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198 The Future of Tech with #1 Tech Analyst R “Ray” Wang Chairman Constellation Research

198 The Future of Tech w/ #1 Tech Analyst R "Ray" Wang Chairman Constellation Research

What really happened in 2020? Where’s the world of technology heading? What does the future of software look like and what do we all have to be prepared for? We discuss all these and a whole lot more with Ray Wang. He’s the number one tech analyst in the world and the founder of Constellation Research. Today, give us some powerful insights as we go forward into 2021.

Salesforce Slack

Christopher and Ray dive into the discussion with COVID hypocrisy and Ray’s thoughts on the Salesforce Slack $27 billion deal, and where he sees the future of technology headed. He emphasizes the idea of business graphs and how this can potentially tap tribal knowledge for business  and become a great acquisition. It is the kind of category acceleration deal that is fit for category designers, visionary entrepreneurs and CEOs who are trying to shape the future as opposed to monetizing the present or past.

“Why would we want a business graph in our business? The goal of the business graph is so that we can start making better decisions. We call them precision decisions and the goal is to improve this concept called decision velocity. Which, I talk a lot about in my book, are basically machines making decisions a hundred times per second.” – Ray Wang


Ad Revenue

Ray discusses how top companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are competing head-on for digital advertising revenue. A massive winner takes all market and digital ads of category kings who are running some of the largest market shares in each of their categories. These category kings are battling for six areas of monetization: ad revenues, search revenues, goods, services, and membership subscriptions. 

“There’s all your digital monetization models. Now I won’t say too much before my book comes out. That’s what we spent a lot of time talking about. These different monetization plays that are happening. We talk about how value chains are collapsing, but in Salesforce and in Microsoft’s case, they’re building this business operating system or this business nervous system. That’s actually coming in the transactions between  sales orders.” – Ray Wang

Zoom in Light of Slack Salesforce Deal

Through every single video revolution the problem with video was there was never enough bandwidth. Ray shares how Zoom needs to go beyond meetings and discover the ability to integrate with everyone else. Whether this means selling at their peak and letting other people build or integrate into a future broadcast platform. 

“You have your own personal ad network with the zoom. You’re basically internal only. I mean, they have the ability to do all those kinds of things. You can actually do broadcasts. You are a video property. You are basically a media property. They haven’t taken it from tool to where now the broadcast property kind of like YouTube is the broadcast pot property. So someone who’s creative enough thinking about this market that wants to go after it pretty hard could attempt to kind of work with them in that regard. Though the valuation is so high, right? That’s the challenge. – Ray Wang

Bio:

R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman of Silicon Valley based Constellation Research, Inc.

He’s also the author of the popular business strategy and technology  blog “A Software Insider’s Point of View”.

With viewership in the 10’s of millions of page views a year, his blog provides insight into how disruptive technologies and new business models such as digital transformation impact brands, enterprises, and organizations.

Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.

His new best selling book Disrupting Digital Business, published by Harvard Business Review Press and now globally available provides insights on why 52% of the Fortune 500 have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.

In fact, this impact of digital disruption is real.  However, it’s not the technologies that drive this change. It’s a shift in how new business models are created.

Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Personify, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He is a prominent and dynamic keynote speaker and research analyst working with clients on digital, innovation, business model design, engagement strategies, customer experience, matrix commerce, and big data.

His Silicon Valley research firm, Constellation Research, Inc., advises Global 2000 companies on the future, business strategy, and disruptive technology adoption.

Ray is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and well quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC TV, Reuters, IDG News Service, and other global media outlets.  Wang has thrice won the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) Analyst of the Year Award.

Links:

Constellation Research: Ray Wang

Personal Log: Understanding Case Fatality Rates For #COVID19 #CoronaVirus

Linkedin: Ray Wang

Twitter: @rwang0

RayWang.org

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

177 God: A Different Dialogue | Pastor Dave Ferguson

177 God: A Different Dialogue / Pastor Dave Ferguson

Now you might be asking, why are we dealing with God on a business podcast? Well, first of all, if you’re a regular listener, you should know this is no normal business podcast. When this crisis started, we decided to steer right into this crisis, to frankly, help and scale ourselves to meet the challenge of this time.

In this episode, Pastor Dave Ferguson joins us to talk about God. He is an award-winning author and the founder/lead pastor of Chicago’s Community Christian Church. His book Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices For Leaders To Multiply Leaders is a must-read. Pay special attention to pastor Dave’s thoughts on what he thinks God wants for all of us. 

Evil Cloaking As Christians

Chris shares with Pastor Dave what has been occupying his mind and heart in the past months. Aside from another recent family accident, Chris shares how the case of the murder of his best friend has finally come to a close. The Santa Cruz police brought his murder to justice after they captured the four murderers. 

“The other thing you should know is, my dear friend Tushar, was a — and these are his words — a brown guy. They [murderers] we’re young, 19, 22, and 23. These men who murdered Tushar are white Baptists from Southern California.” – Christopher Lochhead

Too Much Evil In The World

Chris shares he does not expect anything from the baptist church, but at least a public denouncement of evil, especially after they learned that these murderers belonged to the said church. In fact, the father of one of the criminals is a pastor. 

“But just like with the discussion around the police, Pastor Dave, are there bad police? Yes, there are. Are there bad Muslims? Yes, there are. Are there bad Christians? Yes, there are bad human beings. Evil is a very real thing.” – Christopher Lochhead

Having Important Conversations

Pastor David recounts to Chris a few stories he had about the racial disparity and the clamor for equality. He spoke about African-American pastors and colleagues and about his parents (also pastors) who also joined the movement to have important conversations in their congregation.

Pastor David also shares what he asks others from other people who are searching for meaning.

“For people that are really sincerely seeking, I’m going like ‘just continue to search that, continue to pursue that. If it’s real, because we’re talking about God, in this case, he’ll make himself real to you.’ In fact, I’ll even sometimes challenge people, ‘hey, take 30 days and just pray ‘God, if you’re real, make yourself real to me.’ There have been enough times in your history where God has proven himself real. He’s taking you down a really good path. He has consistently shown up.” – Pastor Dave Ferguson

To know more about God from a completely different kind of dialogue with Pastor Dave Ferguson, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Dave Ferguson is an award-winning author, founding and lead pastor of Chicago’s Community Christian Church, a missional multi-site community considered one of the most influential churches in America. 

Dave is also the visionary for the international church-planting movement NewThing and president of the Exponential Conference. 

You can get more information about Dave at www.daveferguson.org or check out his latest book, Hero Maker.

Links:

Email 

DaveFerguson.org 

CommunityChristian.org  

Newthing.org

Exponential.org

HeroMakerBook.org

Book: Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders (Exponential Series)

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

176 What is going on? | #1 Tech Analyst R “Ray” Wang Chairman Constellation Research

What is going on? w/ #1 Tech Analyst R "Ray" Wang Chairman Constellation Research

In this episode, we have an amazing conversation with the world’s number one tech analyst, Ray Wang. He’s the founder of Constellation Research and the author of a spectacular, bestselling book called Disrupting Digital Business. We talk about what’s going on with C19, is C 19 a bioweapon, and what’s going on with bioweapons. We also talk about the digital giants and stock investing. Additionally, we talked about the future of enterprise tech and much more.

Is C19 A Bioweapon?

As a fan of conspiracy theory, Chris asked if indeed, Covid19 is a bioweapon. Ray shares it has not yet been addressed as of the moment but deconstructing the DNA of Covid19 says otherwise. He raised a serious call for treaties among countries as bioweapons are not a thing of the future. 

“Do we have offensive or defensive capabilities? And the thought crosses through every government’s mind as to, what’s required? What’s within the limits? What treaties have we signed? So I don’t think it was intentional. I think the safety protocols were definitely broken. I think it’s not necessarily something they were planning to unleash. But it was something that they were studying.” – Ray Wang

Currency Crisis and Cryptocurrency

Ray also shares some of his views about the current “devaluing of dollars.” They also touched on the efforts of China and Russia to push forward the use of cryptocurrencies. Ray foresees issues with the use of cryptocurrencies, from currency exchange manipulation to funding of terrorists and untraceable purchase of ammunition.

“We’re seeing some massive shifts, and it’s really the attack on the dollar that has been happening for some time. It’s as if everybody is not in favor of the dollar being the world’s reserve currency.” – Ray Wang

Ransomware Gangs

Chris and Ray talk about some recent events where some personalities’ Twitter accounts got hacked and were asked to send back Bitcoin to get back their accounts. Aside from this, Ray shares a much deeper kind of attacks they receive, targeted to tech professionals like him.

“We have insider threats, people inside companies that have either been placed, recruited, or turned. I’ll say that again. They’ve been placed, recruited, scooted, or turned to work against the US, the country or a corporation. And this, we have cyber ransom spies going to work for government agencies and or corporations, with the foreign government agencies, whether knowingly or unknowingly, they have been told that, ‘hey, if you just stick into the drive over here, for a bunch of zero-day vulnerabilities, which we’ve packaged together very well, you can take out entire networks. And you can do your part, you know, in part of the revolution, or whatever revolution you’re in.’” – Ray Wang

To know more about Ray Wang and what’s going on in the world and tech world today, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research, Inc.  

He’s also the author of the popular business strategy and technology blog “A Software Insider’s Point of View”. 

With viewership in the 10’s of millions of page views a year, his blog provides insight into how disruptive technologies and new business models such as digital transformation impact brands, enterprises, and organizations.  

Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.

His new best selling book Disrupting Digital Business, published by Harvard Business Review Press and now globally available provides insights on why 52% of the Fortune 500 have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.  

In fact, this impact of digital disruption is real.  However, it’s not the technologies that drive this change. It’s a shift in how new business models are created.

Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Personify, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He is a prominent and dynamic keynote speaker and research analyst working with clients on digital, innovation, business model design, engagement strategies, customer experience, matrix commerce, and big data.

His Silicon Valley research firm, Constellation Research, Inc., advises Global 2000 companies on the future, business strategy, and disruptive technology adoption.  

Ray is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and well quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC TV, Reuters, IDG News Service, and other global media outlets.  Wang has thrice won the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) Analyst of the Year Award.

Links:

Linkedin – RWang0

Twitter – @rwang0

Constellation.com – R Ray Wang

RayWang.org

Personal Log: Understanding Case Fatality Rates For #COVID19 #CoronaVirus

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

175 The Startup Community Way w/ Brad Feld

175 The Startup Community Way w/ Brad Feld

Today, we continue our run on top venture capitalists with none other than the legend, Brad Feld. He’s the co-founder of Foundry Group and Tech Stars. He’s on the Forbes Midas List and a Top Five Investor. He has a new book called The Startup Community Way. 

We have wide-ranging conversations from C19, making sense of this time of hyper change complex adaptive systems, the future of startups Silicon Valley and work, and why Brad is not leaving his house. Pay special attention to Brad’s thoughts on how to deal with an unpredicted situation and where it can feel like we have a lot less control.

The Three Crises

Brad shares what’s on his mind at the moment, how he has stepped forward to help the governor of Colorado without leaving the confines of his home, and how he has pondered upon the three crises of the world today.

“I referred to the health crisis, which is COVID, which generated an economic crisis, which we wouldn’t have had otherwise, our economy was very strong, which has generated a mental health crisis and which is subsequently generated. racial equity crisis. All of these things are interacting with each other.” – Brad Feld

Complex Adaptive Systems

Brad shares how he realized that all of these crises were complex systems. In fact, in his book, The Startup Community Way, he bases the entire framework of how startup communities develop and evolve on complexity theory and the notion of complex adaptive systems. 

“I’ve really been soaked in that intellectually, not just in the COVID crisis, not just in the book, not just in all the dynamics around the businesses that I’m involved in, and I’m an investor in, but just sort of thinking about how as humans, we do such a bad job of understanding how to interact with complex systems. We want everything to become deterministic, linear or well defined and the vast majority of stuff we interact with isn’t.” – Brad Feld

Simple and Complex Systems 

Simple is making a coffee drink, complicated is designing a Boeing airplane, or conducting a business audit, and complex is raising a child.

“I think a lot of people have been operating against the backdrop of believing that a lot of things are deterministic and predictive, and trying to function in a way where that is not natural. As humans, we want to control stuff. You want to understand what it is you want to do, fix things so that you’re not fighting against them and you want to get to an outcome and you want to set a goal and make a goal.” – Brad Feld

To know more about Brad Feld, download and listen to this episode. 

Bio:

Brad Feld is co-founder of the Foundry Group and has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. 

Brad previously co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and Techstars, and prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. 

Feld was an early investor in Harmonix, Zynga, MakerBot, and Fitbit. 

A writer and speaker on venture capital investing and entrepreneurship, Brad has written a number of books as part of the Startup Revolution series, and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals. 

He currently is chair of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and on the boards of Path Forward, the Kauffman Fellows, and Defy Ventures. 

Brad holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from MIT. 

An art collector and long-distance runner, he has completed 25 marathons as part of his mission to finish a marathon in each of the 50 U.S. states. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Links:

The Foundry Group Team – Brad Feld

The Startup Community Way

Twitter: @bfeld

Linkedin: Brad Feld

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

070 Marketing Over Coffee w/ John J. Wall and Kevin Maney

LOM_Episodes-70

For the first time ever, we are dropping an episode from one of Christopher’s favorite podcast, Marketing Over Coffee, with host John Wall. Recently, they did an episode with the legendary author, Kevin Maney. Kevin, as you probably know, is a multi-time successful, bestselling author. He’s one of the co-authors of Play Bigger with Christopher.

In this episode of Lochhead on Marketing / Marketing Over Coffee Crossover, Kevin talks about his recent book Unscaled. They also talk about what that means and how powerful it is. And of course, category design and many other things.

Category Design and Play Bigger

Kevin shares about category design and his co-authored book Play Bigger. He also shares how the book led to the creation of Category Design Advisors. He further discusses his new book Unscaled – how world-changing technologies are taking apart scaled up industries.

“We started to go down that road together, the four of us meeting out at Chris’s wonderful house in Santa Cruz, California, riding our bikes to the beach in between long conversations. Over time, we tease out this idea of category design, which didn’t exist before. We all got together and started talking about this stuff.” – Kevin Maney on planning for the book Play Bigger 

Unscaled

Kevin describes how he ended up writing the book Unscaled, which was about how all of these new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing and genomics, and these world-changing technologies, and how they’re all coming together to allow us to reinvent our current systems. 

“We got together with Stephen Klasko, who’s the CEO of Jefferson Health, one of the bigger health care systems in the country based in Philadelphia. Steven came out and I took that healthcare chapter of Unscaled to write a, what we actually call a manifesto. It’s about 60 pages long, describing how all these new technologies can take apart the old healthcare system, which was really based on taking care of people after they were sick.” – Kevin Maney on his book Unscaled

Other Noteworthy Topics

Kevin and John discussed a whole lot more noteworthy topics ranging from the IoT in health data, the economics of it all and the rise of telehealth. They also touched on the topic of shifting to online education and the history of IBM.

“I tend to look at almost everything anymore through the lens of health, either category design or upscaling, because I do believe that those are the two things that are going to drive technology, and create the most interesting technology companies of the next decade.” – Kevin Maney

To know more about Kevin Maney, download and listen to this episode.

Bio: 

Kevin Maney is a bestselling author, award-winning columnist, and partner at Category Design Advisors (CDA). He co-authored Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets, which gave birth to the discipline of category design.

His book The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM is the definitive biography of the man who built IBM.

Maney has been a contributor to Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Strategy + Business, HBR.com, CNN and ABC News, among other media outlets.

Additionally, he was a contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio during its brief run from 2007 to 2009. For 22 years, Maney was a columnist, editor and reporter at USA Today.

He’s appeared frequently on television and radio, including CBS Sunday Morning and NPR, and lectures at conferences and universities, including New York University, UNC in Chapel Hill, and his alma mater, Rutgers. 

Links:

Kevin Maney.com

Marketing Over Coffee: Kevin Maney Talks Unscaled

Marketing Over Coffee: Christopher Lochhead on Play Bigger, and Legends and Losers

Marketing Over Coffee: Niche Down!

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

161 What IBM’s Experience In The Great Depression Teaches Today’s CEOs | Kevin Maney

161 What IBM’s Experience In The Great Depression Teaches Today’s CEOs | Kevin Maney

Today, we continue our run of legendary authors with Kevin Maney. He’s the world’s leading authority on IBM’s history. He shares some amazing insights into what IBM did during the 1930’s that ultimately positioned them for greatness. We also have a fascinating talk about what changes C19 might bring to the world and what that could mean for our businesses and careers.

Writing About Thomas Watson

Kevin is a multi-time best selling author of Unscaled and Play Bigger. He’s also a co-founder of Category Design Advisors, where he helps companies design and dominate their market categories. Today, Kevin shares how fortunate he was to be able to write a biography of Thomas Watson, the man behind IBM. 

“I have been watching what’s happening and there’s all this economic damage and talk of a long term recession or depression everybody has to get through. Seeing companies laying off people, right and left and the jobless rate going through the roof and all these pain that is being caused made me think back to IBM in the 1930s during the Great Depression.” – Kevin Mahey

IBM and The Great Depression

Kevin narrates the amazing story of how IBM took the lead during a crisis. It was just a few years after the great depression. Instead of ceasing operations just like any other major corporations, he allocated funds to manufacturing and research and development.

“Imagine the tension, there’s no revenue coming in, spending all this money keeping these people, building machines and he is running out of time. Then this amazing event happened.” – Kevin Mahey

Then-President Roosevelt devised programs to assist companies wherein the government will be needing a lot of reports on salaries. IBM, being the only capable company to fulfill this demand then stepped into the picture. This made IBM as it is now and Thomas Watson, one of the greatest CEOs of all time.

Crisis As An Opportunity Rise

Kevin shares that similar to the Great Depression crisis, this current crisis could also be an opportunity to build something up, get ahead, and come out of even stronger.

“These kinds of moments in time can be seen as a tragedy but it can also be seen as an opportunity. If you can invest in the business, be wise and be careful, come out of the other end in a better position than you went in, and everybody else around you is devastated, I mean you’re in a great place.” – Kevin Mahey

To hear more about the inspiring story of Thomas Watson, IBM as told by Kevin Mahey, download and listen to this episode. 

Bio:

Kevin Mahey – About

Links:

Category Design Advisors

Twitter: @kmaney

Linkedin – Kevin Maney

Book – Play Bigger

Book: Unscaled: How AI and a New Generation of Upstarts Are Creating the Economy of the Future

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes!

150 Hacks for Joy At Work w/ Best selling author & #1 Apple Podcaster Bruce Daisley

150 Hacks for Joy At Work w/ Best selling author & #1 Apple Podcaster Bruce Daisley

We continue our run of legendary authors with Twitter’s former head of Europe Operations, Bruce Daisley. He’s got a new book out called Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat, He’s also got a great podcast of the same name!

This conversation is fun as we talk about some of his “30 hacks” for more joy at work. Expect a lot of laughter, conversations about digital relationships, walking meetings, Chinese Sci-Fi and a lot more. Also, pay close attention to our discussion about why you should turn off notifications on your phone!

London To California

The conversation with a lot of laughter from the two. They touched on topics such as living in London, how Europeans adjust when they visit the US and the culinary fusion of European dishes. You might also relate to the two who kept on adding movies in their “to watch list” but have never even started watching any on the list.

Bruce also shared how he loved buying books, but never actually find time reading them. This is also the inspiration why he wrote the book Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat.

Twitter EU

Bruce shares when he joined Twitter, he never expected he would face a great challenge. Initially, Twitter was rated as one of the best places to work for. However, somewhere along the way, employees started to leave one by one. In a year, 40 of his top people left Twitter.

“Might be something I did, something went wrong. The culture went from being the “biggest party that you never wanted to end” to being this “party that you wished you never had left the house to go to.” – Bruce Daisley

He then started commissioning researchers with the hopes of improving workplace and culture. Unfortunately, the people have either not read these papers, or have not implemented it. It was such wasted information so Bruce decided he should write about it.

Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat.

Bruce shares he wrote this book, which is intentionally a very short episodic series of interventions that anyone can stage in their office or workplace. One piece of information he shares is that open offices increase employees’ hate to co-workers by 75%. 

“Even if you just read one 10-page chapter and you Xerox it, threw it at your boss, I am hoping that even with that just one intervention might marginally improve people’s work.” – Bruce Daisley

To hear more about Bruce’s ideas on  hacks for joy at work and more information about Bruce, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Bruce Daisley was previously Twitter’s most senior employee outside of the United States, in his role of Vice President across Europe, Middle East and Africa. 

He joined the company in 2012 having previously run YouTube UK at Google. 

He has also worked in the magazine publishing and radio industries having got his first break by mailing a cartoon resume of his life to prospective employers. Bruce’s passion for improving work led to him creating the podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat on making work better. It became a number 1 smash in the UK (also hitting the business top 10 in the US).

Links:

Book – Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat.

Website – Eat. Sleep. Work. 

Twitter – @brucedaisley

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

076 Billionaire Entrepreneur Tom Siebel on Digital Transformation

Billionaire Entrepreneur Tom Siebel on Digital Transformation

In today’s episode, Billionaire Entrepreneur Tom Siebel shares some thought-provoking insights on new, leading technologies and its impact on businesses and society. He is the founder of C3.AI, a new software platform that harnesses Big Data, IoT AND AI.

Tom covers in this episode the contents of his book, Digital Transformation, as well as some intriguing ideas about huge US Tech companies.

Silicon Valley Entrepreneurial Giant

Listeners might recall Bruce Clevland, author of “The Traction Gap” and guest in episode 033. He used to work with Tom Siebel at Siebel Systems, which was the category king in the 1st wave of CRM.

In the year 1999, Fortune magazine named Siebel Systems “the fastest growing company in the United States.” In 2006, they merged with Oracle for $5.85 billion.

Digital Transformation

Tom has a brand new book entitled “Digital Transformation.” The book covers giant Megatrends and impacts on business and society. CEOs and senior leaders would find this book highly beneficial to their decision-making process.

“The coming two decades will bring more information technology innovation than the past half-century.” -Tom Siebel, Digital Transformation

Further, he discussed that companies who fail to seize this massive technological growth will be extinct in the future. In the last 30 years, companies that didn’t make the necessary transition required in their industry, cease to exist today.

Continuous Learning and Education

Tom Siebel and his company have a real commitment to their employees: to focus on continuous learning and education. Employees can take online classes via Coursera—in relation to AI, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning, among others. Universities such as Stanford, MIT, and the University of Illinois offers these online courses.

“Things are changing more rapidly so to be on top of these, you must be continuously learning”  – Tom Siebel

The company recognizes the employees who completed the courses and awards cash bonuses — ranging from $1500 to $25,000.  At the moment, the company is rolling out new incentives — a 15% increase in compensation and an additional equity grant.

“These people are better equipped to do their jobs and to serve customers. This is to advance their careers professionally. They also do feel more empowered, so everybody wins.” – Tom Siebel

To hear more about digital transformation and more relevant information from Tom, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Tom Siebel is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of C3.ai.

He was the Chairman and CEO of Siebel Systems, which merged with Oracle Corporation in January 2006 for $5.85 billion.

Mr. Siebel is also the Chairman of the Siebel Energy Institute, a global consortium for innovative and collaborative energy research for the public domain.

Mr. Siebel serves on the boards of advisors for the University of Illinois College of Engineering and the University of California at Berkeley College of Engineering.

Mr. Siebel is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received a B.A. in history, an M.B.A, and an M.S. in computer science.

Links:

Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction

Thomas Siebel – Linkedin

Thomas Siebel – Forbes Profile

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

074 From Abused Child to Fierce Ph.D. w/Carolyn Colleen, PhD

From Abused Child to Fierce PhD w/Carolyn Colleen, PhD

Dr. Carolyn Colleen is a shining example of the fierce power of the human spirit in the defiance of unthinkable abuse. Join us in this riveting conversation about her incredible journey—from surviving with food stamps to gaining her Ph.D. and becoming a celebrated author. This discussion is not only about abuse—it’s about triumph—and it will impact a lot of people’s lives.

The Past Doesn’t Define The Future

Our guest today Dr. Carolyn Colleen, has a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She authored the best selling book FIERCE. On the side, she is a life and business strategist.

She is a woman who commands presence, but surprisingly has struggled so much since childhood, up until she was married.

“As my definition of love evolved, I evolved. I learned to further deepen my definition of love ⁠— how I see love in the world. I also have a deeper sense of self-love.” – Carolyn Colleen

Carolyn’s Dark Past

From the time she was four, Carolyn was sexually abused by his teenage neighbor. Unfortunately, the pattern repeated throughout her childhood, even after they relocated.

Carolyn’s mother struggled with mental health. She was a hoarder and have issues with being too trusting with strangers. Her mother provided free lodging and meal for both men and who ended up molesting both Carolyn and her sister.

“There was a time when I defined myself as being someone who was put here to be used and abused.” – Carolyn Colleen

Changing Perspective

People who have experienced trauma or who suffered PTSD may have flashbacks when exposed to a certain trigger—such as a certain sound, smell or mannerism of another person. Victims of abuse are reminded every day of their unfortunate experiences because of these triggers. 

As a victim of abuse herself, Carolyn says her perspective is different. Memories pop up daily, but what she does with it and how it affects her is different now.

She is now at peace with herself; developed a gratitude attitude and has acknowledged that her experiences made her stronger. 

“Coming from a place of trauma—physical, sexual and emotional abuse—I’ve done a lot of self-work and realize when things might trigger me and how it affects my life. As I continually grew, I realized what happened to me doesn’t define me .” – Carolyn Colleen

To hear more about the amazing journey of Carolyn, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Carolyn Colleen holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a Masters in Business with a focus in Servant Leadership from Viterbo University.

Dr. Colleen is speaker, author, and coach.

She was born and raised in the Midwestern United States. She describes herself as a FIERCE mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

Out of sheer necessity, Carolyn developed the F.I.E.R.C.E. 5 method, which helped her grow from a downtrodden, scared and ragged victim, standing in a food line at the Salvation Army, to the confident and successful person she is today, living a happy life she never realized she deserved.,

Carolyn took up the challenge of writing a book about her experiences.

Now, with her book completed, she hopes that through sharing her story she will provide others with the hope, resources, and willpower needed so that they too can live the life they deserve.

Links:

Carolyn Colleen – Website

F.I.E.R.C.E – Book

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Instagram

We hope you enjoyed Carolyn Colleen on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes!