Navigating Forward

On this episode of Navigating Forward, Lisa Thee chats with Harrison Tang, the CEO and cofounder of Spokeo. Along with his college roommates, Harrison started Spokeo in his parents' basement in 2006. From those early days in the basement with parents as investors, the people search engine has now grown to serve 20 million people per month and half a million searches per day. 

Lisa and Harrison discuss Spokeo's mission to increase transparency in the way that identity data moves around and is utilized, along with the concept of self-sovereign identity. They also touch on the long tail aspect of the people search market, including how Search Angels uses Spokeo to help people find biological family members. As a startup cofounder, Harrison also shares what has kept him going through the ups and downs of the journey from the basement to the present — including some wise words about persistence from his dad.

Find Harrison at https://www.linkedin.com/in/theceodad/

Find Lisa at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisathee/

Launch Consulting 
Navigators in the Age of Transformation

On this episode of Navigating Forward, Lisa Thee chats with author and speaker Julia Nicholson. Formerly the CEO of the Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plans, Julia now has her own consulting business and is a keynote speaker on the topics of resilience, adversity, and grit. Having overcome and prospered after facing adversity and unwanted change, she now shares her message through her TEDx Talk and a book due out this month titled Move Forward Stronger. 

Lisa and Julia discuss how conventional wisdom such as ‘time heals all wounds’ doesn’t necessarily help us move forward after unforeseen, challenging events. Julia talks about how just getting back up after getting knocked down isn’t what’s most important: it’s HOW you get back up again and how you find that resilience and grit that we were all born with. Harking back to Julia’s healthcare background, they also examine some of the important issues impacting the patient experience in the modern world of healthcare and insurance. 

Find Julia at https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaanicholson/

• Move Forward Stronger is out on Jan. 24: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKTW6Y85

Find Lisa at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisathee/ 

On this episode, Lisa Thee talks with author and executive coach Amii Barnard-Bahn. In additon to her work with Fortune 500 executives, Amii is also a guest lecturer at Stanford University and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. A regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and Fast Company, she is also the creator of The Promotability Index® and author of the companion PI Guidebook. 

Lisa and Amii discuss topics relevant to both today's leaders and those who aspire to be future leaders. They touch on Amii's five principles around getting promoted, which can also apply to continuation of growth and learning and not just to a literal promotion. They also dive into some of the complexities of business communications in a hybrid world, along with Amii's six-step process for delivering bad news in a way that considers the psychology of both the bearer and the recipient of the news.  

Find Amii at https://www.barnardbahn.com/
Find Lisa at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisathee/

Launch Consulting 
Navigators in the Age of Transformation

On this episode, Lisa Thee talks with Ed Soo Hoo, an executive coach who is also the Worldwide CTO Global Accounts at Lenovo and an Industry Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley. Ed helps drive innovation and transformation with his customers, and he does it through a unique lens that comes from his wealth of experiences in what he calls his blue collar, white collar, and no collar phases. With eight startups under his belt, Ed is a master of reinvention with a wealth of insights into technology and leadership trends and topics.  

Ed describes himself as a catalyst, connector, and storyteller—and he lives up to the storyteller moniker here. He and Lisa discuss data and leadership in a wide-ranging conversation that will take you from Henry Ford to the metaverse, from the moon landing to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and from Cadillacs to Ferraris to bumper cars. Along the way, they highlight how an innovation spark can come from the least expected situations and people and why it’s so important that data and diversity go hand in hand. 

Find Ed at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edsoohoo/.
Find Lisa at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisathee/.

Launch Consulting 
Navigators in the Age of Transformation

Teichert Construction is a heavy civil construction giant that has been building California for 135 years. Clearly, they know the formula for success—investing in their people, in tech, and, more and more, in data. They recently launched a first-of-its-kind virtual assistant called InQuarry that draws from decades of job information to create a "network of knowledge" that helps them bid smarter, build better, and move faster. 

In this episode, learn about how an (in their words) extremely analog industry can use this investment in data and machine learning to propel the next 135 years of innovation in their industry - and take away strategies for taking advantage of your data, no matter what sector you work in.

Are you the type of person who loves sampler platters, Cliff's Notes, and productivity hacks?

Well, today is your lucky day! Feast your ears on this highlights episode of Navigating Forward with Lisa Thee, where we look back at the most thought-provoking and data-centric episodes, featuring:

1. Sadie St. Lawrence, Founder and CEO of Women In Data.

2. Dr. Micahel Blum, Founding CEO of BeekeeperAI and Chief Digital Transformation Officer at the UCSF center for digital healthcare innovation.

3. Mike Amato, Author and Keynote Speaker.

4. Balazs Kegl, Head of Research at Huawei.

5. Greg Merrill, Senior Director for Digital Transformation at Nike.

Our sense of purpose and community makes us uniquely human. Is Artificial General Intelligence (#AGI) changing that?

In this week's episode, Balazs Kegl, Head of AI Research at Huawei, joins host and Data for Good Sector Lead Lisa Thee to discuss the scientific worldview, action-oriented AI, and engineering systems for the future.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

At the crossroads of uncertainty & opportunity, how do you Navigate Forward? 

This podcast focuses on making smart choices in a rapidly changing world. We investigate the challenges of being at a crossroads (societal, business, & personal) and finding the opportunities that arise out of disruption. Listen in on future-forward conversations with the brightest luminaries, movers, and shakers. We dig into topics such as elevating the human experience, evolution of business, workforce of the future, and fascinating technologies powering the age of digital transformation. Let’s Navigate Forward together and create what’s next!

Irakli Beridze is the Head of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at UNICRI, United Nations​. Beridze advises governments and international organizations on numerous issues related to international security, scientific and technological developments, emerging technologies, innovation and disruptive potential of new technologies, with a particular emphasis on the issue on crime prevention, criminal justice and security. 

Beridze and host Lisa Thee discuss the future of AI, the implications and impacts of AI on human rights, and the importance of ethical oversight and accountability to ensure the safety of children worldwide.

https://unicri.it/in_focus/on/unicri_centre_artificial_robotics
https://www.linkedin.com/in/irakliberidze
https://twitter.com/irakli_un

On this episode of Navigating Forward, host Lisa Thee sits down with Greg Merrill, Senior Director for Digital Transformation at Nike. Greg shares his background and professional journey as an entrepreneur, co-founding companies like Green Source Energy, Austin Rubber Company, and Austin Footwear Company. 

Greg and Lisa  discuss the importance of authenticity in the workplace, and the role of empathy and compassion in leadership - crucial to building trust among teams while navigating transformation and change.

www.GregMerrill.com

The Navigating Forward podcast is brought to you by Launch Consulting Group. www.launchconsulting.com

Lisa Thee talks with Mike Amato on the challenges of realigning company culture, setting goals beyond the bottom line, and motivating the rapidly evolving workforce to achieve positive outcomes.

Mike Amato's career in the corporate world includes a roles as Division President of Washington Mutual Bank, leader of Barclay's global retail, and board member for multiple banks in Europe. Mike is now sharing his leadership wisdom with the masses as a book author and keynote speaker. On top of all his accomplishments, Mike is also a winery owner.

His new book, The Better Way to Win, releases this month.

Mikeamatosparks.com