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AI is not a technology problem
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it fundamentally is a leadership problem.
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Some conversations around AI are loud
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this episode features Jon Hilton
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who is super grounded on the topic.
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Jon leads the AI practice at LBMC
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and spends his time helping organizations
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turn ambition into execution.
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He's a data scientist a former EY and Exxonmobil leader
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and a West Point graduate.
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Who served two combat tours and earned the Bronze Star.
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What I appreciate about Jon
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is how he brings structure to the chaos.
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He spent time talking about two things with me
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that really matter number 1
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why most AI efforts fail and 2
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what it actually takes to build AI
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that scales responsibly inside complex organizations.
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This is a conversation for leaders who want progress
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not hype so let's dive right in.
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We've been talking a lot about AI leadership
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really the thesis is right now
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AI is not a technology problem
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it fundamentally is a leadership problem.
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And some some recent
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statistics are really starting to back that up,
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a recent survey found that you know
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75% of C suite executives said their AI
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adoption has been going well over the past 12 months
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or been successful.
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And 45% of their people say the same thing
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and then 89 or 80 some plot plus percent of
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C suite executives are saying they have a clear AI
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strategy, and 57% of their people say the same thing.
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So something's wrong here
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and we are not going to get
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companies and organizations
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are not gonna get where they wanna go on AI
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if they don't start figuring this out and it's really
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really a misalignment.
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So that's that's a big leadership you know problem
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just trying to talk about how do you really solve that.
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I love that and this is a leading question
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but I'm gonna do it on purpose
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what are some
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maybe unique life experiences that you've had
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that you can bring to the table
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analogies that you can use?
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Yeah that's and that's part of it
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and I know you gentlemen know me
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and some of my background.
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But you know I'm
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I'm a West Point graduate did two combat tours in Iraq,
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and then you know
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got out and got into corporate leadership. And
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a lot of what I've started to see is
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there's a lot of analogies of where we are
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as a society and an organization with AI,
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as you find yourself in a combat situation
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and it's not to be macabre or dark
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it's just what are the key things that you face
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when you're about to go on a mission.
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Or you're in those kind of environments
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you you face a lot of fear
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uncertainty and chaos at any time,
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something that's well planned
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could go completely sideways.
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You have an unknown of what's out there at all times
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and and you have to be the one to start
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to dictate the situation,
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requires a lot of planning and preparation and
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and being a leader is
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is one of the fundamental aspects.
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And so that's part of what I've started to say is hey
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there's some things here I've learned and
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you know
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that's the nature of even being in corporations
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of what you're gonna face as you
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you take on any initiative.
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And so it's really starting to think about
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how do I use my leadership principles here
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if we know it's a leadership issue
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not a technology issue you know
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what are some of the things that we can really apply
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to help move our organizations forward
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with AI in a meaningful way.
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In general
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tell us something you're working on right now to
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to make that impact
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what are you being intentional about when it comes to
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leveraging veterans to solve some of these problems?
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Yeah that's a great question,
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that's what we're really you know
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here trying to start up again as
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the Greater Nashville Tech Council's
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peer group for veterans. Had a great showing there
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in the pre covid era
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you know like many things
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covid tend to to sap some energy
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and so we're trying to launch
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relaunch that and
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really start first and foremost with
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can we build a community for veterans
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as technology professionals.
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Well you've
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you've got a target rich environment here
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as they say in the military right
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we've got a Clarksville just up the street.
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A lot of the focus of educating leaders in a combat
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or a military environment relies on technology
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and I think maybe the competitive
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relative effectiveness of any armed force
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is going to be tied to its technology
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and its use,
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use and deployment in service of the mission.
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So you know how
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how does military technology in the Greater Nashville
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region
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how has Nashville done in the producing
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and creating and graduating of
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of technologies that wound up having a military use,
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either first or ultimately
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in your experience in this ecosystem?
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That's a great question.
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You know first
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I'll just kind of lay my I don't
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I'm not as
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involved in the military technology development.
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Maybe I can speak to the development of the veterans
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you know with
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like I said with
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with Clarksville being such a large
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you know 101st Airborne being there
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and then others that are coming from
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from other bases around. You know
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I think it teaches you a lot about
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you know
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how to handle problems and understand and learn
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seek to learn right
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and become much better at that.
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And so I'll probably have to punt on the
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where are we what is being developed in Nashville
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for military technology to be fair
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some of it probably
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is quite secret.
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But
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you know obviously there's a lot of things that are
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that are you know
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the AI adoption in the battlefield
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is very important to the future of
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of warfare
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but that's not you know
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obviously not my my area of expertise.
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But I do think there is a lot that
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you know veterans bring to organizations
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in terms of their ability to adapt and overcome
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and to learn new skills and to be leaders in
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in a place where again
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you know this is really about leadership right now
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of how do I take this technology and
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and move it forward.
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You know one observation on that point is
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you know we're
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you know I talk in my role as a consultant
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to a lot of you know
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C suite executives and and even CIOs, and
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what we're finding is
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that they're getting overwhelmed with these demos. Cause
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you know
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everybody and their brother has an AI technology now
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I mean it's
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it's unbelievable like you
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you know pick up a rock and it's like
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oh we got this new AI tool. And so you
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the
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if it is a leadership issue and not a technology issue
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there's plenty if I just went out right now and said
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I just need a I want to see AI technology
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I mean you'd
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you'd be flooded with thousands of emails and calls.
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Just to say hey look
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I got I got the next best
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you know tool that's gonna help you.
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But really
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that's not the problem you're trying to solve
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you know the analogy I make is
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you know would you
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you know just randomly go to Home Depot and say
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there's something in my house I need to solve
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but I heard there's really good tools out there
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you know
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let me just walk around and look at all the possible
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tools. That's a problem for me when I go to Home Depot.
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Fair enough, maybe some people are like that
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like I just need to go see what I need to do next.
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But you know you started about where you're like hey
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there's a real problem in my house
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I need to go fix it let's go find the tools next.
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And so that's really we're trying to help
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give the confidence to CIOs
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give the confidence to IT directors to say
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you don't have to just rush out there
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and look at all these shiny tools
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maybe let's take a step back
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and let's
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formulate some strategy and vision around this.
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And develop use cases that connect to problems
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and then that's what we're actually
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we're gonna go ahead and say okay,
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now it's time to open the door a little bit
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and see what tools can meet that problem.
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Maybe you build it maybe you buy it
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but at least that's a better strategy than
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than probably just sitting here taking calls all day.
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Cause they are they're getting overwhelmed
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they ask any CIO like how many of you you know
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how many AI tools come through your door
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I mean they're just like it's in some I've just stopped,
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I just I I can't anymore because it's too overwhelming.
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Sure.
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What what about AI as an attack surface? Or a I mean
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I hate to go back to the military thing,
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but that is one of the you've got good AI bad AI
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I've talked to a lot of people about cybersecurity.
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You know
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the more you experiment with it
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the more flexible and dynamic your attack surfaces are
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as well, so. That's right, yeah,
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I mean from a cyber security standpoint
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I know they're they're struggling with that you know
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there's not the
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you know the Nigerian prince isn't writing you in
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in half-English anymore and dear sir.
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I mean it's gonna sound legitimate to you I mean
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it's the scams are just going up and up and up.
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You know we
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you know go post a job on LinkedIn right now
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related to some technology
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and watch how many applicants you get,
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They're not real applicants.
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Maybe they are,
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but they're there's something that is amiss
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right, is because they're just there's
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you know you have automated applications,
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you have automated email generation,
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you have agents that can call you
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and sound like they're your next door neighbor.
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And so the attack services are
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you're right it's it's quite
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prevalent and that's something.
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You know you're gonna have to really address,
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and really step back and start thinking about.
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You know on on the topic of of attack though
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that is one of the premises that I
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I think is important you know
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maybe not on the cyber security side
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but I say on on the technology side.
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Which is right now is a time for
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for leaders to have courage in
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in the space of AI
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so if you do have a vision and a strategy
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and you've developed that clarity,
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now it's time to have the courage.
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You know Patton essentially said
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"In absence of orders attack!" right?
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And that's been a theme
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of great leadership through history,
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is to attack a problem.
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Not with haste
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and there is a difference, and I could go into that,
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but doesn't mean you just hastily run off. But
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I think now is a time for
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technology leaders to have the courage to move forward
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with attacking this problem of AI
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in terms of whether it's in cybersecurity
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or whether it's adoption
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and implementation in your company.
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It is the time to act
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and so if you're in times of
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kind of going back to the combat analysis analogy.
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You know if you're in a place of fear and chaos and
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and uncertainty
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the natural human reaction is to just have paralysis,
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or to make very small gestures towards a
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a goal or an accomplishment.
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But not really be moving forward
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and so that courage to attack is to say
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we gotta move forward
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we're gonna dictate our future
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a little bit and so that's been you know.
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I like how you brought up the attack element.
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I know you went cyber security
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but I do think I'm also telling people no.
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I think you'd be on the attack too
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I think it's relevant yeah.
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Very relevant. If you're gonna have a strategy
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you gotta have an underlying attitude. Right.
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And that and that's what a lot
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a lot has missed because paralysis and fear
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are what's gonna always keep you as a leader
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from doing what you need to do. And
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and what I'm telling people is it
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that again that's not haste,
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you know I had a battalion commander in Iraq who said
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"don't rush to failure".
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I kept that in my mind because you can
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you can rush to failure just as fast.
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But it is a matter of using all of your professional
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experience and planning
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and your leadership to say okay
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we're gonna still do something
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we're gonna move forward
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we're not we're not rushing
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and we're gonna do it deliberately
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against our use cases and our vision.
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Because
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that's what's going to move your people forward.
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I and I think
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the last point is really
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about a commitment to your people
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because your people are really scared right now.
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And so you're really gonna have to rally,
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you know if there's this big a disconnect
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so if you've set a vision
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you've
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you're starting to attack the problem with courage.
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And say hey
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we're gonna we're gonna go after these use cases
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you gotta get your people behind it. Because
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you know there is a
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there is a Luddite dilemma that
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that's kind of sitting out there right now.
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There are some surveys
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that are saying that there is a portion of your people
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that may be actively working against you in AI in
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in in sabotaging your efforts.
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You know how real that is
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I don't know but I
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I do think there is a sentiment of
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you know you're gonna have to
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bring people along.
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And then you're also gonna have to as a leader
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make some choices
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because if people don't wanna follow you along
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those are gonna become some dilemmas
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that leaders are gonna have to kind of
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face here as they go.
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And so really kind of put
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putting that all together is
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you know being on the attack
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but also
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who in your organization is getting behind you?
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How do you bring them along,
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and then what are you gonna do when some say
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I'm just not going to go along.
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You have a challenge.
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I know you've got a luncheon that you're going to
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for the the veterans peer group. Yeah.
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But for the last question
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I'd like to actually bring
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bring you back to that veterans peer group.
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And you've talked a lot about the
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sort of training and the
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the analogies that we've used here to explain this
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this crazy world of AI
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coming at us. And how really well prepared
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veterans are to address some of these problems.
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But whenever a peer group gets formed
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there's always other problems that
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that are getting solved within that group.
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So for leaders that are looking to leverage veterans
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what are some of the things they need to be aware of
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that are challenges of veterans that are coming out of
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the military and into the workforce?
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What are what are the three things that that are
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these are challenges that we're dealing with as
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as veterans. Yeah
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I think first and foremost
379
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is an understanding of what a corporate
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leader or corporations looking for
381
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when you're recruiting a veteran.
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Because you're trying to translate what you knew
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and all of these acronyms and all of these things that
384
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a lot of
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you know civilian leaders don't understand. And
386
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and in your mind you think you
387
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you know it's
388
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it's like I did a lot here
389
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you know there was very
390
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very a lot of responsibilities.
391
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So being able to translate that one
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I know
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there's a lot of organizations that can help that.
394
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Number 2 is a network you know
395
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people lose track of how valuable their network is
396
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as a young professional just being in a company, being.
397
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You know if you're a young person
398
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you're involved in some of the data
399
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meetups here in Nashville
400
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or in part of NTC and other places
401
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you're building an advantage over time
402
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just because you know people.
403
00:14:04,966 --> 00:14:06,033
You know as a veteran you
404
00:14:06,033 --> 00:14:06,733
you don't have that
405
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you've been moved around the country
406
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the world
407
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been potentially in combat zones and your network is
408
00:14:13,100 --> 00:14:14,266
is is strong, you
409
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you know your brothers and sisters and
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00:14:16,433 --> 00:14:19,333
and in arms but you may not have known
411
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you don't know these others that that can help you.
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And it's a you know
413
00:14:23,366 --> 00:14:24,500
I know Johnny
414
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Johnny knows so and so and if I go to Johnny
415
00:14:27,166 --> 00:14:29,500
he might connect me. So that's part of it is the
416
00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:31,733
the second one being the network and
417
00:14:31,733 --> 00:14:33,766
and third is some of the technical skills is
418
00:14:33,766 --> 00:14:37,666
knowing how to start just not the bridging the gap.
419
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You may not have done hands on Power BI dev
420
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Databricks or Snowflake.
421
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But these are needed skills
422
00:14:46,333 --> 00:14:48,933
and so how do I just say I know how to code
423
00:14:48,933 --> 00:14:50,733
or I know how to do something technical
424
00:14:50,733 --> 00:14:52,166
maybe I need to go get some certification.
425
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So what are those things that
426
00:14:53,533 --> 00:14:54,866
that companies would be looking for.
427
00:14:54,866 --> 00:14:56,733
And so I would say from my point of view
428
00:14:56,733 --> 00:14:59,866
and that's not exhaustive in any means
429
00:14:59,966 --> 00:15:00,700
that's some of the things
430
00:15:00,700 --> 00:15:02,633
I would encourage a veteran to think everyone.
431
00:15:02,633 --> 00:15:03,933
So that's what we're trying to do is bring
432
00:15:03,933 --> 00:15:05,700
bring us all together so others can say hey
433
00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:07,666
by the way build the network.
434
00:15:07,766 --> 00:15:09,733
These are the things people are looking for and
435
00:15:09,733 --> 00:15:12,433
and really help get them in awareness of some of that
436
00:15:12,433 --> 00:15:14,333
from a decision maker as well. Man
437
00:15:14,333 --> 00:15:16,166
you're talking about leadership commitment,
438
00:15:16,166 --> 00:15:16,966
yeah
439
00:15:17,366 --> 00:15:19,966
community commitment
440
00:15:19,966 --> 00:15:20,833
and you're bringing
441
00:15:20,833 --> 00:15:23,333
the type of personality to the table
442
00:15:23,333 --> 00:15:24,933
that understands commitment.
443
00:15:24,933 --> 00:15:25,633
Yeah thank you.
444
00:15:25,633 --> 00:15:26,100
Yeah that's right.
445
00:15:26,100 --> 00:15:27,233
Well thanks for the leadership.
446
00:15:27,233 --> 00:15:29,733
I'm ready to charge hell with a water pistol with you.
447
00:15:29,733 --> 00:15:30,733
Yeah well yeah.
448
00:15:30,733 --> 00:15:31,566
Let's go. Well
449
00:15:31,566 --> 00:15:33,233
appreciate you gentlemen appreciate you
450
00:15:33,233 --> 00:15:35,266
you know taking time to sit down with me today
451
00:15:35,266 --> 00:15:37,033
and I really appreciate your support.
452
00:15:37,033 --> 00:15:38,433
I know both of you are supportive of
453
00:15:38,433 --> 00:15:39,833
of these veteran groups as well.
454
00:15:39,833 --> 00:15:41,533
So appreciate that and yeah
455
00:15:41,533 --> 00:15:43,133
look forward to to talking more.
456
00:15:43,133 --> 00:15:44,233
And thank you for your service.
457
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Thank you for your service
458
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It's an honor to serve is what I say so thanks
00:00:00,266 --> 00:00:02,900
AI is not a technology problem
2
00:00:02,900 --> 00:00:05,366
it fundamentally is a leadership problem.
3
00:00:37,100 --> 00:00:40,233
Some conversations around AI are loud
4
00:00:40,700 --> 00:00:43,166
this episode features Jon Hilton
5
00:00:43,166 --> 00:00:45,666
who is super grounded on the topic.
6
00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:49,166
Jon leads the AI practice at LBMC
7
00:00:49,233 --> 00:00:51,800
and spends his time helping organizations
8
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turn ambition into execution.
9
00:00:54,933 --> 00:00:59,366
He's a data scientist a former EY and Exxonmobil leader
10
00:00:59,500 --> 00:01:01,100
and a West Point graduate.
11
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Who served two combat tours and earned the Bronze Star.
12
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What I appreciate about Jon
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is how he brings structure to the chaos.
14
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He spent time talking about two things with me
15
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that really matter number 1
16
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why most AI efforts fail and 2
17
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what it actually takes to build AI
18
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that scales responsibly inside complex organizations.
19
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This is a conversation for leaders who want progress
20
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not hype so let's dive right in.
21
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We've been talking a lot about AI leadership
22
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really the thesis is right now
23
00:01:37,966 --> 00:01:40,633
AI is not a technology problem
24
00:01:40,633 --> 00:01:43,266
it fundamentally is a leadership problem.
25
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And some some recent
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statistics are really starting to back that up,
27
00:01:47,766 --> 00:01:50,433
a recent survey found that you know
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75% of C suite executives said their AI
29
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adoption has been going well over the past 12 months
30
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or been successful.
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And 45% of their people say the same thing
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and then 89 or 80 some plot plus percent of
33
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C suite executives are saying they have a clear AI
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strategy, and 57% of their people say the same thing.
35
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So something's wrong here
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and we are not going to get
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companies and organizations
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are not gonna get where they wanna go on AI
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if they don't start figuring this out and it's really
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really a misalignment.
41
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So that's that's a big leadership you know problem
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just trying to talk about how do you really solve that.
43
00:02:25,366 --> 00:02:28,433
I love that and this is a leading question
44
00:02:28,433 --> 00:02:29,966
but I'm gonna do it on purpose
45
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what are some
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maybe unique life experiences that you've had
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that you can bring to the table
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analogies that you can use?
49
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Yeah that's and that's part of it
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and I know you gentlemen know me
51
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and some of my background.
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But you know I'm
53
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I'm a West Point graduate did two combat tours in Iraq,
54
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and then you know
55
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got out and got into corporate leadership. And
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a lot of what I've started to see is
57
00:02:49,500 --> 00:02:52,766
there's a lot of analogies of where we are
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as a society and an organization with AI,
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as you find yourself in a combat situation
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and it's not to be macabre or dark
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it's just what are the key things that you face
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when you're about to go on a mission.
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Or you're in those kind of environments
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you you face a lot of fear
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uncertainty and chaos at any time,
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something that's well planned
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could go completely sideways.
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You have an unknown of what's out there at all times
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and and you have to be the one to start
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to dictate the situation,
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requires a lot of planning and preparation and
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and being a leader is
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is one of the fundamental aspects.
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And so that's part of what I've started to say is hey
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there's some things here I've learned and
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you know
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that's the nature of even being in corporations
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of what you're gonna face as you
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you take on any initiative.
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And so it's really starting to think about
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how do I use my leadership principles here
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if we know it's a leadership issue
83
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not a technology issue you know
84
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what are some of the things that we can really apply
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to help move our organizations forward
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with AI in a meaningful way.
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In general
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tell us something you're working on right now to
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to make that impact
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what are you being intentional about when it comes to
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leveraging veterans to solve some of these problems?
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Yeah that's a great question,
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that's what we're really you know
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here trying to start up again as
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the Greater Nashville Tech Council's
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peer group for veterans. Had a great showing there
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in the pre covid era
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you know like many things
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covid tend to to sap some energy
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and so we're trying to launch
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relaunch that and
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really start first and foremost with
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can we build a community for veterans
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as technology professionals.
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Well you've
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you've got a target rich environment here
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as they say in the military right
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we've got a Clarksville just up the street.
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A lot of the focus of educating leaders in a combat
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or a military environment relies on technology
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and I think maybe the competitive
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relative effectiveness of any armed force
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is going to be tied to its technology
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and its use,
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use and deployment in service of the mission.
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So you know how
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how does military technology in the Greater Nashville
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region
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how has Nashville done in the producing
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and creating and graduating of
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of technologies that wound up having a military use,
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either first or ultimately
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in your experience in this ecosystem?
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That's a great question.
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You know first
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I'll just kind of lay my I don't
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I'm not as
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involved in the military technology development.
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Maybe I can speak to the development of the veterans
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you know with
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like I said with
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with Clarksville being such a large
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you know 101st Airborne being there
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and then others that are coming from
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from other bases around. You know
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I think it teaches you a lot about
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you know
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how to handle problems and understand and learn
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seek to learn right
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and become much better at that.
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And so I'll probably have to punt on the
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where are we what is being developed in Nashville
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for military technology to be fair
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some of it probably
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is quite secret.
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But
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you know obviously there's a lot of things that are
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that are you know
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the AI adoption in the battlefield
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is very important to the future of
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of warfare
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but that's not you know
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obviously not my my area of expertise.
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But I do think there is a lot that
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you know veterans bring to organizations
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in terms of their ability to adapt and overcome
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and to learn new skills and to be leaders in
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in a place where again
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you know this is really about leadership right now
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of how do I take this technology and
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and move it forward.
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You know one observation on that point is
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you know we're
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you know I talk in my role as a consultant
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to a lot of you know
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C suite executives and and even CIOs, and
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what we're finding is
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that they're getting overwhelmed with these demos. Cause
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you know
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everybody and their brother has an AI technology now
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I mean it's
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it's unbelievable like you
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you know pick up a rock and it's like
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oh we got this new AI tool. And so you
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the
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if it is a leadership issue and not a technology issue
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there's plenty if I just went out right now and said
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I just need a I want to see AI technology
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I mean you'd
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you'd be flooded with thousands of emails and calls.
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Just to say hey look
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I got I got the next best
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you know tool that's gonna help you.
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But really
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that's not the problem you're trying to solve
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you know the analogy I make is
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you know would you
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you know just randomly go to Home Depot and say
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there's something in my house I need to solve
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but I heard there's really good tools out there
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you know
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let me just walk around and look at all the possible
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tools. That's a problem for me when I go to Home Depot.
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Fair enough, maybe some people are like that
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like I just need to go see what I need to do next.
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But you know you started about where you're like hey
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there's a real problem in my house
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I need to go fix it let's go find the tools next.
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And so that's really we're trying to help
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give the confidence to CIOs
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give the confidence to IT directors to say
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you don't have to just rush out there
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and look at all these shiny tools
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maybe let's take a step back
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and let's
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formulate some strategy and vision around this.
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And develop use cases that connect to problems
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and then that's what we're actually
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we're gonna go ahead and say okay,
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now it's time to open the door a little bit
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and see what tools can meet that problem.
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Maybe you build it maybe you buy it
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but at least that's a better strategy than
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than probably just sitting here taking calls all day.
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Cause they are they're getting overwhelmed
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they ask any CIO like how many of you you know
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how many AI tools come through your door
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I mean they're just like it's in some I've just stopped,
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I just I I can't anymore because it's too overwhelming.
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Sure.
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What what about AI as an attack surface? Or a I mean
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I hate to go back to the military thing,
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but that is one of the you've got good AI bad AI
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I've talked to a lot of people about cybersecurity.
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You know
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the more you experiment with it
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the more flexible and dynamic your attack surfaces are
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as well, so. That's right, yeah,
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I mean from a cyber security standpoint
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I know they're they're struggling with that you know
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there's not the
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you know the Nigerian prince isn't writing you in
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in half-English anymore and dear sir.
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I mean it's gonna sound legitimate to you I mean
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it's the scams are just going up and up and up.
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You know we
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you know go post a job on LinkedIn right now
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related to some technology
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and watch how many applicants you get,
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They're not real applicants.
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Maybe they are,
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but they're there's something that is amiss
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right, is because they're just there's
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you know you have automated applications,
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you have automated email generation,
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you have agents that can call you
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and sound like they're your next door neighbor.
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And so the attack services are
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you're right it's it's quite
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prevalent and that's something.
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You know you're gonna have to really address,
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and really step back and start thinking about.
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You know on on the topic of of attack though
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that is one of the premises that I
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I think is important you know
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maybe not on the cyber security side
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but I say on on the technology side.
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Which is right now is a time for
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for leaders to have courage in
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in the space of AI
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so if you do have a vision and a strategy
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and you've developed that clarity,
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now it's time to have the courage.
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You know Patton essentially said
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"In absence of orders attack!" right?
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And that's been a theme
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of great leadership through history,
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is to attack a problem.
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Not with haste
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and there is a difference, and I could go into that,
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but doesn't mean you just hastily run off. But
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I think now is a time for
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technology leaders to have the courage to move forward
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with attacking this problem of AI
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in terms of whether it's in cybersecurity
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or whether it's adoption
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and implementation in your company.
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It is the time to act
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and so if you're in times of
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kind of going back to the combat analysis analogy.
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You know if you're in a place of fear and chaos and
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and uncertainty
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the natural human reaction is to just have paralysis,
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or to make very small gestures towards a
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a goal or an accomplishment.
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But not really be moving forward
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and so that courage to attack is to say
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we gotta move forward
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we're gonna dictate our future
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a little bit and so that's been you know.
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I like how you brought up the attack element.
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I know you went cyber security
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but I do think I'm also telling people no.
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I think you'd be on the attack too
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I think it's relevant yeah.
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Very relevant. If you're gonna have a strategy
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you gotta have an underlying attitude. Right.
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And that and that's what a lot
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a lot has missed because paralysis and fear
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are what's gonna always keep you as a leader
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from doing what you need to do. And
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and what I'm telling people is it
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that again that's not haste,
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you know I had a battalion commander in Iraq who said
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"don't rush to failure".
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I kept that in my mind because you can
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you can rush to failure just as fast.
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But it is a matter of using all of your professional
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experience and planning
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and your leadership to say okay
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we're gonna still do something
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we're gonna move forward
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we're not we're not rushing
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and we're gonna do it deliberately
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against our use cases and our vision.
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Because
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that's what's going to move your people forward.
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I and I think
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the last point is really
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about a commitment to your people
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because your people are really scared right now.
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And so you're really gonna have to rally,
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you know if there's this big a disconnect
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so if you've set a vision
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you've
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you're starting to attack the problem with courage.
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And say hey
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we're gonna we're gonna go after these use cases
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you gotta get your people behind it. Because
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you know there is a
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there is a Luddite dilemma that
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that's kind of sitting out there right now.
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There are some surveys
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that are saying that there is a portion of your people
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that may be actively working against you in AI in
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in in sabotaging your efforts.
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You know how real that is
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I don't know but I
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I do think there is a sentiment of
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you know you're gonna have to
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bring people along.
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And then you're also gonna have to as a leader
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make some choices
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because if people don't wanna follow you along
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those are gonna become some dilemmas
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that leaders are gonna have to kind of
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face here as they go.
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And so really kind of put
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putting that all together is
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you know being on the attack
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but also
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who in your organization is getting behind you?
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How do you bring them along,
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and then what are you gonna do when some say
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I'm just not going to go along.
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You have a challenge.
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I know you've got a luncheon that you're going to
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for the the veterans peer group. Yeah.
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But for the last question
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I'd like to actually bring
361
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bring you back to that veterans peer group.
362
00:12:43,066 --> 00:12:44,833
And you've talked a lot about the
363
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sort of training and the
364
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the analogies that we've used here to explain this
365
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this crazy world of AI
366
00:12:51,733 --> 00:12:55,566
coming at us. And how really well prepared
367
00:12:55,566 --> 00:12:57,900
veterans are to address some of these problems.
368
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But whenever a peer group gets formed
369
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there's always other problems that
370
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that are getting solved within that group.
371
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So for leaders that are looking to leverage veterans
372
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what are some of the things they need to be aware of
373
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that are challenges of veterans that are coming out of
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the military and into the workforce?
375
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What are what are the three things that that are
376
00:13:20,866 --> 00:13:22,933
these are challenges that we're dealing with as
377
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as veterans. Yeah
378
00:13:24,033 --> 00:13:25,100
I think first and foremost
379
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is an understanding of what a corporate
380
00:13:28,133 --> 00:13:29,700
leader or corporations looking for
381
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when you're recruiting a veteran.
382
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Because you're trying to translate what you knew
383
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and all of these acronyms and all of these things that
384
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:37,033
a lot of
385
00:13:37,033 --> 00:13:39,166
you know civilian leaders don't understand. And
386
00:13:39,166 --> 00:13:40,666
and in your mind you think you
387
00:13:40,666 --> 00:13:41,133
you know it's
388
00:13:41,133 --> 00:13:42,333
it's like I did a lot here
389
00:13:42,333 --> 00:13:43,166
you know there was very
390
00:13:43,166 --> 00:13:44,533
very a lot of responsibilities.
391
00:13:44,566 --> 00:13:46,366
So being able to translate that one
392
00:13:46,366 --> 00:13:46,533
I know
393
00:13:46,533 --> 00:13:48,433
there's a lot of organizations that can help that.
394
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Number 2 is a network you know
395
00:13:50,166 --> 00:13:53,066
people lose track of how valuable their network is
396
00:13:53,066 --> 00:13:55,833
as a young professional just being in a company, being.
397
00:13:55,866 --> 00:13:56,766
You know if you're a young person
398
00:13:56,766 --> 00:13:57,966
you're involved in some of the data
399
00:13:57,966 --> 00:13:59,300
meetups here in Nashville
400
00:13:59,300 --> 00:14:01,433
or in part of NTC and other places
401
00:14:01,466 --> 00:14:02,900
you're building an advantage over time
402
00:14:02,900 --> 00:14:04,566
just because you know people.
403
00:14:04,966 --> 00:14:06,033
You know as a veteran you
404
00:14:06,033 --> 00:14:06,733
you don't have that
405
00:14:06,733 --> 00:14:08,433
you've been moved around the country
406
00:14:08,433 --> 00:14:09,366
the world
407
00:14:09,500 --> 00:14:13,100
been potentially in combat zones and your network is
408
00:14:13,100 --> 00:14:14,266
is is strong, you
409
00:14:14,266 --> 00:14:16,433
you know your brothers and sisters and
410
00:14:16,433 --> 00:14:19,333
and in arms but you may not have known
411
00:14:19,333 --> 00:14:22,066
you don't know these others that that can help you.
412
00:14:22,066 --> 00:14:23,366
And it's a you know
413
00:14:23,366 --> 00:14:24,500
I know Johnny
414
00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:27,166
Johnny knows so and so and if I go to Johnny
415
00:14:27,166 --> 00:14:29,500
he might connect me. So that's part of it is the
416
00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:31,733
the second one being the network and
417
00:14:31,733 --> 00:14:33,766
and third is some of the technical skills is
418
00:14:33,766 --> 00:14:37,666
knowing how to start just not the bridging the gap.
419
00:14:37,666 --> 00:14:42,633
You may not have done hands on Power BI dev
420
00:14:42,866 --> 00:14:44,966
Databricks or Snowflake.
421
00:14:44,966 --> 00:14:46,333
But these are needed skills
422
00:14:46,333 --> 00:14:48,933
and so how do I just say I know how to code
423
00:14:48,933 --> 00:14:50,733
or I know how to do something technical
424
00:14:50,733 --> 00:14:52,166
maybe I need to go get some certification.
425
00:14:52,166 --> 00:14:53,533
So what are those things that
426
00:14:53,533 --> 00:14:54,866
that companies would be looking for.
427
00:14:54,866 --> 00:14:56,733
And so I would say from my point of view
428
00:14:56,733 --> 00:14:59,866
and that's not exhaustive in any means
429
00:14:59,966 --> 00:15:00,700
that's some of the things
430
00:15:00,700 --> 00:15:02,633
I would encourage a veteran to think everyone.
431
00:15:02,633 --> 00:15:03,933
So that's what we're trying to do is bring
432
00:15:03,933 --> 00:15:05,700
bring us all together so others can say hey
433
00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:07,666
by the way build the network.
434
00:15:07,766 --> 00:15:09,733
These are the things people are looking for and
435
00:15:09,733 --> 00:15:12,433
and really help get them in awareness of some of that
436
00:15:12,433 --> 00:15:14,333
from a decision maker as well. Man
437
00:15:14,333 --> 00:15:16,166
you're talking about leadership commitment,
438
00:15:16,166 --> 00:15:16,966
yeah
439
00:15:17,366 --> 00:15:19,966
community commitment
440
00:15:19,966 --> 00:15:20,833
and you're bringing
441
00:15:20,833 --> 00:15:23,333
the type of personality to the table
442
00:15:23,333 --> 00:15:24,933
that understands commitment.
443
00:15:24,933 --> 00:15:25,633
Yeah thank you.
444
00:15:25,633 --> 00:15:26,100
Yeah that's right.
445
00:15:26,100 --> 00:15:27,233
Well thanks for the leadership.
446
00:15:27,233 --> 00:15:29,733
I'm ready to charge hell with a water pistol with you.
447
00:15:29,733 --> 00:15:30,733
Yeah well yeah.
448
00:15:30,733 --> 00:15:31,566
Let's go. Well
449
00:15:31,566 --> 00:15:33,233
appreciate you gentlemen appreciate you
450
00:15:33,233 --> 00:15:35,266
you know taking time to sit down with me today
451
00:15:35,266 --> 00:15:37,033
and I really appreciate your support.
452
00:15:37,033 --> 00:15:38,433
I know both of you are supportive of
453
00:15:38,433 --> 00:15:39,833
of these veteran groups as well.
454
00:15:39,833 --> 00:15:41,533
So appreciate that and yeah
455
00:15:41,533 --> 00:15:43,133
look forward to to talking more.
456
00:15:43,133 --> 00:15:44,233
And thank you for your service.
457
00:15:44,233 --> 00:15:45,100
Thank you for your service
458
00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:47,600
It's an honor to serve is what I say so thanks
