Tech Me Seriously!

In this episode of Tech Me Seriously, host Sarah Tenisi, CEO of TenisiTech, converses with Nichole Robertson, the newly appointed CEO of Teladata. Nichole shares her journey from joining Teladata in 2005 and rising to CEO in 2025, emphasizing the importance of gaining technical aptitude through experience rather than just education. They discuss various non-linear paths into IT, the essential role of culture fit in hiring, and the significance of mentorship and willingness to learn. The conversation also delves into strategies for employers to attract diverse talent and the balance between technical skills and personal attributes in achieving long-term industry success.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:00 Building Technical Aptitude Through Experience

01:29 The Evolution of IT Departments

05:46 Nichole's Journey to CEO

06:05 Understanding Teladata's Role

12:20 The Importance of Culture Fit in Tech

13:16 Nichole's Career Path and Roles

23:23 Journey to Leadership

23:43 Succession Planning and Selection

24:06 Supportive Team Dynamics

25:44 Learning and Mentorship

27:48 Safe Learning Environment

29:18 Starting an IT Career

37:07 Hiring for Potential

39:37 Building a Positive Work Culture

48:58 Career Pathing and Flexibility

50:28 Final Thoughts and Reflections

In this episode of Tech Me Seriously, Sarah Tenisi, CEO of Tenisi Tech, engages in an insightful conversation with Nicholas Muy, the current CISO at Scrut Automation. The discussion dives into the fundamentals of compliance programs, their importance in cybersecurity, and how businesses can simplify their compliance strategy to fit their unique needs. They also touch upon the misconceptions of compliance and security, the differences between adhering to and being certified in compliance standards, and the role of technology in streamlining compliance processes. Additionally, Nick shares his extensive background in security, including his work at the Department of Homeland Security and Expedia, and provides practical advice for companies looking to implement or improve their compliance programs.

00:00 Introduction to Tech Me Seriously
00:29 Meet Nicholas: Cybersecurity Expert
01:17 The Basics of Compliance
01:51 Why Compliance Matters
02:16 Understanding Security and Compliance
07:14 Nick's Professional Journey
13:44 Determining Your Compliance Needs
19:40 Security vs. Compliance
25:52 Collaboration Between Security and Compliance Teams
26:51 The Role of GRC and Security Teams
27:42 Who Should Handle Compliance in Small Companies?
28:23 Building a Compliance Team
31:46 The Importance of Internal Audits
32:50 Leveraging Technology for Compliance
44:49 Adhering to Standards vs. Certification
48:33 Navigating Regulatory Changes
52:05 Conclusion and Upcoming Webinar

In this episode of 'Tech Me Seriously,' Sarah Tenisi, CEO of Tenisi Tech, has a candid conversation with Den Jones, the Chief Security Officer at Banyan Security. The episode dives deep into common cybersecurity myths, discussing real-world examples and practical advice for how to better secure organizations. Den shares his extensive experience from working at major Silicon Valley enterprises like Cisco and Adobe, providing insights on the most effective security measures, the pitfalls of outdated strategies, and the importance of simplifying and automating security processes.

00:00 Introduction to Tech Me Seriously
00:32 Meet Den Jones: Chief Security Officer at Banyan Security
01:42 Cybersecurity Myths: Let's Bust Some Shit
02:25 The Reality of Cyber Breaches
05:21 Common Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
14:54 The Importance of Patching and Configuration
26:31 Governance vs. Security: The Real Deal
29:05 HR Training and Governance
29:38 Phishing Simulations and Tools
31:23 Vendor Risk and Email Security
32:34 Governance and Compliance Challenges
33:50 Least Privilege and Access Management
38:25 Career Journey and IT Evolution
49:40 Security Myths and Best Practices
53:13 Conclusion and Future Topics

The 3 Main Takeaways:

(1) Breaches often occur due to simple lapses like weak passwords and poor configuration, not highly sophisticated hacks, with phishing attacks being a common vector. 
(2) Tools like vulnerability management systems and risk registries are often outdated and less effective compared to consistent patching and robust configuration management. 
(3) Governance and compliance do not necessarily equate to adequate security; organizations need to implement practical and automated solutions like MFA, regular patching, and identity management to truly safeguard their assets.

Building Compassionate Tech Cultures with April Wenzel

On this episode of Tech Me Seriously, host Sarah Tanisi, CEO of Tenisi Tech, engages in a compelling conversation with April Wenzel, international keynote speaker and founder of Compassionate Coding. They explore the significance of integrating emotional intelligence and compassion in tech, tackling misconceptions, industry burnout, and how open-mindedness towards compassionate practices can revolutionize the workplace. April shares her founder's journey, emphasizing the importance of addressing both self-compassion and compassion for colleagues, users, and society. The conversation also touches on generational shifts, the impact of AI, and the essential steps for leaders to foster a compassionate work culture.

00:00 Introduction to Tech Me Seriously
00:28 Meet April Wenzel: Founder of Compassionate Coding
02:27 The Concept of Compassionate Coding
03:50 The Importance of Self-Compassion in Tech
06:45 Challenges and Changes in the Tech Industry
17:59 The Role of Compassion in AI Development
22:50 April Wenzel's Founder Story
29:16 The Evolution of Compassion in the Workplace
30:18 The Rise of Compassionate Job Descriptions
31:11 Balancing Accountability with Love
32:16 Realizing the Impact of Compassionate Leadership
33:45 The Importance of Meaning and Connection at Work
34:45 Navigating Negative Reactions and Hierarchies
38:05 Starting the Journey Towards Workplace Compassion
50:00 Avoiding Compassion Fatigue
52:57 Final Thoughts and Reflections

In this episode of "Tech Me Seriously," host Sarah Tenisi, CEO of TenisiTech, welcomes Julia Tunstall, co-founder of A Bar Above, a company dedicated to making craft cocktail skills  and high-end barware accessible to everyone. Julia and Sarah discuss Julia's transition from a career in project and data management at life sciences companies to co-founding A Bar Above. Julia shares her passion for cocktails and how she and her husband created a successful business that blends online cocktail education with the sale of premium barware.

They explore how Julia's team has integrated AI into their business processes, using tools like ChatGPT and MidJourney. Julia describes various practical applications of AI, from generating images for blog posts to assisting in drafting emails. The conversation includes insights into alleviating team members' fears about AI taking over jobs and encouraging them to experiment with these technologies.

Julia highlights their innovative approach, including the creation of AI avatars dubbed "Abe" and "Abby," which they use to better understand and engage with their customer base. The discussion also touches on the growing trend of mocktails and their importance in the current market.

The episode wraps up with practical advice on how businesses can get started with AI and the importance of being cautious about data privacy and the impact of AI on different industries.

In this compelling episode of "Tech Me Seriously," Sarah Tenisi, CEO of TenisiTech, dives into the world of Intellectual Property (IP) with guest expert Stephen Robertson. As founder of Metis Partners, Stephen brings over two decades of experience in helping businesses recognize, protect, and leverage their IP assets. Together, they unravel the complexities of intellectual property, offering invaluable insights into its role in driving business growth, securing competitive advantages, and preparing for future scalability.

What is Intellectual Property (IP)?
Stephen explains that IP encompasses not just patents and copyrights but also brands, trade secrets, software, and crucial data. These intangible assets are often undervalued but are key differentiators and value drivers for businesses. 

How can service companies discover and leverage their IP?
Contrary to common belief, service businesses possess IP too. Stephen demystifies the notion, showing how service-based models can identify and protect their unique processes, customer relationships, and even their brand as IP. 

Why is understanding and protecting IP from the start important?
From securing a competitive edge to enhancing valuation for investments or exits, early IP recognition and protection are crucial for sustainable business success. 

How does IP influence fundraising and exits?
Stephen shares that well-managed IP can significantly influence a company's valuation, affecting fundraising efforts and increasing exit multiples.

Three Biggest Takeaways: 

1. IP is More Than Patents: Intellectual Property extends beyond patents and copyrights, encompassing all unique aspects of a business that provide a competitive edge, such as customer relationships, proprietary software, and brand identity. 

2. Early Protection is Key: The early identification and protection of IP assets are critical in safeguarding a company's unique value, enhancing its market position, and securing higher valuations for investments and exits. 

3. IP as a Strategic Asset: IP should be viewed as a strategic asset, integral to a company's growth and scalability plans. Proper management and leveraging of IP rights can open new avenues for revenue generation and market dominance.

Stephen's LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-robertson-496659/

Angela Amoroso: Championing Ballet and the Arts for Our Kids’ Education

In this episode, Sarah Tenisi speaks with Angela Amoroso, Founder of Scripps Performing Arts Academy, established in 1987.

Her goal is to provide a creative nurturing environment that instills self-confidence, self-esteem, and teamwork without sacrificing the core values of dance as an art form.

Listen in as Angela discusses why integrating art into the core curriculum, into K-12 education, is more important than ever. In a world of AI, she believes that it’s time to put the A back into STEM—that a STEAM education is the way of the future.

She refers to a study by NASA which aimed to measure creative genius in school-aged children, demonstrated to decline drastically through the years, from 95% at the age of five all the way down to 2% by the age of 31. The performing arts, particularly ballet, can potentially curb these numbers if made a consistent part of a child’s core curriculum.

To this end, she gives her thoughts on maintaining creative genius from childhood to adulthood, and how the skills learned through the performing arts easily carry over into leadership roles. She explains how parents and teachers alike can work together to change mainstream education, to effectively “sell” an arts-focused curriculum that puts students first.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [01:52] Why it’s so important to integrate art into the core curriculum

●      [06:37] How the NASA study measured creative genius in children

●      [11:34] Building a community of performing arts students

●      [17:01] The importance of having compassion for your little performer

●      [20:12] How Angela chose her career path

●      [24:09] About the Scripps program, Experience the Good

●      [26:36] Four ways Angela’s work has transformed the lives of students

●      [30:25] Incorporating community-based performance into everyday life

●      [31:53] Getting art programs back into education

●      [37:58] How parents can get involved

Key quotes:

●      “The best way to combat artificial intelligence is to become more human.”

●      "Strong mind, strong body. Strong body, strong mind."

Resources:

●      Angela Amoroso on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-amoroso-58231749/

●      Scripps Performing Arts Academy Website: https://scrippsperformingartsacademy.com/

●      Scripps Performing Arts YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ScrippsPerformingArts/videos

In this episode, Sarah Tenisi speaks with Nicholas Muy, Head of Partnerships at Scrut Automation for North America and the EU.

Nick has held a variety of high-impact roles at SaaS companies, many of which are familiar household names. Through his passion for cybersecurity and compliance, he helps companies manage risk and earn trust with their clients by helping them understand and implement great security and compliance practices.

Listen in as Nick discusses the challenges of balancing security and compliance while managing risk and building trust with clients in the IT space. He shares his insights on the importance of storytelling to communicate the complexities of security and compliance to stakeholders, as well as making tough investment decisions.

Nick talks about today’s career opportunities in cybersecurity, and how he solves governance, risk, compliance (GRC) for clients. He also discusses essential cybersecurity practices such as multifactor authentication and strong password management, while sharing horror stories of IT security and compliance to emphasize that solving this ongoing issue is ultimately a collective effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:31] Why IT security and compliance continues to be an issue

●      [08:22] The difference between security and compliance

●      [11:14] Defining “GRC”

●      [17:09] Balancing security and compliance with risk management

●      [20:31] Nick’s journey in the cybersecurity space

●      [31:46] Must-do security requirements today

●      [39:10] How to convince company owners to take these measures seriously

●      [47:49] Security and compliance as a collective effort

Key quotes:

●      “Security is the set of things you do to manage risks to your company that come from being insecure. Compliance is what you do to manage the practices that you need to have in place to maintain your security posture.”

●      "Governance versus compliance is something that's been around the financial industry, banks and huge companies the world over for a long, long time."

In this episode - Sarah chats with Matt Homann.
Matt is the Founder of Filament, and inventor of Thinksgiving and is passionate about helping people think, meet and learn together better. 

Are your meetings feeling lackluster and unproductive? It's time to shake things up and transform your gatherings into dynamic, engaging experiences that leave participants inspired and motivated. In this fast-paced world, effective meetings are essential for driving progress and fostering collaboration. From incorporating interactive activities and setting clear objectives to leveraging technology and creating a positive atmosphere, Matt, our guest for today will equip you with a toolkit of strategies to revolutionize your meetings and unleash the full potential of your team. 

Today, Matt shares the meaning of helping smart people think together better, why many meetings are terrible and the things he hates the most in meetings. He also talks about why people waste a lot of time in meetings, some of the great meeting behaviors, and ways to balance power and engagements in zoom meetings. Lastly, he discusses his upcoming book: Think Together Better. Tune in to learn more about this and other exciting topics!

Timestamps

[00:32] Matt Homann’s background information

[01:01] The meaning of helping people think together better

[01:55] Why a lot of meetings are terrible

[03:58] The things that Matt hates about meetings

[11:18] Why people waste a lot of time in meetings

[13:33] Some of the great meeting behaviors

[19:38] Tips to balance power and engagements in Zoom meetings

[25:56] The great things that we get from remote meetings

[31:15] How is Matt the meeting guy and how did he decide to help people think together better after being an attorney?

[37:38] 5 common challenges with people in organizations and meetings

[41:51] Idea Surplus Disorder

[48:44] About Matt’s upcoming book: Think Together Better

[51:35] What is Thinksgiving?

Notable quotes:

●      “An eight person meeting is an eight hour meeting.”

●      “Being really intentional about what engagements looks like in meetings is really important.”

●      “Don’t have a meeting if it’s just intentional. Record a video and then have a conversation about other people’s thoughts and perceptions of that.”

●      “Nothing is obvious to everyone but everything is obvious to someone.”

Connect with us:

Matthew Homann

Website: https://www.meetfilament.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/homann/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthomann

Sarah Tenisi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stenisi/

Website: https://tenisitech.com/

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the business landscape, revolutionizing the way organizations operate, and making their operations more efficient, effective, and profitable. AI-driven applications and solutions are becoming increasingly commonplace, and their ability to process vast amounts of data and deliver insights in real time is helping businesses make better-informed decisions. This, in turn, is accelerating the digital transformation journey of organizations across various industries. The emergence and take-off of AI in business have opened up a new world of possibilities, with companies now leveraging AI to automate routine tasks, streamline complex processes, and optimize their operations.

In this episode, Sarah is joined by Sridhar Sunkara, the CEO and Digital Transformation Leader of eBiz Solutions, to talk about how AI relates to digital transformation and the benefits it has in businesses. Sridhar shares how companies can take advantage of ChatGPT, the most surprising things with companies on digital transformation, and the role of leaders and workforces in digital transformation. He also talks about what companies should be preparing for in AI, how AI is affecting employment, and what will happen when companies don’t think about AI now. Tune in to learn more about this and other exciting topics!

Timestamps

[00:34] Sridhar Sunkara’s background information

[01:43] Why we are talking about the emergence and take of AI in business now

[02:52] How companies can take advantage of ChatGPT

[05:07] The role of AI in collective intelligence

[10:31] What led Sunkara to become the CEO of a technology and solutions company that is helping other companies

[12:48] The most surprising thing that Sridhar has learned working with companies in digital transformation projects

[17:00] The role of leaders in digital transformation

[18:23] What companies should be preparing for in AI

[23:00] Setting the foundation of digital transformation 

[26:39] The responsibility of the old workforces in digital transformation

[29:28] The responsibility of learning new tools

[31:34] How AI is affecting employment

[36:15] The acceptable use policy of AI in business

[38:02] The generative training we are doing for the AI

[40:20] How companies have taken advantage of AI

[47:19] The human element involved in AI

[47:53] What will happen when companies don’t think about AI now

[49:55] How companies can start their digital transformation journey

Notable quotes:

●      “Once you harness the power of AI, you can harness the power in your business operations, customer experiences, talent management, and also drive innovation which are the four forces of the growth of a company.”

●      “Motivation is the one that changes the behavior and behavior becomes a habit. So, leaders should keep their teams motivated.”

●      “Using data for intelligence is still below 2 on your digital maturity matrix.”

Connect with us:
Sridhar Sunkara
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sssunkara/Website: https://www.thinkebiz.net/

Sarah Tenisi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stenisi/
Website: https://tenisitech.com/