Episode 27 | Employee Centric-Culture and the Future of the Workforce Note: this episode contains explicit language. The Big Themes: Layoffs at Salesforce: Salesforce recently cut about 10% of its entire workforce which suggests a big shift in performance culture. Business leaders are now looking for a culture that is employee-centric and produces tangible results. A choice for listeners to make: How do we have a legendary culture that produces massive results and is a great place to work? Women...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 356
The Big Themes: Forget the headlines, what's in this product? Is generative AI and ChatGPT truly the "next big thing," or is this something that has been around for awhile and is just now starting to get popular? When starting college in 1970, Wayne was encouraged to study computing programming because experts were predicting that by 1975, artificial intelligence (AI) would be "writing all the programs in the world." The future of generative AI: Wayne suggests that this tool is going to either b...
Mar 23, 2023•38 min•Ep. 354
The Big Themes: Top CEO priorities: To drive digital business, top CEOs are focusing on acquiring and retaining talent, and leveraging and deploying emerging technologies such as AI and ML. Regardless of the company, all businesses must be "tech-enabled" now. New business models: The new (and multiple) business models of today are geared to adapt to meet customers where they are. Companies are shifting to subscription-based models and consumption-based models. Access to AI and ML data: Many stro...
Mar 21, 2023•14 min•Ep. 353
The Big Themes: What it takes to be great: companies must strongly consider incorporating DEI initiatives into their businesses but must be careful not to let the focus on talent and culture fall by the wayside. Go back to the "foundational" piece: The "big initiative" of today's companies should be addressing exactly what the priorities are. Attract talent, but know how to retain it: A strong focus on acquiring talent, and a lack of thought about retaining talent, had created a "gap that has re...
Mar 17, 2023•20 min•Ep. 352
Episode 28 | Supply Chains: The "Orchestrator" of Today's Business The Big Themes: Why AWS entered the supply chain space: The company has the knowledge and expertise to solve critical issues for businesses today. AWS is "putting its competency to work for its customers." Customers want to create their own roadmap: AWS Supply Chain is not a "rip and replace solution." The product leverages the already-existing solutions customers are using to further inform decision-making. A supply chain is the...
Mar 14, 2023•30 min•Ep. 351
The Big Themes: Fixing human error: The biggest cybersecurity vulnerability companies have is their people, and there's no software tool or system that is more powerful than cultivating an awareness of secure practices among employees. Setting the right example: Business leaders must practice what they preach. No more leaving laptops open to email inboxes on our desks. Demonstrate the company's mindset by taking data security seriously and preach it to the whole team. How to lead externally: Chr...
Feb 22, 2023•28 min•Ep. 349
The Big Themes: The automation of knowledge work: This has been happening for a while now—just think of the hours of labor eliminated by search engines—but generative AI takes this automation to a different, higher level. ChatGPT is overhyped: The panic over AI tools replacing journalists, teachers, and all human workers is overblown, Tony says. Businesses should be focused on augmenting the work done by people with new technologies. ChatGPT is underhyped: "Technological change always precedes c...
Feb 15, 2023•27 min•Ep. 348
Episode 26 | AI and the Rise of the Intellectual Capitalist Note: this episode contains explicit language. The Big Themes: Knowledge workers are no longer at the top of the pyramid: Careers like lawyer, doctor, and engineer have long been highly valuable and widely esteemed, but by making tons of knowledge readily accessible and mostly free, tools like ChatGPT are going to push knowledge workers down in the career pyramid. The rise of the intellectual capitalist: The creation of "net-new knowled...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 346
The Big Themes: Apex's culture of curiosity: While the CFO's domain is traditionally finance, JJ explains that at Apex, he is focused on business forecasting, not just financial. Workday Adaptive Planning was the perfect tool for the inclusive and cooperative culture at Apex. Effective planning keeps Apex ahead of disruption: The ability to create scenarios that incorporate many shareholders' voices has kept Apex strong and solvent during major challenges like the pandemic and the war in Ukraine...
Feb 07, 2023•24 min•Ep. 347
The Big Themes: Don't ignore the threat of ChatGPT: Even as a company with incredibly advanced AI capabilities, Google is doing the right thing by treating this kind of new interactive AI chatbot as a challenger to its massive search business. Be open to the possibilities of ChatGPT: On the other hand, Microsoft is very wisely looking to bring ChatGPT into the fold and enhance its existing products and services using artificial intelligence. The importance of transparency and trust: Christian br...
Feb 01, 2023•30 min•Ep. 345
The Big Themes: The WFH challenge for young talent: creating a personal network and building personal credibility are incredibly important early in a career, and Pat worries that young people are not getting the networking and mentorship opportunities that working shoulder-to-shoulder offers. Work ethic in today's world: Pat defines work ethic not as being the first-in, last-out team member, but rather the cultivation of a reputation among bosses and peers as someone who always gets the job done...
Jan 25, 2023•25 min•Ep. 344
The Big Themes: Similarities between Madoff and SBF: Both men "wrapped themselves" in celebrity, fancy parties, and politics. They were able to pull off the deception they created by being good "talkers" and schmoozers. Differences between Madoff and SBF: Where Madoff admitted his wrongdoing virtually immediately, SBF has been spinning a story of incompetence rather than crime. Christopher makes connections between this behavior to SBF's identity as a Native Digital. Is the end of FTX also the e...
Dec 28, 2022•45 min•Ep. 343
The Big Themes: What inspired Alloy? Less than a decade ago, Clay says, companies were trying and failing to build their own private clouds, because the technology just wasn't there yet. But Oracle believes it now has the tech to meet this desire among customers. What kinds of customers are interested? Clay points to organizations that deal with a lot of regulation as the prime audience for Alloy—they're interested in cloud but it has never worked for them before. This includes governments and c...
Dec 22, 2022•25 min•Ep. 342
The Big Themes: Consistency: Companies that ask employees to give up the benefits of remote work and come back to the office must also require executives to do the same. Otherwise, trust disappears and team members disengage. Clarity, candor, transparency: Explaining the specific benefits of returning to in-person work is essential. Saying that productivity will go up is not enough—leaders must provide examples, and help employees understand how their experience will improve. Culture and environ...
Dec 21, 2022•28 min•Ep. 341
The Big Themes: What's really going on with layoffs? Among the six companies Wayne pulled numbers for, five of them actually have had net-positive employee growth over the last several years. But they are letting people go, and Wayne explains why. Should non-tech companies hire big-tech engineers? There is a big opportunity here, Wayne says, but execs at non-tech companies have to be very, very careful and thoughtful when preparing to bring these folks onboard. What's the best way to have job se...
Dec 14, 2022•32 min•Ep. 340
The Big Themes: Customer stories at Cloud World 2022: Bonnie praises Oracle for including the voice of the customer in many of the keynote talks at the conference, including Oracle Me HCM customers McDonald's, Marriott, and the Church of Latter Day Saints. Six key takeaways: These three customers talked about their implementation experiences with Oracle HCM technology, and Bonnie wrote up six important insights that other companies considering HR tech upgrades should keep in mind. Fundamentals m...
Dec 06, 2022•25 min•Ep. 339
The Big Themes: This is about adaptation, not ageism: Native digitals are not better or worse than native analogs, but they are actually a new category of human being. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it's not. Businesses at risk of obsolescence: Leaders who do not account for the differences of native digitals are going to face (1) the failure to hire and retain anybody under 35 and (2) the inability to market and sell to anybody under 35. The Mentor Myth: Chris says that the secret to ...
Nov 30, 2022•50 min•Ep. 338
The Big Themes: Advice for early talent: Pat says that high schoolers and their parents should at least consider options other than college, like trade schools and apprenticeships. He recommends reading "The Millionaire Next Door" to get inspired. Advice for college graduates: First, differentiate yourself during the interview process by doing research. Second, once you're hired, find "your assets" within the company, because you can't just assume you'll have advocates. Advice for people taking ...
Nov 29, 2022•27 min•Ep. 337
The Big Themes: An issue of legacy: Related to the concept of "legacy" tech companies, huge companies are often held back by what Christian calls "the mindset legacy," that narrowly defines what the business does and how it does it, with no room for evolution. The importance of culture: Christian says that a company's culture can't just be part of its overall strategy, an intellectual and emotionally agile culture needs to be the core strategy itself. Walking the walk when it comes to people: Th...
Nov 16, 2022•31 min•Ep. 336
The Big Themes: Data modernization: Wayne says that a "modern data strategy" completely changes a company's ability to compete, by helping C-suite executives make better decisions and avoid very expensive mistakes. Wayne's 5 rules of data modernization: Collect more data and do it earlier, clean and validate the data, store it securely but accessibly, make it widely available, and provide employees with powerful analytics capabilities. Oracle CloudWorld 2022: Wayne observes that of the 1,200 ses...
Oct 26, 2022•27 min•Ep. 335
The Big Themes: The Task Force Tribute journey: In September, the group arrived in Washington, D.C., having traveled 8,500 miles in 23 days, with dozens of stops to connect with veterans and family members, including many Gold Star families. TFT is collecting stories for a virtual memorial: Next up for the group is to help create an unprecedented, high-tech virtual memorial composed of the hundreds of stories shared by military members and their families. To contribute a story, please visit the ...
Oct 26, 2022•43 min•Ep. 334
The Big Themes: Employee experience and Skills Academies: The concept of employee experience has been buzzy for many years, but the focus is shifting from perks to career advancement, reskilling, and equitable pay. Tech as an enabler for change, not a leader of change: Transforming businesses, business models, and employee experiences should be driven by process and change management, with tech playing a supporting role. Big fish want to swim in small HR ponds: Leading HR vendors like Oracle, Wo...
Oct 20, 2022•28 min•Ep. 333
The Big Themes: The need for speed: scaling a business is more difficult than ever, because the rapid pace of change across industries requires leaders to make big decisions more quickly than ever before—and still get the decisions right. The primacy of customers: Tony channels Walter White of Breaking Bad, and says that today, customers are "the ones who knock," meaning they're dictating the terms of deals and services to vendors, not the other way around. The upside of friction: Generally, fri...
Oct 18, 2022•24 min•Ep. 332
The Big Themes: Balancing partnerships and full-service: Mike says that Oracle is thrilled to work with partners to fill "last-mile solutions" and regulatory-specific needs, but also that Oracle is looking to fill vertical edge cases with its own solutions. HCM in healthcare shows Oracle's differentiation: The gig economy is impacting hospitals and other care settings, so Oracle is stepping up with a suite of tools including HCM and more to help business leaders in a holistic way. The cloud shif...
Oct 12, 2022•11 min•Ep. 331
The Big Themes: Customer demand for multi-cloud: Oracle has been focused recently on partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon that allow mutual customers to pick and choose the cloud services they get from each vendor, and Jae says that big-name brands are very hot on this idea. Cloud @ Customer offers even more flexibility: For customers in highly regulated industries or that prefer more control and security, Oracle's Cloud @ Customer offering provides all the benefits of a fully managed cloud re...
Oct 06, 2022•13 min•Ep. 330
The Big Themes: Tech's "cancel first" policy: From Amazon to Twitter and beyond, tech platforms seem to be far too quick to remove accounts, content, and products without asking any questions about the rule that's allegedly been broken. Brands are abandoning customer service: Trying to reach a human to discuss a customer question is nearly impossible these days. Christopher points to Southwest as a remarkable exception to this rule, and encourages companies to get humans involved again. The limi...
Oct 05, 2022•55 min•Ep. 329
The Big Themes: The "fourth phase" of Match Group's business: Following the launch of Match.com in the 90's and the breakaway of Tinder in the 2010's, a new phase is coming that's heavily focused on video, AI, augmented reality, language translation, and more. Eliminating manual work and "cycles of death": Trey shares some of the struggles his team had before installing Workday Financials, and the impact that those challenges had on employee morale. Helping the accounting teams demonstrate value...
Oct 04, 2022•18 min•Ep. 328
The Big Themes: Enhancing the developer experience: This is a major focus for Oracle, and many CloudWorld sessions will focus on work that's been done to help developers use Oracle DBs, including Autonomous Database. Oracle Exadata: Along with database and cloud, Juan says that Exadata is one of three core initiatives for the event. Oracle Database 23c release: CloudWorld will feature the very first preview and discussion of Oracle's next major DB release, called 23c. The Big Quote: "We're also ...
Oct 03, 2022•11 min•Ep. 327
Road to Oracle CloudWorld 2022 Oracle Cloud Analytics EVP T.K. Anand The Big Themes: Fusion Analytics showcases what makes Oracle Cloud unique: T.K. argues that Oracle stands out among the competition as the only full-stack enterprise cloud vendor, since Oracle is both a cloud platform and application provider. The next wave of analytics transformation: Following the self-service and the SaaS revolutions in analytics, now the industry is moving exploring AI and machine learning and natural langu...
Sep 29, 2022•11 min•Ep. 326
The Big Themes: Looking beyond the walls of IT: As the CIO and VP of IT, Samantha obviously fills a specialized role at Smith, but she says that her "team" is everyone at the college, and that achieving the IT department's goals requires input from many other departments. Continuous iteration as a North Star: Samantha shares a favorite quote of hers, which comes from the center for teaching and learning on campus but that she applies to IT: "There are many ways to teach well, and all teaching is...
Sep 28, 2022•21 min•Ep. 325
