Episodes

The Buzz 1: “You care more about that car than you do about most people.” [Thelma (Geena Davis) to Louise (Susan Sarandon) in Thelma & Louise (1991) The Buzz 2: “A driver don't pick the cars. Mmm-mm. Cars pick the driver. It's a mystical bond between man and machine.” (Bernie Mac as Bobby Bolivia in Transformers,2 007 film) The Buzz 3: “The next few years should be exciting. We’re in the midst of an electric vehicle onslaught and seeing a flood of new EV pickup trucks. We're also watching more s...

The Buzz: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution…a fusion of advances in AI, robotics, IoT, 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing, other technologies…collective force behind many products and services that are fast becoming indispensable to modern life.” [salesforce.com] Every industrial revolution has had a profound impact on how we live, work and relate. The first industrialized our world with steam and water. The second electrified it. The third computerized it, setting the technolog...

The Buzz 1: “During the Revolutionary War, women served the U.S. Army in traditional roles as nurses, seamstresses and cooks for troops in camp. Some courageous women served in combat either alongside their husbands or disguised as men, while others operated as spies for the cause. Though not in uniform, women shared Soldiers' hardships, including inadequate housing and little compensation.” [www.army.mil] The Buzz 2: “The U.S. military has been one of America’s most progressive institutions…But...

The buzz 1: “Women earn about half of science and engineering degrees, but they make up less than 20 percent of people employed in those fields.” (mckinsey.com) The buzz 2: “Women are missing out on entrepreneurial success, making up just 17% of IT specialists in the UK. Worse still, a new survey shows that the number of women in the tech sector has barely moved over the past 10 years despite an industry-wide push. When tech has never had it so good, where are the women?” (theguardian.com) The b...

The Buzz 1: “Social media can also be a powerful tool for your professional life…It can also be full of pitfalls. More employers and recruiters now regularly check candidates’ social media profiles before hiring them, and screenshots of status updates and tweets mean your electronic words can live forever, even if you delete them later…it’s not just your own posts—your activity, including those stealth “likes,” can come back to haunt you, too… every post you’ve liked, commented on, or shared, in...

The buzz: In a 2017 ISACA survey, only 53% of surveyed business technology professionals believe their organization’s leadership is digitally literate. The other 47% don’t think their leaders have a solid understanding of tech and its impacts or are unsure. (helpnetsecurity.com) Despite better AI, easier app developing, and robots joining the workforce, there’s still a huge disconnect between non-technical CXOs and their tech teams, even in Silicon Valley. If you are a non-techy entrepreneur or ...

Buzz 1: “Time spent in conversation is never wasted.” [Insidious: Chapter 3] Buzz 2: “I had a really long talk with a squirrel one time, longer in fact than I can with most people.” [Charlie’s Angels] Buzz 3: “Do you always begin conversations this way?” [The Princess Bride] If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got the next best thing. You’ll hear predictions on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can h...

Buzz. 1: Robin to Batman: “In the circus, the Flying Graysons were a team. We had to trust each person to do their jobs.…Sometimes, counting on someone else is the only way you win.” Buzz 2: Fred Astaire: “For ballroom dancing, remember that your partners have their own distinctive styles also…adapt your style…you are not surrendering your individuality, but blending it with that of your partner.” If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry...

Buzz. 1: “Oh, my goodness! Shut me down! Machines making machines. How perverse!” (C-P3O in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, 2002 space-opera film). Buzz 2: “Never send a human to do a machine’s job.” (Agent Smith in The Matrix, 1999 sci-fi film). If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got the next best thing. On our 7-episode 2021 Predictions Special [more on Jan. 20 and 27], you’ll hear insights from m...

Buzz 1: Doc Brown: “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads” (Back to the Future). Buzz 2: Mr. Spaceley: “Where's Jetson, and why is the plant shut down?” Rudy2: “It's the middle of the night, sir.” Mr. Spaceley: “Machines don't sleep. Start it up! Every second lost means money lost. And money lost means I scream a lot!” (Jetsons). If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got the next best thing: thought leader...

"If you focus on what you left behind, you will never see what lies ahead!" (Gusteau, played by Brad Garrett in Ratatouille, 2007 computer-animated comedy film) "Your problem is not technology. The problem is you. You lack the will to change." (Klaatu, played by Keanu Reeves in The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2008 sci-fi drama film) If you're hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On December 9, 2020,...

The Buzz #1: Mr. Spaceley: “Where's Jetson, and why is the plant shut down?” Rudy 2: “It's the middle of the night, sir.” Mr. Spaceley: “Machines don't sleep. Start it up! Every second lost means money lost. And money lost means I scream a lot!” [Jetsons: The Movie, 1990] If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got the next best thing. On December 16, 2020, we'll ask ten thought leaders to predict the future of IoT ...

“If you focus on what you left behind, you will never see what lies ahead!” (Gusteau, played by Brad Garrett in Ratatouille, 2007 computer-animated comedy film) “Your problem is not technology. The problem is you. You lack the will to change.” (Klaatu, played by Keanu Reeves in The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2008 sci-fi drama film) If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got the next best thing. On December 9, 2020,...

The buzz: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” (Søren Kierkegaard,1813-1855, Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, author) If you’re hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2021 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got the next best thing. Live today, December 2, 2020, we'll focus on the Future of Digital Selling on Part 1 of our Annual Crystal Ball Predictions Special. The Special will continue on December 9, 16 plus...

The buzz: “Today, anyone with a bit of technological know-how and an internet connection can publish—offering digital or physical editions, on the same online retail shelves—alongside Alexander Chee, Rebecca Makkai, or Tom Clancy.” For printed books, a slew of new funding, production, and distribution tools make creating and selling a physical artifact much easier…The books look fabulous. This proliferation of new technology and services has altered author economics. Almost half of author earnin...

The buzz: “In its hundred-year history, the drumset has been adorned by temple blocks, timpani, and bass drumheads with nature scenes…introduction of the hi-hat, Rototoms, Octobans… bass drums with no front heads at all…entire drumsets would spin in the air, be aided by powerful electronics, and explode in size with additional bass drums, toms, and snare drums and enough cymbals to equip a large marching band.” “So what of drumming’s future?…How will such buzz phrases as “Internet of Things” and...

The buzz: “In the unknowable future, all leaders will need to be entrepreneurs: visionaries that can imagine, adapt, and act nimbly to address whatever challenges come their way.” (Bhatia and Levina, hbr.org) With global businesses impacted by Covid-19 and other disruptions, companies that survived are looking at their future workforce through a new lens. No more obey-the-status-quo hires. They need creative, entrepreneurial, collaborative problem-solvers to help them turn obstacles into positiv...

The Buzz 1: “The future holds unparalleled visions of progress and intrigue for the curious…where we manifest our hopes, dreams and even worst fears…While we've had our fair share of inventive breakthroughs in the past that have changed the world, the dazzling and world-shaking inventions of the future will change the world in even stranger and greater ways.” bigthink.com The Buzz 2: In the 19th century, inventors were heroes…Stephenson, Morse and Goodyear were the shock troops of the Industrial...

The buzz: Futurists are people who attempt to predict the future – authors, consultants, thinkers, organizational leaders and others who engage in interdisciplinary and systems thinking to advise private and public organizations on diverse global trends, possible scenarios, emerging market opportunities and risk management. Futurists are motivated by change. Not content merely to describe or forecast, they desire an active role in world transformation. Futurology is concerned with ‘three P's and...

The buzz: “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” (President Jimmy Carter) But Canadian social psychologist John Berry observes that multiculturalism is dependent on both the “cultural maintenance” by immigrant groups and “cultural acceptance” by host societies. Strong cultural maintenance by immigrants and weak cultural acceptance by a host society lead to separation and marginalization. C...

The buzz: “Over the centuries human beings have always loved to laugh. We can imagine jokes being shared by our cave dwelling ancestors about the two woolly mammoths. Today comedy is shared with vast audience by world-famous arena-filling comedians. Comedy is part of human culture. “There seems to be more comedy than ever. There are local comedy clubs, the Edinburgh Fringe, YouTube, comedy series and Hollywood movies – however you like your comedy served up, there is probably a source catering t...

The buzz: Although they comprise more 50% of the population, women hold far fewer positions in the wine industry, fewer leadership roles, and fewer ownership roles. Wine expert and The Wine Bible author Karen MacNeil’s Second Annual Report on Women in the Wine Industry reveals an estimated 10% of winemakers in California are female, 7% in Washington, and 5% in New York. She closed her keynote at the 2019 Wonder Women of Wine (WWOW) inaugural conference with this advice: “My friends, men are not ...

The buzz: “We’ve all been there — woken up from a night’s sleep thinking about a dream from the night before. Why did the dream happen? What does it mean? (Jean-Marc Emden, DreamsCloud. www.wired.com/insights/2014/10/dreaming-innovation) Finally, answers! The Aurora headband from iWinks gives us the opportunity to control our dreams and access lucid dreams – awareness that one is dreaming – by prompting them in our sleep. The headband measures brain wave and eye movement activity, while tracking...

The buzz: Vrooomm. Today, women account for only 27% of the US auto manufacturing workforce as compared to about 47% of the overall labor force. This talent gap is counterproductive for companies looking to tap into the rising opportunities for innovation, transformation, and disruption by digital technologies such as AI, AR, and the IoT. (www2.deloitte.com) Bogi Lateiner, owner of 180 Degrees Automotive in Phoenix, wanted to be a mechanic. “I had to go to 20 shops before I got the first job to ...