431: MIT Sloan’s Center for Information Systems Research Principal Research Scientist Jeanne Ross lays out the three characteristics companies must have to implement a successful digital transformation, which are experimenting repeatedly, co-creating with customers, and assembling cross-functional development teams. The experiment aspect involves recognizing that the digital economy is making new directions possible, but for companies to succeed, they need to find the intersection between what they can do and what their customers will pay for. Co-creating with customers, which solves the same problem, entails starting a workshop where everybody puts the issues on the table and are asked, “What can we do to creatively solve this?” Lastly, cross-functional teams are about recognizing that you do not want to simply throw all your money at your R&D or IT unit and ask them to get it done. Instead, Jeanne argues that it is an iterative process that requires many teams. We also discuss the evolution of the CIO role, why companies should not get so hung up on set roles of what a CIO or CDO should do but look to get away from structure, why having only 5% of revenue come from digital is actually an accomplishment, among other topics.
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430: Mayfield Fund Managing Director Navin Chaddha discusses what the company looks for when deciding which entrepreneurs to invest in and which do not fit the Mayfield model. The company looks closely into what the entrepreneur is doing, which entails determining what is driving them, what their values are, what their vision is, what their mission is, and if they are interested in creating a product company and flipping it or if they are interested in building an industry-defining company and changing the way people work, live, and play. To do that, the company must spend a great deal of time with the entrepreneur outside of the pitch meetings to truly understand what is driving and motivating them. Further, Navin cites that it is critical to find out who they are, which involves determining if they have high EQ and IQ, how hungry they are, and what their ethics are. We also discuss Mayfield’s work in China and India, three attributes of millennials and how to reach them, what makes for a great partnership between partners and the early-stage companies, among other topics.
In this episode, former Express Scripts COO Neal Sample and Mastercard President of Operations and Technology Ed McLaughlin offer a point/counterpoint on blockchain. Neal argues that there is no use case for which blockchain is an optimal solution, and that no matter the problem an enterprise is trying to solve, a better technology likely already exists. In many cases, he says, executives often look to blockchain because of the hype more than anything. Ed agrees that enthusiasm runs amok when people use blockchain to get funded or just to use it. However, Ed considers himself a highly skeptical and jaded enthusiast, and argues that blockchain can be useful, especially when dealing with trust across enterprise boundaries.
428: AI pioneer and UC Berkeley Professor Stuart Russell warns that AI is reshaping society in unintended ways. For example, social media content selection algorithms that choose what individuals watch and read do not even know that human beings exist. As AI becomes more capable, he suggests that we are going to see bigger failures of this kind unless we change the way we think about AI altogether. Stuart argues that to ensure AI is provably beneficial for human beings, we must design machines to be inherently uncertain about human preferences. This way, we can ensure they are humble, altruistic, and committed to pursuing our objectives even as they set their own goals. We also discuss why AI needs regulation similar to civil engineering and medicine, the impact AI is going to make over the next decade, autonomous vehicles, among other topics.
427: Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman shares stories from his childhood, his time as an undergraduate at Yale, on Wall Street, and business school at Harvard, and his experiences at Lehman Brothers and Blackstone. These stories how he went from nearly failing in an English course in college to the Dean’s List, how he offered constructive criticism to the Dean of Harvard Business School while he was a student, how he led one of the biggest mergers in history to date as a fourth-year associate at Lehman Brothers who had never done a merger, as well as tales from the founding and growth of Blackstone. We also discuss the importance of having a strong culture and hiring the best people, how and why China bought 9.9 percent of the firm when Blackstone was going public, the Schwarzman Scholars program that he has developed in China, among other topics.
426: UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla details the strategic plan he has led. While he cites that he found a great university when he arrived, he knew it was destined for greater things and he set out to create a vision to realize that goal. We also discuss how the University of California System schools interact and share best practices, why Pradeep preferred an 8-word strategic plan over a longer form plan, why he misses being a professor, among other topics.
425: UCLA Professor Ramesh Srinivasan discusses why and how we should look past Silicon Valley for innovation. He argues that innovation is happening all around the world, and he shares his experiences in countries like Kenya and Mexico. Citing how these countries are doing more with less and being resourceful, rather than feeling as if economic or infrastructural constraints are restricting their ability to act, he claims that individuals in these countries are innovating with constraints. Further, he cautions against creating a world in which the inequalities that we currently see are amplified by technological innovations that are only defined within the Valley. Instead, he advocates for an internet that lifts all of us up because it creates a win-win scenario. We also discuss Ramesh’s goal to have a digital bill of rights, his Lab’s attempt to bring a variety of scholars and researchers into contact with one another and share their learnings with the wider public through workshops, engaging with journalists, and writing books, companies Ramesh has seen emerge in the countries he has worked in, among other topics.
424: Workday’s Executive Vice President of the Planning Business Unit Tom Bogan explains the rationale behind the Workday and Adaptive merger. From Adaptive’s perspective, finding the right partner was about how the company delivered the most value to the market and its impact on Adaptive’s various constituencies. Tom cites that investors primarily care about the valuation, customers care about who the acquiring entity is, and the team cares about both. Because the company had the right valuation and is the leader in both human capital management and financial planning, Adaptive saw Workday as a tremendous partner. We also discuss the benefits of operating in the Bay Area, the elements that have remained the same and those that have changed since the acquisition, how having a broad range of experiences as an operator, executive, and board member helped Tom coming into Adaptive, among other topics.
423: AES’ President and CEO Andrés Gluski discusses how AES is transitioning into cleaner energy. While the company’s coal technology was among the best in the world, AES realized that was not a sustainable driver of growth. Under Andrés’ leadership, the company has reduced its generation capacity from 60 percent coal to 30 percent, it has become a big builder of renewables, and it is looking to reduce its carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2022. We also discuss the advantages Andrés has enjoyed being from a multicultural family, AES’ work in China and India, the value Andrés gained from his education, among other topics.
422: General Electric CIO Chris Drumgoole discusses the changes GE has made through a period of great change for the company. While the company led the way in outsourcing technology, Chris points out that that is not aligned with the digital world. Because of this, the company has decided to invest in IT talent and grow that capability within the company. Also, in an effort to modernize IT, the company has spent a great deal of time transforming end-user technology. We also discuss GE’s two-fold approach to attracting talent, how Chris looks to ride the fine line between standardization across business unit IT versus investing in solutions specific to one BU versus another. We also cover the cultural change afoot in the company and how the company is in the process of shifting from being a deep domain expert instead of a generalist, and a variety of other topics.
