Hi everyone,

Welcome to a purpose-driven conversation with Laston Charriez, a longtime CPG marketing leader turned educator and advocate for transforming how we grow food, nourish people, and undo bad practices.

Laston shared something that takes real courage to say out loud:“I was part of the problem, and now I can be part of the solution.”

After decades working inside food systems optimized for cost, scale, and efficiency, he began asking harder questions about what those systems were actually delivering to consumers. Longer lifespans, but not healthier ones. That realization led him to focus on healthspan, and on how agriculture, CPG, and technology are evolving together.

In this episode, we talk about how AI has real promise in helping drive that transformation. Not in abstract ways, but through practical applications already taking shape, from improving soil health and crop yields, to reducing waste, to enabling more nutritious food at scale. This will help us avoid a global food shortage anticipated by 2050.

We also dig into the hard part: adoption. Farmers operate on thin margins. One failed experiment can put an entire year at risk. Data infrastructure and connectivity aren’t evenly distributed. And trust can’t be rushed. We talk about how status quo carries risk too — climate volatility, degraded soil, and rising costs make inaction just as dangerous.

This conversation is about leadership, accountability, and systems-level change. It’s about recognizing when incentives are misaligned, having the humility to help fix them, and seizing the opportunity when technology brings positive change within our grasp.

🎧 Listen to “AI, Ag, and the Future of Food: Increasing Healthspan, Not Just Lifespan”

Laston Charriez is an Assistant Professor and Industry Liaison at Colorado State University. He previously held executive marketing roles at Proctor & Gamble, Charmin & Puffs, Sara Lee, and Western Union.

Thanks for being part of this community and for leaning into these bigger questions with me.

— Kirstin

Hi everyone,

This week’s episode of Lead The Machine digs into one of the most important truths emerging: the future of industry, software, and work are now deeply intertwined with what emerges in the era of AI. And few people understand that intersection better than Tim Griffin.

Tim has spent his career helping companies rethink workflows, redesign software systems, and automate what’s broken. His perspective is unusually broad, from his early days at Accenture where he helped pioneer low-code software to co-founding a healthcare tech company, ALN Medical Management, to real estate investing.

He’s seen how systems fail, how people adapt, and why AI is forcing each of us to confront uncomfortable questions about cost, fairness, and the future of our jobs.

We talk about a lot in this episode, but three themes stood out:

1. AI in healthcare is inevitable, and insurers will drive much of the adoption.Tim explains why payers will use AI for denials, risk prediction, and quality scoring whether providers are ready or not. And if insurers move faster than clinicians, patients will feel the friction.

2. Software as we know it won’t survive this era.Tim breaks down why legacy systems can’t keep up. Not because companies don’t want to change, but because the logic embedded inside those systems locks everything in place. AI will eventually rewrite the model itself.

3. The future of work belongs to people who stay close to the customer.Tim is blunt: some jobs will be displaced. The safest careers will be held by those who reduce friction, integrate systems, and understand real-world problems deeply.

This is a wide-ranging, honest conversation about what’s coming, and what leaders need to prepare for now.

Thanks, as always, for being part of this community.

— Kirstin

Hi everyone,

In this week’s episode of Lead The Machine, I sit down with David Chaddock, a cybersecurity and compliance leader who has spent decades guiding organizations through high-stakes decisions where trust, risk, and innovation collide. David was previously at Accenture and West Monroe Partners. Now, he is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Infinite Partners, a firm that provides fractional, interim, and on-demand trusted advisors.

What makes this conversation special is David’s perspective on how AI is reshaping leadership at every level. He makes a powerful point:

“Leadership has nothing to do with who sits at the top of the org chart anymore.”

AI has flattened knowledge hierarchies. Digital natives now lead with intuition and speed. Experienced professionals bring the judgment you can only earn by living through complexity. And organizations need both to move forward responsibly.

We talk about why AI projects stall, how incentives shape behavior, and why “progress over perfection” is becoming a non-negotiable principle for modern leaders.

We call out how sharing the outcomes included in executives’ bonus plans can unlock the kind of success that only comes when we are aligned. Most importantly, David shares what it looks like to build trust across teams when everything feels uncertain.

If you’re navigating AI change—or leading people who are—this episode will give you a fresh, pragmatic way to think about the road ahead.

Let me know what resonates for you.

Hi everyone,

This week’s episode of Lead The Machine is one I’ve been excited to share. I sat down with Marty Welch, a seasoned insurance executive and CEO of HEMIC, whose career has been shaped by leading people through waves of technological change — from the first PCs to predictive analytics to today’s era of AI.

What stands out about Marty isn’t just his experience. It’s his clarity.

He understands, better than most, that the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn’t the technology, it’s fear. And fear thrives in silence.

Marty shares how great leaders build trust by bringing people into the process early, admitting what they don’t know, and aligning technology with mission rather than trend. He explains why learning is a more powerful frame than change, and how AI can finally free people to focus on the work that matters most, and how to keep empathy and connection at the forefront.

Marty is an amazing mentor for all of us in human-centered leadership in complex situations. If you’re navigating AI, leading teams through uncertainty, or simply trying to understand how to build trust in a world that’s moving fast, Marty’s insights will resonate.

Thanks for listening and for being part of this community.

When you’ve spent your career assigning financial strength ratings to insurance companies, you learn a thing or two about what holds companies back, and what pushes them forward.

Matt Mosher is a Strategic Advisor to Stonybrook Capital and the former CEO of AM Best Rating Services. He brings a rare, honest perspective on innovation and the importance of leadership and culture.

Matt doesn’t just talk about what’s possible, he names the patterns. He breaks down four types of organizations and how they approach change:

* Innovation-Driven – Early adopters that experiment, aren’t afraid to fail and shape the future.

* Reactive but Willing – Fast followers that move once others prove it’s safe.

* Cautious – Firms that struggle to modernize and lack internal clarity on how to adapt. Often constrained by siloed teams and legacy systems.

* Coasting on Historical Success – Firms stuck in a comfort zone that don’t feel the urgency to change. Makes them vulnerable to major tech transformations.

He’s clear on what separates those who adapt from those who don’t. We talk about:

* Why innovation stalls and what to do about it.

* How to build organizational confidence around AI and data.

* What responsible leadership looks like under regulatory pressure.

The level of detail companies provide for their financial strength ratings is vast. Few people get a bird’s eye view with the depth that Matt has experienced.

This episode will help anyone leading AI or data transformation where the stakes are high, and the barriers are real.

DON’T DO THIS.

“I was shocked. I didn’t get a single journalist to tell me that this is a career worth pursuing.”

After years spent getting an undergraduate and graduate degree in English, with her sites set on being a journalist, Chloe Frantzis was told by everyone in the field that journalism is a dead-end career. Putting aside what that means for the current state and future of journalism, it was demoralizing to find out that her career aspirations weren’t going to work out as planned.

“The first time my best friend ever saw me cry was because of AI.”

In this Lead The Machine episode, Chloe shares what it felt like to have her dream career disrupted as she realized how quickly AI was reshaping the creative world she hoped to join.

The story doesn’t end there. Rather than cower away, Chloe embraced learning AI and used this new knowledge to rebuild her career path. Today, she works at BoxMedia.IO in London, helping make AI-generated content sound human again.

Are we shortchanging what Gen Z brings to the table?

Chloe shares a message every leader should hear about Gen Z and the future of work.

“People think we’re lazy or glued to our phones,” she told me. “But I’ve seen older adults’ way more glued to theirs. We actually crave work, structure, and collaboration. We grew up with volatility — the iPhone, social media, AI — so we’re not afraid of change. We expect it.”

Chloe believes her generation is built for what’s next. Having witnessed constant disruption, Gen Z doesn’t fear transformation. Rather, they anticipate it, adapt to it, and want to shape it.

We talk about rejection, reinvention, and how Gen Z is redefining creativity and resilience in the AI era.

Chloe’s story is a reminder that adaptability isn’t just a skill, it’s survival.

“We had to invent the math before we could build the model.”

That’s how my dad, Clay Marr, describes his early years at the dawn of Silicon Valley, from his time at Lockheed getting the first man on the moon and at Fairchild launching the semiconductor revolution.

Bottom line: AI requires the research discipline that made Silicon Valley what it is.

Would you believe that AI innovation is directly tied to winning World War II?

The technologies that shaped victory: early computing, radar, and the birth of systems thinking also laid the groundwork for Silicon Valley’s rise. It was bold, long-term, and funded by vision, not quarterly targets.

In this Lead The Machine episode, Clay describes how he carried that spirit forward when product research meant creating what didn’t yet exist.

We talk about what that spirit of invention can teach us today as AI goes through its own identity crisis, still a platform trying to figure out its product strategy.

From the era of semiconductors to the rise of AI, Clay’s perspective is a masterclass in how real innovation happens: through patience, accountability, and a willingness to experiment before the path is clear.

Plus, my dad’s story is straight up cool.

I’ve known Manny Rodriguez for years, and have always admired how he leads: with purpose, vision, and the courage to push the envelope with a sense of urgency to stay on the leading edge.

Few things are more personal than healthcare, except maybe our own careers.Both are being transformed by AI.

So when we sat down to talk about AI’s impact on healthcare, the conversation quickly became about something much bigger: how we adapt, lead, and stay human when technology starts reshaping everything around us.

In this Lead The Machine episode, Manny shares what that transformation looks like inside UCHealth, a $9 billion health system with 35,000 employees and 200 clinical locations. As UCHealth’s Chief Marketing, Experience and Customer Officer, he’s entrusted to create an environment and a brand that lives up to the care patients deserve and a workplace where employees are empowered to deliver.

He rightly points to the leadership challenge of our time: to frame AI more broadly than a tool, and as a test of culture, trust, and empathy.

We explore how to:🤝 Use AI as a partner, not a proxy🧭 Redefine your role before someone else does🔄 Make adaptability your new career metric🗣️ Protect and humanize your brand voice🌱 Treat AI adoption as cultural transformation, not tech deployment

As you listen, consider: What does it mean to lead with empathy and a clear message of adaptability in an AI-powered world?

No question about it, Valen Analytics was well ahead of its time for the property & casualty insurance industry.

Dax Craig co-founded Valen in 2004 and served as it’s CEO until 2017. I came on as the CMO in 2012 and took over as President in 2018, when Valen was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Insurity, a core software provider.

We understood the power of data and the need to collect a lot of it in order to build models that delivered quantifiable results. We built a data consortium where our client’s contributed granular data that was regularly updated to show results over time (from policy, claims, billing and submission records).

That allowed our models to more accurately predict the future profitability and level of risk for individual policies and the overall portfolio. We published an ROI study each year that showed our client’s achieved 2x the profitability and 3x the growth compared to the industry average in workers’ compensation insurance. Powerful stuff.

Getting to that point took some time. From pilot purgatory to change management and adoption issues, we learned how to alter our approach in the early days of predictive analytics. There are many parallels and hard-earned lessons to share for where we find ourselves with AI.

Enjoy this podcast episode and post your comments. Feel free to share the episode with your colleagues.

Kirstin

Hi, I'm Kirstin Marr and so glad you are here! Take a listen for what to expect in upcoming episodes and learn a bit more about my background. Please share this with your colleagues.