As a true serial tech disruptor, Ken Charman successfully built software startups, which Deloitte, IBM, Oracle, and SAP acquired over many decades. He also served as CEO of uFlex Reward, a cutting-edge HR company that creates real-time employee costs and modelling for Unilever Group, which employs over 128,000 people worldwide. Well-versed in AI and as a highly articulate thought provoker on many influential topics - reminding us that he began using AI 15 years ago - Charman has a unique perspec...
May 30, 2025•57 min
Our usual podcast guests talk about journeys that they chose to embark on: starting a company, solving a problem, creating opportunities, or navigating life and career. In our current series, we’re probing into a trip that none of us opted into but we’re all on board anyway…and that is artificial intelligence. AI influences what we see, hear, buy, and think, how we navigate the world, and how we navigate daily life. We wanted to start the AI series with the basics to help our listeners to unders...
Jan 30, 2025•51 min
Our usual guests talk about journeys that they chose to embark on: starting a company, solving a problem, creating opportunities, or navigating life and career. In our current series, we’re probing into a trip that none of us opted into but we’re all aboard anyway…and that is artificial intelligence. AI influences what we see, hear, buy, and think, how we navigate the world, and how we navigate daily life. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Bob Morais, a business anthropologist and expert in huma...
Dec 19, 2024•53 min
We’ve produced more than 40 episodes of What I Wish I Knew. Our prior guests talked about journeys that they chose to embark on: starting a company, solving a problem, building organizations, creating opportunities, or navigating life and career. In our current series, we’re probing into a trip that none of us opted into but we’re all on board anyway…and that is artificial intelligence. AI influences what we see, hear, buy, and think, how we navigate the world, and how we navigate daily life. In...
Dec 16, 2024•29 min
Steve Fleck is the voice many people hear in their hardest moments, when their heart is jumping out of their chest, their mind is crushed, and the finish line is in sight. Fleck is a broadcast commentator for athletics, cycling, endurance, and running competitions. He’s the familiar soundtrack to events streamed on media like CBC, FLOBIKES, Ironman Live, and others. But how does one become the voice of sport, or anything else, for that matter? It starts by knowing your stuff. And, in Steve’s cas...
Jul 20, 2022•51 min
Is there a secret to success? Absolutely. And it's probably not what you may think. Bert Thornton spent 40 years shaping careers (including his own) as Waffle House grew from a few restaurants in the American south to become a pillar of communities around the country. As president and chief operations officer, he believed that the growth of the company relied upon the development of its people. Building leadership skills throughout an organization is both an obligation and an opportunity. Now, t...
May 10, 2022•48 min
Josh Hotsenpiller is one of those people you wish you’d known your entire life. And when you meet him, you’ll feel like you did. You see, Josh, devotes a big chunk of his time to building community and he does it with a goal to have a positive impact for all. He’s done it in as an entrepreneur, leader, and pastor. He’s founder & CEO of JUNO, a rapidly scaling online events platform that delivers connection, education, and engagement. He founded Wisdom Capture which helps organizations share ...
Mar 21, 2022•41 min
Ambition is defined as a strong desire to achieve. But what does it really mean, in real life? And how do you turn your ambitions into reality? In this mini episode from What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw, we talk with four people who absolutely can offer insights on how to achieve your ambition. Ann Hiatt was an executive partner to Jeff Bezos during the formative years at Amazon and to Eric Schmidt at Google. Her new book Bet On Yourself is available now. Bob Rief was CEO of Me...
Jan 26, 2022•13 min
Camilla Barnard believes people should be able to feel good about loving food, not guilty. Her starting point was one of those good-for-you foods that may not taste so good: muesli. Trouble is that muesli is a commodity category dominated by big food companies, famous brands, and basic store products. Few would have the audacity to start there. She wasn’t a veteran of the food industry nor an expert in consumer marketing. And yet, her company, Rude Health, has become a familiar sight on store sh...
Oct 20, 2021•49 min
David Taylor has been named one of the world’s 50 leading marketing thinkers by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. His specialty, however, is in real-world, applied marketing…the sort that delivers growth in revenue and in regard. And whether the brand is a product or the proverbial brand you, Taylor has pragmatic advice shaped by 28 years’ experience leading growth projects for some of the world’s biggest global brands. In this episode of What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin and Simon Daw , Da...
Sep 28, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Jasmine Burton is an industrial designer by training and a social impact designer by choice. She’s a believer that design can help solve important societal problems…and that the next iPhone or app isn’t necessarily one of them. Instead, she’s taking on one of the biggest health problems in the world and one that, ironically, has also had little innovation over the years: sanitation. In college, she founded Wish For WASH, a social impact startup intended to bring innovation to sanitation. She and...
Sep 10, 2021•44 min
The world today is deeply divided over politics, covid, race, culture, values, religion, and many other issues. Bridging that chasm is perhaps harder than it’s ever been and yet maybe never more important than it is right now. Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson of UCLA shares a perspective that fear overhangs much of that discord and recognizing the source of that fear is vital to building cooperation. In this episode of What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin and Simon Daw , Dr. Johnson talks about the capaci...
Aug 26, 2021•57 min
Good health has never been more important or as top of mind as it has been this past year. And many folks wish they’d taken care of their health before they lost it. “Most people think disease is instantaneous,” said Dr. Richard Harris. However, many physical ailments can take years to develop. Lifestyle choices have a profound impact on health and quality of life. While lifespan is a common focus, Dr. Harris says that striving for health span – the duration of one’s good health – is even more i...
Aug 04, 2021•53 min
Oli Russell-Cowan was on a mission. It was also his honeymoon. He and his wife were roaming around North, Central, and South America with a plan to surf, see the sights, and experience culture. While surfing and sightseeing were pretty straightforward, they found it hard to find good information about special events like the Day of the Dead in Mexico City. That sparked an idea for a blog, which became a business, and eventually a platform intended to share information, experiences, and logistica...
Jul 21, 2021•44 min
What brand of blanket do you have at home? If you’re like most people, you have no idea. If you’re Wylie Robinson then you’re out to change that. Wylie is founder and CEO of Rumpl, the brand of blanket that most people will want when they see it. It all started in a blizzard. Stranded in a vehicle that wouldn’t start and – of course out of cellphone range – Wylie was inspired to create blankets out of the same high-performance material used in sleeping bags and puffy outdoor jackets. The resulti...
Jul 07, 2021•53 min
What enables an effective leader? And why do so many fall short? Vanderbilt University’s Patrick Leddin is an expert in helping leaders and teams reach their potential. Dr. Leddin’s expertise is both academic and practical, and forged across a range of organizations. He served as a U.S. Army airborne, infantry, ranger-qualified officer, managed projects at KPMG Consulting, and partnered with his wife, Jamie, to start an Inc. 5000-recognized company. He teaches strategy, negotiation, marketing, a...
Jun 23, 2021•53 min
Why is learning another language so difficult? The challenge starts at the beginning…of life. Babies aren’t born with a specific language but they are equipped to learn from what they hear. The sounds and words they hear from parents and caregivers are vital to their development of language. In fact, babies quickly learn to lock in on familiar sounds and those make up the building blocks of language. All good, right? Sounds they aren’t exposed to never become part of their verbal repertoire. Yea...
Jun 10, 2021•52 min
Mat Franken and his wife thought they had parenting all figured out. Having their first child was a breeze. Their second, however, had multiple health issues. Faced with an uncertain diagnosis about the causes of their son’s ailments and unclear direction about how to help, a doctor suggested the Frankens look at chemicals used around their home. Their research revealed two alarming statistics: the air inside a home is up to 500% more polluted than the air outside simply because of products used...
May 26, 2021•43 min
“It’s true that there’s a cost to addressing environmental problems but it’s also true that there’s a much higher cost to not addressing them.” And in Mark Tercek’s view, everyone can and should play a part. The former CEO of The Nature Conservancy believes that the best outcomes for the planet will come at the intersection of government, corporate, institutional, organizational, and individual effort. The common Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are important but not enough a...
May 11, 2021•46 min
With the Covid vaccine, the entire planet has just had front row seats to innovation of massive importance, urgency, and scale. What looked like chaos has resulted in crunching the vaccine cycle time from 10 years to 10 months. So how did it happen? And what are the factors that lead to creative and innovative leaps? How can innovation occur in daily life? Jeff DeGraff is the person who knows. Jeff is an advisor to Fortune 500 companies, a top innovation speaker, a professor at the Ross School o...
Apr 29, 2021•56 min
“Purpose is simultaneously absolutely nothing at all and absolutely everything.” How one defines purpose is an individual choice. And it’s all part of their story. Eric Thomas is what happens when you combine a decade of marketing experience, street smarts, and heavy dose of humor to balance it out. For Eric, storytelling is a business and a way of life. His insights on culture, business, and media help strategists and leaders imagine innovative ways forward, break down old ways of thinking, and...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Bob Morais is a go-to person when the goal is to understand human behavior. The business anthropologist has worked with brands such as Coca Cola, Danone, Fairmont Hotels, FreshPet, GlaxoSmithKline, Hain Celestial, Pinnacle Foods, Pfizer, Post, Proctor & Gamble, Sabra, Safeway, Swissotel, and WD-40 to distill customer insights into business strategy. He is a lecturer at Columbia University Business School. In this episode of What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw , Bob talks about...
Apr 01, 2021•57 min
Cody Horton grew up as the oldest of his family’s 10 children in a small town in the Texas panhandle. At an early age, he learned what it felt like to be excluded because of race and skin color. After high school, his family didn’t have the resources or connections to jump start his life with a job or college, so he enlisted in the Navy. His naval recruiter was intentional about recruiting diverse candidates for an officer training program. Cody was selected and earned a commission as a naval of...
Mar 25, 2021•57 min
Steph Barry lives at the intersection of curiosity and growth. From traveling the world as a kid to working around the world in her business, Steph’s inherent curiosity about people and how things work has led her to leading roles in B2B, B2C, public and private companies, higher education, and as an entrepreneur. She has held senior leadership positions with organizations such as Hunter Douglas, Solatube International, Hunter Douglas, the University of California San Diego, and WD-40. She has l...
Mar 19, 2021•55 min
Nicky Godding is a person of many skills none of which were part of a master plan because she says, “I didn’t have one”. She’s a publisher and has launched award-winning magazines. Publishing, however, is her fourth career. So far. Before getting into magazines, Nicky ran PR campaigns for clients across Europe. She was equally likely to be flying off to glamor destinations like the South of France, Copenhagen, Paris, Lisbon, Milan, Rome or ‘up and coming ones’ like Bucharest, Vilnius, and Sofia....
Mar 12, 2021•38 min
Tea Colaianni has never feared setting bold goals. As a child, she decided to become the Italian ambassador to Singapore. While her law and business career took her in a different direction, impact has always been the means by which she measured what she does. Following an executive career with organizations like Hilton Hotels and Merlin Entertainments, Tea set perhaps her boldest goal of all: to make a positive difference to 5 million women and people of color across the hospitality, travel, an...
Feb 28, 2021•57 min
Andrea Faulkner Williams partnered with her husband, Brian Williams, to create a line of bath products for children. In just a few years, their company, Tubby Todd Bath Co., has become famous for great products and for bringing a sense of fun to a daily chore for young families. The Tubby Todd slogan: “Good Clean Fun” is a realistic capture of what they do. As marketers, we believe the best brands are the ones that are based upon and build community. Andrea and Brian have done exactly that. Tubb...
Feb 17, 2021•1 hr 6 min
John Creaton is CEO and co-founder of Planet Arborist, a platform designed to provide integrated support for businesses focused on sustainability. Planet Arborist works directly with producers on investment funding, business services, and ratings, and provides guidance on sustainable living. He was born and educated in Ireland and has lived in Japan, London, and New York. He is now based in the UK. After starting his career as an engineer with Fujitsu in Tokyo, John spent 21 years at Goldman Sac...
Feb 12, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Brandon Lowery was a professional athlete…but not in the sports he loved most. While he leaned into skate, snow, and surf, Brandon’s athletic ability aimed him toward a professional soccer life in Europe. A crash ended his soccer career and left him wheelchair bound for two years. His experiences as a traditional sport athlete inspired him to bring the same standards, opportunities, and audiences to action sports. Brandon is CEO of USA Surfing, the national federation for the sport of surfing in...
Feb 04, 2021•58 min
Across the globe, Hannah Ingram-Moore has worked with companies such as Whittard of Chelsea, Gap, Fortnum & Mason, Swatch Group, and Mulberry to create and deliver omnichannel strategies, improve the customer journey, and boost international distribution and sales. She currently serves as co-founder, director, and workplace strategist with Maytrix Group , a company dedicated to helping clients achieve step changed revenue growth, effective strategy execution and maximizing people engagement....
Feb 02, 2021•1 hr 14 min
