Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business - CIO & IT Leader Interviews, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation

On this episode, host David Wright welcomes Michael Weinberg, Chief Information Officer at Tosca, to discuss:

• One mistake Michael learned a lot from in his career.
• Why you should always look to your leaders first and how culture trumps everything.
• Why “The Happiness Advantage” is one of Michael’s favorite books.
• The important distinction of “I get to” vs. “I have to” with regard to experiencing gratitude in your work.
• Michael’s vision of changing the supply chain within the food industry by reducing costs and improving efficiency by utilizing reusable packaging.
• Why sustainability should always be an incentive.
• The benefits of being mostly cloud-based.
• Some of the best team practices to foster and the importance of a positive communication mentality.
• Why you must always think of how your business could potentially get disrupted.
• The advantage of sharing your weaknesses, which builds trust and cohesiveness within a team.

Resources:

• Michael Weinberg - LinkedIn
• Tosca - LinkedIn
• Tosca - Website
• David Wright - LinkedIn
• Disruptive Innovations - Website
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business - Website
• The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode, host David Wright welcomes Nancy Post, Vice President of Embedded Software and Solutions, Intelligent Solutions Group at John Deere, to discuss AI-enabled sustainability, work culture, and life lessons. 

David and Nancy discuss: 

• Nancy´s journey to the role she has today: setting the strategic direction of critical technologies, and guiding research and development spending on a global basis. 
• One of the most important life lessons: how much work culture matters.
• The impact of creating key tenants for culture at John Deere.
• How improving interfaces fosters collaboration, which in turn enables innovation.
• The art of molding our brains and creating the pathways we want.
• Nancy´s future vision of using AI-driven precision technology to increase efficiency in feeding the world's growing population.
• How John Deere is promoting sustainable development goals.
• The significance of new sensing technologies (AI) that are automating vehicles.
• The importance of understanding and empowering talent.
• The piece of advice Nancy would give her younger self.

Resources:

• Nancy Post - LinkedIn
• John Deere - LinkedIn
• John Deere - Website
• David Wright - LinkedIn 
• Disruptive Innovations - Website 
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business - Website
• Quiet Leadership by David Rocks
• The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim et al

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode, Vijay Sankaran, Chief Technology Officer at Johnson Controls joins host David Wright to discuss sustainability aspirations within IT and technology. 

Johnson Controls is a global, industrial leader in smart buildings with the mission of reimagining  sustainability performance. 

David and Vijay discuss: 

• How buildings currently comprise 40% of all worldwide emissions. 
• Vijay’s vision for Johnson Controls - to deliver cutting-edge solutions within sustainability, energy efficiency, asset health, safety, and security. 
• One of the biggest aha- moments of Vijay’s career. 
• How a good leader nurtures his or her team so that it can come up with its own solutions. 
• Vijay’s belief that we will see autonomous buildings long before autonomous vehicles. 
• How the Middle East is currently pioneering modern, autonomous buildings. 
• How in the next 10 to 15 years, digital buildings will become the norm, propelled by the overall movement towards sustainability. 

Resources:

• Vijay Sankaran - LinkedIn
• Johnson Controls - LinkedIn
• Johnson Controls - Twitter
• Johnson Controls- Website
• David Wright - LinkedIn
• Disruptive Innovations - Website
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business - Website

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business. 

On this episode, host David Wright welcomes Leon Ravenna, Chief Information Security Officer and CIO at KAR Global, to discuss privacy and security issues.

Looking to the future, Leon says the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Technology and names may change, but at the end of the day, the same basic principles that have prevailed will stay in place.

Leon shares some of the key initiatives KAR Global has been focusing on from an IT and digital perspective. Automation has enabled the company to become more efficient, which means combining processes wherever possible, regardless of whether other companies are choosing to do the same.

Automation is one of the best practices at the company. If Leon has to do anything more than once, it’s scripted. Within company culture, employees make the most use of the tools at their disposal. Technology updates are pushed out as soon as they are available.

Within the security and privacy industry, there will be an increase in compliance.

Leaders who are not anticipating this will end up being reactive. Leon is expecting a federal privacy law, as well as an increase in compliance requirements surrounding ESGs (environmental, social, and corporate governance).

Resources:

• Leon Ravenna - LinkedIn
• KAR Global - LinkedIn
• KAR Global - Website
• David Wright - LinkedIn 
• Disruptive Innovations - Website 
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business - Website

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Tim Brown, EVP, Chief Information Officer at Johnson Financial Group, to the show.

When Tim joined Johnson Financial Group three years ago, he became the first CIO at the 50-year-old, family-owned Wisconsin community bank. He had to bring a fresh new perspective to help modernize the company.

As for actionable advice, Tim advises to seek perspective. He shares a moving story about the difficulties his son faced early in childhood and his natural ability to transform the mood of a room. Anyone, irrespective of their position at a company, can garner support from others and make change happen.

Tim encourages his people to speak their minds. A foundation of trust and good relationships allows for flourishing communication. Then, innovation can emerge from this open dialogue. "Innovation starts at the root level." The employees who interact with clients on a daily basis are the ones who understand the customers’ problems at Johnson Financial. Tim postulates the possible paradigm shifts in community banking from FinTech to embedded finance and AI. How does the balance of convenience and relationship play out?

Resources:

• Tim Brown
• Johnson Financial Group
• Blink
• Psychology of Money
• David Wright
• Disruptive Innovations
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Lou Senko, Chief Availability Officer at Q2, to the show.

Lou grew up in Canada, 12 hours north of the US border, but he’s all but left behind his remote upbringing. He had the desire to make an impact in his working life and chose companies no one had ever heard of out of college. His mindset and determination to focus on the areas in which he excelled led him naturally into leadership.

Now Lou heads the customer experience department. His teams oversee hosting security, compliance, and support. In his ten years at Q2, the company has gone from 13 IT employees and 240 servers to 12,000 servers and 2,200 people.

Lou gives credit to the technology but says it’s the people, trust, and relationships that have led to Q2's tremendous success.

Lou shares his strategies for aligning his 400-strong team and keeping them motivated. He emphasizes the importance of keeping a balance in conversations between problems and achievements.

Initiatives to improve customer experience complement Q2's rapid scaling up, but it all starts with the employee experience. 

Resources:

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Nicholas R. Szymanski, Vice President / Chief Information Officer at Signature Healthcare, MA, to the show.

Nicholas's advice to his younger self would be to give more recognition to emotional intelligence and to be patient. Healthcare is 24/7, but humans are the ones providing the service. Healthcare workers have lives outside of work and it’s important to give sincere thanks and appreciation.

Nicholas also talks about how he encourages his team to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. This results in them providing a more effective service to both the organization and the patients.

As a community hospital, Signature Healthcare has a more limited budget than larger healthcare systems. Financial responsibility is crucial. Committing to one solution for a problem becomes key.

Value is in the perception of the customer. A customer portal and telehealth capabilities are pivotal in the work setting for Nicholas and his team.

Nicholas also dives into what it would look like if patients had control over their data and privacy. Tune into the episode now to learn more!

Resources:

·      Nicholas R. Szymanski

·      Signature Healthcare, MA

·      David Wright

·      Disruptive Innovations

·      Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Chris Herringshaw, Chief Technology Officer at Janus Henderson Investors, to the show. 

A capital markets-based company, Janus Henderson Investors strives for risk-adjusted returns that outpace the markets for its investors. 

Chris delves into the intricacies from a leadership standpoint. Some decisions can be obvious, but many are nuanced. At Janus Henderson, most of the data used for analysis is conflicting and ambiguous. He speaks about great leaders standing out from the crowd by pushing through that indecisiveness. The best leaders chart the course, accept the risks and move the company forward. 

One of the best practices Chris advocates for is open department collaboration. He encourages his employees to get involved and ask questions like, 'What does their day look like?' Technologists who can speak on business processes are invaluable to the company. 

Chris also details game-changing tech they're using, like Snowflake and Databricks. 

Resources:

• Chris Herringshaw
• Janus Henderson Investors
• Harvard Business Review 
• Extreme Ownership
• Snowflake
• Databricks
• David Wright
• Disruptive Innovations
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Mark Birkhead, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Chase

As technology advances, the overlap between large industries begins to increase. The banking industry is no exception. 

Data is at the forefront of digitization. In this episode, Mark speaks about the optimum operationalizing of that data. The crucial strategy is to tie back the analytics to the business and customers. 

Mark compares banks to factories. With more than 66 million households using Chase products and services, the organization has a tremendous amount of data. It takes a factory and multiple teams to manage and utilize the data optimally and securely. 

Mark recommends having a solid mirror and group of truth-tellers surrounding you in both personal and professional life. This way, the blurred lines of subjectivity stay as straight as possible.

Wherever the customers go, that's where Chase  will be. Listen to this episode to learn more!

Resources:

• Mark Birkhead
• Chase
• David Wright
• Disruptive Innovations 
• Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Dr. Stephanie Lahr, Chief Information Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer at Monument Health.

Reflecting, aligning, and staying focused on solving one problem at a time are some of the bigger themes that Dr. Lahr explores on this episode.

Reflection allows us to look back on things we have done. How might we have done them differently? Did we enjoy them? Learn from hindsight and don’t be afraid to move your career forward in a different and better direction for yourself. 

Make sure you’re aligned with your company’s culture. There can be tension and lack of cohesiveness; that doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you or your company but there could be a better fit on both sides.

 Dr. Lahr points out that focusing on one problem at a time is critical in this age of innovative technology. What problem are you trying to solve? Sure, there’s impressive tech coming out that may provide perfect solutions to certain problems. But if those aren’t the problems you’re directly facing, why would you invest in them?

Resources:

·      Dr. Stephanie Lahr

·      Monument Health

·      No Ego Reality-Based Leadership Book

·      Between Grit and Grace

·       David Wright

·       Disruptive Innovations   

·       Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business

Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.