58 | Identifying Opportunities for AI - Advocacy, Execution, and Culture Change | Chat Mode Insights Series

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Derek Russell |

Digital Advisor, Innovation | Microsoft US

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Today's discussion features a LIVE interview hosted by Chat Mode, a system integrator focused on implementing conversational AI, located in Bellevue Washington. This particular LIVE discussion is part of a multi segment series, the Chat Mode Insight Series - a sharing of best practices, information, and insights around everything chatbots, voice and AI technology.  Chad Oda, the host of the program and head of consulting at Chat Mode, engages with me in this discussion around AI adoption, program management, and the realities of accelerating successful AI projects with the world's biggest businesses and organizations.

The conversation covers topics that are often not discussed enough in the world of AI and machine learning - the ideas behind advocating for mission critical technological change, with the most progressive, evolving, and accessible tech - across a broad range of challenges ranging from organizational politics, AI maturity within an organization, all the way to choosing the right problems to align resources to solve, are all part of this discussion with Chad at Chat Mode.

***Navigate the episode***

[06:22] Recent learnings in the realm of AI deployment in large organizations

[08:20] How Derek is interacting with customers on the front-line

[10:35] The change of AI trends across the past couple of years, and the evolution of projects and use cases as technology accelerates through cloud computing

[16:55] The general sentiment Derek hears around AI at the executive level with the world’s largest organizations

[19:40] Use case identification and qualification when talking to business leaders

[26:25] The various mindsets around technology adoption and deployment within organizations

[31:31] The characterization of AI strategy and how to get customers to think through this strategy

[40:50] Chatbot solution adoption, and the business value demonstrated by automated AI solutions

[46:29] The future of chat bots, voice, and other integration technologies

[50:20] Relevant examples of specific business problems and customer outcomes

[54:57] Finding motivation and inspiration in the world of AI – the importance of the democratization of skilling and learning in AI/ML

***Resources and Links***

Chad Oda LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadoda/

Chat Mode - https://www.linkedin.com/company/chatmode/

The Data Binge Podcast with Brandon Rohrer

The Data Binge Podcast with Elnaz Sarraf

Microsoft Garage - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/

57 | A Culture of Creating Hope, Strength, and Joy | The Feedback Loop of Gratitude

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Joe Forline |

Sr. Manager of Chapter Advancement | Make-A-Wish

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Today's episode features Joe Forline. Joe is a Sr. Manager of Chapter Advancement at Make-A-Wish America. Make-a-wish creates life changing experiences for children with critical illnesses. Founded in 1980, Make-A-Wish has granted over 330,000 wishes for children with critical illnesses in the US, and 15,800 wishes in 2019 alone - when a child's wish is granted by Make-A-Wish, it helps build the physical and emotional strength needed to combat critical illness. This idea, making contributions of energy, gratitude, and love in the form of acts of kindness, are at the center of the today's episode.

Joe brings with him both a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Mechanical engineering, and began his career as a product engineer at L3 Technologies, an Aerospace & defense business, who provides solutions to DoD, the United States Intelligence Community, and Nasa. You will learn more about what pulled Joe to Make-a-wish, and you'll learn more about the idea of purpose and the very human emotions that come along with serving others. If you are wondering how you can contribute to the welfare of others, or you are searching for something to be a part of that will enrich your life and the lives of others, you'll find this episode enlightening for you, as Joe helps us navigate the essence of giving and the simplicity of the process.

If you would like to contribute at any level or capacity, to create a life changing experience for a child with a critical illness, you can navigate to wish.org to learn more.

***Navigate the episode***

[06:44] What Joe’s role is at Make-A-Wish

[09:46] The mission of Make-A-Wish, the magic of a wish to the child that it serves

[16:29] A favorite story of Joe’s favorite wish, and other memorable examples

[18:31] What prompted Joe to do work that serves others, and how Joe made the transition from aerospace and defense, to a non-profit

[23:24] How the work at Make-A-Wish has changed the way Joe sees the world.

[26:06] “Mission Monday moment’s” – the importance of anchoring an organization in it’s mission, and how this impacts culture

[29:02] The feedback loop of gratitude expression within an organization, and the lasting impact across it’s people

[34:28] How gratitude can help define and direct organizational culture

[37:03] Applications, methods, and tools used to generate gratitude across an organization

[45:57] Additional thoughts on how to contribute to causes we care for – how to get started

***Resources and Links***

Joe P. Forline LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-p-forline/

Joe P. Forline Email - jforline@wish.org

Make-A-Wish - https://wish.org/

Brody’s Wish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US0AICx_LKs

Gabe’s Wish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRl1cpR-eF8

Kudos App - https://www.kudos.com/

Richard K. Davis - https://wish.org/news-releases/new-ceo

Gordon Ramsay - https://www.gordonramsay.com/

Life Rolls On - https://liferollson.org/

56 | The New Culture of Work | Bridging the Digital Divide

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Gina Loften |

Chief Technology Officer - Microsoft US

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Today's episode is a Simply Tech LIVE interview featuring my co-host, Ali Mazaheri, and our special guest, Gina Loften. Gina is the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft US, where she connects business leaders to unique perspectives that inspire them to drive the future of their business and accelerate and deliver digital transformational journeys built on deep customer knowledge and industry expertise.

Prior to Gina's career at Microsoft, she led global initiatives for IBM’s Watson, served as IBM’s CTO for North America Consulting Services and Hybrid Cloud, and was a leader in IBM’s Global Cloud Consulting Services business unit. Outside of Microsoft, she has served on the boards of George Mason Research Foundation, Museum of Life and Science, and Rise Against Hunger. Gina has addressed social topics that include how AI can help mental health among veterans, the true value of data for government and how open source can bring agencies to the cloud.

Gina graduated from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering - a Historically Black Research University. Gina is incredibly passionate about Diversity & Inclusion, diverse thinking in the future of the workplace both internally and externally as it impacts people and organizations globally, and inclusion, inspiring today's youth to achieve their goals and inclusive work cultures that bring accessibility into a more modern workplace. Gina's thought leadership consistently finds a place across Women in Tech and Girls in Stem dialogues in the industry and across various communities.

***Navigate the episode***

[07:47] Common trends Gina has seen within the industry following the cross section of technology and culture

[10:43] Gina’s career at IBM, and the main differences between tech giants IBM and Microsoft

[12:49] The definition of the connected customer experience

[15:59] How Gina’s personal journey of adversity has helped her develop a perspective of empathy, compassion, and contribution

[20:20] Specific areas of interest that energize Gina across technology and business

[27:06] How those seeking career success can leverage experience and opportunities in the journey to leadership

[26:51] Gina’s guidance to those looking for highly technical leadership roles in large organizations

***Resources and Links***

Contact Gina Loften

DigiGirlz at Microsoft

55 | Robotics, Machine Intelligence, and the New Era of Learning

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Brandon Rohrer |

Principal Data Scientist - iRobot | Instructor - End to End Machine Learning

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Today's episode features Brandon Rohrer, Principal Data Scientist at iRobot. iRobot is an American robotics company that designs and builds consumer robots, including the Roomba, an AI powered autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner. Brandon is also the founder and lead instructor of an online course, "End-to-end Machine Learning", or E2EML, is a fun and very helpful learning environment focused on helping students learn the fundamental concepts in python based machine learning & AI. E2EML just hit 10,000 students around the original time of our LIVE discussion, so congratulations to Brandon on that huge achievement. If you are interested in learning or further understanding machine learning topics from basic to advanced, definitely take a look at his course, links included below.

Brandon brings with him a deep math and sciences background with graduate and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as data science experiences from modeling plant genetics, to teaching and solving problems in big tech at Microsoft to Facebook, to helping robots do more efficient and intelligent jobs, at iRobot.

***Navigate the episode***

[08:03] What Brandon does at iRobot and how he got into data science 

[12:45] The types of problems in the world, that make data science so important right now 

[16:06] What Brandon likes about difficult problems and what his framework is when approaching them 

[21:59] The difference between robotics and machine intelligence 

[25:08] Brandon’s opinions and perspectives on intelligence: narrow vs broad 

[29:43] Specific limitations to technology that Brandon thinks people and organizations should consider 

[33:44] What Brandon thinks should be done to make it easier for folks to truly democratize opportunities behind quickly evolving technologies 

[38:28] The mindset needed to explore key new concepts 

[43:15] Brandon’s fear management protocol 

[46:31] The importance of teaching robotics to children 

[50:18] What Brandon’s End-to-End Machine Learning school is all about 

54 | Personalized Learning for Every Child | Modernizations in Education with AI

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Elnaz Sarraf |

Founder & CEO | Roybi Robot

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Today's episode is a Simply Tech LIVE interview featuring my co-host, Ali Mazaheri, and our special guest, Elnaz Sarraf. Elnaz is the Founder & CEO of ROYBI, an investor-backed EdTech company that raised $4.2 million in its seed round, focusing on early childhood education and self-guided learning through artificial intelligence. Roybi is the creator of Roybi Robot, an interactive language learning tutor for children 3 and older, featuring 500+ lessons, 70 Subject Categories, and 70,000 vocabularies, that grow over time with your child.

Roybi Robot was featured in TIME Magazine's "100 best inventions of 2019", and recognized in the 2019 World Changing Ideas list by Fast Company, and is on the 2019 CNBC Upstart 100 list as one of the world’s most promising startups. Roybi Robot's mission is quite clear,  "to provide a personalized learning experience for every child, highlighting their unique abilities and interests. We create a strong educational foundation for children during early childhood, putting them on track for a successful future". Even I was a bit skeptical of AI technology and early child education - having young kids myself, but I think you will find like I did, the conversation will really open your mind to new ways this could be good your child. I'll also have to admit that it is on my Christmas list for this year.

Elnaz grew up as a woman in Iran, and due to her personal experiences around cultural limitations of opportunities, she was inspired to create technology that would empower others - and you can really feel this in Elnaz's passion as she navigates the discussion. Elnaz has over 15 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur, and also led and co-founded iBaby, a consumer electronics/IoT company, and leader in the baby monitor industry. Elnaz has been awarded numerous honoris including being selected as a Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Maker, she was also included in the Silicon Valley Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2017, and recognized as a Female Entrepreneur of the Year by Women World Awards in 2017. Most recently, Elnaz has been invited to be an official member of the Forbes Technology Council. 

***Navigate the episode***

[09:13] The specific problem ROYBI solves, and Elnaz’s approach to the solution

[11:39] How ROYBI can be used to help children with special needs

[13:58] What brought Elnaz to the US and how she ended up becoming an entrepreneur

[17:48] Feedback Elnaz has gotten from the kids and parents who are using ROYBI in their homes

[20:21] The design journey and continuous feedback loop needed to create ROYBI

[26:26] What Elnaz’s thoughts are for the future, how education needs to evolve and personalize

[31:57] Opportunities for ROYBI to help enable teachers in the classroom

[34:42] Interaction limitations, curriculum, and data driven experiences between children and the robot

[37:03] Additional growth areas in AI and ML with Roybi Robot – the future of data driven education 

[40:53] Advice Elnaz has for parents who seek to guide their own children with their personalized learning curriculums

[43:20] Elnaz’s advice to women who want to become entrepreneurs and engage in start-up culture

53 | Leadership, Navigating Fear, Finding Empathy | My Top 10 Learnings from 3 Years at Microsoft

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Today's episode is a solo discussion, culminating the top 10 learnings I've pulled away from a little over 3 years working at Microsoft US. These learnings were the outcome of numerous collaborations with amazing colleagues, mentors, and leaders within the Microsoft ecosystem and network. None of these were possible without the incredible opportunities provided by a thriving culture that is incentivized on empathy, creating impact for others and leveraging the impact of others, and a dynamic sense of doing things that are good for the world.

 

Top 10 Learnings:

 

1.      What makes you fearful, is a worthy pursuit

2.      Lead with empathy

3.      Establish a routine

4.      Be clear about your values, and do your best to align your work, with your values

5.      Don't start your day until you finish it

6.      Write a damn good email

7.      Lead every human engagement with positivity & energy

8.      Do your best to include the smallest voice in the room

9.      Have a distinct and specific vision, and revisit often

10.   What is your legacy?

***Navigate the episode***

[03:10] What makes you fearful is a worth pursuit

[07:58] Lead with empathy

[11:30] Establish a routine

[15:43] Be clear about your values

[18:10] Don’t start your day until you finish it

[22:14] You have to track you time if you want to manage your time

[27:44] Lead every human engagement with positivity and energy

[29:00] Do your best to include the smallest voice in the room

[30:40] Have a distinct and specific vision and revisit that vision often

[34:37] Determine what your legacy is

52 | Hire for Character, Train for Skill | What Organizations Can Learn from Special Operations Forces

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Today's episode is a LIVE recording of The Data Binge podcast, hosted on LinkedIn, featuring Mike Sarraille, and George Randle. the co-authors of "The Talent War: How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent". The Talent War is available for pre-order, and scheduled to be made available anywhere you can buy books, on November 10th, 2020, in line with the United States Marine Corps Birthday, hallmarking the same day in 1775, when the Continental Marines were established.

Mike Sarraille is a retired US Navy SEAL office, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, and the CEO and Co-Founder of EF Overwatch, an executive Search Firm and Talent Advisory, specializing in the recruiting, training and placement of U.S special operations forces veterans with organizations seeking top talent, co-founded with Jocko Willink. Mike served 15 years as an officer in the SEAL Teams, and 5 years in the US Marine Corps as an enlisted Recon Marine and Scout-Sniper. Mike served in SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, alongside “Extreme Ownership” authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, where he led major combat operations that played a pivotal role in the Battle of Ramadi in 2006. Mike assumed duties as the primary leadership instructor for all officers graduating from the SEAL training pipeline, and was then selected for assignment to the Joint Special Operations Command where he completed multiple combat deployments. Mike is a recipient of the Silver Star, six Bronze Stars, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, and a Purple Heart.

George Randle combines 20+ years of Fortune 100 and Fortune 1000 global Human Resources and Talent Acquisition Executive experience enabling individuals, teams and organizations achieve consistent and impactful outcomes. George is Hogan (HPI, HDS and MVPI) Leadership Assessment Certified, and began his professional life by enlisting in the US Army Reserve, where he got his commission as an Active Duty Army Officer through ROTC. George’s career assignments included the US Army Berlin Brigade, US CENTCOM and III Corps with deployments to Africa, Central America and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Over the course of his active duty time he was privileged to serve in key leadership assignments – twice as a Platoon Leader, as the Executive Officer for the largest company in Berlin and finally 2 years as a Company Commander at Ft. Hood, Texas. In George's transition to the corporate world, he created the first Junior Military Officer Hiring Program for a Top-5 consulting firm, and went on to create one of the largest and most successful Veteran Hiring Programs for a Global Fortune 50 firm. In both instances, these programs resulted in the employer being ranked as a Top 100 Military Friendly Employer. For the last 20 years, concurrently with his roles as a Talent Acquisition Executive, George has trained and coached 1000’s of Veterans on interviewing and career search skills. Today, George is the VP and Head of Global Talent Acquisition at Forcepoint, an industry-leading cyber security firm.

***Items we discuss in the episode***

[11:20] The driving forces in George and Mike’s lives that prompted them to write their book, “The Talent War”

[16:27] The current state rigidity in hiring processes,  and the importance of talent

[18:03] The “talent” mindset”, vs the growth mindset – what organization must have to be successful

[23:32] The Chief Human Resources Office role, the values, principles, and trats of leaders that should step into this role in any organization

[31:48] The interview process

[42:04] Culture and likeability as critical factors vs non-factors, for candidate selection

[52:57] Talent retention and hiring for technical talent – maintaining the philosophy of hiring for character and training for skill, in highly technical roles

[01:11:30] What is next for George and Mike after the release of “The Talent War


51 | Leadership, Sustainability, and Solutions for Transformations in Manufacturing

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Tracy Galloway | US Vice President of Manufacturing | Microsoft US

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Today's episode is a Simply Tech LIVE interview, capturing a new mini-series the program is doing on Transformations in Industry, Manufacturing. The episode features our guest co-host, Greg Vigil, Industry Director for Manufacturing at Microsoft - who is Microsoft’s in-vertical expert on all things industry related - and our very special guest for the episode, Tracy Galloway, US Vice President of Manufacturing at Microsoft. Tracy has more than 20 years of experience in technology, some of her experiences include, Director level leadership at Unilever North America, as well as more than 15 years at Hewlett Packard, holding experiences ranging from managing the Ford Motor company relationship, all the way to multiple VP level roles including Channel and Attach sales, US technology services, and Strategy, Segments, and Alliances. At Microsoft, Tracy spent time as the regional VP of Microsoft's enterprise commercial team in the great lakes, as well as leading the Microsoft US services team just last year. Tracy brings an immense amount of passion and energy to the discussion.

***Items we discuss in the episode***

[08:10] Microsoft's new Manufacturing industry vertical, and why Microsoft decided to carve out a special organization specifically for manufacturing customers and partners

[09:05] High level solutions and key scenarios that are driving business impact in manufacturing, and the “why now” impetus for the market

[16:10] The importance of strategic partnerships and cohesive collaboration for digital work accelerations in manufacturing

[19:25] Tracy's experiences as a woman VP, and the importance of female leadership in the industry

[23:25] One of Tracy’s most passion fueled focus areas in manufacturing: sustainability. Why it’s important for manufacturers globally, and the leadership that Microsoft is exemplifying in the space.

[26:40] What Greg is seeing when it comes to sustainability across large global organizations

[29:48] Tracy’s thoughts on organizational skilling and education in the quickly evolving and maturing world of cloud and AI,

[32:29] Greg’s thoughts on how Microsoft is differentiating through education based approaches to technology adoption

[33:50] What Tracy thinks business leaders in manufacturing should be thinking about when they want to partner with a large tech organizations like Microsoft


50 | Empathy - The Most Effective Journey to Innovations in AI

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Ed Essey | Director of Intrapreneurship & Incubation - Microsoft Garage | Microsoft

 

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Today's episode is a Simply Tech LIVE interview featuring my co-host, Ali Mazaheri, and our guest, Ed Essey. Ed is the Director of Intrapreneurship & Incubation in the Microsoft Garage, a program that delivers and drives a culture of innovation, and is largely responsible for coming up with some very creative Microsoft AI products that exist today in the market. One of which is Video Indexer, a media AI technology that makes it easier to extract insights from videos. The product has won numerous design and innovation awards including the 2019 National Association of Broadcasters or NAB product of the year, and Video Indexer brings together everything from facial detection to visual content moderation. It's a really cool way to see multiple AI models working within one solution, and a great example of the types of ideas that can be brought forward by very intentionally designed innovation programming.

Ed is a titan in the world of innovation, and has spent his entire career focused on creating new things at start-ups and in the enterprise, as well as hiring people who can do this very well while creating programs that bring new ideas forward. Ed's been at Microsoft for almost 19 years, and brings with him a BS Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.

We talk today with Ed deeply about how organizations are typically approaching machine learning and advanced technologies with focus on scale and optimization, but why the true focus should be on purpose. We talk about innovation as a culture, and get into some depth around Ed's recent project experiences, including on AI solution for families of children with Epilepsy, to unlock real human experiences and proximity. This is a discussion around AI and it's most important sub component, Empathy.

***Items we discuss in the episode***

[5:04] How Ed and the Garage are helping families of children with epilepsy

[7:09] How Microsoft Garage fosters a culture of innovation

[9:50] How putting empathy in action caused a huge cultural shift in Microsoft and how it impacts customers and employees

[12:18] Functional programs at Microsoft Garage that Ed is proud of and have helped move projects forward

[14:39] How the Microsoft Technology Center leverages technology and bring team members together despite the pandemic affecting the human-to-human element

[17:29] How people view innovations and how Ed perceives of innovation as an ecosystem

[20:36] How building technical solutions without working with customers first and building empathy, is just premature speculation 

[29:10] Ed's take on underfunding versus overfunding ideas and how he looks to address this

[34:16] Ali and Ed's thoughts on the idea of interoperability and open source community

[39:28] How Microsoft handles privacy data

[41:26] How to apply empathy first in any company

49 | Advancing the Careers of Diverse Leaders | Management Leadership for Tomorrow

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Today's episode features a dialogue with Kendra Crook, Sr. MBA Prep Coach at Management for Leadership for Tomorrow or (MLT). MLT is a non-profit organization specifically focused on changing the face of leadership in the private and social sectors, by driving break through results for individuals and institutions. The Rising Leaders that MLT seeks to target and then develop, are high achieving Black, LatinX, and Native American's, and this is accomplished through a portfolio of programs ranging from new to Career Prep, early career MBA Prep, to the more senior Career Advancement Programming.

90% of MLT's undergraduates receive an offer for a high trajectory job, and 90% of MLT's MBA prep students get into a top 10 business school. Currently, there are over 1500 MLTers in high impact roles in the tech industry, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Microsoft. To name a few, corporate partners of MLT include: Bain & Company, Nike, Amazon, Andreessen Horowitz, Capital One, Google, and the NFL.

Kendra's work, focused on the MBA Prep work of the organization, and through her 13 year tenure at MLT,  has impacted over 600 fellows of the program, myself included.


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48 | "Data Science for All - Feeding the AI Economy

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Andrew Strong | Head of Business Operations | Correlation One

Andrew Strong is the Head of Business Operations at Correlation One, an organization headquartered in New York, focused on building technologies, programs, and frameworks that help companies find, evaluate, and train the world's best data science and analytics talent. Andrew finished his undergrad at Stanford University, with a BS in Management Science & Engineering, and spent the first decade of his career in roles ranging from heavy analyst type engagements with the likes of oil & gas bio-tech businesses, as well as developing investment strategies and financial models/simulations with JP Morgan Asset Management. Andrew has also spent some time in the valley, developing sales and operations strategy for Salesforce's platform business. I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew in business school, while we pursued our MBA's, class of 2017, UT Austin, McCombs School of Business.

 

47 | Authentic CEO Communications - Developing an Acute Understanding of the Multi-constituent World

Today's show is a Simply Tech LIVE interview featuring my co-host, Ali Mazaheri, and our guest, Caitlin McCabe. Caitlin has been at Microsoft for almost 11 years, and is currently the Sr. Director of CEO Communications in the office of Microsoft's CEO, Sathya Nadella. Across the discussion, Caitlin visits the key constructs of what it means to truly understand and be acutely aware of all constituents on a global scale, and the global impact and responsibility that is placed on the shoulders of the CEO, of a global organization.

46 | The "Why" of Creating a Show - A Starter Discussion to Podcasting & LIVE Streaming

Today's episode is a recording of a LIVE interview discussion, hosted on LinkedIn LIVE, featuring a program called "The Example Show" produced by Ryan Swanstrom. Ryan is a heavily credentialed Software Engineer, with a Masters in Math from Iowa State University, and a PHD in Computational Science and Statistics. Ryan's experience spans across over 20 years of working with notable enterprises including Northrup Grumman, all the way through to organizations like Wells Fargo and Microsoft, and most recently, Ryan consults for various organizations on his own, while late and current projects focus on reporting and analytics related to buying pattern during the COVID Pandemic. Ryan is also the author of the oldest data science blog on the internet, Data Science 101, started in 2012.

"The Example Show", featured in today's episode, is a weekly live Interview show that dives into the challenges and the successes of creating a weekly/monthly show, LIVE streaming program, podcast, etc. Ryan brings on some really talented guests to talk about different elements of how and why they create content, and LIVE streams the interview on LinkedIn LIVE.  Today Ryan brings Derek Russell, the host of the Data Binge Podcast, onto his show as a guest, to talk about the "Why" of creating a show.

45 | Re-imagining the K-12 Education Experience - Innovation, Tech, & Capital

Today's discussion features Ian Connell. Ian is an Investment Principal at Charter School Growth Fund, a non-profit focusing on making multi-year philanthropic investments in public charter school networks. Charter School Growth Fund supports nearly 480,000 students, around 90% are students of color, and around 75% come from economically disadvantaged families. Charter School Growth Fund uses an approach similar to the venture funding model, to identify the country's best public charter schools, and to fund their expansion with the specific goal of increasing the school's vision and educational impact.

Over the past 6 years at Charter School Growth Fund, Ian has focused his efforts on ed-tech and innovation in K-12 schools, and while on the investment team leading an innovation and technology strategy, Ian spends his time visiting schools, and talking to founders and partners to try to understand and identify, which school systems are developing the most novel and impactful approach to education, with the end of goal of taking the most robust and proven education designs, and scaling them to other schools to ultimately impact as many children as possible. Ian brings with him an MBA from the University of Chicago, The Booth School of Business, typically a top 3 business school globally year over year according to US News, and we find some time in the talk to visit how Ian was able to completely shift his career trajectory through the aid of a non-profit fellowship called Management Leadership for Tomorrow, an organization focused on equipping and empowering high achieving men and women from underrepresented communities. The talk today visits all of these cohesive ideas around the provision of opportunities and programming to populations that normally wouldn't have access to them.

44 | Exploring the Realities of Racism Through Virtual Reality (VR)

Today's discussion features Courtney D. Cogburn and Jeremy Bailenson. Courtney is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Columbia University, Courtney is on the faculty of the Columbia Population Research Center and a faculty affiliate of the Center on African American Politics and Society and the Data Institute. Courtney's work focuses on the ways that society characterizes and measures racism, the effects of cultural racism in media, as well as the effects of racism on cultural inequalities in health. Jeremy Bailenson is a Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, and is also the Founding Director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. Jeremy studies the psychology of Virtual and Augmented Reality, specifically how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. Jeremy's work predominantly focuses on important social and behavioral issues including climate change, homelessness, and now, racism.

Courtney and Jeremy join the broadcast to talk about their collaboration on "1000 Cut Journey" an immersive virtual reality experience, that allows participants of the experience, to become Michael Sterling, a fictional black male character, as he encounters racism as a young child, an adolescent, and a young adult. The world premier of the experience was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival Virtual Arcade in 2018, as well as at the New Orleans Film Festival Cinema Reset in 2018.

43 | **Happy Juneteenth** - Celebrating Freedom in 2020

This episode is recognizing today, Friday, June 19th, 2020, Juneteenth or otherwise known as Freedom Day. This State holiday, which is now observed by 46 states, originated from June 19, 1865, commemorating the day the remaining black slaves in the Confederacy were made aware of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation - which was an executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln, on January 1st, 1863, changing the federal legal status of black slaves in the confederate states, from slaves to free people. Almost 2 years after the signing of this document, black slaves in Texas, where confederate sympathizers fled to from other southern states to evade the Union armies, the black slaves were finally made aware that they were indeed free.

Today's episode is a series of (3) LIVE interviews taken from the February 2020 BAM conference, or Blacks at Microsoft conference. BAM is Microsoft's oldest employee resource group, just over 30 years old, dedicated to supporting the continued growth and development of black employees.

We talk about everything from how BAM is helping to create a more diverse future workforce, to the real nature of identifying unconscious bias, we hear from a white ally about things they are working at to get better as a leader, and we talk about how to deal with additional cultural stigmas that people are challenged with in today's workforces.

42 | Anchoring Humanity in Compassionate Conversation

Rodney Campbell and Keith Richardson are hosts of the More in Common Podcast, where their work around guest discussions, focuses on amplifying voices, and abstracting stories that leverage real human experiences. Keith and Rodney are professional conversationalists, but in the context of having really tough conversations, and having them well. As a result of their podcast they also launched a consulting business, where they help organizations engage in the fundamental fact that we all have more in common than that which divides us, and the basis for this, is anchoring humanity in compassionate conversation.

41 | Building AI to Reflect Our Diverse World

Noelle Silver is the VP of Digital Technology at National Public Radio (NPR), where she leads the engineering organization across initiatives ranging from the Alexa skills platform to mobile application development. Noelle has over 20 years of experience in tech. As a Principal Program Manager in the enterprise voice group at Microsoft AI, she led programs that empowered developers with AI algorithms that help applications see, hear, speak and understand user needs across the Microsoft application and tooling portfolios. Before NPR and Microsoft, Noelle was at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for 4 years, spending 3 of those years with the Alexa group as an evangelist and technical manager for the Alexa and Echo. Across her many other experiences, you will find that Noelle is surely an icon in the voice related AI space, as she has personally built a gambit of over 100 skills relating to all things enterprise voice, mental health, and self-development.

Amongst Noelle's interests both personally and professionally, she is the founder of the AI Institute, which empowers organizations to think more deeply about AI, and she's also a founder of Women in AI, focusing on the amazing work that women are doing in the AI field ranging from voice to augmented reality. Noelle's been on NBC news to talk about how robots can make meaningful contributions to the arts, and was recently identified across the online tech community to be the #1 in a top 10 lineup of the best key-note speakers to have at your AI events.

40 | The (2) Most Important Financial Decisions of Your Life - Spend Less than You Earn & Invest Early & Often

Today's discussion, features, Jeremy Schneider, self-made multi-millionaire, retiree at 34 years old, and now founder of Personal Finance Club (@personalfinanceclub on Instagram), an organization built with the sole purpose of spreading the word that living below your means and investing early and often in index funds, is the most efficient and effective path to building wealth. Jeremy turned down a handsome offer from Microsoft 17 years ago, after interning as a software developer. Armed with a BS in computer engineering and a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and with the help of his mom, grew Rentlinx.com, a rental property advertisement business, from a desktop under his desk in his living room, to a $5M dollar business, all while over the course of about a decade never paying himself more than a $36k salary. Jeremy is an absolute titan of personal finance, and his mission is to offer free, real deal no strings attached knowledge on how to make better financial decisions.

39 | Enhancing the Virtual Meeting: Why Technology Is Not the Answer to Better Collaborations

Today's discussion features Matt Homann, CEO and Founder of Filament, an organization that designs, facilitates, and hosts collaborative meetings, conferences, off-sites and any type of human collaboration environment, with the objective of enabling meetings to produce measurable results that move organizations forward.

For more than 20 years, Matt has been involved in the leadership spaces of designing creative experiences in everything including learning, skill building, collaboration and knowledge delivery. From building in person and virtual spaces that allow people to have better meetings, which he does at Filament today, to using arts to teach business skills, all the way to disseminating hard to explain concepts through illustrations and the drawing of pictures. Matt is an attorney by trade,  holding a JD from the Washington University St. Louis School of Law, and not only spent time practicing earlier in his career, but also taught pre-trial practice and procedure as an adjunct professor of law at his alma mater.

Matt describes how he's explicitly stitched together the many opportunities in his career in areas like law, with the collection of experiences in creative design thinking type endeavors as a consultant and leader, and his experiences as entrepreneurship building innovative conferences and meeting places. It's clear that Matt is one of the top practitioners in helping people and organizations collaborate better together.