From IT Manager to the CIO of a Gigafactory, Listening, Earning and Keeping a Seat at the Table
On this episode, I am joined by Justin Herman, VP and CIO of Panasonic Energy of North America. Starting out as an IT Manager for Coca-Cola Bottling Co., he worked his through the ranks in manufacturing and eventually moved from South Africa to the United States.
Presently, Justin leads the technology division for Panasonic Energy at their Gigafactory out of Sparks, Nevada.
Key Wins and Takeaways for You:
As a CIO and Business IT Leader here are more wins you will get by listening:
(3:00) Bill: “What’s the change that’s happening in manufacturing?”
(3:57) Justin: “Our business leaders have really brought the IT leaders into their decision-making because they understand the role we play and how we can create those efficiencies within multiple facets.”
(4:18) Justin: “As we innovate, and as new technologies come on board, we’re able to sit down with our business partners and show true value.”
(6:13) Bill: “What is a Gigafactory?”
(8:19) Justin: “Failure to innovate will put you at a competitive disadvantage.”
(8:22) Bill: How do you do that with a legacy business?”
(8:42) Justin: “We believe the future is in energy and it is our mission to go and change the world through cleaner energy.”
(13:27) Bill: “What does the ontological layer mean regarding ML and AI and Gigafactories?”
(15:52) Bill: “How you went about the journey of finding the right partner?”
(16:55) Justin: “Take a step back, understand your business, the data, and most likely what you’re going to end up with is a hybrid model.”
(18:20) Bill: “How do you focus on the 80-20 principle?”
(18:45) Justin: “Having a seat at the table is extremely important.”
(21:08) Bill: “What skills did you come to need to have set in-house?”
(21:42) Justin: “There’s always a balance between your FTEs in-house and your managed services that you use externally.”
(24:20) Justin: “Being able to sit and communicate to your business leaders and talk to them in a manner they understand while taking a step back to actively listen.”
(26:48) Bill: “What books have been the biggest impact for you?”
(29:45) Justin: “Never pass up an opportunity to keep quiet.”
(32:18) Justin: “How people are looking at security nowadays…invest in people as a number one firewall.”
(35:39) Justin: “Take it in, learn, listen, because everything you’re doing today is going to provide the opportunities that you’re going to get tomorrow.”
(36:17) Justin: “We all as leaders have a responsibility to give back. Let’s train the leaders of the future and let’s help them as well.”
(36:46) Bill: “All leaders need to be looking and surround themselves with the five people that are not necessarily their peers but are in front of them a little bit.”
(37:20) Justin: “As technologists, it is our responsibility to push the envelope, to get a seat at the table with our business partners to help innovation. Let’s try to create a cleaner energy environment through technology.”
Resources
Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
“CIO Paradox” by Martha Heller
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Surviving and Thriving in a World of Digital Giants” by Ray Wang
Welcome Back to Bill Murphy’s 10x Podcast. Our guest in this episode is Peter Cohan, founder and principal of The Second Derivative, author of “Great Demo!” and a savant in the sales world.
Additionally, Peter serves on the Board of Directors for Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc., is an advisor to IN2SV, Inc., holds a degree in chemistry, and is a mentor to StartX, the Stanford University start-up accelerator.
Peter has vast experience working with senior management in marketing, sales, and business development. and has learned to discover and understand the needs of a customer. Peter’s mission is to advise organizations on the ways they can better improve their sales and marketing results through creating and executing compelling demonstrations.
In this episode, he shares with listeners his best-known method, the “Last Thing First,” which teaches you to “turn the demo upside down” and start with the end-result first.
You do not have to be in sales to benefit from Peter’s methods, his principles prove valuable to many parts of an organization
Peter hopes to inspire you to constantly seek ways to improve upon your skills and practices.
Show your customers the possibilities that will benefit the future of their business and an end- result that cannot be refused.
Tune in to learn more.
As a Chief Information Officer and Business IT Leader here are some wins you will get by listening:
4:00 There are two roles of an IT Leader: offense and defense. The defense protects the kingdom, keeps the lights on, and ensures the users are happy. The offense helps put points on the board and supports sales.
5:00 Modern IT leaders can support sales in the future by providing subject matter expertise to the sales team, enabling a demo environment, and seeking to understand where the organization needs to go and what can be done to help by providing tools and services.
6:30 The key success factor in the pre-sales process is having a structured way of communicating information.
6:40 “The Great Demo” introduces a structure called the situation slide, which is used to recommunicate key pieces of information to deliver a credible demo.
8:00 Before you call a prospect, have a conversation with the vendor and ask: What is our objective for this demo? What do we know about this prospect? What do you want me to present in this demo? What do you not want me to present in this demo?
10:00 The key element in creating any demo is understanding what specific capabilities a prospect needs to see versus everything else that is in your offering.
11:30 Find sales representatives who are highly respected and use those people as your models to learn their best practices.
12:00 Successful sales reps execute the most important part of the sales process: sufficient discovery of the customer's needs followed by communicating those discoveries with the team.
18:30 Vision generation demos spark interest and highlight what is possible.
20:30 Lead with pictures of graphs, reports, and dashboards to present complex ideas in a straightforward way. Do not bury people in complexity.
23:30 The goal of a demo is to show your customer a “menu” of your offerings. If you are offering several different modules, utilize vision generation.
27:00 In a demo, do not show a prospect a boring boat. Show them that it is a battleship driving through the heavy seas. This is the result a prospect is looking for.
28:00 The higher you go in an organization, the less they care about the process and more just the end-result. Turn the demo upside down and do that last thing first.
32:30 A successful salesperson is interested in continually improving his or her process.
Resources:
LessIsMore.com (For PowerPoint Presentations)
_____________________________________________________________________
Love this episode? Leave a Review
Share it on your LinkedIn feed.
If you have not already, please leave us a review on iTunes.
______________________________________________________________________
About Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy is a world-renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn.
If you are interested in learning more about RedZone Technologies, and its security expertise, email us at info@redzonetech.ne
In this episode, we’re talking about how EQ aka emotional intelligence can help you become an effective and successful leader.
Get all the resources for this episode:
https://redzone10x.net/how-eq-makes-an-effective-it-leader-with-nadja-el-fertasi
We’re here with the founder and CEO of Thrive with EQ, Nadja EL Fertasi.
As a Senior Executive in NATO’s Cyber Executive Arm, Nadja was responsible for translating the digital impact on political and military priorities for the Alliance and its members.
Cybercriminals manipulate people based on their emotions. Thrive with EQ helps people mitigate social engineering attacks through simulations & emotional intelligence training for their (remote) teams.
Get all the resources for this episode:
https://redzone10x.net/how-eq-makes-an-effective-it-leader-with-nadja-el-fertasi
Automate your business and elevate your revenue.
Tune into this episode with Kalani Thomas. Kalani is the CEO of Kihbba, a company that helps SMBs streamline their workflows via top-tier SaaS automation tool integrations.
Get all the resources mentioned in this episode: https://redzone10x.net/grow-your-companys-vital-revenue-streams-with-saas-automation-tools-with-kalani-thomas
Kalani has sold over $150 MILLION of products and services to businesses during his career while honing his unique skillset.
Learn how you can use SaaS tools to automate your sales funnel and grow your business.
In today’s episode, I’m joined by the ultimate master of networking and Vice President of Global Solutions at Precipart, Robert Field.
All the resources for this episode.
Join us as we discuss the importance of surrounding yourself with a team that encourages professional growth. Hint: make sure people around you are smarter than you. We also explore the value of networking and how it can transform your potential within your organization.
Robert’s insight, perspective, and years of masterful networking have cultivated for him a rich a fulfilling career. Join us as we share leadership experiences and business leader tips on how to get the most out of your career path.
Do have a mentor? Do you surround yourself with a team that challenges you? Learn how to develop this level of excellence by listening in!
My guest today is Judith Apshago. Judith's leadership talents were recognized in a big way in December 2018 when she was chosen from a group of 88 nominees, to receive the Capital CIO of the Year, Enterprise ORBIE Award recognizing her achievements as Vice President and Chief Information Officer of U.S. Silica, a leading producer of performance materials and industrial minerals and last-mile logistics provider. This award recognizes technology executives for leadership, innovation and excellence. She was awarded the Norma Miller Passionate Philanthropist Award the same year.
Judith is an accomplished IT executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in information technology, most recently in a new role as Assistant Vice President of IT at Amtrak, and prior to that as Vice President and Chief Information Officer of U.S. Silica where she spearheaded an IT and digital transformation to support the company's rapid and substantial growth. She led a company-wide technology modernization, shifted IT from a utility provider to a high-performing strategic business partner, integrated multiple acquired companies, and collaborated with business leaders on strategic initiatives that enabled scalability, drove business efficiencies, and provided market differentiation.
This is a fantastic conversation and I know you will love it.
The biggest take-aways from this episode:
How to Connect with Judith Apshago:
Resources + Links from the Podcast
H. James Dallas, Author|Speaker|Consultant. President, James Dallas & Associates. Speaker at the 2019 Capital ORBIE Awards.
This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Forum, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation.
I hope you enjoyed this interview with Judith Apshago. You can go to the show notes to read the details of what we discussed in this episode.
About Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader.
If you are interested in learning more about my company, RedZone Technologies, and our security expertise, in particular related to Cloud and Email Security Kill Chain Strategy, Techniques and Tactics you can email cloudkill@redzonetech.net.
Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter.
I’m very excited about my guest for you today. It’s Barry Libenson, Global CIO for Experian. He is responsible for the design and delivery of global technology strategy. Prior to joining Experian in 2015, he was Senior Vice President and CIO of Safeway in North America. Before that, he was the CIO and VP of Land O’Lakes. He has a continuous track record of huge success in the CIO capacity.
I am excited to bring Barry back for "Round 2" - his second episode with me and the RedZone Podcast. You will get the following out of this show as it relates to CIO Offensive and Defensive Strategy for a World Class company:
I hope you enjoyed this program interview with Barry Libenson. If you liked this episode, I want you to forward it on your LinkedIn page to your community. I also want you to like and leave comments about the episode on iTunes, and for my droid listeners on Stitcher.
If you are interested in learning more about RedZone and our security expertise in particular related to Cloud and Email Security Kill Chain Strategy, Techniques, and Tactics you can email cloudkill@redzonetech.net.
You can go to the show notes to get more information about Barry and what we discussed in this episode. You’ll find the show notes at https://www.redzonetech.net/blog/barry-libenson/.
Until next time. I’m signing off. Thank you and have a great day!
Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter
Barry Libenson is Experian’s Global Chief Information Officer (CIO), with responsibility for the design and delivery of Experian’s global technology strategy. Prior to joining Experian in June 2015, he was Senior Vice President and CIO of Safeway Inc. in North America. Before that, he served as the Chief Information Officer and Vice President at Land O Lakes Inc. Barry joined Ingersoll-Rand as Vice President of e-Business in May 2001 and served as its Chief Information Officer beginning in 2003. There he was responsible for defining and implementing Ingersoll-Rand’s global electronic and internet business strategies, with a focus on customer relationship and supply chain management.
Early in his career, he served as Executive Vice President of Surety Inc., a data-integrity services company; as Chief Executive Officer for Visix, a software publisher; and held management positions with Phoenix Technologies and Oracle Corporation. He served as a Director at Tavant Technologies, a software firm with offices in California and Bangalore India.
Barry holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Colgate University and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Forum, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation.
Credits:
* Outro music provided by Ben’s Sound
Other Ways To Listen to the Podcast
iTunes | Libsyn | Soundcloud | RSS | LinkedIn
Leave a Review
If you enjoyed this episode, then please consider leaving an iTunes review here. Click here for instructions on how to leave an iTunes review if you’re doing this for the first time.
About Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter.
I recently had a wonderful talk with Pascal Finette. I am really excited to share our conversation on the exponential technologies with you. Pascal is the head of Singularity University's SU Labs, where he leverages most intractable problems with cutting-edge technologies. One of the concepts we have delved into during our discussion was the concept of innovating organization at the edge instead of the core and how to approach growth through the lens of this concept. A lot of us are familiar with innovation when it comes to processes. How is it done with a product that is a business unit?
Listen to more about the question to ask about open-sourcing, concept of “crow funding”, and the importance of moonshot thinking and exploring more at the edge.
4 Key Learning Points:
Find full transcript here
About Pascal Finette
Pascal heads up Entrepreneurship at Singularity University, including the Startup Accelerator, Venture Fund and the Entrepreneurship Track where he inspires, educates and empowers entrepreneurs tackling the world’s most intractable problems leveraging exponential technologies. Pascal has spent his career pushing the boundaries of technology and passionately believes the Internet can deeply impact mankind.
He founded the non-profit organizations Mentor for Good and The Coaching Fellowship; the ‘GyShiDo’ (Get Your S%#& Done) movement and publishes the opinionated newsletter, ‘The Heretic’, which is read by ten of thousands of entrepreneurs around the globe.
Pascal frequently speaks and writes about the interaction of entrepreneurship, technology, and global impact. Pascal coaches clients on leadership potential and loves to work with entrepreneurs who are making things better and go from zero to one.
How to get in touch with Pascal:
Key Resources:
You Tube
Talk on Exponential Technologies
http://technoport.no/content/343/Pascal-Finette
Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiwkFgBk3B0
Books
Publications
http://unreasonable.is/author/pascal/
http://www.unlife.co/pascal-finette/
This episode is sponsored by the CIO Security Scoreboard, a powerful tool that helps you communicate the status of your IT Security program visually in just a few minutes.
In this show I discuss High Performance teams, Accountability, Hybrid Cloud Multipliers, IT Audit & Risk Management Tools, Forced Delegation, Toxic Employee and Team Building, Incentivizing Right Behaviours, Consensus Building, Rapid Acceptance. We touch on products from HP, Microsoft, Briggs, Azure, Abriska, Myers and Varonis.
I recently caught up with Jason and we discussed several topics related to IT Security, DR, and Infrastructure. You can stream this podcast to your phone using the links below to Soundcloud on your PC or get the app on your phone. Jason is a world class technologist, businessman, and CIO. He also has a seat at the table (Board). I know this because I have sat next to him in the board room and have observed Jason who brings a unique and diverse perspective to business. He works directly with the CFO regarding finance and with Sales and Marketing as well. He is the glue for many parts of the business. In our discussion we covered the following areas: Structural has 4000 employees, 30 locations and 2000 mobile users. Tactics and Strategy related to: File Synch, DR, Pilots vs Free, Data Governance, CEO and Board Level Communication, Data Access vs App Delivery BYOD, Dropbox Replacement, Private Filesynch, workflow, collaboration, high availability, and privacy. ‘Webifying’ his corporate file systems to have 1 instance of data being able to be delivered to any desktop and device in his network. The podcast can be streamed via Soundcloud. You can watch it via your PC or you can stream to your phone by getting the Soundcloud app. I will also be launching this podcast on Stitcher and ITunes as well. Product Discussions: VMware Horizon, Nasuni, DATAnywhere BOOKS: Michael Crichton's Prey, Jack Reacher Series by Lee Child, Business at the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates