The Suite Spot: Recent Episodes
The Suite Spot
The Suite Spot is a fireside chat about all topics IT and OT. We will attempt to bring clarity to the business value of traditionally tech topics. We remove the fog of acronym war and deliver to you the value you need to make these complex technologies work for your business.
Carlos Vargas, Howard Houghton, and Paul Lewis discuss whiskey tasting and AI technology on a weekly show. They analyze the challenges and opportunities of AI implementation, highlighting the importance of starting small and measuring outcomes. The discussion emphasizes the need for boards to inquire about technology leaders' success and lessons learned, expressing optimism about the future impact of AI technology despite the risks involved.
The Switchbar is a leadership platform featuring Carlos Vargas, Howard Houghton, and Paul Lewis. The recent discussion delved into the impact of AI over the past six months, categorizing individuals into distracted, non-technical, and AI-focused groups. The emphasis was on initiating small and measurable AI projects, acknowledging the rising risks while fostering optimism for the future. Boards are encouraged to seek insights from tech leaders on AI lessons learned and future applications, stressing the need to strike a balance between risks and beneficial use cases in the ever-evolving AI landscape.
I discuss the significance of stagecraft for CXOs and panelists in conferences, focusing on engaging delivery and content preparation for effective communication. I provide suggestions like recording and reviewing oneself, adjusting content, and practicing voice modulation. I advise the audience to draw from past experiences as attendees to enhance their speaking skills. CXOs are urged to prioritize content value and panelists over personal recognition, promoting dynamic discussions and diverse viewpoints.
I discuss the common issue of lack of empathy and communication between IT and business teams. I emphasize the importance of empathy and deference in interactions, highlighting the need for leaders to exhibit these qualities to set a positive tone for the team. Understanding, collaboration, effective communication, and mutual respect are encouraged to achieve common goals and improve relationships between teams.
Google and Marriott have joined forces to offer co-sharing services through the Marriott Bonvoy program. At the Google Next 2024 conference, the focus was on AI, particularly generative AI and the Gemini brand series. The conference showcased advanced features like AI ops and ML ops, but concerns were raised about the cost and lack of guidance for implementing AI technologies. The emphasis was on improving communication between business users and technologists. Other announcements included new infrastructure options, database AI features, and security controls. Data governance and AI governance were highlighted as crucial in the industry, with vendors offering data catalogs and semantic layers to improve data quality and accessibility.
Stay updated on technology trends and implementation, be the expert in the room, and push back on unrealistic expectations. Implementing emerging technologies like AI requires a focus on security. Be proactive in learning and seeking input from your team. Bridge the gap between technology executives and other business leaders by practicing humility and seeking input from others.
AI's potential impact on the IT industry is immense. It is crucial to embrace AI and develop the necessary skills to stay relevant. Automation and AI are changing roles like DBAs and system administrators. To remain valuable, it is important to develop senior-level knowledge and expertise. However, there are challenges and risks associated with AI, such as the loss of tribal knowledge and the need for human oversight. Middle management roles may be reduced as AI takes over tasks, while senior management focuses on vision and innovation. Large tech companies stand to benefit the most from AI advancements. Future-proofing skillsets and considering alternative career paths is advised. AI tools can be used to improve job performance and efficiency. Additionally, AI has the potential to assist individuals with disabilities, like dyslexia. Organizations can leverage AI effectively by using AI accelerators and pre-built solutions.
The video discusses the lack of preparation and experiences related to the Super Bowl. It also explores the value of data and different perspectives on it. The CIO perspective on obtaining insights, the importance of producing more value than the cost of obtaining insights, and the need for consistent language and definitions of data are also highlighted. The video emphasizes scalability and the data team as a factory of insights, as well as the challenges of data ownership and the need for clear roles and responsibilities. It also discusses learning from other departments to maintain centralized control and the importance of a center of excellence or innovation for data initiatives. Lastly, the video emphasizes the importance of saying no and prioritizing projects for successful delivery of insights.
Apple Vision Pro is an exciting new VR headset that combines forward-facing cameras and augmented reality features. With Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, it offers an immersive experience akin to having an iPad on your face. While it has potential applications in gaming, sports, and medical training, it is still in its early stages with some bugs and limitations. Keep in mind that it comes with a high price tag and may not be suitable for everyone. Nonetheless, Apple's foray into the VR market hints at promising advancements and innovations to come.
Join us as we dive into personal experiences and growth as leaders. We'll discuss the importance of self-reflection and continuous improvement, and share strategies for enhancing your leadership skills. Discover the significance of creating a positive and open environment for your teams, and learn how to prioritize and choose your battles wisely. We'll also explore the value of having a strong team and being passionate about your company. Plus, we'll emphasize the importance of being a great leader and offer a free subscription for the best comment guessing shared job. Don't miss out on this opportunity to improve yourself and help others on your team. Stay tuned for future episodes!
This video discusses the frustrating hotel booking experience and questions the poor customer experience in many industries. It blames the lack of customer-centricity on leadership and middle management and suggests training and hiring customer-focused middle managers. The video also criticizes chasing buzzwords without understanding their value and highlights the importance of accurately defining competitors and targeting the right market segment. It further discusses the challenges of digital transformation and the low success rate, attributing failure to poor definitions, distractions, and lack of resources. The video emphasizes the need for realistic expectations, proper sizing, and adequate funding for successful transformation.
In this video, the hosts discuss holiday plans and traditions. They also highlight the drawbacks of taking notes during meetings, emphasizing that salespeople or project managers should be responsible for this task. The importance of being fully engaged and actively listening in meetings is emphasized, with a preference for real-time engagement over recorded notes. The value of pausing for questions and discussion after each slide or topic is also emphasized, along with the need for clear roles and responsibilities in meetings for effective communication and collaboration. The limitations of virtual meetings and lack of effective collaboration tools are discussed, and the focus is on active engagement and understanding customer's needs, rather than extensive note-taking.
As a CIO or CTO, it is important to prioritize planning and strategic work as your team grows. Negotiating work and managing expectations is crucial in the technology field. Focus on mentoring, managing, and strategic planning rather than technical tasks. AI has an impact on leadership roles, so building personal and company brands is important. Transitioning from an individual contributor to a leader requires clear career planning. Understand different leadership roles and adjust your work focus accordingly.
OpenAI recently faced a boardroom conflict, resulting in the departure of the former CEO and key scientists. An attempted merger with a competitor was also rejected. The board resigned, and Altman has returned as CEO, with a new board expected. There are speculations that Microsoft, a major investor, may have influenced the board's decision. As a result, there is uncertainty about OpenAI's future direction and its commitment to altruistic goals. Users should still utilize OpenAI's services but be prepared for potential changes in the AI landscape.
The hosts discuss the challenges of frequent travel and high costs associated with events like Formula One and the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. They also share their own experiences leaving companies due to ineffective managers and emphasize the importance of mentorship and learning from experienced leaders. The importance of transparency during the interview process, conversations with managers about goals and aspirations, fair compensation, and avoiding companies with poor tools or practices is also highlighted. Lastly, the hosts reflect on the importance of actions and decisions for a positive work environment.
When looking for a new job, we get presented with different alternatives. Sometimes they include big dollar signs others big titles. In this episode we will chat with listener Rahul about what is his advice for Technology leaders about hiring, growing your career and mentoring others. You don't want to miss it.
In today's episode, we have a special guess Rob Teel, and we will talk about How to foster Creativity and Culture in your teams.
Every technical leader knows that IT folks love Star Trek. But as we all know there are different characters just like in your team and organization. Is Spock more important than Kirk or the other way around? In this episode, we will go thru the process of how as leaders we need both and how to provide the correct place so each one will flourish within our organization.
This is a question that we get ask constantly. Do you like the feature? or If we had that xyz feature will you buy my product? In today's episode, we will share the details about: Are features important for a CIO or Capabilities to enable the business are more important?
We spend countless hours in meetings every day. 1 on 1, team, all hands. But one interesting phenomenon is that as we transition to work from home, now the meetings are huge. 20 - 30 people in a zoom call. After deep reflection and analysis, we have chosen 5 key things you need to do to run an effective large meeting. We will share them with you so you can learn and apply them to your meetings.
Is it possible to make no mistakes as a Technology Leader and Still Fail? This is the question for today's episode.
StressOps - The programmatic and un-airing approach to stress as a destination. We constantly are looking to do more but our stress level is growing exponentially. In this episode, we will discuss how our pace as leaders affects or impact the people we work with.
As IT leaders we are confronted with many problems. We try to work and solve them. But what if we can't? What if we shouldn't solve that problem? In todays episode we will tackle this question. Can we solve all problems and should we? This one is one of my favorite.
As technology leaders, we live and die by our strategy. We create them, we communicate them and then we change them. Is our strategy law or can we change it to meet the current need of the business? That and other questions will drive today's podcast.
Leveraging the cloud is awesome. You can grow and deploy anywhere. But what happens when your values or company mission statement conflict with the cloud provider? What can you do to protect or prevent any issues with the services that you need or offer?
Each of us leads in different ways. When we lead it impacts those around us. In today's episode, we will share the impact on how our leadership and decisions impact all those around us.
Technology Jargon is awesome, but it slows down what we can do. In today's episode, we will share different Trends that you should really pay attention to and how some may derail our focus.
The world as we know it has change. We need to move to different roles inside and outside our current organization. How we approach the process of learning those new roles will make the difference for our success. In this episode, Paul, Howard and Carlos will share their experience from how to take the challenge of a new role and what you should do when you start a new one. You don't want to miss it.
When you look at how we make decisions, we depend on the insight of other people. A company get their insight from their data. But not because we get insights form the data means we are getting the correct insights or outcomes from our data. In this episode we will have the conversation about how we can make sure we get the correct insights from our data and much more.
New Critical Roles and Skills. This is the final episode of the Trends and Predictions series and it is the most important. Everything has change. And now more than ever technology leaders need to have a good grasp on their skills and the critical roles needed to make their teams excel. In this episode we will share what are some of those roles and what we should do as leaders to help our companies stay on top.
Data And Analytics - 2020 is gone and 2021 is here. What will this new year bring for the technology leaders of the world? What trends they should be paying attention? What will Data and Analytics can do for a business leader? How to use your data to derive details that can help you make better decisions? That and more are some of the questions we answer in todays podcast.
Security, Compliance and Risk
2020 is gone and 2021 is here. What will this new year bring for the technology leaders of the world? What trends they should be paying attention? What changes should they start thinking to help their companies to stay secure, compliant and reducing their risk. These are some of the questions we will discuss in this episode.
2020 is gone and 2021 is here. What will this new year bring for the technology leaders of the world? What trends they should be paying attention? What changes should they start thinking to help their companies to stay relevant and competitive in this new year. This are some of the questions we will discuss in this episode.
Every company has policies that help keep everything in check. The question that many technology leaders have or faced is: Who should make this policies? Should the people closer to implementing the policies should make them? or Should the leaders responsible to the company be the ones. In this episode we will have the conversation with about how Paul and Howard have created their policies and their approach to integrate every team member in the process.
Everyone is on Social... is that so. How should leaders use social media to advance their careers and connect with others?
Shutdown Claus Is Coming To Town. As a leader what should your moratorium activities. What are things you should spend doing with your team.
There are three different types of leaders. Each one may help or slow down your company and it grow. In this episode we will see how a CIO looks at the leaders he needs to keep a company moving forward and when it is important to switch those leaders to help the company move forward to the next level.
Federated Leadership - Leading people and teams that cross geography, discipline, divisions, office and home.
Your Personal Attitude and What do you after you get layoff. We may have experience or will experience a layoff at some point in our professional life. In this episode we will share our previous experience and how you can get ready for what comes next.
Diversifying the leadership bench, is more about fixing the organization than under represented talent. How should you position your teams and leaders so they can serve correctly? Do you need people that just say yes or that will help the company to move forward? This and more will be part of the discussion for today's podcast.
The Potential Unsolvable Challenge Of IT. IT Convergence (Fact Or Fiction) In this episode we will discuss what is fact and fiction about IT convergence. Is this possible and how to accomplish it.
Have you ever wonder what does the phrase: "Keep the lights on" really means? Well in today's episode we dive into what does it mean for a CIO and what they really do when they have to keeps the lights on. Spoiler alert "They don't need a flashlight".
How many times have you been in a meeting when the other person is talking but not saying anything that relates to your needs. In this episode we will tackle the idea of how as leaders we are listening but the other side is not saying what they need to say or connecting with you.
Stories is how we communicate for thousands of years. Learning how to communicate with stories is the best way to communicate your leadership or sales messages. Learn how you can use stories with your teams and partners.
Each one of us have different perspectives. Learning how to create one and how to use it with your teams and partners is very important. Teaching your team how to create their own will be the difference between success and failure.
Learn how technology leaders in the Financial sector deal with some of the challenges they experience and how to leverage their expertise to succeed.
Everything has change. Now we are using terms and phrases we never used before. What do they mean for an IT leader? How can we adjust to them and what we need to do about them. In this weeks episode we will talk about "THE NEW NORMAL" what it means to us as IT Leaders and what to do to lead our teams effectively.
There has been a lot of changes to the way we do thing in our world. How we use to do things in a technology department is not the same as it will be from now on. Learn and laugh how we discuss the new changes and how to adapt to them.
In this episode we go over one of the unintended consequences of COVID. That is the changes on how our groups interact and are going to call them Tribes. How our tribes have been affected and what we can do as leaders to help our team members.
Building blocks are important but learning what to do with them is more important. In this weeks episode Paul and Howard use the analogy of lego blocks and how that can apply to your IT strategy.
Executives and leaders hear different terms all day long. But when it comes to marketing the acronyms and terms are never ending. In this episode we will have some fun and learn mumbo jumbo lingo leaders have to work with to market their service, product and department effectively. You don't want to miss it.
Each presenter has different styles. When you are in the audience you can see how each presenter share their ideas and concept. In this episode Paul and Howard share a little bit about their presentation styles and what they have learn when they are in the audience seat vs the presenter stage.
For Leaders, sharing ideas is the most important skill they could learn and mastered. Story Telling is the best way to communicate those ideas. It takes people in a journey with your in the same way it's been done for generations across the world.
Paul had to cancel his vacation to Disney and we go over the effects of how the industry is changing to stay profitable with all the different changes about the pandemic.
In this episode, we go over the different types of communications and how they affect us inside and outside the office.
In this episode Guy Sereff share with us how companies are taking time to revisit their policies. It is time to review with all the changes and how that affects Internal and external policies.
In this episode we have the CIO of Techion Office Furniture discussing how the changes on how offices are design after the pandemic. He also share the challenges companies are having with employees at home and other interesting ideas.
In this episode we will have Nasheen Liu - Partner & SVP , CIO Strategy. She share her ideas on how to communicate and market to CIO's. The discussion also covers how CIO's need to switch their communication strategy.
We are seen changes across the board in every industry. in this episode our guest Ernest Soloman from Lawpro, share with us the current and new changes that a Legal Services Company experience during a pandemic. We also discuss how collaboration, culture and creativity help a team deliver faster and meet customer needs. And much more.
In this episode we have a candid conversation with Mike Davison from Microsoft Technology Center. How technology is changing after the pandemic and what other companies may look to do with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, People management and more.
The journey of how to get there, and What you should do today. What is the Job of the CIO? What are the different roles that a CIO do? How can an Information Technology professional move up the ladder to get to the CIO role? This and many other questions will are answer in today's episode.
Every CIO has different areas where they focus. But one thing that is common is how we engage them and communicate the vision. In this episode we will share our ideas about how you can market to a CIO and what not to do.
In this episode the team of the suite spot share their ideas about traveling and what may be the effects of the new normal for IT leaders and teams
Working from home can be challenging and sometimes we may feel separated form the rest of the team. But this also happen when we are in the office and we choose to separate ourselves from the rest of the teams and departments. In this episode Howard, Paul and Carlos share their insights into how to lead when you are siloed (separated by something like a pandemic) but also how to remove those siloes and enable enhanced productivity form where ever you are.
Are missing what you are missing? In this episode Paul, Howard and Carlos discuss the changes and challenges that leaders will encounter after this pandemic crisis.
How should teams approach the different options for selling their products or focusing on their customer satisfaction.
What are some challenges in how we think about AI? AI: Humans can't be categorized like cars. I'm convinced that data science stuff simply can't be applied to people.
Outcomes are a result, capabilities are the culmination of the reason ending in a capability to return a result. Reason vs Result: The difference between Outcomes, how one needs to achieve them, and why they are even outcomes at all.
This is the third episode in a row where we are looking into the different challenges IT leaders face during a pandemic time. In this episode we have Brian Householder as our guest. Brian shared the impact of this pandemic to the business. As a CEO he is working to help not only his company but he talks and share his insights with a lot of different leaders across the world.
In this episode we have Pravine Balkaran - Global VP of IT as a guest with us. Together we tackle several topics that we have seen IT organizations facing during a pandemic crisis.
CIO’s rarely control “how” they spend IT $’s, they also sometimes control “when” they spend IT $’s. What usually do control is “what on” they spend IT $’s
A pandemic crisis is a challenging time. People are overloaded with fake news. worry and concern. But an area that it is overlooked is that technology systems that support a business and how they are affected by the crisis. In this episode we will share our common ideas and thoughts on how a company or enterprise should look at handling their IT Capabilities, Resiliency, Capacity , Cyber Security and Digital Transformation during a crisis.
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If you are a leader in a company how much should you focus on strategy. Not when hiring, but , does a leader should have a strategy? Does all the executive council should have a strategy for each department? Should each department should have?
In today's session Howard and Paul discuss the value of strategy at the different levels of an organization are critical for the organization success.
The customer Journey is not our journey. We hear it start at an event. (being out of capacity, or acquisition) or Regulatory Event. A true customer event, start before the actual event. To be a journey for the customer will lead to a decision or change in business. Many times we call the customer journey as the buying journey.
In today's session Howard and Paul will go thru the challenges Executives go thru in their journey and how they solve it.
In every meeting there is a components of how should we talk to someone else. What should I say? Can I say something in a better way? The information technology world is no different. Office Politics are part of day to day operations. Learning to navigate and how to leverage the correct person in the right spot is critical to eliminate any issues. Paul and Howard will discuss their experience with Office Politics from an internal standpoint but also from an external (vendor) stand point.
During this episode Howard and Paul will discuss some of the releases and updates from VMworld 2019. The discussion was an interesting one from product feature to real business outcome and how an executive may see this new features vs a technologies.
Leadership is an interesting topic. Many leaders in the IT world are promoted for being really good at being an engineer or a technician, but at the same time no one takes the time to help them understand what is at the root of what they are leading that is people. How to deal with people and solve problems is the job of a leader. In this episode, Paul and Howard share deep and meaningful leadership principals that they have learned and applied during their IT career.
How we present and idea or product is critical to its success. Recycling the same message from a previous product or solution without understanding the impact or reaction from the other party will affect your credibility as a technology professional or executive. In this episode Howard and Paul will discuss how an executive reacts when someone share with them a new idea that in reality is just a recycled one.
Most executives aren’t born savvy travelers. It’s something that only comes with on-the-road experience. In the beginning, you make a lot of mistakes. Travel expertise is a process born of missed flights, foolish behavior, cultural unawareness, and countless tiny errors. Then, one day, you begin to seamlessly move through airports and integrate yourself into new cultures like a fish to water. In this episode our Howard and Paul share great tips that will help you travel like an expert without having to make the mistakes of an inexperience traveler.
In today's episode we will discuss the challenges for the traditional Oil industry and how transforming their Oil fields with technology allow them to maximize their utilization. How will Automation across drilling, pipelines and other systems allow the Oil Industry to transform their fields into completely automated Digital Oil fields.
Special Guest: David Smethurst - CTO Oil and Gas for Hitachi Vantara
The new world of IT must include a discussion about cloud. Not a technical conversation but a strategy conversation and how the cloud will enable business to reach its goals. In this episode we will discuss how executives look at leveraging cloud and how to approach it with a different mindset.
In this episode Howard and Paul discuss the topic of DataOps: a conversation on achieving outcomes