00:00Let's talk about this transformation, though. I mean, we talk a lot about on the show about how
00:03much the C-suite jobs have changed. Like we actually have a whole program on here called
00:08CFO, which is Chief Future Officer, not Chief Financial Officer, because of just how much that
00:12role has changed. Your book gets us this idea from the lens of what the CIO had been and what
00:18he or she needs to be for the future. That's right. Yeah. So when I first started in technology,
00:22I.T. was a back office function. And very much today it is the foundation of the company's strategy
00:30and how to grow. So the role of a CIO is really that glue across the company, especially if you're
00:36going to bridge technology that enables the whole enterprise. The CIO has to be that person that
00:43unites people, data and ultimately the company's strategy. What does that leadership, though, have
00:50to look like? And how does that work in partnership with the CEO, who is obviously the person who's
00:56really leading the charge? Right. Right. Key partner to the CEO and a partner across the business.
01:04Right. So in retail, which is where most of my experience is, the CIO is partners with everyone who's
01:10driving revenue, everyone who is back office to understand, like, what they need to accomplish in
01:16their function. And then through that function, you get technology to it, to enable it. And in A.I.,
01:23it's just more true than ever. The technology is no longer the hurdle. Technology is easy today.
01:29What's hard is uniting people, building culture, influencing without authority. And those are the
01:36those are the key premises I talk about in my book. Yeah. Well, talk to us about some of the
01:40challenges
01:41of doing that in 2026 and beyond, because you think about A.I. certainly for public companies
01:45under a lot of pressure to show that, you know, they're engaging with it, they're participating
01:50with it and also that they're seeing a return from it. You could make the case that it's created
01:56this sort of FOMO type environment where the stakes are high and it seems like the potential to
02:01misstep is also high. Yeah, we've seen a lot of that. Right. We've seen a lot of headlines come out
02:06about what companies are doing with A.I. And it's usually because they're laying off people.
02:11And I think the real outcome of A.I. is when you figure out how it's going to change your
02:16business. Are you going to go after different customers? How are you going to, you know,
02:21meet different markets that you haven't before? And so the headlines, I think, are a little
02:27misleading. Sometimes it's those companies that are really thinking about the workflows
02:32that they're doing, but how the people are being enabled to do their jobs better.
02:38I think those are the ones that are that are winning today. Absolutely. Well, I would love
02:43to hear, you know, those lessons applied specifically to retail, which you highlight.
02:48Of course, you've had quite a career in specifically apparel makers. When you think about the likes
02:53of Lululemon and REI, where you also spent time, I mean, what do you make of how the the retail
02:59leaders at this moment are approaching and integrating A.I. and technology more broadly
03:04into their existing systems? Yeah. We see some retailers really taking advantage of it. And,
03:10you know, there's some things that are always hard with retailers. Right. So getting the right
03:14product in the right place when the customer walks in that door, like getting having the right color,
03:19the right size. And there's a lot of places where A.I. can can make that better. So those retailers
03:25that have the data and are creating ways to, you know, to get that right product right where the
03:31customer wants it, they're, you know, they're excelling. I have to say, though, I played around
03:35with some of the at least the public facing chat bots that a few retailers have put out. I won't
03:39name
03:39them. Some of them are bad. And I do. And I am just curious as to sort of what this
03:44is supposed to be
03:45in service of. Because if it's just sort of taking what I bought in the past and just saying, OK,
03:49we'll push basically the same thing on you. But if it's like if I'm trying to, you know, come up
03:54with an idea for a new ensemble or something, I don't really know how to go about it. That's more
03:59valuable to me. Are you finding particularly now with the companies that you advise, are you finding
04:03that they're thinking about it more through that lens as to how do we create something new for the
04:08customer? Or is it just about, OK, you bought this shirt last, you know, six months ago. So we're just
04:13going to push the exact same shirt. I hope so. I think companies are starting to think, you know,
04:16to your point a little bit, a little bit ago, it was just a pressure to do AI. And so
04:21people were
04:21fast to buy something, put it in place. And then there was really disappointing customer service
04:26experiences that came from it. I think time is passing and companies are catching up. Yeah. But
04:33there still is a desire to just be able to tell your board and your investors that you're an AI
04:38company.
04:39But to your point, I think you need to dig a little deeper in what that means. There are some
04:42of these
04:43retail companies. They understand that for a lot of customers, that's going to be their first
04:46interaction or, you know, their first point of contact with the company. And obviously, if it's
04:50bad, then you move on to whatever the next retailer is. Right. Right. I mean, customer service, that's
04:56your front lines. Yeah. So I think it's really important to get that right all the time. Yeah. And, you
05:02know, we have all been on those automated chat bots where you're like, give me an agent. No, give me
05:06an
05:06agent. And you keep going because it can get really frustrating. Yeah. And I think companies need to
05:11recognize that as their front line with their customers. And it needs to be it needs to be
05:16creating better service, not just roadblocks.
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