INTELAB Ventures’ Post

Every leading company has a strong research and insights function. Why? Because leadership needs accurate, timely and relevant information in order to make the right decisions for the future of their company. The rise of #generativeAI is changing the work of #research, insights, knowledge management and #thoughtleadership professionals. If you're a leader in this space, how are you re-imagining the work that your team does to create new value for the rest of the company? If you're professional in this space, how are you experimenting with these tools while at the same time maintaining the quality and trust in the work that you deliver and are ultimately accountable for? Those are some of the questions that I'll be discussing with Ceri Hughes from KPMG, CJ Anderson from Iron Carrot Limited and Tom Mowat from Microsoft at the KIMRA Conference next week. Is your organization ready for genAI? If you are interested in attending the conference, link in the comments below.

Why C-Level Executives Must Have a Strong Knowledge of Tech Selection? This question has come up frequently, so I've decided to discuss it in detail. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, having a robust understanding of technology isn't just for IT professionals. C-suite leaders who are well-versed in tech selection can drive innovation, improve operational efficiency, and maintain a competitive edge. #clevel #technology #ai #mountainise #techworld #martech #didgitaltransformation

Grateful to have been part of a dynamic panel discussion at the Virtual Town Hall today, alongside esteemed industry leaders. Strategic AI opportunities in IT ops and development are hot topics. Key insights were shared on harnessing data for full-stack observability and optimizing cloud resources for cost and performance. Thanks to all the participants for sharing their perspectives resulting in an engaging conversation! #CIO #ITLeadership #AIOps #Observability #CloudOptimization #Evanta #Gartner

As technology, especially artificial intelligence, continues to democratize information, leaders must adapt to maintain their legitimacy. Here are three strategies that leaders can use to maintain and enhance their legitimacy, supported by research and studies: #leadershipdevelopment #leadershipcoaching #personaldevelopment #versed

Witnessed a lovely 0.9 magnitude partial solar eclipse in the DC area today. Thanks Owen Steinert for the photo. I guess I’m feeling philosophical, but the spectacle of an eclipse seems to mirror our collective fascination with AI and other groundbreaking innovations. These advancements draw our attention with promise of novelty (and at least for AI progress and profit, too). Yet, as we race to not be left behind, a crucial question looms: How do we ensure that leaders in business, government, and even we, as individuals, are making *informed* decisions? Making informed decisions about emerging tech is really hard. I honestly think helping leaders make informed decisions at the intersection of tech and society is a challenge of the century... it is why I get out of bed each morning for work.

I'm excited to be the Panel Speaker at the CIO CISO Chicago Think Tank on June 27th! Join me and @cvisioninternational as we discuss "Strategic Shifts: Reimagining Engineering Talent Deployment and Management in the Age of AI (GenAI)." Competing in the age of Gen AI requires a complete overhaul of how products are engineered and brought to the market. One key element in designing, developing, and deploying AI solutions is the team that makes it happen. It is crucial to understand how the talent pool needs to evolve to meet the needs of the future. I look forward to discussing this topic with my co-panelists George Wang PMP, Lonnie Washington, and Kate Smith, moderated by Jeff Wolniakowski during the CIO & CISO Think Tank organized by C-Vision. John S. #genai #talent #engineering #engineer #product #cio #thinktank #ai #cvisioninternational #digitaltransformation #data #ai #cio #ciso #ciothinktank #collaboration #leadership #cybersecurity #culture #genai #talentdevelopment

I enjoyed reading this fictional case study from Harvard Business Review! Reading that a typical bank loses four AI people for every five it hires made me reflect: this is not just a bank problem in these days. There’s a true war for (top) talent in the AI space. Leaders seem to have some winning practices: - Make them proud. Only green-light projects with clear ROI, so impact is visible and obvious to everyone. - Build a purpose for humans. Tell the AI narrative around human and digital evolution to help reduce friction and pushback about making everyone’s lives easier. - Foster collaboration and break silos. Focus on building cross-functional teams that create value and eliminate bureaucracy. I’ll link the full article by Tom Davenport and George Westerman in my comments. #QuantumBlack #AIbyMcKinsey #ArtificialIntelligence

A week on from our CIO Leadership Awards and I'm only now getting around to thanking all my panellists for their contributions to a great discussion. We're in the midst of a Gen AI revolution, but it's fair to say that many enterprises are still trying to figure out what is the best approach to adopt when it comes to developing their own Gen AI models. Choice, cost and compliance are all factors that must be taken into consideration when embarking on your Gen AI journey. It was interesting to hear the viewpoints from all the esteemed IT leaders we had on the panel - and there will be full coverage of the panel discussion in March's edition of CNME. However, comments from Mario M. Veljovic really stuck out for me in terms of our mindset when it comes to Gen AI. He feels that sometimes we are guilty of focusing too much on some of the negativity and concerns around Gen AI, rather than looking at the positives that it is going to bring. Now, he wasn't dismissing the valid concerns that exist around data privacy and compliance, but he just reiterated that when it comes to Gen AI we need to embrace the opportunities it will bring, and adapt our mindset accordingly. A big thank you once again to all my panel: Sertan S. Samer Semaan Mario M. Veljovic Kamel Tawil Rahil G. Michael Andersen Gohil Surendrasinh Thanks also to Laura Buckwell for as always doing a great job as MC. #cioleadership #it #tech #genai #genairevolution

Big thanks to Josna John (she/her) for the invite to the #Gartner tech event. Engaging with top industry CIOs on the evolving role of AI in modern workflows was truly inspiring. 🎙️ Key Insights from the Fireside Chat with Tech Leaders 💡 #GenAI excels in areas like 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚, but it faces challenges in #research generation, which requires deep understanding and the ability to synthesize new knowledge. ❓ Q&A Highlights: Q1: As a manager, where should I focus my attention now? 🗣️ The advice was clear: “Tech will keep evolving, and you have limited time to keep up with every change.” So, what should you do? Build a team that can adapt and lead innovation. The CIO who learned this the hard way, shared an important lesson: “Let innovation & growth come from your team. Let go of that technical mindset as a manager and focus on leadership. Put authentic belief in your team, and they will deliver.” Q2: How to keep up with emerging technologies? 🌐 One recommendation that really stood out to me was to follow the 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞 to track technologies that are hitting the 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲. I read the full 2024 Gartner report and the insights on autonomous AI and developer productivity were truly fascinating. Q3: What purposeful innovations are leaders focusing on ? a. Just try to look into your own organization or at a place around you (outages like those caused by CrowdStrike , how many servers go down? ). Purposeful innovation means addressing the most pressing issues within your org. and ensuring smooth operations. b. Listening to Clients: “What are their pain points, and what technology can solve them?” c. Development Priorities: Providing value to all clients, not just the largest. Great insights on AI's future in our industries! I loved the leaders’ mantra: “Be humble, be hungry” — tackle challenges, and the rewards will come. “Join” me for the latest in AI/ML . . . #AI #GenerativeAI #TechLeadership #Innovation #HypeCycle

We did it again, this time in San Francisco, with a simple, top of mind question — how is #generativeAI shaping your company's strategy? The CB Insights team and I explored this over dinner with a great group of senior strategy and innovation leaders. The group’s main takeaway – we're in the "messy middle" of AI transformation. While we're still navigating challenges, the time to act and experiment is now, not down the road.  🚀 Success in AI isn't about building everything in-house. With big tech companies pouring billions into R&D and investors pouring billions into AI startups, your most effective approach is often strategic partnerships and collaboration.  🎯 Data isn't about perfection — it's about adaptation. The useful life of models is shrinking. Value is not in hoarding data, but in how quickly and effectively you put it to work. More companies are also considering data co-ops and exchanges.  🌱 Embrace AI and intelligence abundance, but remember human attention is the true scarce resource and often last mile of what makes an AI project successful. A special thank you to all our awesome speakers: #Visa's Vanessa Colella, #Microsoft's Chantrelle Nielsen and Amit Panchal, and our leading AI Agent CEO panel members Bella Liu, Jerry Haywood and Raghu Ravinutala. Grateful to our amazing community of guests. Where should we host our next one? Aaron Byrne Alina Lantsberg Andrew Bolwell Andrew Goff Angela Jingyi Zhu Ashik Ardeshna Ashley Gibb, PhD Ashok Divakaran Austin Noronha Beti Cung Cathal McCarthy Choong S. Darrell Leong Deepak Jeevankumar Eylul Kayin Faruk Muratovic Flora (Florence) Zagruzny Gareth Gaston Gene L. Indradeep Ghosh Ivan Houlihan Jennifer Shah Josh Walker Juliet Wegener Kapil Jain Karlo Martin Lee Ott Lisa Katayama Maher M. Mazen Skaf Michael C. Hammer Pankaj Parekh Penny Harwood (continued...)