOne powerful statistic shared in this episode: Over 49,000 people in the U.S. died  by suicide in 2023.In Ocean County alone, over 350 youth currently being served have experienced suicidal ideation or risk.This conversation is not meant to create fear. It is meant to create awareness.And most importantly — connection.If you are a parent, friend, teacher, coach, mentor, or someone quietly struggling — this episode is for you.

In this first part of a two-part series, Jeff and Luca explore how different types of service-oriented engineering organizations should focus their learning and improvement efforts. Drawing from their consulting experience, they examine three distinct categories: product development firms that turn client ideas into reality, engineering development firms that sell specialized technical expertise, and solo engineers who package all necessary knowledge into one person.The core insight: what you should focus on learning depends entirely on what you're actually selling. Product development firms need to master the entire client journey and product design process, not just engineering excellence. Engineering development firms must become technical wizards in a specific domain that clients actually value. Solo engineers face the challenge of needing deep expertise while wearing every business hat. Across all three types, the common traps are the same: focusing too much on craft and too little on client experience, failing to specialize, and not investing enough in teaching as marketing.Throughout the discussion, Jeff and Luca emphasize that for service firms, you are the product - and that changes everything about where you should direct your improvement efforts. The conversation is grounded in real experiences, including some cautionary tales about firms that tried to be everything to everyone.Key Topics[00:00] Introduction: Two-part series on engineering organizations and their different focuses[02:30] Overview of the framework: Service firms vs. product-building companies[05:15] Product development firms: Why engineering excellence isn't enough[08:45] The critical importance of product design and client guidance over pure engineering[12:20] Process-level learning: Shortening cycle times and enabling rapid prototyping[15:40] The Irinos example: In-house board manufacturing to tighten feedback loops[18:30] Requirements will always change - designing for learning, not perfection[21:00] The danger of being a generalist: Why specialization matters for service firms[24:15] Engineering development firms: Selling technical expertise, not complete products[27:45] Technology-focused learning: Going deep on specific technical capabilities[30:20] The trap of becoming a commodity: Why domain expertise beats technology alone[33:40] The forklift invoice review example: You can't specialize too narrowly[35:30] Solo engineers: The complete package vs. temporary employee trap[39:00] Common failures across all service firms: Too much craft focus, too little client experience and marketing[41:30] Teaching as the best form of marketing for technical service firmsNotable Quotes"The customers don't actually hire them for their engineering skills. They are sort of a given. But what such a product development firm should offer the client is guiding them through the development process, which they don't have enough skills for to do it on their own." — Luca"Engineering is not the point. The unit of work is delivering a working product to the client that satisfies their business case, that has a reasonable cost to manufacture, and that you feel confident your own client has validated their market." — Jeff"It's not that engineering is irrelevant, but rather that it's table stakes. This is just taken for granted, but what such a product development firm should offer is guiding them through the development process." — Luca"You almost can't be narrow enough. I remember our friend Philip Morgan having this example of a company that specializes in reviewing invoices of forklift repairs. This is what they do. They review forklift repair invoices. And they're doing very well apparently." — Luca"Teaching and giving information and solving problems publicly is the best form of marketing. It's not advertising. It's building trust with an audience." — JeffResources MentionedIDEO - Prototypical design firm mentioned as an example of companies specializing in product designIRNAS - Product development firm with in-house board manufacturing capabilities, featured in previous episodes, exemplifying tight feedback loopsPhilip Morgan - Consultant and friend mentioned for his example about specialization (forklift invoice review company)Jeff Gable's website - Jeff's consulting services for medical device software development and advisoryLuca Ingianni's website - Luca's training products and resources for embedded systems, IoT, and AIConnect With UsStay tuned for Part 2, where we'll explore organizations that build products and what they should focus on when the market decidesIf you're in the medical device industry and need help with embedded software - either writing it or navigating the regulatory landscape - reach out to Jeff at jeffgable.comCheck out Luca's training products for embedded systems, IoT, and AI at luca.engineerReflect on your own organization: Are you focusing on the right things for the type of service firm you are? Are you specializing enough? You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click hereAre you looking for embedded-focused trainings? Head to https://agileembedded.academy/Ryan Torvik and Luca have started the Embedded AI podcast, check it out at https://embeddedaipodcast.com/

In this episode of The Dish on Health IT, host Tony Schueth is joined by co-host Alix Goss and special guest Amy Gleason, Strategic Advisor to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Administrator of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Service, for a wide-ranging discussion on how health IT modernization is evolving under a pledge-driven, incentive-backed federal strategy.The conversation begins not with policy, but with lived experience.From Emergency Room to Interoperability AdvocateAmy shares how her early career as an emergency room nurse exposed the dangers of fragmented information. Providers were expected to make critical decisions without access to complete patient histories, while patients, often in pain or distress, were unrealistically asked to recall complex medical details.That professional frustration became deeply personal when her daughter went more than a year without diagnosis for a rare autoimmune disease, juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). Multiple specialists saw pieces of the puzzle, but no one could see the full picture across charts and settings. Amy reflects that if today's AI tools had been applied to her daughter's complete longitudinal record, the condition may have surfaced sooner.That experience shaped her philosophy. Technology must converge with policy and trust in ways that tangibly improve care.Why Pledges Instead of Rules?Tony presses on a central theme. Amy has argued that we cannot regulate our way to success. Why pursue voluntary pledges instead of federal rulemaking?Amy explains her frustration returning to government in 2025 to find interoperability policies she helped draft in 2020 still not fully effective until 2027. Seven years is an eternity in technology. Meanwhile, the industry had technically complied with numerous mandates including Meaningful Use, Cures Act APIs and CMS interoperability rules, yet many workflows still felt broken.In her view, regulation created a floor but not always real transformation.The CMS Health Tech Ecosystem Pledge was launched as a different model. The federal government used its convening power to articulate a clear vision and challenge industry to deliver minimum viable products within six to twelve months rather than years.Initially announced with roughly 60 companies, the pledge initiative has grown to more than 600 participants collaborating in working groups. The three initial patient-focused use cases include:Improving data interoperability“Killing the clipboard” through digital identity and QR-based sharingLeveraging conversational AI and personalized recommendations for chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesityAmy describes live demonstrations at a Connectathon showing OAuth-enabled data retrieval, QR ingestion into EHR workflows and AI-powered recommendations built on patient data. The goal is not perfection by the first milestone, but real-world minimum viable functionality that can iteratively improve.Alix notes that from the standards community perspective, this approach feels aligned with long-standing calls for industry-driven collaboration, though it remains early to measure widespread impact.Carrots, Sticks and Rural HealthThe discussion turns to incentives.Amy outlines the administration's carrots and sticks strategy:Stick: Enforcement of information blocking, with penalties up to $2 million per occurrenceCarrots: Financial incentives such as the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program and the CMS ACCESS Model, which pays for technology-enabled outcomesThe Rural Health Transformation Program directs money to states with expectations that ecosystem-aligned interoperability and app participation be incorporated into funding proposals. CMS retains oversight and clawback authority to ensure funds support rural providers.The ACCESS Model represents a significant shift. Technology-enabled care platforms can register as Medicare Part B providers and be paid for measurable outcomes in tracks such as cardiometabolic disease, musculoskeletal conditions and behavioral health. Providers remain in the loop and receive compensation for referral and care plan oversight.Alix underscores that rural providers face steep financial and workforce constraints. Standards participation, implementation and technology upgrades require resources that are often scarce. The success of these incentives will depend on whether they reduce burden rather than add to it.AI: Evolution, Risk and RealityAI becomes a central thread of the episode.Amy compares AI adoption to autonomous vehicle models. Some scenarios allow tightly controlled automation, such as medication refills, while others require a human in the loop for higher-risk decisions. She points to a Utah prescription refill pilot as an example of bounded automation, where malpractice coverage and clearly defined use cases mitigate risk.When Tony asks who owns risk in this evolving landscape, Amy emphasizes the need for light but clear regulatory pathways rather than fragmented state-by-state oversight.Patients, she notes, are already there. Millions are asking health-related questions weekly through AI tools. The more pressing issue is ensuring those tools are grounded in structured medical data rather than incomplete memory or unverified inputs.She shares a striking story. Her daughter was excluded from a clinical trial due to a misclassification of ulcerative colitis. By uploading her records into an AI model, they identified a more precise diagnosis, microscopic lymphocytic colitis, which did not disqualify her from the trial. For Amy, this demonstrates both the power and inevitability of AI use.Alix adds caution. AI is only as strong as the data beneath it. Dirty, inconsistent and poorly structured data limits performance. Standards and terminologies remain essential to fuel high-fidelity models and safeguard trust.FHIR, Deregulation and the Data FoundationThe conversation addresses an emerging tension. If regulatory burdens are being reduced, does that signal less need for structured standards like FHIR?Amy candidly admits she initially wondered whether AI might reduce the need for FHIR altogether. After discussions with labs and technologists, she concluded the opposite. Standardized data dramatically improves AI performance and reduces error.Deregulation is about removing unnecessary burden, not abandoning foundational data structures.Alix reinforces that FHIR enables discrete, normalized data capture that supports both legacy transactions and AI evolution. While future innovations may emerge, today FHIR remains the backbone for scalable interoperability.Prior Authorization and HIPAA ModernizationThe episode dives into prior authorization modernization across medical and pharmacy domains.Amy notes growing interest among pledge participants to expand into pharmacy prior authorization testing, diagnostic imaging, real-time benefit checks and bulk FHIR performance testing.Alix provides insight into ongoing work within the Designated Standards Maintenance Organizations to incorporate FHIR-based approaches into HIPAA-named standards, particularly for prior authorization. She highlights testing beyond Connectathons, including implementer communities and real-world pilot efforts.Both stress the importance of public comment periods and industry engagement, describing participation as a civic responsibility for health IT professionals.Trust as the Core EnablerThe final segment centers on trust.Amy explains that the ecosystem initiative aims to reinforce trust through:Stronger digital identity verification such as Clear, ID.me and Login.govCertification frameworks such as CARIN and DIME for patient-facing appsA new national provider directory to replace fragmented provider data sourcesTransparency dashboards showing data requests, volumes and purposeRather than replacing frameworks like TEFCA, she describes the pledge model as an accelerator layered above the regulatory floor.Transparency acts as sunlight, enabling visibility into who is accessing data and for what purpose.Final TakeawaysIn closing, Amy urges providers not to sit on the sidelines. Too often, she says, providers feel change is imposed on them. The pledge environment is designed as an open forum where they can directly shape what works or does not work in real workflows.Alix echoes the call. Standards require participation. Organizations must allocate budget and staff to engage, comment and collaborate. It truly takes a village.Tony concludes by framing the episode's core message. Regulation establishes baseline expectations, but voluntary movements can demonstrate what is possible before mandates reach the Federal Register.Across pledges, payment reform, AI evolution and trust frameworks, the episode underscores a consistent theme. Modernization in health IT depends not only on policy direction, but on shared accountability and active participation from every stakeholder in the ecosystem.Listeners are reminded that POCP is available to support organizations in understanding the implications of federal initiatives, enforcement priorities and their strategic implications. Reach out to us to set up an initial consultation. The episode closes, as always, with the reminder that Health IT is a dish best served hot.Prefer video? Catch episodes on the POCP YouTube channel

As job growth slows and uncertainty lingers, more employees are choosing to stay put — even if they're disengaged. Doreen Coles, senior director of career growth and development of ADP, joins Monique Akanbi, SHRM-CP, to unpack the trend of “job hugging” and how it's reshaping career mobility and internal talent pipelines. They discuss how HR leaders can foster trust, development, and opportunity in a stay-put workforce.  This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires March 1, 2027.  Subscribe to Honest HR to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz   ---  Explore SHRM's all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r

Today, Paul M. Neuberger fires up the boardroom—no apologies. No watering down.The world says popularity is the prize. But Scripture? Scripture says, “If the world loves you… ask yourself why.”Leaders today are told to chase applause, likes, and comfort. But Christ called us to carry the cross, not chase the crowd.Opposition? It's not failure. It's confirmation. Ridicule, venom, backlash—those are the battle scars of obedience.You won't find easy faith here. You'll find faith that costs. Faith that stands. Faith that refuses to compromise.Jesus is still Lord—even when standing for Him draws fire from every corner.So, C-Suite leader, what will you do when your moment of truth arrives?Will you bend for applause, or stand for the King?“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." –John 15:18–19Episode Highlights:05:27 – Jesus draws a clear dividing line. Belonging to him automatically places you at odds with the world. There is no neutral ground. There is no option where faithfulness and universal approval coexist. If the world loves you, scripture tells us to ask why. All throughout the Bible, God's most faithful servants were rarely celebrated in their time. The prophets were ridiculed, imprisoned, threatened, and killed. Jeremiah was called a traitor. Elijah was hunted. John the Baptist was beheaded. The apostles were beaten, jailed, and executed—not because they were cruel or unkind, but because they spoke truth without compromise.12:15 – The absence of resistance isn't evidence of effectiveness. Often it's evidence of accommodation. And that's why when the world loves you, you should not celebrate. You should pause. You should reflect. You should be really, really nervous. There's a dangerous illusion in modern Christian leadership that says alignment with the world can coexist with faithfulness to God. It sounds reasonable. It feels strategic. It's often framed as wisdom. But scripture consistently rejects the idea that God shares allegiance with anyone or anything else.38:03 – Let this truth settle deep in your spirit. The goal of Christian leadership has never been to be liked. It's always been to be faithful. The applause of the world is fleeting, but the approval of God is eternal. One is going to fade, but the other will stand forever. If you're facing criticism because you refuse to compromise scripture, please, I implore you, take heart. You're not failing. You're standing.Connect with Paul M. NeubergerWebsite

A skills-based organization (SBO) uses a dynamic system, that includes AI, to continuously map and update people's skill and role requirements.. SBO's outperform companies that remain focused on job titles because they can achieve better workforce agility, quicker role staffing, faster redeployment in reorganizations or crises, and more fluid internal ability. This is because AI surfaces transferrable skills and inferred skills (from a person's background, behaviors, and experiences). These skills-based systems actually increase the chances for employees to take on new roles or promotion opportunities because of decreasing needs for external hiring. So, SBO employees tend to be more enriched, engaged, and loyal (IF THEY'RE WILLING AND EQUIPPED FOR RAPID ADAPTATION AND CHANGE IN LEARNING AND APPLYING TRANSFERRABLE AND NEW SKILLS)

A skills-based organization (SBO) uses a dynamic system, that includes AI, to continuously map and update people's skill and role requirements.. SBO's outperform companies that remain focused on job titles because they can achieve better workforce agility, quicker role staffing, faster redeployment in reorganizations or crises, and more fluid internal ability. This is because AI surfaces transferrable skills and inferred skills (from a person's background, behaviors, and experiences). These skills-based systems actually increase the chances for employees to take on new roles or promotion opportunities because of decreasing needs for external hiring. So, SBO employees tend to be more enriched, engaged, and loyal (IF THEY'RE WILLING AND EQUIPPED FOR RAPID ADAPTATION AND CHANGE IN LEARNING AND APPLYING TRANSFERRABLE AND NEW SKILLS)

Most high performers think a “good” performance review is a win, until nothing changes afterward. If you're ready to convert performance into promotability and build a low-friction, high-yield career asset, explore Dr. Grace's mentorship program here: https://masteryinsights.com/mentorship-pc What is Proprioceptive Deficit in Organizations? Organizational proprioception is a framework that describes how leadership perceives your position relative to the market and mission, without needing to constantly monitor you. Proprioceptive deficit occurs when a high performer executes with excellence but remains unaware of how their actions impact adjacent departments, revenue streams, or enterprise-level outcomes. This deficit creates friction, and the leadership team perceives you as a disconnected limb rather than an integrated asset. Correcting proprioceptive deficit requires understanding your connection to the P&L statement and building cross-functional awareness that signals strategic alignment to decision-makers. Key Concepts: Performance vs. Promotability: The blind spot where mastery in your current role becomes a containment strategy rather than a ladder, because your tactical excellence creates a production gap the company cannot afford to lose. Return on Management (ROM): The hidden calculation leaders use: total value created divided by management energy consumed. High output with high friction equals low ROM—and low advancement potential. Narrative Ownership vs. Abdication: The strategic choice between dictating the interpretation of your contributions throughout the year or allowing leaders to default to recency bias and simplistic labels during your review. The Interpretation Layer: The mechanism of controlling not just what you achieved, but what that achievement meant at the market and enterprise level. Have you ever felt 'contained' by your own excellence? Tell me about the moment you realized your hard work wasn't the same thing as being promotable.   Show notes and free resources: https://CareerRevisionist.com/episode230 Do you want to move up in executive leadership? Want to elevate your communication skills, leadership abilities and influence in the world around you? If you're ready to start leveling up in your career and you want to develop all of the skills and professional acumen that will allow you to grow into senior executive positions with confidence, apply here: https://masteryinsights.com/mentorship-pc Answer a few questions to see if you qualify for Dr. Grace's executive coaching program, then book a time to speak with a member of our team. --------- Thank You for Listening! I am truly grateful that you have chosen to tune in. Visit my Youtube channel where I release new videos weekly on executive career growth, communication, increasing income, and professional development. Please share your thoughts! Leave questions or feedback in the comments below. Leave me a review on iTunes and share my podcast with your colleagues. With Love & Wisdom, Grace

In this episode of The Game Deflators Podcast, hosts John and Ryan dive into a wide range of gaming news, retro games, and tabletop adventures. They kick things off with fresh additions to their collections, John's latest Dungeons & Dragons campaign plans, and gameplay impressions of Valkyrie Profile. Ryan also shares his ongoing journey through Dragon Quest—complete with a surprising fitness‑focused gaming routine. The discussion heats up as the duo breaks down Guilty Gear mechanics, the bizarre and controversial rumor linking Pokémon Go to Epstein Island, and the challenges facing High Guard as it struggles to maintain its player base. They reflect on the evolving landscape of modern video games, the importance of character selection in fighting games, and the powerful role of nostalgia in shaping gaming experiences. Later, John and Ryan explore the influence of Jeff Keighley on major game launches, the uncertain future of live‑service games, and the growing excitement around new God of War projects. They also discuss the evolution of Kena: Bridge of Spirits and recent trailer for Silent Hill. The episode wraps with a look at the Super Nintendo classic “We're Back!” and whether it's worth picking up for under $10 in today's retro market. 00:00 Introduction to the Game Deflators Podcast 02:24 Game Pickups and Dungeons & Dragons Adventures 06:11 Exploring Valkyrie Profile Gameplay 14:54 Ryan's Journey with Dragon Quest and Fitness Gaming 18:44 Guilty Gear Journey and Fighting Game Mechanics 29:28 Mastering Fighting Games: Footsies and Edge Guarding 32:18 Transitioning from Pokémon to Gaming News 34:50 The Rise and Fall of High Guard 42:58 Anticipating New Releases: God of War and Beyond 49:20 Exciting Announcements: Kena and Project Winless 01:03:31 Reflections on Game Quality 01:05:44 Inflation Deflation 01:11:20 Nostalgia and Movie Adaptations   Find us on TheGameDeflators.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/GameDeflators Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheGameDeflators Instagram - www.instagram.com/thegamedeflators   The views and opinions expressed on this channel are solely those of the author. The content within these recordings are property of their respective Designers, Writers, Creators, Owners, Organizations, Companies and Producers. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted. Permission for intro and outro music provided by Matthew Huffaker http://www.youtube.com/user/teknoaxe 2_25_18

2-13-26 Mel Kiper calls out NFL teams after organizations grow too impatient with QB development

What happens when the noise around AI starts to drown out the actual business value it is meant to deliver? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Adam Field, Chief AI and Product Officer at Tungsten Automation, fresh from the conversations unfolding at Davos. While headlines continue to celebrate agentic AI and sweeping automation claims, Adam offered a grounded perspective shaped by decades of experience turning AI pilots into measurable, ROI-driven deployments. His view is simple. The hype cycle may be accelerating, but many organizations still struggle with the fundamentals. Adam described a common boardroom dynamic. "What do we want? AI. What do we want it to do? We're not sure." That pressure to move fast often collides with a deeper reality. Software has shifted from deterministic to probabilistic. Leaders who grew up expecting the same inputs to always produce the same outputs now face systems that behave differently by design. Measuring value in that environment requires a different mindset. One of the most compelling ideas in our conversation was Adam's concept of "boring AI." While splashy announcements about replacing hundreds of employees grab attention, he argues that real returns often come from quieter use cases. At Tungsten Automation, that means intelligent document processing, extracting trusted, AI-ready data from the 80 percent of enterprise information that is unstructured. Contracts, invoices, transcripts, compliance paperwork. The work may not trend on social media, but it saves time, improves accuracy, and fits directly into daily workflows. We also explored accountability. AI can compress output, but it concentrates responsibility. When generative tools make architectural or compliance decisions, the liability does not shift to the model. Organizations remain accountable for privacy, ethics, and customer trust. Adam shared his own experience rebuilding a legacy application in days using AI code generation, only to discover licensing and compliance nuances that required human judgment. The lesson was clear. AI amplifies capability, yet human oversight remains essential. For leaders searching for signals that an AI strategy will actually deliver long-term returns, Adam pointed to two patterns from the small percentage of projects that succeed. First, integration into daily workflows drives adoption. Second, partnering with trusted vendors often reduces risk compared to attempting everything in-house. In a world flooded with open-source experiments and "X is dead" headlines, discipline and focus still matter. Tungsten Automation has spent four decades evolving alongside automation technologies, previously known as Kofax. Today, the company applies large language models and agentic workflows to transform unstructured data into decision-ready insights across finance, logistics, banking, and insurance. It is a reminder that the future of AI may be less about replacing people and more about removing friction so humans can do the work they were actually hired to do. So as AI investment continues to grow and pressure for returns intensifies, the question becomes harder to ignore. Are we chasing the headlines, or are we building systems that quietly deliver value where it counts? Useful Links Connect with Adam Field Learn more about Tungsten Automation Upcoming Events

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.racket.news‘The FBI can gather a dossier on anyone they choose'By Ryan LovelaceNarrated by Jared Moore

This week, Cathy McKnight is back in the studio to discuss changes content marketers need to make in 2026, and as Robert Rose couldn't make it to our virtual bar this week, our host Ian Truscott shares his 3 D's of product content marketing.    Ian and Cathy discuss: Marketing teams are often organized around outdated models The pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation Organizations must focus on outcomes, not just outputs Silos in organizations are inevitable, but should be permeable AI should enhance human creativity, not replace it Organizations waste money on unused technology Ian shares that B2B tech marketers need to create three types of content to move away from our focus on features and functions, and steps through his 3 D's of Product Content Marketing:  Default Distinct Direction If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Cathy's weekly blog - Bear Essentials Cathy's firm - Seventh Bear Beyond features: the three Ds of product marketing | Startups Magazine Ian's firm - Velocity B Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We'll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

03:29 Illinois sued over race reparations program13:46 Canada school shooter who murdered 5 students and faculty identified33:34 Officer fatally shoots fleeing suspect after picking up firearm42:43 City reaches $29M lawsuit for the death of civilianLEO Round Table (law enforcement talk show)Season 11, Episode 032 (2,621) filmed on 02/13/20261. https://www.lawofficer.com/race-based-payments/2. https://www.rvmnews.com/2026/02/online-posts-of-transgender-teen-surface-after-canada-school-shooting-wanting-to-be-petit-watch/https://nypost.com/2026/02/11/world-news/transgender-canadian-school-shooter-who-slaughtered-8-including-mom-and-stepbrother-seen-in-first-photos/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/11/jesse-van-rootselaar-tumbler-ridge-canada-shooter/88631889007/3. https://rumble.com/v75m1a4-plainclothes-miami-officer-fatally-shot-armed-suspect-near-miami-edison-sen.html?e9s=src_v1_upp_a4. https://globalordnancenews.com/2026/02/12/seattle-reaches-29m-settlement-with-family-of-woman-struck-and-killed-by-officer-en-route-to-emergency-call-2/Show Panelists and Personalities:Chip DeBlock (Host and retired police detective)Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D. (retired chief and author)Ralph Ornelas (former chief of the Westminster Police Department and commander at the LA County Sheriff's Department)Related Events, Organizations and Books:Retired DEA Agent Robert Mazur's works:Interview of Bryan Cranston about him playing Agent Robert Mazur in THE INFILTRATOR filmhttps://vimeo.com/channels/1021727Trailer for the new book, THE BETRAYALhttps://www.robertmazur.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Betrayal-trailer-reMix2.mp4Everything on Robert Mazurhttps://www.robertmazur.com/The Wounded Blue - Lt. Randy Sutton's charityhttps://thewoundedblue.org/Rescuing 911: The Fight For America's Safety - by Lt. Randy Sutton (Pre-Order)https://rescuing911.org/Books by panelist and retired Lt. Randy Sutton:https://www.amazon.com/Randy-Sutton/e/B001IR1MQU%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shareThey're Lying: The Media, The Left, and The Death of George Floyd - by Liz Collin (Lt. Bob Kroll's wife)https://thelieexposed.com/Lt. Col. Dave Grossman - Books, Newsletter, Presentations, Shop, Sheepdogshttps://grossmanontruth.com/Sheriff David Clarke - Videos, Commentary, Podcast, Shop, Newsletterhttps://americassheriff.com/Content Partners:Red Voice Media - Real News, Real Reportinghttps://www.redvoicemedia.com/shows/leo/ThisIsButter - One of the BEST law enforcement video channelshttps://rumble.com/user/ThisIsButterThe Free Press - LEO Round Table is in their Cops and Crimes section 5 days a weekhttps://www.tampafp.com/https://www.tampafp.com/category/cops-and-crime/Video Show Schedule On All Outlets:http://leoroundtable.com/home/syndication/Syndicated Radio Schedule:http://leoroundtable.com/radio/syndicated-radio-stations/Sponsors:Galls - Proud to serve America's public safety professionalshttps://www.galls.com/leoCompliant Technologies - Cutting-edge non-lethal tools to empower and protect those who servehttps://www.complianttechnologies.net/The International Firearm Specialist Academy - The New Standard for Firearm Knowledgehttps://www.gunlearn.com/MyMedicare.live - save money in Medicare insurance options from the expertshttp://www.mymedicare.live/

Did you know that toxic work environments are draining the global economy by a staggering $9 trillion every year? That's the price tag of showing up to work and checking out emotionally. My guest today, Phil Johnson, founder of the Master of Business Leadership Academy, joins me to explore why emotional intelligence (EQ) is more critical than ever, not just for us, but for the next generation. Phil explains why our kids will suffer more than we do if we fail to evolve in this area. We dive into why presence matters in the workplace, why organizations spend so much on presence, and yet so many of us struggle to truly be present. Phil makes a compelling case that leaders with high emotional intelligence cannot be measured the same way as those with high intellectual intelligence, and he discusses the implications of artificial intelligence in this mix. We also explore the hidden cost of giving away our energy, how it creates an energy deficit, and why replacing that energy without taking it from others is essential. Phil shows why inspirational leaders tend to be more emotionally intelligent and how everyone benefits when we lower our walls, while raising them hurts everyone around us. Through real-life stories of leadership and transformation, Phil underscores that developing emotional intelligence is essential for personal growth, professional success, and societal evolution. Let's dive in! In this episode, we discuss: [02:08] Billy's first conversation  with Phil: key lessons & his methodology [03:51] Who Phil Johnson is [04:17] What leaders truly need to hear [07:05] Root cause of workplace chaos & why thriving at work is low [10:49] Habits & tools to protect energy [12:20] Real-world examples of energy loss [16:40] Developing emotional intelligence [18:16] Who to learn from for EQ [27:13] Responding vs reacting [32:24] Phil's transformative aha moments [39:08] 20,000 years of change in 100 years [48:50] Organizations treat symptoms, not root causes [52:19] Phil's advice on developing EI to lead & achieve goals Notable Quotes [06:27] “ Emotional intelligence is 400% more valuable in achieving success in intellectual intelligence.” - Phil [07:53] “ Toxic work environments are costing the global economy over $9 trillion a year, and it's increasing.”- Phil [08:43] “ We're only actually conscious about 3 to 5% of the time. The rest of the time we're relying on our, on our habits that we've developed.” - Phil [11:30] “ How we feel about ourself is based on how somebody else feels about us, we're unconsciously giving away our energy to them to determine how you, how we should feel about ourselves.”-  Phil [23:37] " Everybody benefits when we lower our walls and everybody is affected negatively when we raise our walls.” - Phil [25:27] “  When we're not present, our ego-based fears take over.”- Phil [44:57] “ We can no longer continue like the slowly boiling frog to pretend that somebody's gonna come and save us.”- Phil Resources and Links Phil Johnson LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipjpjohnson/ Master of Business Leadership Academy: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjfc3tV87p03JMDOXqDu8tQ Billy Samoa Saleebey LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/billysamoa/ Email: ⁠billy@podify.com⁠ and ⁠saleebey@gmail.com⁠  Insight Out  Website: ⁠https://www.insightoutshow.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when AI safety filters fail to catch harmful content hidden inside images? Alessandro Pignati, AI Security Researcher at NeuralTrust, joins Sean Martin to reveal a newly discovered vulnerability that affects some of the most widely used image-generation models on the market today. The technique, called semantic chaining, is an image-based jailbreak attack discovered by the NeuralTrust research team, and it raises important questions about how enterprises secure their multimodal AI deployments.How does semantic chaining work? Pignati explains that the attack uses a single prompt composed of several parts. It begins with a benign scenario, such as a historical or educational context. A second instruction asks the model to make an innocent modification, like changing the color of a background. The final, critical step introduces a malicious directive, instructing the model to embed harmful content directly into the generated image. Because image-generation models apply fewer safety filters than their text-based counterparts, the harmful instructions are rendered inside the image without triggering the usual safeguards.The NeuralTrust research team tested semantic chaining against prominent models including Gemini Nano Pro, Grok 4, and Seedream 4.5 by ByteDance, finding the attack effective across all of them. For enterprises, the implications extend well beyond consumer use cases. Pignati notes that if an AI agent or chatbot has access to a knowledge base containing sensitive information or personal data, a carefully structured semantic chaining prompt can force the model to generate that data directly into an image, bypassing text-based safety mechanisms entirely.Organizations looking to learn more about semantic chaining and the broader landscape of AI agent security can visit the NeuralTrust blog, where the research team publishes detailed breakdowns of their findings. NeuralTrust also offers a newsletter with regular updates on agent security research and newly discovered vulnerabilities.This is a Brand Highlight. A Brand Highlight is a ~5 minute introductory conversation designed to put a spotlight on the guest and their company. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/creation#highlightGUESTAlessandro Pignati, AI Security Researcher, NeuralTrustOn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandro-pignati/RESOURCESLearn more about NeuralTrust: https://neuraltrust.ai/Are you interested in telling your story?▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlightKEYWORDSAlessandro Pignati, NeuralTrust, Sean Martin, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, brand highlight, semantic chaining, image jailbreak, AI security, agentic AI, multimodal AI, LLM safety, AI red teaming, prompt injection, AI agent security, image-based attacks, enterprise AI security Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Top headlines for Friday, February 13, 2026In this episode, Democratic lawmakers dismiss a congressional hearing on the supposed rise of Sharia law, the Department of Health and Human Services invites faith-based groups to compete for billions in federal funding, and two pro-life organizations take Michigan to court over a controversial antidiscrimination law.Subscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyOvercast⠀Follow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on XChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTube⠀Get the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for Android⠀Subscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!⠀Links to the NewsDemocrats dismiss House hearing on Sharia threat in US | PoliticsStephen Colbert given 'servant leadership' award by Episcopalians | EntertainmentHHS encourages faith-based organizations seek funding | U.S.Okla. church's bank account hacked, over $85K stolen | U.S.Pro-life groups sue Michigan over antidiscrimination law | U.S.Christian celebrities react to James Van Der Beek's death | EntertainmentJelly Roll's wife defends him sharing the Gospel at Grammy Awards | Entertainment

In an era of dazzling technology, are we forgetting what really makes supply chain organizations run?

Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Richard Carson, author of The Book of Change. If you feel like you barely finish one change before the next one hits, this conversation is for you. Richard shares his deeply researched and battle-tested framework called People Sustained Organizational Change Management, or PSOCM. Unlike many change management books, this is not about certifications or slogans. It is about building a repeatable system to diagnose problems, distinguish adaptive from transformational change, and gain executive traction when support is not automatic. You will hear why so many change efforts fail before they even begin, how to craft a clear problem statement, and what leaders often misunderstand about the type of change they are facing. Richard also explains why he chose the phrase "People Sustained" and how thinking structurally about change can even help at home. If you're looking for practical, grounded insights on leading through continuous change, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "My advice to you is to anticipate change and manage change before it manages you." "Different change models have been introduced in the literature, but there has not been one coherent model for managing organizational change." "PSOCM is driven by defined actions with statistical metrics that produce measurable results." "You get a free book and the next thing you know you're getting the pitch to hire them at an exorbitant amount of money per hour." "Organizations consist of people, and it is the people who are primarily the problem." "Change management is proactive. Emergency management is reactive." "It is not productive to put the organization on the couch and ask, 'Well, what do you think?'" "You can change a process, but you cannot change a person's underlying psychology." "You now own it, or it now owns you." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:40 Start of Interview 01:54 Family Culture and Early Influences 03:58 Criticisms of Change Management Books and Certifications 06:15 Defining Organizational Change Management in Plain Talk 07:44 What Surprised Him in the History of Change 10:57 Adaptive vs. Transformational Change 14:23 Why He Named It People Sustained Organizational Change Management 20:03 Problem Identification and Writing Effective Problem Statements 24:31 Getting Executive Support When Change Is Not Top Down 26:49 When Benefits Do Not Move Leaders 28:21 One More Idea to Anticipate Change Before It Manages You 30:03 Applying Change Lessons at Home as a Parent 31:36 End of Interview 32:38 Andy Comments After the Interview 35:31 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Richard and his work at RichardCarson.org. Make sure to get the free ebook download. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 343 with Gary Lloyd. He has a clever metaphor of thinking about change like a gardener, not a mechanic. It's a great discussion that I think you'll find quite practical. Episode 344 with Peter Bregman and Howie Jacobson. Their book is about change, but not at the organizational level. They think you can change other people, which sounds presumptuous at the least. But they back that up in the interview so check out episode 344 for more. Episode 53 with John Kotter. He's one of the most famous names when it comes to change management. Go way back to episode 53 to hear from John directly. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader—that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Topics: Change Management, Organizational Change, Leadership, Executive Sponsorship, Problem Identification, Adaptive Change, Transformational Change, Strategic Thinking, Organizational Culture, Project Leadership, Continuous Improvement, Stakeholder Engagement The following music was used for this episode: Music: Lullaby of Light feat Cory Friesenhan by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tropical Vibe by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

For marketers who've felt that video is too expensive, too technical, or too time-consuming, this episode offers a clear takeaway: you don't need a big budget or a big team to make video work, you just need the right approach and tools.Video is one of the most powerful content formats for marketers, but for years it also felt out of reach. That's no longer the case. Today, creating high-quality video for every channel is easier and more affordable than ever and video consistently ranks as one of the top-performing content types across channels. In this episode, Elise Beck, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Wistia, shares how today's marketers can create impactful video easily and affordably, even with lean teams and limited budgets.Video is uniquely effective for companies with complex products, long buying cycles, and technical audiences. From product demos and explainers to webinars and podcasts, video allows marketers to scale knowledge, replace in-person demos or plant tours, and communicate ideas that are difficult to explain with text alone.Video creation has become far more accessible in recent years. Elise explains how modern tools for recording, editing, and polishing video, has lowered the barrier to entry for marketers who don't have video production backgrounds. Features like screen recording, simple editing, AI-powered audio cleanup, social clip generation, and automated captions help marketers develop and publish quality video content.This episode also explores the evolving role of video in search and AI-driven discovery. As generative search and large language models change how buyers find information, Elise explains how making video content readable by AI is becoming increasingly important for visibility and reach. The episode goes beyond creation into measurement, highlighting how video analytics can give marketers and sales teams deeper insight into buyer engagement.Finally, the discussion looks ahead to emerging trends in video marketing, including AI-assisted ideation, localization, and the ongoing debate around synthetic video and avatars. Elise emphasizes the importance of balancing innovation with authenticity,  especially for technical and industrial brands where trust and credibility matter most. Key TakeawaysVideo's true power lies in its ability to simplify complexity and enable authentic communication at scaleEmbedding transcripts and enabling AI to read video content transforms videos into accessible, searchable assets, increasing reach and relevance.AI streamlines recording, editing, and post-production, making video creation feasible for small teams or individuals.Features like integrated editing tools enable quick turnaround and testing of video content.Organizations are bringing video production internally, leveraging AI for ideation, scripting, and editing, reducing reliance on external vendors.Trust and genuine human connection are prioritized over AI-generated video, especially in technical fieldsAll-in-one video solutions like Wistia empower lean teams to execute comprehensive video strategies efficiently.ResourcesConnect with Elise on LinkedInConnect with Wendy on LinkedInLearn more about WisitaLearn more about Wistia's State of Video Research ReportAI Benchmark: Will Smith Eating SpaghettiRelated Episode: How to Add Value-Driven Videos to Your Content Marketing Mix

Director of Brand & Marketing at Tacoma-based SiteCrafting Jen Rittenhouse joins Move to Tacoma Podcast Host and Tacoma real estate agent Marguerite Martin to talk about the work happening behind the scenes at SiteCrafting, a Tacoma tech company that's been building and supporting websites since 1998. While they started with web development, Jen explains how SiteCrafting now offers a much broader set of services: branding, digital strategy, SEO, social strategy, accessibility audits, communications consulting, and even a UX research lab (the only one in South Puget Sound). Their clients range from local nonprofits to major community pillars like the Washington State Fair Event Center, MultiCare, Tacoma Public Utilities, and the Puyallup Tribe. What do Tacoma Businesses and Organizations need for Marketing in 2026? Marguerite and Jen get real about what websites actually require: not just design and code, but clarity about purpose, audience, and content- plus ongoing maintenance as technology changes. They talk through SEO basics (how people find you via search) and how the rise of AI summaries is changing behavior online: sometimes Google answers the question without sending people to your site, and sometimes AI pulls questionable info from unvetted sources. Jen's takeaway is simple but powerful: it's never been more important to be accurate, to be the “source of truth,” and to build direct relationships with your audience. What’s the most important thing Tacoma businesses need to focus on to attract customers? The conversation also moves into practical marketing advice for small businesses and nonprofits in Tacoma. Jen argues that email newsletters are still effective, and that the best move is to pick one channel and do it well rather than trying to do everything. She talks about social media realities and how making good content takes the same effort as making bad content.  She shares why it's okay to post less often, and why LinkedIn is “having a moment” in 2026. They wrap with some Puyallup-specific joy (fair parking hacks, walkability, the farmers market) and a clear call to pay attention locally because the stakes of politics aren't abstract when they show up in your own city's decisions. Whether you’re in Downtown Tacoma or Downtown Puyallup! The post Websites, PR, and Marketing Your Business in Tacoma with Sitecrafting’s Jen Rittenhouse appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

In this episode, we dive deep into the real value of creative work—what we truly get paid for, beyond our time and output. We bring together two insightful thinkers, Rebecca Hinds and Jen Fisher, whose perspectives on meetings and hope transform how we structure our work days and support our teams.We explore why most meetings sabotage productivity and how “visibility bias” tricks us into equating a full calendar with actual progress. Rebecca Hinds (author of Your Best Meeting Ever) challenges us to rethink meetings as products: expensive, important, yet often poorly optimized. She shares actionable strategies like "meeting doomsday" and the "rule of halves" to declutter calendars and refocus collaboration.Shifting gears, we unpack the often-overlooked topic of hope in organizational culture. Jen Fisher (author of Hope Is The Strategy) reframes hope as a strategic, action-oriented process, not just a feel-good slogan. We discuss Gallup's finding that hope ranks higher than trust as what people want most from leaders, and how misaligned incentives erode both hope and well-being, leading to disengagement and burnout.Throughout, we challenge creative pros to rethink their real value—insight, intuition, and emotional logic—and encourage leaders to create environments where these qualities flourish.Five Key Learnings:Insight is Indispensable: Our unique perspectives, intuition, and courage—not just our time or output—are what make us valuable in creative roles.Meetings Need a Reset: Meetings often serve as a status symbol rather than a tool for progress. Treating meetings as products and regularly auditing their purpose and effectiveness can dramatically improve collaboration.Subtract to Add Value: Applying the “rule of halves”—cutting meeting length, attendees, agenda items, or frequency—forces us to focus on what's truly essential and breaks the cycle of addition sickness.Hope Is Strategic, Not Sentimental: Hope is a cognitive, actionable process that drives teams forward. Organizations must foster strategic hope to encourage risk-taking and innovation.Alignment Drives Well-being: Stated values must match incentives and systems. Misalignment between what leaders say and reward creates dissonance, burnout, and disengagement.Get full interviews and bonus content for free! Just join the list at DailyCreativePlus.com.Mentioned in this episode:The Brave Habit is available nowMy new book will help you make bravery a habit in your life, your leadership, and your work. Discover how to develop the two qualities that lead to brave action: Optimistic Vision and Agency. Buy The Brave Habit wherever books are sold, or learn more at TheBraveHabit.com.

Welcome back, Late Boomers! We're Cathy Worthington and Merry Elkins, and in this episode, we open the door to a topic that quietly but profoundly shapes every part of our lives: mindset. If you've ever wondered how your habits of thought can influence your success, resilience, happiness, and even how you approach aging and reinvention, you're in the right place.This week, we're thrilled to welcome Michael Graham, founder of Mindset Matters Consulting. Michael's background is as unconventional as it is inspiring: from high-stakes presidential protection details and endurance triathlons, to law enforcement supervision and elite coaching, his journey is a masterclass in the power of mindset under pressure—and how mental shifts can spark transformation at any stage of life.What You'll Hear in This EpisodeIntroduction & Michael's Unique Story:We kick off with Michael's fascinating entry into law enforcement and how serving alongside the Secret Service on presidential details taught him about mindset, leadership, and decision-making under pressure.The Power of Preparation & Courage:Michael explains how training for every contingency—not just in policing, but also as an Ironman athlete—trains the mind to respond rather than react, and how these lessons apply in everyday life.How Endurance Sports Reshape Thinking:From grueling physical challenges to powerful mental visualizations, Michael reveals how focusing on the present, harnessing higher vibrations of gratitude and love, and reframing setbacks became superpowers that carried him through extreme endurance events.Defining Mindset and Breaking Old Patterns:We dive into what “mindset” really means, why it's foundational to success, and how shifting self-talk and noticing your thoughts are critical first steps to change.Mindset Shifts as We Age:Michael shares beautifully about the evolution of mindset in our later years—how we can become kinder to ourselves, focus less on differences, forgive ourselves more readily, and continue learning without shame.Leadership, Organizations & Measurable Change:We explore how intentionality, values-driven leadership, and genuine compassion can drastically improve not just individual performance, but organizational culture … and, yes, profits too!The Secrets to Successful Mindset Shifts:Michael gives actionable ways to catch negative self-talk and reset with powerful affirmations and consistency. He also draws on his own leap into consulting, encouraging listeners to notice both their longings and any lingering discontent—and to take action on what calls them.Key TakeawaysMindset is strategy, not fluff: Our thoughts shape emotions, drive actions, and ultimately create our results. Change your thinking to change your life.Notice your self-talk: The first step to change is awareness—“notice what you're noticing” and take action to re-pattern self-limiting beliefs.Preparation brings peace: Planning for the predictable makes the preventable possible, giving you strength and confidence under pressure at any age.Kindness begins with yourself: Especially as we age, give yourself grace, forgive mistakes, and never stop learning—much like a child learning to walk!Follow your...

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert, host and CEO, Dynamic Communities and Cloud Wars, is joined by Jen Harris, CEO of TMC, to explore how AI agents, automation, and mindset shifts are redefining business. Their discussion spans TMC's acquisition of TMG, leadership in the partner ecosystem, and why reimagining work is critical now, setting the stage for conversations at the 2026 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA.Key TakeawaysAI Requires Commitment, Not Caution: Harris emphasizes that half-measures slow progress more than they reduce risk. Organizations that just try one thing often abandon AI too quickly because early results aren't perfect. She notes, “You fail first at new things,” adding that true adoption requires patience, leadership backing, and a willingness to accept short-term discomfort for long-term gains.Solutions Beat Technology Stacks: Customers no longer want disconnected tools; they want outcomes. Harris explains that clients expect partners to “meet them where they are,” combining Power Platform, Azure, data, and AI into real solutions.Mindset Is the Real Bottleneck: While AI is already embedded in daily life, Harris observes resistance when it enters core business roles. “It's not quite here yet” is often code for fear of job impact. She challenges leaders to reframe AI as a workload reducer, asking, “What if it would make you less busy?”Reactive Roles Are Disappearing: Harris highlights a coming shift as agents take over repetitive, reactive work. Professionals who built careers on being indispensable specialists must evolve. People will move toward proactive creation, strategy, and value generation.Human Connection Still Matters: Despite rapid automation, Harris stresses that humanity isn't going away. Reflecting on in-person events, she says, “Look at you — you came out of your offices on a cold day, and we're talking.” AI may scale intelligence, but trust, inspiration, and shared understanding still comes from people. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In a podcast recorded at ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Doug Barbin, Chief Growth Officer at Schellman, about how rapid AI adoption is reshaping compliance requirements for MSPs, cloud providers, and technology companies. Barbin outlined Schellman's role as one of the largest independent providers of technology, risk, and AI-related compliance assessments, serving organizations across highly regulated industries. Barbin explained that AI adoption is accelerating far faster than previous technology shifts such as cloud computing, leaving many organizations scrambling to keep pace with evolving regulatory expectations. “The adoption of AI has come out four or five times as fast as what we saw with cloud,” Barbin said. “Organizations are now trying to keep up not just from a technology risk perspective, but also from a compliance and governance standpoint.” He pointed to emerging standards such as ISO 42001 as critical frameworks helping companies manage AI governance at scale. The conversation also explored the complexity of audits and how Schellman works to simplify the process. Barbin described a “collect once, use many” approach that allows organizations—particularly MSPs—to streamline compliance across multiple frameworks such as SOC 2, HIPAA, CMMC, and federal requirements. By reducing redundancy and aligning audits to customer needs, MSPs can more efficiently expand into regulated verticals they otherwise could not serve. Barbin concluded by emphasizing the opportunity compliance creates for MSPs as they grow into more regulated markets. By helping MSPs inherit and validate customer controls, Schellman enables service providers to scale responsibly while turning compliance into a business advantage rather than a barrier. Visit https://www.schellman.com/

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Oversight Hearing entitled “Economic Self-Determination in Action: Examining the Small Business Administration Native 8(a) Program” Date: February 10, 2026 Time: 9:30 AM Location: Dirksen Room: 628 Witnesses Panel 1 The Honorable Chuck Hoskin Jr. Principal Chief Cherokee Nation Tahlequah, Oklahoma Ms. Katherine Carlton President, Chugach Alaska Corporation Policy Chair, Native American Contractors Association Anchorage, Alaska Ms. Polly Watson Vice President of Operations Bristol Bay Native Corporation Anchorage, Alaska Ms. Cariann Ah Loo President Native Hawaiian Organizations Association Honolulu, Hawaii Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearings/oversight-hearing-entitled-economic-self-determination-in-action-examining-the-small-business-administration-native-8a-program/

What Arts-Based Tool & Tactics are Emerging to Meeting the MAGA Storm?This is the Arts Freedom weather report for February 11, 2026. In this episode you'll hear howArtists across the country are turning public space into sites of creative resistanceWhy local place based cultural responses in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and beyond are becoming frontline laboratories for cultural democratic practiceAnd how innovative artist led networks and cultural organizers are teaching resistance as a craft.NOTABLE MENTIONSPeopleBill ClevelandHost of ART IS CHANGE and founder of the Center for the Study of Art & Community.Renee Macklin GoodeMinneapolis poet and community member whose killing sparked mass protest, mourning, and cultural resistance. (Minnesota Public Radio)Nadya TolokonnikovaArtist and founding member of Pussy Riot; creator of Police State, referenced in connection with durational performance responding to ICE raids and militarization. (Museum of Modern Art)Daniel C. WalkerArtist whose work G Is for Genocide appeared in the New York exhibition Don't Look: A Defense of Free Expression.Khan Nguyen Hong GuArtist whose Miami Beach window installation protesting Gaza was removed; cited as an example of censorship pressure. (Artforum)Madeline DrunotDenver-based artist whose Little Saigon project became a flashpoint for debate over representation and censorship.Organizations, Networks & InitiativesCenter for the Study of Art & CommunityProducing organization for ART IS CHANGE.Fall of Freedom InitiativeGrassroots cultural protest effort coordinating hundreds of creative resistance actions nationwide.NYC Resistance SalonArtist-led network using digital billboards and public installations for political dissent.Banned Book BrigadeActivist effort highlighting censorship through public performance and visual protest. (PEN America contextual resource)New York Public LibrarySite of Banned Book Brigade actions and symbolic defense of intellectual freedom.

Mission, strategy, and planning are still important for business, even within government organizations. But almost all group and individual communications are evolving away from the old styles due to texting, emails, phone messages, and social media. In-person communication used to be very important, but not necessarily now.Examples of change areas include management, sales, delegation, staffing, and client contact. Good luck to you youngsters!Follow Us:YouTubeTwitterFacebookBlueskyAll audio & videos edited by: Jay Prescott Videography

What happens when danger comes from where you least expect it? Bart Womack dedicated nearly three decades of his life to serving the United States Army, rising to the highest enlisted ranks and leading soldiers in combat, training, and some of the most sacred roles in military service. But one moment forever changed his understanding of trust, leadership, and survival when he became a firsthand survivor of a deadly insider attack carried out by a fellow American soldier. This episode explores the psychological impact of betrayal, the long road to healing after trauma, and how Bart transformed one of the darkest moments of his life into a mission focused on prevention, awareness, and leadership. His story is not just about military service — it's about resilience, responsibility, and choosing purpose after devastation. Guest Bio Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Bart E. Womack served over 29 years in the United States Army, holding elite roles including Drill Sergeant, Ranger Instructor, and Sergeant of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A two-time combat veteran, Bart retired after serving as both Commandant of the 101st Airborne Division Noncommissioned Officers Academy and Command Sergeant Major of the 101st Airborne Division. Following his military career, Bart transitioned into film, consulting, and veteran advocacy, working in Hollywood as a military technical advisor and supporting veterans through education and mentorship. He is the author of Embedded Enemy, which recounts his survival of a deadly insider attack, and he now serves as a speaker and security consultant focused on mitigating insider threats and active shooter incidents. You'll hear About Bart's rise through the Army and leadership at the highest enlisted levels The insider attack that reshaped his understanding of trust and safety The emotional and psychological aftermath of surviving betrayal Turning trauma into advocacy, education, and prevention What leaders must understand about insider threats today Chapters 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 02:10 Bart's Early Military Path and Commitment to Service 05:20 Leadership Roles and Life in the 101st Airborne Division 08:30 Combat Experience and the Reality of Trust in Uniform 12:10 The Insider Attack and the Moment Everything Changed 16:30 Surviving Trauma, Shock, and Moral Injury 20:10 Writing Embedded Enemy and Processing the Experience 24:10 From Survivor to Advocate and Educator 27:30 Leadership Lessons for Organizations and Communities 30:30 Bart's Message on Vigilance, Awareness, and Responsibility 33:00 Chuck's Closing Reflections Chuck's Challenge This week, reflect on how you assess trust and awareness in your own environment. Whether at work, school, or in your community, ask yourself what proactive steps can be taken to protect people and create safer spaces without sacrificing humanity or connection. Connect with Bart Womack LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bart-womack-28170417/ Link to book to purchase book on Amazon  Connect with Chuck Check out the website: https://www.thecompassionateconnection.com/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-thuss-a9aa044/ Follow on Instagram: @warriorsunmasked Join the Warriors Unmasked community by subscribing to the show. Together, we're breaking stigmas and shining a light on mental health, one story at a time.

This week on the Traci explores what it really means to be cynical at work with Hywel Berry, CEO and founder of Alicorn Learning. A veteran of corporate leadership, sales, and organizational training, Hywel challenges the narrative that cynicism is inherently toxic—and argues that some of the most valuable people in your organization might just be the ones asking tough questions.Throughout this conversation, you'll discover how to harness skepticism as a leadership tool, understand why tone matters more than words, and learn what "realistic optimism" actually looks like when everything feels impossible.What we cover:The cynic paradoxChallenging without being dismissiveTone as strategyRealistic optimism in actionThe role of the natural cynicSpeaking up safelyFeedback meets cynicisIIntention versus impactCode switching for leadersMoving the needle forwardConnect with Hywel Berry:Website: alicornlearning.com | LinkedIn Connect with Traci:https://linktr.ee/HRTraciDisclaimer: Thoughts, opinions, and statements made on this podcast are not a reflection of the thoughts, opinions, and statements of the Company by whom Traci Chernoff is actively employed.Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

Most capital campaign advice comes from stories and experience. This episode brings three years of real data that confirms what actually works and what common fears miss.In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, host Amy Eisenstein is joined by Steven Shattuck, Director of Engagement and Technology at Capital Campaign Pro, to share findings from the third annual Capital Campaign Benchmark Report. Drawing on responses from more than 650 organizations, they explore what successful campaigns have in common, how annual funds perform during and after campaigns, and why gift distribution follows a predictable pattern that boards need to understand.Amy and Steven begin by explaining how the research is conducted and why the consistency across three years matters. Organizations at every stage were surveyed, from early planning to post campaign completion, creating a living dataset that reflects how campaigns actually unfold. With that foundation in place, they tackle one of the biggest questions nonprofit leaders ask. Are capital campaigns successful? The answer from the data is clear. An overwhelming majority of completed campaigns report success, even when final totals land below the original goal. Many organizations still complete transformative projects, expand services, and raise more money than ever before.The conversation then turns to a long standing concern that often stops campaigns before they start. What happens to the annual fund? The research shows that for most organizations, annual giving holds steady or increases during a campaign, followed by strong growth after the campaign concludes. Amy and Steven discuss why this happens and how thoughtful campaign planning strengthens donor relationships, systems, and staff capacity in ways that support long term fundraising health.They also break down one of the most misunderstood elements of campaign strategy. Where the money really comes from. New data confirms that a small group of lead donors provides the majority of campaign dollars, reinforcing the importance of a disciplined quiet phase, early leadership gifts, and a realistic gift range chart. This section offers clear language leaders can use with boards to explain why campaigns are built from the top down and inside out.Throughout the episode, the focus stays on practical insight backed by evidence. From feasibility studies to board expectations, this conversation equips nonprofit leaders with credible data they can use to plan, explain, and lead campaigns with confidence.You can download the full 2026 Capital Campaign Benchmark Report here and share it with your leadership teams as a grounding tool for smarter decisions.

In this episode of The People Dividend Podcast, Mike Horne interviews Radhika Dutt, author of 'Radical Product Thinking'. They discuss the limitations of traditional success metrics like goals and OKRs, and how these can lead to performance theater rather than genuine progress. Radhika introduces the concept of puzzle setting as a more effective approach to measuring success and fostering innovation. She shares insights from her work with organizations, demonstrating how a focus on learning and problem-solving can lead to significant business improvements.   Key Points: Goals and targets can create performance theater. Metrics should be tools for insight, not evaluation yardsticks. Organizations can achieve better results without traditional goals and Radhika's methodology has dramatically transformed companies' performance.  Radhika emphasizes the importance of shifting from traditional goal-setting to a puzzle-solving mindset, which encourages teams to explore problems deeply and collaboratively, leading to more innovative solutions.   Links:  Learn more about Mike Horne on Linkedin Email Mike at mike@mike-horne.com Learn More About Executive and Organization Development with Mike Horne Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikehorneauthor  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikehorneauthor/,  LinkedIn Mike's Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6867258581922799617/,  Schedule a Discovery Call with Mike: https://calendly.com/mikehorne/15-minute-discovery-call-with-mike     Learn More about Radhika Dutt: https://rdutt.com/  #peopledividendpodcast #podcastepisode #podcastrecommendations #RadicalProductThinking #Innovation #PerformanceTheater #PuzzleSolving #BusinessSuccess

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Rhonda Spratt. Founder of Bella Duvet Goes Pink, a Georgia‑based breast cancer awareness nonprofit inspired by her mother’s battle with metastatic breast cancer. Rhonda explains how her mother’s passing drove her to build a year‑round awareness and support organization specifically focused on ensuring women stay vigilant outside of October. She discusses early detection, the emotional and physical realities of breast cancer, the creation of her “Pink Box” care packages, her personal journey of healing, and how she balances nonprofit work with a full‑time commercial real estate career and active lifestyle.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Rhonda Spratt. Founder of Bella Duvet Goes Pink, a Georgia‑based breast cancer awareness nonprofit inspired by her mother’s battle with metastatic breast cancer. Rhonda explains how her mother’s passing drove her to build a year‑round awareness and support organization specifically focused on ensuring women stay vigilant outside of October. She discusses early detection, the emotional and physical realities of breast cancer, the creation of her “Pink Box” care packages, her personal journey of healing, and how she balances nonprofit work with a full‑time commercial real estate career and active lifestyle.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Rhonda Spratt. Founder of Bella Duvet Goes Pink, a Georgia‑based breast cancer awareness nonprofit inspired by her mother’s battle with metastatic breast cancer. Rhonda explains how her mother’s passing drove her to build a year‑round awareness and support organization specifically focused on ensuring women stay vigilant outside of October. She discusses early detection, the emotional and physical realities of breast cancer, the creation of her “Pink Box” care packages, her personal journey of healing, and how she balances nonprofit work with a full‑time commercial real estate career and active lifestyle.

In this episode of the Game Deflators podcast, hosts John and Ryan discuss a variety of topics including their recent game pickups, experiences with movie-based video games, and personal updates. They delve into the unique RPG mechanics of Valkyrie Profile, share their thoughts on the anime Record of Ragnarok, and review the indie game Iron Lung. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by Magic the Gathering's secret layers, Valve's Steam Machine delays, and the announcement of a new Horizon game. The episode concludes with a review of The Page Master as part of their Inflation Deflation Challenge. 00:00 Introduction to the Game Deflators Podcast 01:26 Exploring Movie-Based Video Games 05:05 Game Pickups and Drafting Magic The Gathering 08:32 Valkyrie Profile: Gameplay Insights 12:22 Record of Ragnarok: Anime Discussion 16:26 Iron Lung: Indie Game and Movie Review 21:04 Fighting Game Journey: Snackbox Micro and Guilty Gear Strive 28:13 Walking and Gaming: Dragon Quest XI Experience 32:37 The Evolving Landscape of JRPGs 36:10 Wizards of the Coast and the Secret Layer Dilemma 40:55 Final Fantasy Board Game Announcement 44:11 Valve's Steam Machines Delayed 55:13 New Horizon Game Announcement 01:01:09 The Page Master Game Review Find us on TheGameDeflators.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/GameDeflators Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheGameDeflators Instagram - www.instagram.com/thegamedeflators   The views and opinions expressed on this channel are solely those of the author. The content within these recordings are property of their respective Designers, Writers, Creators, Owners, Organizations, Companies and Producers. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted. Permission for intro and outro music provided by Matthew Huffaker http://www.youtube.com/user/teknoaxe 2_25_18

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Bamidele Farinre Founder of No Ceiling Consulting, a biomedical scientist, STEM expert, agile project manager, and advocate for professional development, mentorship, and removing internal and systemic limitations (“ceilings”). They discuss her STEM background, the evolving role of AI in science, the meaning of “no ceilings,” navigating personal and professional barriers, mentorship, setbacks, agile leadership, and how individuals—especially people of color—can create opportunity even in the face of bias and structural limitations.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Bamidele Farinre Founder of No Ceiling Consulting, a biomedical scientist, STEM expert, agile project manager, and advocate for professional development, mentorship, and removing internal and systemic limitations (“ceilings”). They discuss her STEM background, the evolving role of AI in science, the meaning of “no ceilings,” navigating personal and professional barriers, mentorship, setbacks, agile leadership, and how individuals—especially people of color—can create opportunity even in the face of bias and structural limitations.