Four Common Innovation Pitfalls — and How to Avoid Them

Innovation, research and development (R&D), and new product teams often face numerous challenges that can lead to failure. Understanding these failure modes is crucial for steering projects to success. Here are common pitfalls I see great leaders and great organizations fall into on a regular basis that, in my experience, are avoidable. Involving Too Many … Continued

Resist Nothing: Thriving in the Age of Generative AI

“Resist Nothing” and the New Skills Generative AI Demands The idea that employers are responsible for teaching their teams new skills has long been a given. Upskilling is essential, no doubt, but the rise of generative AI is reshaping what that looks like. This new era demands a shift—not just in what we learn, but…

Don’t Trust the Story—Trust the Cross-References

Imagine facing a decision with stakes so high that trusting any one source could lead to ruin—yet conflicting stories abound, and every source seems unreliable. This isn’t just a Shakespearean problem; it’s a daily reality for leaders grappling with data. Just like Prince Hamlet, who encountered a ghostly apparition claiming to be his father with…

Beyond Text: Multi-Sensory Inputs for Smarter AI-Driven Solutions

Businesses constantly seek ways to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks, drive insights, and make smarter decisions. However, much of the current AI conversation revolves around text-based data—documents, emails, reports, and spreadsheets. While these inputs have fueled many successful AI applications, they represent only a fraction of the data organizations possess. To truly unlock…

Unlock the Power of Context: The Future of Platforms in a Multi-System World

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a decade in my journey in platform engineering at ExactTarget and Salesforce. It started when I became one of the first engineers on Journey Builder at ExactTarget, a product that Salesforce acquired for billions of dollars.This article will lay out the case for truly next-generation automation, which includes marketing…

Buzz Worthy: Why AI is NOT the Next Web3

Defining the “Next Web3” When we talk about something being “the next Web3,” we’re often referring to a concept that has two different implications. On one hand, Web3 is associated with a fad or speculative frenzy, where people rush into the space with the hope of cashing in on the hype, often without fully understanding … Continued

Reducing Time-to-Goal: The Strategic Advantage of Generative AI

Time is an interesting beast. It allows us to either achieve great things or squander our potential. In the business world, the adage that “time is money” is often echoed, emphasizing the importance of productivity. However, when discussing productivity, we tend to focus on individual efficiency, overlooking the broader organizational aspect of time management. Business…

The Evolution from Relational Databases to AI-Driven Knowledge Integration

A Personal Obsession and a Revolution in Data Democratization Early in my career, I became obsessed with relational databases. There was something uniquely elegant about the way they transformed data into structured, accessible information. IBM’s “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks,” written by Edgar F. Codd in the 1970s, was a … Continued

The End of SaaS as We Know It: Embracing the ‘No SaaS™’ Future

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry has undergone a profound evolution since its inception, becoming a cornerstone of modern business operations. SaaS revolutionized how we deliver software, making it accessible, scalable, and affordable. However, as with all technological revolutions, the landscape is shifting once again. SaaS is increasingly becoming a commodity, driven by the saturation of point…

The Evolution of AI: Beyond Symbolic Manipulation to Embodied Cognition

As someone who studied linguistics with a focus on ontology and phenomenology—the study of the nature of knowledge and how meaning is derived—I’ve long been fascinated by how we, as humans, assign and understand meaning. My academic journey has been deeply influenced by the works of George Lakoff and Mark Turner, whose theories on embodied…