Innovation and the Digital Enterprise

What does it take to keep your organization growing? Innovation and the Digital Enterprise is a podcast dedicated to providing insights and resources to executives and entrepreneurs focused on 10x growth for themselves and the organizations they lead. We interview leaders from early-stage start-ups to billion-dollar enterprises who have boots on the ground experience to distill their lessons from their victories and their failures. Learn how these leaders are organizing their teams, establishing a growth-minded culture, and leveraging new technologies such as DevOps and Cloud. Co-hosts Patrick Emmons of DragonSpears, and Shelli Nelson of Madison Industries, chat with guests such as Gene Kim of the DevOps Enterprise Summit, Mik Kersten of TaskTop, and Thomas South of Northern Trust, to uncover tips, tools, and insights gleaned from spearheading innovation initiatives. Listen Notes

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Episodes

Bringing Innovation from the Private Sector to Government with Sean T. O'Kelly

Private sector companies spend a lot of time innovating to create the best possible user experience for potential customers. Government agencies by contrast, tend to work with outdated, analog tools. Why aren’t government agencies following suit? Sean T. O’Kelly spent more than twenty years in the tech private sector. When he was appointed CIO for Financial and Professional Regulation at the State of Illinois, he jumped at the opportunity to help create a more positive user experience for everyd...

Dec 04, 2019•35 min•Ep. 10

How Optimizing Technology Can Help Businesses Scale with Karen Fedyszyn

Gone are the days when a company’s IT teams just babysat servers. Today, individual services and outside vendors dominate the industry. With this fast pace of recent technological leaps brings new opportunities to harness technology that can help businesses find creative ways to scale. Karen Fedyszyn, an award-winning Information Technology Executive, sat down with Pat and Shelli for a wide-ranging conversation about her experiences managing teams for brands such as Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Re...

Nov 13, 2019•45 min•Ep. 9

Conflict, Failures and Transparency as Business Assets with Sean Brown

Failure isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, Sean Brown, CEO of YCharts , wants to hire failures – they are, after all, risk-takers that aren’t afraid to try something new. On this week’s episode, Sean joins Pat for a wide-ranging conversation about the lessons Sean has learned in his 25+ years starting, selling, buying, and running various companies. Sean talks to us about why he believes the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) philosophy works so well in business and shares his four-part playbook for ...

Oct 09, 2019•49 min•Ep. 8

Open Communication and Frameworks for High Performing Teams with Eric Foster

Open communication and high performing teams don’t just appear out of nowhere. In order to have a team that gels, you need to put in the work to create a space in which all team members know the vision of your company, have clear expectations, and know how to course-correct when things go awry. Eric Foster, a CIO with experience spanning multiple technology firms sat down to speak with Pat and Shelli on his three-part framework for creating high performing teams. Eric also explains why it is so ...

Sep 25, 2019•35 min•Ep. 7

Building Better, More Diverse Workplaces for Mothers with Allison Robinson

It seems like every entrepreneur’s background story starts with the same idea: scratching their own itch. For today’s guest, Allison Robinson , the problem wasn’t how to use some new technology or improve an existing product. It was how to return to the workforce as a mother. Finding herself looking for the resources she needed and coming up empty, Allison founded the Mom Project to help one of the most underserved parts of the population: mothers. Pat and Shelli talk to Allison about her work e...

Aug 14, 2019•28 min•Ep. 6

From HR to Hip-Hop: Unlocking Insights Through Analytics with Zack Johnson

What’s it like to sell your company and something you’ve poured your heart into for over 7 years? On the latest episode of the Innovation and the Digital Enterprise podcast, Shelli and Pat are joined by Zack Johnson, VP of Business Development at Visier. Prior to Visier, Zack started and ran Syndio, an analytics provider based in Chicago, for over 7 years. Zack takes us through his incredible background, from founder to lecturer to advisor to pop & hip-hop artists, and breaks down how analyt...

Jul 17, 2019•35 min•Ep. 5

Two Decades in Chicago's Finance & Fintech Ecosystem with Randy Rivera

In this episode of the Innovation and the Digital Enterprise podcast, Randy Rivera stops by to chat with Pat & Shelli. Randy is a long time financial executive, entrepreneur and innovator in the emerging Fintech ecosystem. Randy gives his insights into the Chicago ecosystem, first as an executive then as an entrepreneur with quointec, the company he founded in 2018. [00:33] - Who is Randy Rivera? [06:50] - The Chicago business ecosystem [13:05] - What makes a founder? [17:52] - The first fiv...

Jun 12, 2019•54 min•Ep. 4

Combining Cutting Edge Technology & Civic Innovation with Adam Hecktman

Hosts Shelli Nelson and Patrick Emmons are joined today by Adam Hecktman, long time civic technology executive at Microsoft. Adam shares how the role of technology in communities has evolved throughout the years. We discuss the social impact of technology, efficient government and the challenge of keeping talent in Chicago. [03:00] - 27 years and 10,000 great days at Microsoft [03:50] - The challenge of keeping talent in Chicago [05:35] - Chicago driving the transportation logistics industry for...

May 22, 2019•44 min•Ep. 3

Trust, Teams and Giving Back with Christian Anschuetz, UL's Chief Digital Officer

In this second installment of “Innovation and the Digital Enterprise” Shelli Nelson and Patrick Emmons welcome Christian Anschuetz to talk about his role as UL ’s Chief Digital Officer, having courage in the face of uncertainty and the criticality of trust in all relationships. As CDO at UL , Christian is responsible for embedding innovative technology and digital trends in operations to accelerate growth and enhance clients’ ability to predict and address regulatory and safety considerations in...

Apr 05, 2019•48 min•Ep. 2

Roman Dumiak: Collaboration & How it Evolves with Technology

On DragonSpears first installment of “Innovation and the Digital Enterprise” Shelli Nelson and Patrick Emmons welcome Roman Dumiak to talk about how technology affects collaborative efforts in anything from programming to E-sports to smart speakers. Roman Dumiak , who currently works at a small private equity firm giving technical advice on potential clients, previously worked at Allstate Insurance for over 40 years, wearing many hats including software developer, infrastructure handler in datab...

Feb 27, 2019•55 min•Ep. 1

Introducing the Innovation and the Digital Enterprise Podcast

Welcome to the Innovation and the Digital Enterprise podcast, hosted by Patrick Emmons and Shelli Nelson . Join us as we interview successful visionaries and leaders, giving you an insight into how they drive and support innovation within their organizations. Each episode we'll focus on a different aspect of leveraging the digital revolution like… building a culture of innovation overcoming a fear of failure finding time to focus on innovative product ideas teaching and recruiting innovators So ...

Feb 07, 2019•1 min

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