Showing posts with label kevin benedict. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kevin benedict. Show all posts

The Evolution of IoT, Digital Twins and AI with Rob Tiffany

Dive into the future of IoT, AI, and Digital Twins with Rob Tiffany, an expert in digital innovation. As VP and Chief Product Officer at Red Bison, former US Navy submariner, and a seasoned keynote speaker, author, and podcast host, Rob offers unparalleled insights drawn from his rich background in technology and services.

In this episode, Rob doesn't just forecast technology trends; he shares his Super Bowl predictions and favorite snacks for the big game. It's a unique blend of expertise and entertainment you won't want to miss. 

Join us for a session where cutting-edge technology meets everyday excitement with Rob Tiffany.

*I use generative AI to assist in all my work.
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Kevin Benedict
Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Inevitable Minimization of Human Decision-Making

In the near future, many jobs that are accomplished today by humans will be done by sensors, software, and machines.  These include jobs where responsibilities involve inspections, measuring, monitoring, tracking, adjusting, analyzing, moving things and tactical decision-making.  Many of these jobs are tedious or dangerous and having machines take over will be a positive development.  For example, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense recently announced plans for an Amazon-style delivery service in combat zones that will be operated by autonomous robots with air and ground capabilities.  Future Force Development leader Maj. Matt McGarvey-Miles shared that, "Robotic and autonomous system capabilities will play an increasing role in delivering “deployed sustainment” [supplies to troops] in the near-future."  These frontline delivery robots won’t just know a soldier’s static address, but where they are located in real-time while moving in combat zones.  That capability requires sophisticated algorithms and secure real-time GPS-style navigation capabilities.

In addition to autonomous delivery services in combat environments, robots will increasingly be assigned to support soldiers in the most dangerous missions which are often found in complex urban combat environments.  Robots can be used to pick-up and transport the wounded, remove doors, provide access inside buildings, and be the first to enter and surveil a room in combat conditions.  Knowledge is power, and once the robot(s) inform troops about the dangers and resistance they might face, then humans can take the appropriate defensive and offensive countermeasures.

A Plausible Future for Higher Education with Expert Dr. Paul J. Bailo

In this episode, I explore the future of higher education with expert and Adjunct Professor Dr. Paul J. Bailo.  I present him with 16 different future scenarios and ask if they are possible, plausible, impossible or implausible.  Join us for some deep thinking, insight, laughter, and a look into the future.


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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Echo Chambers Involving Old and New Media

Twitter has been widely credited with influencing the 2016 US presidential election.  Not because lot's of voters read tweets, but because lot's of journalists do.  Many of these journalists work for traditional media, which includes TV, radio, newspapers, newsletters, etc.  The sheer volume of controversial tweets generated ensured that journalists looked no further than Twitter for topics to cover.  This kept the spotlight on those who understood how both traditional and social media works, and were skilled at exploiting it.

Journalists and their editors understand that controversy and outrage are good for business. CBS's executive Les Moonves was quoted in 2016 as saying, "the Trump phenomenon may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." And by now we all know that social media algorithms thrive on engagement, and there is no better tool for engagement than tweeting outrageous things.  The cacophony of controversy fueled both traditional media's and new medias' business models.  A win for all media - if not necessarily for democracy.

The Role and Future of Information with Futurist Alex Whittington

In this deep dive discussion with the brilliant thinker and futurist Alex Whittington, we explore the topics of data monetization, social media, facts, information/disinformation and the future of data driven economic models.  I hope you enjoy!  

To watch or listen to more of these interviews with insightful futurist, business and technology leaders please remember to follow us or subscribe!

Did you remember to follow or subscribe?

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Rethinking Universities - Thoughts from Four Experts

In this episode, we talk with four experts, from three different countries, on how universities' business models, purpose and paradigms might need to be re-thought in the future.  Our experts are:
  • Renee Altier, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Business Education and Careers at Wiley
  • Greg Morrisett, Dean and Vice Provost at Cornell Tech
  • Mark Bramwell, CIO at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
  • Susan McCahan, Vice Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education and Vice Provost, Academic Programs at University of Toronto

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The 21 People Who Control the World

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has appointed twenty members to his new "Oversight Board." This board decides what Facebook's 2.7 billion users can read, watch, listen to and share on the social media platform.  They also decide which world leaders are allowed on the platform and what they can say.  

One of the Oversight Board's most significant upcoming decisions is whether to allow former US President Donald Trump, who is currently being impeached and on trial for starting an insurrection, back on Facebook where he can share his views of the world with billions of people.

Given the power of social media to alter people's thinking and behaviors, organize agitation and incite insurrection, this is a lot of power to leave in twenty Facebook appointed people's hands.  Have you ever stopped to think about the implications of that power?  These board members were not elected by citizens, but rather appointed by one person, Mark Zuckerberg.

Citizens have spent decades and even centuries organizing, debating, designing, writing and amending constitutions, protecting liberties, developing regulations, laws, processes and policies to manage and operate their Nation State.  Then along comes Facebook, a for-profit-business, which now will be making the most basic decisions on what information the citizens of these Nation States can read and share, and which global leaders are allowed to address them. That places Mark Zuckerberg in the consequential position of information "Kingmaker" to the world.  Are you OK with that?  Do you trust Zuckerberg with the health of your democracy and the minds of your citizens?  

No serious observer of recent history can question social media's ability to influence people's thinking and behaviors.  In the hands of expert influencers and propagandists true information becomes fake, and fake information true.  Are we OK with leaving that kind of power and influence over our lives, citizens and Nation States in the hands of one Silicon Valley technology executive and the twenty Oversight Board members he appointed?

Information is critical as is the appropriate management of it.  What are your thoughts?

Read more on the Future of Information, Truth and Influence here:
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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The University of Tommorrow with Expert Susan McCahan, Vice Provost of Innovations for Undergraduate Education and Academic Programs at the University of Toronto

Recently I had the great privilege of interviewing Susan McCahan, the Vice Provost, of Innovations for Undergraduate Education and Academic Programs at the University of Toronto. In our discussion we took a dive deep into the pandemic experience, digital transformation, and what the university of tomorrow may look like. We covered a lot of ground and I hope you will find it enlightening.



Watch more interviews on the future of higher education here.

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

University of Tomorrow - and the Role of Technology with Cornell Tech Expert Greg Morrisett

In this series, I interview experts on the future of higher education.  We take a dive deep into the pandemic experience, digital transformation, the future of university campuses and what the university of tomorrow may look like.  In this episode, I interview Greg Morrisett, Dean and Vice Provost at Cornell Tech.  


Watch more interviews on the future of higher education here.

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Future of Higher Education, a European Perspective with Dr. David Kalisz

While preparing for another pandemic induced lockdown, Dr. David Kalisz, Associate Professor at the Paris School of Business, shares his pandemic experiences with us, and his views into the future of higher education, teaching, competition, and possible future scenarios for universities.


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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Reimagining Higher Education with Professor Jack Shannon and Futurist Frank Diana

In this compelling episode we take a deep dive with futurist Frank Diana and Professor Jack Shannon into the future of children, the future of work and the future of higher education.  We then discuss how the pandemic and emerging technologies have impacted all of them and explore what possible future scenarios may look like.


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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Digital Transformation, Caring for Students and Meeting Expectations during a Pandemic at Tuskegee University with Dr. Jack Crumbly

This year has been like no other.  Join me as I interview Professor Jack Crumbly from the historically black Tuskegee University.  In addition to the rapid digital transformation already taking place in higher education, 2020 introduced the Covid-19 pandemic and social unrest.  Learn what it is like to chair a department in this vortex of change while working to provide the best student experience possible.



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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Higher Education and Pandemic Inspired Digital Transformation with Professor Bill Griffiths

In this episode, Professor Bill Griffiths of St. John’s University, who has over fifty-two years of teaching experience, shares how the pandemic has made the year 2020 different from all others.  We explore the impact of the pandemic on higher education in general, professors, and students.  We discuss the digital transformation journey of universities over the past decade, and how this pandemic experience has accelerated change and may have a long-lasting impact.


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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Higher Education and Pandemic Inspired Digital Transformation with Dr. Marek Kowalkiewicz, Part 2

In Part 2 (watch part 1 here) of my interview with digital transformation and higher education expert Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz, we dig deep into the technologies that support universities, digital transformation and the long-term effects of the pandemic on higher education.


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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Twitching Professors, Outsourced Parenting, Digital Transformation and the University Experience

“Even our custodians have a role to play in transforming our students,” explained Dr. Jack Crumbly of Tuskegee University, when describing the value of the “university experience.” The future is about “universities without borders,” predicted Dr. Marek Kowalkiewicz, a professor who studies Twitch gamers to improve his digital classroom teaching experience.  “It’s really about what the students want, and what those business models look like,” added Dr. Bill Griffiths, a professor with 52-years of educational experience.  These are just a few of the comments I recorded over the past few weeks while interviewing professors in higher education.

I noted four particular findings from my interviews and research:

1. It’s about the experience of learning and growing in a community focused on higher education
2. Universities must deliver for both students and parents
3. The importance of mentors, professors and engagement 
4. New players and business models are impacting the future of higher education

What does a “university experience” mean to an eighteen-year-old? Independence?  Relationships?  Parties?  Personal growth?  New friends?  New beginnings?  Escape?  YES!  To parents it may mean something completely different like - HELP!  Help me transform this obstinate teenager into an employable, self-sufficient, and responsible adult. No matter what the student’s or parent’s goals are, it will be difficult for these to be accomplished alone on a laptop in the family basement.  

Repeatedly in my interviews and discussions with professors the value and importance of an immersive learning and growing experience within a university community was emphasized.  It was my impression as a result of these discussions, that many of us underestimate the personal growth that takes place as part of the “university experience,” and focus too much on the acquired skills and degrees aspect.  Degrees can be achieved through multiple channels, but personal growth takes a purposeful village.

Online education has been around long enough that the basics are well understood.  The difficulties remain the ability to provide engagement and social connections for students in a digital environment.  Helping students feel a part of a supportive university community and a member of something important and meaningful is critical, and not easily done in digital only environments.  More work and focus are needed in this area.

If a student is just interested in acquiring skills and getting employed, companies like Google are now offering online classes that are treated as equal to university classes.  If a person successfully passes these Google courses, Google is willing to hire them without a university education.  The student, although potentially employable, will miss out on the personal growth and “university experience.”  It seems to me our communities will be less for it.

All three professors I interviewed last week mentioned the value of mentorship, guidance and advise that professors can provide when there are opportunities to form close relationships on a physical campus.  “Not all students come to us with backgrounds that enable them to easily understand a subject’s context,” Dr. Crumbly shared.  A professor working closely with a student can quickly recognize this context challenge and can help them remediate it.

Professors and instructors of all kinds are powerful professional contacts as well.  When resumes are thin, a good referral from a trusted professor can be just what a student needs to gain a foot in the door of a career opportunity.

It seems to me that the Covid-19 pandemic is helping to spotlight and clarify the required technical deliverables now and in the future for higher education.  Digital technologies should be used to enhance the “university experience” for students, parents and university staff, while providing opportunities for social engagement.  Digital platforms are valuable as a way of protecting students and staff during times of danger, they can remove geographic barriers, eliminate scheduling conflicts, reduce travel and parking issues and provide additional and alternative learning channels.

Watch "Higher Education and Pandemic Induced Digital Transformation" with Dr. Marek Kowalkiewicz, Part 1 and Part 2 on YouTube now.

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Higher Education and Pandemic Inspired Digital Transformation with Dr. Marek Kowalkiewicz, Part 1

In Part 1 of this episode, we take a deep dive into pandemic inspired digital transformation within higher education with Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz of the Queensland University of Technology.  We discuss how universities are rapidly adapting to educating students during a pandemic and how many of the technologies adopted and lessons learned will permanently impact the way education is delivered.  Also covered is how the pandemic may change the global higher education market, competition for students, and university business models.

 

Watch Part 2 of my interview with Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz here.

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Mindset of a Digital Winner


I recently presented my views on how to succeed as a digital leader to over one hundred retail executives in Asia.  They seemed to find it useful, so now I am sharing them here in an article format in the hopes that others might benefit.  The content is my synthesis of findings that are derived from many different research projects and hundreds of interviews I have conducted with executives.

Digital winners think differently about digital innovations.  They quickly recognize how new innovations can offer benefits. They expect and look forward to finding and capturing competitive advantages in new trends and technologies.  They expect, at a higher level, to receive positive ROIs from their investments in new innovations.  They are both more optimistic and enthusiastic about emerging technologies and possibilities.  They are honest about their digital maturity, and where they are failing to keep up with change.

Digital laggards, on the other hand, are slower to understand how new digital innovations might be useful.  They often suffer from normalcy bias.  They often underestimate the amount of change that is occurring in their industry and with their customers.  As a result, they underestimate the amount of work and resources they need to invest in order to keep up with the cadence of change. They are reluctant to invest in new technologies, fearful of making the wrong moves, and they believe they can delay action today and catch up with digital leaders in the future.

It is fascinating how much the mindset of leaders determine whether a company will be successful or not.  More than products, services, technology platforms, funding, talent, ambition and creativity - it's mindset that often has the biggest impact.

Digital winners in retail watch for emerging and moving customer interaction points where they can meet with and address the needs of their customers.  These interaction points are constantly on the move.  In recent years we have watched them move from brick and mortar stores to websites, mobile  apps and then on to social media sites, podcasts, YouTube, TikTok and other digital influencer-oriented sites.  Digital winners will be where their customers are moving.

The future is too complex to predict accurately, so digital winners invest in understanding and anticipating a range of possible future scenarios.  Digital leaders will then develop playbooks for how best to win in each of the scenarios and create sense and respond strategies that help identify when and which future scenarios morph into today’s reality.

Middle managers often share how difficult it is to interpret an executives’ words, intent and guidance related to digital transformation.  When an executive says we must “innovate and transform,” it is critical to follow up with a clarifying doctrinal statement shared with everyone.  If the focus is digital transformation, then let's call it a “Digital Transformation Doctrine” that clearly and concisely defines “what, why and how” an organization should understand and respond to it.  The agreed upon doctrine will then influence the development of specific business strategies and tactics. 

Increasingly digital winners win because of information dominance.  When a competitor invests in seemingly unassociated programs and services, ask yourself what data will those programs and services provide today and how can it be an advantage?  Amazon Prime and Walmart+ are good examples.  Investing in understanding your customers better is a good investment.  Look for adjacent market data, or combinations of different data sets that help you see new and different patterns.  Winners thrive in taking action on data patterns only they see.

Speed is an important physics concept and an important business concept as well.  It just keeps popping up in my research.  Is your transformation speed aligned with the speed of changing consumer preferences?  Misalignment equates to lost business for you and more business for competitors.  Capture the speed of change and use it as an advantage.

Simplify to achieve speed and control.  Complexity is the enemy of agility, and acts as poison from the past.  Simplify to achieve speed and let leaders focus on customers, employees, high level doctrines and strategies rather than tactics. 

How fast can you take meaningful action on new data?  What is your speed to action (STA)?  What is your speed to action relative to your competition? How fast are you expanding into adjacent markets and industries, or how fast are they expanding into yours?

How much change can your organization manage in a given time frame?  How do you even measure an organization’s capacity for change?  I propose a need for a unit of measurement called “Transformative Energy Units (TEUs).” All activities either increase or decrease TEUs and knowing how much is available to work with is essential.  Leaders must understand how much change their organization has the energy to make.  They must recognize how to refresh and resupply TEUs in their organization to ensure they don’t exhaust their people and lose their talent.

How digitally friendly is your business model?  I have seen many legacy companies struggle with digital transformation because of friction related to traditional ways of conducting business, compensating sales teams and working with channels.  Of all the things that can negatively impact your business - don’t let it be your model.

Reconnaissance scouts have been used in military organizations for centuries as a way to gain greater insight and make better decisions.  Innovations and proof of concept projects provide businesses with similar benefits.  They allow leaders to make better decisions and investments on insights ahead of competitors.  Advantages in insight lead directly to advantages in business.

Today it is very difficult to build a successful business in isolation.  Investors want start-ups to invest in their unique differentiators, not on aspects of the business that can be shared across ecosystem partners.  Think about the thousands of businesses partnering with Amazon and using their logistics infrastructure and marketing engines.  Smart leaders identify and participate in winning ecosystems that provide shared business value, platforms, systems, functionality and data. As ecosystems expand, they can in themselves become a competitive differentiator. 

Digital winners do not expect or wait for a return to status quo.  Digital winners expect perpetual change and accept they will never return to a past state.  Digital winners learn to manage in ambiguity?  They create an environment that is future focused, where tomorrow’s opportunities are being anticipated and prepared for today.

Digital winners automate and execute change faster than their competition.  Winners have both the agility and the ability to quickly change course and align with fast evolving customer behaviors and preferences faster than their competition.  Avoid partners, suppliers, channels and ecosystems that may limit your ability to be agile.  The future is different, so never lock yourself into today.

Digital winners really understand what their customers want.  Based on this insight they employ the right philosophies, designs, systems, technologies and business processes to provide it.  They look for and find competitive advantages in their user experiences, personalization and recommendation engines, business operational tempos, process automations, omnichannel interactions and experiences, analytics and information logistics.

Rapidly evolving and expanding privacy laws reinforce the importance of keeping existing customers enthusiastic and loyal.  Customers are willing to share a great deal of personal information about their preferences and buying habits in exchange for fair value.  Digital winners honor loyal customers by continually increasing the value they provide.

Digital winners consider the lifetime value of their customers.  They create individual profit and loss statements (P&Ls) for each customer.  This provides them a long-term view and understanding of past, present and future value.  A loyal customer is more than a one-time transaction of a $5 product.  With today’s predictive analytics, a $5 purchase today can be considered one installment of a $200,000 lifetime transaction value.  Given this recognition, what incentives can you customize and personalize today to help capture the full lifetime value?

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Learning Content Strategies from the Best with Jenn VandeZande SAP's Editor in Chief for SAP CX

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending time with and from learning from SAP’s Editor in Chief for SAP Customer Experience, Jenn VandeZande.  We talked all about thought leadership strategies, working with influencers and other fascinating topics.  Here are some of the choice excerpts edited for readability.

KRB: Jenn, tell us about your thought leadership approach and strategy.

JV: Thought leadership means discussing current trends in a way that is relevant to the market now, and in the future.  I also focus a lot on evergreen content and making sure that we're not putting a timeline on content that we publish.  In addition, I want to be inclusive.  I purposely recruit women and people of color to be thought leader contributors, previously there were just a lot of white men sharing content on the site. I think that to be relevant we must include everybody, and in order to do that we need to be purposeful about recruiting and encouraging them to share.

KRB:  Let’s talk tactics as an editor.  Do you ever feel it would be simpler to just write all the content yourself?

JV: As an editor my job is to polish up the ideas of other people. I think it's rewarding to see other people’s ideas come to life. Some of the most meaningful feedback people have shared is how I have been a source of encouragement to them. I love writing, but my job is to help them shine.

KRB: In my experience leaders often volunteer to write content, but rarely follow through with their commitment.  Why does that happen?

JV: I think that especially this year priorities have shifted so quickly.  What might have been relevant before, just isn’t relevant now, or the content just isn’t right.  Also, some people think writing is easy, everyone will love it and it will go viral.  I have received emails from content writers asking me to make it viral.  It doesn’t work that way.  It takes a ton of work and customization to optimize a piece.

KRB:  I have a rather loose strategy for article writing.  I write as I am inspired with new ideas.  What’s your strategy?

JV: It’s not just what you find interesting or think should be a priority.  It's what your readers are thinking about. I will always look at the search terms on our sites. Covid-19 really changed how we worked, scheduled and published content. We had to adapt our strategy to address the content needs and interests of our readers.

KRB: Let's look back over the past ten years, how have you seen thought leadership and content strategies evolve? 

JV: Ten years ago, thought leadership was still very much part of corporate communications.  You'd have somebody in the C-suite drafting the messaging and giving it to spokespeople. I think thought leadership today is now more customer oriented. It’s about what the customers are interested in, and what they're searching on.  Today thought leaders look more diverse. They are more diverse. So, it evolved from a traditional corporate messaging function to be a really important part of demand generation, sales and keeping customer trust.

KRB:  There are a lot of people like me that have been writing and sharing business and technology strategies for a long time.  What are your strategies on how to differentiate your content and stay above the noise?

JV: That's the tough part of the job.  When I get content submissions, I ask what purpose does it serve? Is it what our audience wants and needs?  I think understanding our audience is very important and I dedicate a lot of time to that.  I review our search histories.  I want to know how people got to our site, and what they're looking for along the way.

KRB: As a futurist, I write a lot about things people haven’t yet thought much about or searched on.  How would you optimize new and unfamiliar content?

JV: My initial thoughts are - what does it mean for my audience?  What will my audience be looking for?  If they are new to a topic – what questions will they need to ask going into their first meeting on the subject? Put yourself in their shoes and create content for them. That’s how you do it.

KRB: If someone wants to be a business and or technology thought leader - what advice would you give them? 

JV: You have to get in the trenches and really experience things firsthand. Don't think your views are always right. A really good mark of being a thought leader is having an open mind and being able to evolve your position.  Keep an open mind and be in the trenches. Get your hands on the work. Don't assume anything. And always, always, always fact check.

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Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Innovation in Live Streaming Video with Vislink Technologies Expert, CEO & President Mickey Miller

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced dramatic changes in the economics and business models of live sports and other live events - perhaps permanently.  As a result, new ways of consuming sports and personalizing it through innovations in live video feeds is required.  It involves advances in video compression, cameras, security, data transmission and production models.  Vislink Technologies is right in the middle of this vortex of innovation supporting the media and entertainment, the military, first responders and other industries.  In this episode, we get to take a deep dive into this innovation with CEO and President of Vislink Technologies Mickey Miller.
Read more on Covid-19 business impacts here:
  • Covid-19 Responses and Marketing Strategies with Retired VMware CMO Robin Matlock
  • Customer Experience Trends During Covid-19 with SAP Expert Shalini Mitha
  • Microsoft in the Right Place at the Right Time During the Pandemic with Expert Dr. Tomer Simon
  • Moving Physical Interactions to Digital During a Pandemic
  • The Covid-19 Pandemic Impact on the Global Supply Chain with Expert Roger Blumberg
  • The Covid-19 Impact on Digital Transformation with Expert Nadia Vincent
  • Business-as-a-Service a Resilient Response to Pandemics
  • Speed, Accidents and Pandemics
  • State and Local Supply Chains Challenged by the Pandemic
  • Paying the Piper In the Midst of a Pandemic
  • What is the Destination of Technological Progress?
  • Protecting Our Global Economic Network from Pandemics
  • Post-Pandemic Risk Strategies for Supply Chain and Procurement Leaders
  • Superstitions, Spaceships and Covid-19
  • Covid-19 and the Value of Ideas
  • Six Degrees to Contagion - Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic
  • Ecosystem Commerce and Pandemic Supply Chains - Interview with TCS Expert Rich Sherman
  • Covid-19 and the Role of a Futurist
  • Pre-Pandemic Assumptions and Presumptions
  • A Mid-Pandemic Interview with Supply Chain Risk Expert Joe Carson
  • Space, Pandemics, Roman Roads and Air-Conditioners
  • Navigating a Pandemic with Dropbox's CMO Tifenn Dano Kwan
  • Thinking Like a Futurist During a Pandemic with Frank Diana
  • Napoleon, True Competition and Pandemics
  • Covid-19, Demographics, Risk Analysis and Mobile Apps
  • A Pandemic Inspired Tsunami of Channel Switching
  • Ahead of the Curve - Pandemic Responses and Business
  • Pandemic Resilience is Knowing When to Quit
  • Using Data and Deming in a Pandemic
  • The Steps Required to Stop and or Live with the Pandemic
  • Flattening the Curve of a Risky Future
  • A Faustian Bargain Involving Privacy, Pandemic and a Functioning Economy
  • Leadership and Mental Biases in a Pandemic
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    Kevin Benedict
    Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
    Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

    ***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

    Covid-19 Responses and Marketing Strategies with Retired VMware CMO Robin Matlock

    In this episode, we catch up with the ever enthusiastic and recently retired VMware CMO, Robin Matlock.  We discuss Covid-19’s impact on Silicon Valley and strategies for responding.  We dig deep into her experiences as a high tech executive, explore her marketing and purpose driven philosophies and learn about her plans for the future.


    Read more on Covid-19 business impacts here:
  • Customer Experience Trends During Covid-19 with SAP Expert Shalini Mitha
  • Microsoft in the Right Place at the Right Time During the Pandemic with Expert Dr. Tomer Simon
  • Moving Physical Interactions to Digital During a Pandemic
  • The Covid-19 Pandemic Impact on the Global Supply Chain with Expert Roger Blumberg
  • The Covid-19 Impact on Digital Transformation with Expert Nadia Vincent
  • Business-as-a-Service a Resilient Response to Pandemics
  • Speed, Accidents and Pandemics
  • State and Local Supply Chains Challenged by the Pandemic
  • Paying the Piper In the Midst of a Pandemic
  • What is the Destination of Technological Progress?
  • Protecting Our Global Economic Network from Pandemics
  • Post-Pandemic Risk Strategies for Supply Chain and Procurement Leaders
  • Superstitions, Spaceships and Covid-19
  • Covid-19 and the Value of Ideas
  • Six Degrees to Contagion - Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic
  • Ecosystem Commerce and Pandemic Supply Chains - Interview with TCS Expert Rich Sherman
  • Covid-19 and the Role of a Futurist
  • Pre-Pandemic Assumptions and Presumptions
  • A Mid-Pandemic Interview with Supply Chain Risk Expert Joe Carson
  • Space, Pandemics, Roman Roads and Air-Conditioners
  • Navigating a Pandemic with Dropbox's CMO Tifenn Dano Kwan
  • Thinking Like a Futurist During a Pandemic with Frank Diana
  • Napoleon, True Competition and Pandemics
  • Covid-19, Demographics, Risk Analysis and Mobile Apps
  • A Pandemic Inspired Tsunami of Channel Switching
  • Ahead of the Curve - Pandemic Responses and Business
  • Pandemic Resilience is Knowing When to Quit
  • Using Data and Deming in a Pandemic
  • The Steps Required to Stop and or Live with the Pandemic
  • Flattening the Curve of a Risky Future
  • A Faustian Bargain Involving Privacy, Pandemic and a Functioning Economy
  • Leadership and Mental Biases in a Pandemic
  • ************************************************************************
    Kevin Benedict
    Partner | Futurist | Leadership Strategies at TCS
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
    Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

    ***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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