Making Data Simple

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Most companies have bought the AI tools. Far fewer have changed how the work actually gets done. Ashley Gross, Founder & CEO of the AI Workforce Alliance and author of The AI Workweek, joins Al Martin to close that gap.

Ashley used AI to cut her own workweek from 40 hours to 15. Her AI Impact Alignment™ framework shows teams how to get there too: decide what to automate first, build a "digital staff" of agents, and give those agents the information they need to do real work. She and Al dig into what token costs and orchestration mean for your budget, when agents are ready to run on their own, and why data capture is largely solved while adoption is not.

If you've been told to "do AI" and aren't sure where to begin, jump to 38:58 for the workflows Ashley recommends starting with.

* 00:52 Introducing Ashley Gross
* 01:52 The Book: The AI Workweek
* 06:34 What to Automate First
* 09:06 The Digital Staff
* 12:06 Sharing of Info to Agents
* 17:58 Token Affordability & Orchestration
* 20:42 Autonomous Agents
* 23:12 Engagement with Ashley
* 27:58 Data Capture Solved, Adoption Not
* 30:30 Differentiation via Outcomes
* 38:58 Workflows to Start
* 40:38 Reaching Ashley

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theashleygross/
Website: https://www.aiworkforcealliance.com/
Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple?  Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next.  The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

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Unlock your full potential with Kate Mayne, Executive Coach and data expert! In this episode, Kate dives into the surprising ways our behaviors impact our data, offering actionable strategies for clarity and growth – insights you can put into practice today. Learn how to leverage your data for authentic leadership and strategic decision-making – explore more at www.experttoexec.com.
00:57 Meet Kate Mayne
01:55 Why and Exec Coach?
05:17 Why Pay for a Coach?
09:10 Certifications
12:10 Natural & Adaptive Behaviors
14:47 Top Coaching Tricks
32:18 Compromising Who You Are
35:24 Coaching Tricks
41:57 Recommended Books https://experttoexec.com/reading-list 
42:12 AI in Coaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinemayne/
Website: www.experttoexec.com
Book report: 
Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple?  Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next.  The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

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Dive into the powerful world of mainframes! Chief Product Officer of IBM Z and LinuxONE, Tina Tarquinio, reveals the truth behind those eight nines of uptime and explores how mainframes are evolving with AI, hybrid cloud, and future-proofing strategies for mission-critical business decisions. 

Discover the cutting-edge innovations transforming enterprise computing—from on-chip AIU and Spyre AI accelerators enabling real-time inferencing at transaction speed, to how LinuxONE is redefining hybrid cloud architecture.  Tina discusses DevOps integration, AI-powered code assistants revolutionizing mainframe development, compelling AI use cases, and shares her bold predictions for the mainframe’s next 100 years.  Plus, career advice from a tech leader and what she does for fun!
00:46 Tina Tarquinio
03:18 The Most Mainframe Surprise
09:12 What IS the Mainframe Really?  8 Nines!
14:40 On Chip AIU, Spyre Inferencing
18:11 Mainframes with Hybrid Cloud
19:11 The Linux One Pitch
19:59 Exciting Mainframe Innovations
22:09 DevOps
23:36 Code Assistants
26:03 AI Use Case
27:49 Future Proofing Decisions
37:17 Regulations
38:45 Bold Prediction
38:58 Mainframe 100
40:48 Career Advice
42:24 For Fun
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tina-tarquinio
Website: https://www.ibm.com/products/z

Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple?  Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next.  The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

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Want to cut through the noise and understand *real* consumer
behavior? Lev Mazin, CEO of aytm—Ask Your Target Market—is here
to challenge the hype around AI and big data. Lev’s spent over a
decade connecting with 100 million consumers, revealing why
human insight is more valuable than ever in a world racing towards
synthetic data.
01:10 Lev Mazin
04:55 AYTM
06:52 AYTM's Differentiator
09:06 Consumer Insights Automation
12:28 Why Do Surveys Still Exist
17:50 Panels of 100M Clients
19:17 Data Quality, an Existential Crisis
24:41 Synthetic Data
27:11 Extracting Noise from Data
29:45 Big Data to Human Insights
30:58 Do ISO Certification Matter?
37:03 Irrational Behavior
41:20 Rapid Fire
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/levmazin
Website: https://aytm.com/
Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple?  Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next.  The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

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ICYMI — revisiting one of our most useful conversations on what AI actually does to the shape of an organization.
How do we make organizations not just run — but run intelligently?
Phanish Puranam, the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Strategy and Organisation Design at INSEAD, joins Al Martin to explore where organizational science meets artificial intelligence. Phanish studies how intelligent algorithms show up inside organizations in three distinct roles — as tools, as teammates, and as templates for organizing itself — and what actually changes when they do.
We get into the research, real use cases, the pitfalls most companies walk straight into, and a contrarian argument that generating bad ideas fast may be one of the most underrated engines of innovation.
Since this conversation aired, Phanish published re-Humanize: How to Build Human-Centric Organizations in the Age of Algorithms — the natural next step if this episode lands for you.
Chapters
01:50 – Meet Phanish Puranam
03:36 – Organizational Design
08:39 – Where is Org Design Today
12:41 – A Research Example
15:59 – Technologies as Tools & Teammates
17:54 – A Real Use Case Example
20:30 – The Metaverse, Eliminate Bad Ideas Fast
21:28 – Pitfalls
23:30 – Use Case Deep Dive
30:06 – The Power Structure
Connect with Phanish Puranam
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/phanishpuranam
INSEAD Profile: insead.edu/faculty/phanish-puranam
Book: re-Humanize: How to Build Human-Centric Organizations in the Age of Algorithms
Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple?  Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next.  The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.