Yeah. We can get started. Alright. So hi, everyone, and welcome. I'm Lisa Dung.I'm a VP in data and technology solutions at MediaLink, which is a consulting firm that sits at the intersection of media and marketing. And, someone who partners with brands and companies a lot to find opportunities for growth, I'm constantly thinking about, you know, different opportunities to to drive organizational change. So I'm really excited to be moderating this panel to be able to learn from our panelists today and talk about trailblazing transformation and building future ready businesses. So, in today's rapidly evolving tech landscape, we know transformation is more critical than ever. And then understanding and utilizing technology is one thing, but leading people and cultures through change is something else entirely.

So today's panel really brings together, remarkable leaders who have reshaped how organizations operate from the inside and out and how their industries speak about innovation. So we have Tatanya Richard, VP of enterprise sorry, VP of enterprise applications at Extreme Networks, and she's currently leading major in transformation initiatives internally and has previously held roles at, I hope it pronounced right, Inter Assist Networks and HP. We have Soojin Oh, CCO at FreeWheel, who oversees US revenue partnerships and strategic growth. A veteran of Gamut, Magnetic, and Google, she's recognized force in median ad tech innovation. We have Corey Munchback who serves on the board of direction directors at Forrester and is the former CEO of Gluconic. She's known for growing businesses through customer first strategies and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. We have Jesse Gillette who is, head of business development at Luma AI, and she's driving enterprise strategy and partnerships across leading AI tools.

Previously held roles at Spotify, Smule, and Pandora. And then finally, we have Andrea Zapata, VP at T Mobile advertising solutions, leading data and insights innovation. Her experience spans Warner Brothers, Discovery, Hulu, Vivo, and more. Sorry. My snack is off. So they all come from different corners of tech, but they share something powerful. You'll hear today how they navigated the messiness of transformation, aligning teams, building new platforms, shifting mindsets, and, driving business impact along the way. And at the end, we hope you'll walk away with your own strategies for how to become an effective change agent. So let's start with a quick warm up question. So what's the first word that comes to mind when you think about transformation? Let's start with Corey. Messy. Messy. Andrea?

Opportunity. All day, every day. Opportunity. I mean, we are in the business of the transformation. You're in the business of progress and innovation, and what is the art of the possible? So, yeah, opportunity.

Jesse?

I would say reimagining.

Su Jin?

Well, given I'm in a virtual room with tech enthusiasts, I'm gonna go with the word beta because transformation is often breaking new frontiers, and you're constantly iterating.

And then finally, to Tanya.

Sure. I I think I'm gonna piggyback with what Corey said and say challenging. Right? So I think S and P and challenging go together. And we all know that, transformation, it can be fun, but it's it's also hard. So challenging.

Great. And so I'm sure we'll hear more about why you chose those words with our next question, which is really just wanting to hear from each of you a time where you led a team through significant transformation. Were you tasked with leading it, or did you proactively step up? You know, what kicked it off? What challenges did you learn and and face, and what did you learn? So, Jesse, we'll start with

you this time. Sure. I'm tempted to talk about and and it's very much dating myself, but when I was at Pandora bringing in the first, podcast and, like, spoken word content into a a music first platform, was really fun and really interesting, but I'll I'll share that another time. I think I would be remiss not to talk about my current experience, which is at, Luma AI where we are image and video foundation models for for for Gen AI. And just seeing the overall transformation with GenAI. I mean, it's talked to death, so I won't, get into all the kind of elaborate discussions around AI. But I would say it's been very much a consumer kind of facing market in many ways, and I think just observing how you could apply some of the tech specifically into organizations that are kind of entrenched without AI. But being able to shift and be able to apply where, like, creative agencies and creative workflows can really uplevel and be, like, force multipliers with integrating this pretty new and fast moving technology of, like, seeing it at the front lines every day.

But I think it really starts with, one, kind of identifying the challenge. Right? Or, like, seeing media companies and creative agencies are really struggling with time consuming, expensive content creation processes. Like, I've been there myself many, many times, But also being able to be very authentic about what the the challenge is and building credibility internally, being forward thinking, and being really clear on what the end outcome is makes it a lot less scary. So I'm seeing that every single day. And then lastly, I'll just say I'm nine months pregnant right now. So I am, like, doing my own transformation, and that's been, like, truly a very cool experience my first time, like, working, while also navigating pregnancies. So I feel like I've had this, like, extensive career opportunities of navigating change and and growth. And, like, I'm doing it myself right now.

So, yeah, it's just been an exciting time, but I I'm loving what I'm seeing just on the career perspective too of kind of navigating change within these organizations with this new world of AI. It's been really interesting.

Yeah. That's great. Do you see any differences between working with, like, internal teams versus external partners?

Yeah. For sure. I mean, I think what I would say is they're definitely internal champions, right, where, I think this goes both internally and externally as well. But really being able to authentically, like, be passionate about what you're you're talking about, but certainly identifying champions that can help kind of see the end outcome that you also are seeing and then being very, you know, just, like, kind of celebrating small victories and making it more tangible so that the outcome actually becomes more realistic than this, like, big, huge problem.

And I do recognize, and it's really fun to see just, like, creative light bulbs going off in certain organizations that might have had, like, a real fear prior to, like, engaging in discussion and then, you know, helping the internal champions be, you know, equipped with information and knowledge to navigate, like, their own internal change processes.

So, does it's not too much different than internal as well, but I would say it is fun to be able to kind of align with other folks that see the the vision you see and kind of help make that more of a reality, like, step by step without it being too overwhelming.

That's great. And then, Soojin, we'll go to you. And you said beta, if I remember correctly. So

I did say beta. And maybe this example will tie to that. But, many moons ago, I also joined a new company, and the team was in in mid flight. So they were working on a project of making home page takeovers pro programmatic. So for those not in the advertising space, homepage takeovers are those banners you see in a web page, and it's basically taking over the same advertising brand. So, high impact, high intention, and the project was making that be programmatic, which essentially means making those units be able to buy and sell in a real time auction based manner. And at first, it sounded very innovative because the industry was all kinda gravitating to this new programmatic technology. But, you know, as a newcomer, I asked a simple question because I was frankly confused. Like, what are we ultimately solving for?

And it was almost like a pin drop. And, you know, I think that helped catalyze, and it made me realize that what we were chasing is more hype and not transformation. And I try to think about, like, what additional, like, examples of hypes are we kind of familiar with. And if we recall even just block chain, just, like, what, a year or two year ago, there was a major hype around block chain. So think of, like, using block chain to track coffee beans. Right? It's cool. It's innovative, but does it really matter? Does anyone really care? And so, you know, I think coming into this as a newcomer, it was very obvious the team just felt more fatigue on their face because they didn't have really clarity on where they were going.

And so, again, just curious, a bit confused. I asked a lot of questions, and gathered the leadership group. And, you know, we really spent the time answering those tough questions and focusing on what really mattered. And that's where we made a ultimate and quick decision of pivoting completely away from home page takeovers and selling, CTV, which ultimately became the product that our clients needed and valued. So, that clarity churned the momentum. The fatigue turned into energy. And so, the team rallied. We made sharper decisions. And, thankfully, we scaled our business because it was right around the time right before pandemic. So everyone in the world were staying home and streaming their favorite content. So, thankfully, it was a good success story. But one of the big lessons I learned there is transformation is not about using tech for tech's sake.

It's really coming down to the discipline of asking that simple question. Will this change drive meaningful value to the customers? And if it isn't no, then it really speaks to it being a noise and a hype.

Yeah. That's great. I really like how you talked about hype. And how do you help with convincing people who may not be as familiar with, you know, what that hype is and just convince them away about not chasing it? Because I'm sure, like, lots of executives, lots of teams are saying, like, everyone else is doing it. I think we feel like we should, but maybe Yeah.

I mean, hype is loud. Transformation is long and quiet and arduous. Right? So I think it really comes down to I'm a numbers person. So if you can't explain it and validate it on paper, then it's probably a trend or a fact. Right? But if you could actually put on paper why you're driving the customer value and you could translate that into actual business results, ultimately revenue that you could see five years out, then you know it's transformation versus a hype you wanna take a journey on.

Alright. Andrea, we'll move

to you. Yeah. Hi. So transformation. Right? I said opportunity. I feel like often in my career, I've been a sort of a change agent each time I sort of move from place to place. But I'll speak most recently about my experience at Warner Brothers Discovery where I was, actually hired to bring in sort of first party data signals, looking at outcomes and efficacy around advertising from everything from a a linear CTV through to digital. And my experience, I'd previously been at Comcast working with first party set top box data, working with sort of high fidelity, highly scalable, but very, accurate datasets. And, moving from so audience first platform agnostic approach, going to a sort of a legacy media company who was looking to start harnessing some of these first party data centers. When I joined, though, there was a movement in the industry to move off of what was what is actually still the currency of record for most of, what is written in the television upfront, which is Nielsen.

I had been actively in my career looking for alternatives to Nielsen simply because I knew that there were alternatives when you had bigger datasets, more accuracy, very real time. You could use things like, data clean rooms and, you know, again, technology can advance and really, I think, move a marketplace. And what it took there so understanding one, what was the what was the task at hand? The task at hand was that for Warner Brothers Discovery to understand, one, how do we move a marketplace into alternative currency full stop? How much of our inventory do we want to to, shift in order for us to look at success and make it meaningful internally? Three, what are my stakeholders outside of Warner Brothers Discovery?

Because we're not the only ones, right, who are, writing currency off of this and are deeply entrenched in the Nielsen world. I have my friends at Paramount and NBCU and Disney. Right? What are they doing? How are they thinking about this? How are all of the, the media consortiums like the ARF or the IAB or the, VAB thinking about this? Right? And how do we collectively move a marketplace? Because transformation, there's the plumbing of, like, the stewardship systems of how do you do this. There's the how do you price and plan? How do you make this optimal for your business in the marketplace? But then how do you just bring people who have been doing Nielsen since the beginning of time to be okay and less precious with what they've known for so long into something that might be different.

There are always gonna be some similarities. Right? But different and and help us shape what the future can be now that we know that there could be a better, not perfect, just a better. And I will tell you that that experience in itself, because of what I had in my background, at Comcast dealing with first party data, but also being a change agent because just because you had set top box data didn't mean the marketplace was ready for it. Taking it to the next level at, Warner Brothers Discovery from a currency perspective, it was, really a lot of fun. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of phone calls. It was a lot of drinks. It was a lot of everything in between, but we moved to marketplace. And I will say that it was three years in the making. Very proud of what what the industry was able to do there.

Wow. Even as you were describing kind of like all the different people to get involved, to kind of make that change, that can seem like really daunting and overwhelming. How do you start about, like, motivating yourself to get that change started knowing that it's gonna take, you know, mountains to move?

Yeah. You just have to believe. Like, I, in my core, believed in the task at hand, which is that, you know, just because we had always done things a certain way didn't mean we had to how to do it that way until the end of time. And there were better. There was a higher bar that we could ascribe to, but we couldn't do it alone. And so for me, it was really about again, I believe in the premise. I believed that there were other, change agents out there in my field, and it was up to, not only up to me, but to help each other identify one another and support each other, identify where the gaps are. So, like, I would joke that, you know, my role at WBD was to create passion, to actually create demand and interest, to put thought leadership out there.

I had my friend at Paramount. His job was just really about and his job was only, but his job was about creating the stewardship system, making sure the plumbing really worked, right, to demonstrate that you could activate this way from planning the post. I had friends in other parts of the industry who were doing other parts of the change agent, so I didn't have to carry it on my own. And then I had a really strong team internally who were helping on the everyday of the working groups and the task at hand and making sure we were hitting the marks, and then also flagging where we thought there might be issue. Because this was if you think about this, this is for WVD and maybe, you know, the the media industry, but really it was for agencies, clients, and customers at the end of the day. Right? They they're the ones that really were making the investments, and we had to demonstrate to them that they weren't going to lose on our watch.

Mhmm. Alright. Tatania, moving to you.

Alright. Yeah. So I'm currently, I think, in the middle of not I think. I know. I'm in the middle

of sort

of two, transformation programs at Xtream. So just a real brief background on Xtream. We're a sort of a networking solutions company. So, you know, we make routers, APs, and we also have software and SaaS platforms. And so one of the things we needed to do as a company as we were sort of shifting from that, you know, onetime purchase to more of a subscription model mindset is we needed to modernize our systems. So currently, we are in the middle of sort of two modernization, programs. One that's focusing on the back office and one that's focusing on the front office. You You know, we're true to our name extreme because I know everyone's thinking, why

would we

be doing both of those at the same time? It's a, yeah, it's a little daunting. But, you know, at the simplest level, it's a systems and a IT sort of program, but, really, it's an opportunity for us to sort of rethink how we're doing business, right, how we're we're working and engaging with our customers, you know, how we are engaging and enabling our partners digitally.

So we're taking a look at, you know, everything from, you know, how a lead comes in to how we're processing orders, how what data and insights are available to our support organizations. And we're essentially touching probably every part of company, which is scary and exhilarating. And kinda back to my word, it is very challenging. You know, these This has been kind of an ongoing effort and it's, as I think Andrea was saying, lots of conversations, lots of one on ones because I do think that transformation can be scary, not only to the folks that are trying to execute it, but the folks that are receiving it.

Right? And oftentimes, as you're working across your stakeholder groups, there are folks that get it. Right? They get the why, they get the vision, and they kinda jump in the boat with you immediately. And then there's the the other population of folks that are like, well, does this make sense? You know, I sorta see what you're saying, but I don't really get it. And those are the folks that you have to spend some time really hammering in your message in terms of why we're doing it, what are the benefits, and what specifically are you getting out of this. Right? It's been a lot of sort of tailoring that specific why at a department level, at a group level.

And then there are the folks that may not believe in it at all, and you try and you exert some effort, and then you might say, well, those folks just Whatever you do, you might not be able to bring them along. And that can be tough, right, to say that there's a group of Or population, hopefully small population of folks that may never get in the boat with you, and you might just have to leave them behind. But, so yes, I mean, we are in the middle of those two programs. We have some launches and stuff planned for later this year and in the beginning of next year, so it's definitely an ongoing an ongoing effort.

Yeah. That's great. I I like that you kind of took us into, like, the more people aspect because I know that is very challenging and a big part of the overall transformation needs. Is there anything that you've learned in kind of dealing with those different segments of people that you would bring to the the next time or the you know, as you continue to take this transformation forward?

Yeah. There's a lot of things, but I think that the two key things that I've focused on or tried to focus on has been, I think, patience and persistence. Right? So patience to sort of just take a deep breath and say, Hey, these are human beings at the end of the day. Right? Not everybody gets it immediately, and you have to be patient and continue to work at it, and persistent in terms of, again, continuing to hammer in the why and continue you know, remind people that we're doing this for a reason, right, kinda like what Sujit said. This is we're not doing this just because. It's not tech for tech's sake. Right? We're we're investing the company's investing, you know, your time, the company's resources in doing it because ultimately, when we get to the other side, we're gonna have benefits. We're gonna make our partners, our customers happy. We're gonna make you, mister employee, more productive and efficient. So patience and persistence, the two p's.

Right. Right. Corey.

Yeah. I mean, I these are all such great stories. I don't know that I need to add my specific version of this because I think one of the key points here is, like, transformation is such a black hole word. It's like strategy or leadership or, like, these things that mean a thousand and one different things to the people that are on the receiving and delivering end of them. And I think transformation at this point is a feature of modern business, whether you are on the selling the tech side or the using the tech side. And, you know, if you're if you are in a healthy, good business, it's transforming. It may be a little bit slower, a little bit faster. It may be something super audacious going from totally analog to totally digital, or something in between.

But the reality of it is is that I think, basically, modern business is one of transformation at all scales at all times. And sort of I'd love what Tanya said is it's a leadership challenge. Right? It is a question of, can you reflect what you're hearing in the market, what customers need, right, all of these things that these stories have have kind of articulated. And and as a leader of them or a participant, wherever you kind of are in that, if you're driving it or you're participating, it is, like, frankly, kind of the boring fundamentals of great communication, great understanding of what success looks like. How do we measure it, are we gonna get there one day, or is there some different mile post milestones kind of along the way? And I think, really, the the difference between successful transformation and unsuccessful transformation is definitions, and that's really kind of it.

And and, right, we we sort of, like, get there or we don't. And so I think, you know, what I hear from all of this just feels very resonant around its great leadership, its great communication, its clarity of purpose, and and, you know, articulating that strategy and sort of working toward it, wherever you are in this ecosystem. But if you hear, like, at a company or you're in a job where it's like, we don't we don't do that, you're probably on a path to somewhere you don't wanna be because that's just such a feature and kind of hallmark of of what we are doing in today's world. And to Jesse's point, it's only getting faster. It's only getting more dynamic with with AI and other tools. And so, yeah, that to me is, like, what's messy because we make it messy, and the lack of clarity, lack of good leadership, lack of good communication tends to be what takes transformation, in any given organization.

Great summary. Is there anything else that you would say specifically for, leaders today might be something a little different in leading transformation than previous given kind of all the accelerants in tech and kind of how we're just evolving as, kind of an industry?

Yeah. I mean, I think like I said, I think twenty years ago, transformation was discreet. It was a, we're going from point a to point b, and we'll be done after three years, or we'll be done in twenty four months or whatever it was. I think, again, now it is a it is a core feature of of all that we are doing, whether, again, it's helping customers. So that's great that you did it for one. Can you do it for 10? Can you do it for a 100? Can you do it for a thousand? If it's more internal transformation, it is likely that when you finish, it's really you just finished a chapter, and probably you need to go on to the next chapter. Right? There is is something new and different all the time.

And so, you know, for the to answer your question, that that element of we could finish twenty years ago and sort of say, like, I came in and I did transformation, and it it stopped. Mhmm. Like, that that is much murkier and blurrier around the edges now. And so one of the things I think sort of disservice and and the ladies here hit on this point of, like, the change management element is getting people comfortable with that reality. Like, they're not it's not gonna be done in six months and and they can be like, whoop. I made it. No. Like, whatever you get to is probably setting you up to do some more of it, especially if you did it well. Right? So it's it's one of those things that kind of begets further transformation as you go if you've done it right.

And that is a huge cultural shift, huge huge mindset shift, unto itself that then sets up this kind of ability to engage and to transform well. But I think a lot of leaders still want it to be something that they can say, here's the twenty four month plan, and, like, we'll be done at the other end of it. And I don't know that that necessarily reflects kind of where we are and certainly not the path that we're we're headed on as kind of a broader technology world market enabled place. You know?

Yeah. Makes sense. Alright. So moving on to our next question. Our guests in the audience are probably wondering how can they be agents of change for their companies or teams? What are some signs signs that they should be looking for both, like, from the organization as an opportunity or within themselves that they're ready to take on that role? And I think I'll just circle back around and start with Jesse again.

Cool. Yeah. I would say recognizing your unique position within the organization is something that would enable you to make you a really good agent of change in your in your org. So, I mean, just realizing when you perhaps you can connect the dots, for example, of things that other people don't see or if you have a genuine passion for their problem, like, for solving a problem that really matters. I feel like, you know, everyone does have a unique perspective within their org, and that adds a lot of value when you're able to, like, authentically and patiently bring people along with you. So when you can kind of see these patterns and connections across different parts of the business, maybe you're really good at building coalitions naturally. You know, change rarely happens when it's the brute force of one person's will. I've never seen that go well.

So I

think being able to bring others along, but also have a lot of empathy with what other teams are working on. And, you know, there's also timing and and kind of external factors too. So if you're able to see some certain market shifts or, for example, like, maybe there's persistent pain points that everyone complains about, but no one really addresses. And there's this misalignment. Right? I think that's a good opportunity for you to, like, be the force of change in an organization. And then, you know, of course, timing matters. So, you know, even great ideas can fail if an organization isn't ready. So I would say, like, look for those moments for organizational openness openness.

Maybe it's, like, new leadership or market pressures or just,

you

know, your ability to uniquely, like, be yourself and, the position you have within the company to kind of authentically wanna take on this challenge that is important. So those are all signals that it should be you leading the charge there.

Great. Thanks. Sujan, do you have anything to add?

Yeah. I'll probably amplify what Jesse was saying, but, you know, I kind of akin it to the magic wand where we I I use it a lot, especially when I'm, new to a company, and I ask if you had a magic wand, what would you want? And it helps simplify exactly what is a value and what's a pinpoint that people just haven't been able to figure out. So my kind of ask is is be the magic wand. Right? And start small, move fast, and stay loud. So anywhere in the organization, there's gonna be areas where there is friction, so or areas where things are broken. So identify those things that are small and just try to be nimble, move fast, and deliver the results.

And, I don't know who said this, but I also think it's important to bring others along by staying loud. Right? It's that amplification energy that I think really, plays into being a change agent. And another thing is, I'm a perfectionist. I'm sure that is something that, many of the audiences also, share. And one of the lessons I've learned in being a change agent is that, we just can't stop. We have to stop optimizing for certainty, but start optimizing for adaptability because as Corey shared, our world is just gonna be ever more changing and rapid. So we need to be nimble, and those that have best plans are not the ones that are gonna be rewarded. It's really those that are gonna have, be able to pivot fast, have curiosity, and thrive in ambiguity. So challenge yourself to have those attributes.

That's great. Andrea?

I wasn't sure if I was next. I was so engaged. I was like, yes. That's exactly it. You know, I I think yeah. It takes a lot of self reflection. Right? Who what am I made of? Like, let's let's put stuff in me that really does propel me forward and or you, you know, tells you forward. Identify your strengths always, and this is sort of sort of the basics of this. But understand your tolerance for, for for I hate to say fear. But this stuff is really scary. Right? So, like, you know, can you chin up, shoulder back, and really sort of stomach the hard stuff, the hard conversations? Because let's let's face it.

If you're gonna be an agent of change and you're really passionate about a mission and you're all behind the premise and you're in for the long haul, that means you're gonna have a lot of conversations where there's gonna be friction. And so how do you how do you deal with those? How do you listen? Right? How do you understand that on the other side, that friction is probably coming from, you know, that lack of clarity, that, not having full visibility into what that plan is or what that person's role or their team is in that ultimate change. And often it is fear based. Right? And so how do you sort of have the conversations that are allowed with empathy, but also with a lot of conviction. Right? Because, you know, you're gonna get a lot of people who are gonna say, I know, but you didn't think about this. I'm like, no. You're right. I didn't think about that. Thank you for that input. We're still moving forward. We're still gonna get this done, but that is really good feedback. Right?

And let's think about how we wanna maybe pivot. But adaptability is the name of the game. And so understanding sort of how you're made, what's your comfort level. And sometimes it's just asking, like, the really well positioned question in a meeting. Right? Sometimes it's just bringing up the topic that, you know, everybody's thinking about and doing it in a tone that, again, allows for healthy discussion. Sometimes it's just reamplify or amplifying that message, but I think it always starts with what are what's your comfort level for this kind of stuff because it's not for the faint of heart.

That's great. I didn't realize we only have about five or six minutes left. So I'm gonna shift to one more question, and then I'll see if I can try and open it up to the the attendees. But for Titania and Corey, what's one shift technological or cultural that businesses must prepare for now if they want to stay future ready? And, Titania, I'll start with you.

Okay. What's one shift? Well, I don't wanna say the obvious answer, which we know AI. Right? But, I mean, AI is really gonna be integrated across all of our lives. Right? Not just, you know, as a tool for automation. Right? It's just gonna be just in terms of, you know, expectation as us as consumers. And and I think the challenge is gonna be, how do we really do it in a human way? Right? Like, AI is technology, but how do we really keep the the people sort of centered to to all of that and and, you know, and really be able to leverage it and not just see it as something that's, you know, in competition for all of our jobs? So I I you know, again, not to be the queen obvious, but I think, you know, just the integration of AI across sort of everything that we do, both work wise and personal.

Definitely.

Corey?

I'm gonna date the AI like, I think the the answer has to be AI, right, if if we're talking about tech. However, what I really and, Titania, like, echoing this point is, like, well, what does that actually mean? And I I'm extremely underwhelmed by the answers to to that so far right now. And so things that I think are huge related to this are asymmetry of access to AI, I think is a massive shift that we need to be very concerned about. It's going to be a problem if we outstrip and this becomes a very top heavy technology that others don't have access to. And and frankly, we've seen echoes of this when it was digital technologies, then it was mobile, and this is all just happening a lot faster and a lot more concentrated ways.

And so the what happens? What are the implications of asymmetric access to AI tools, and what does that look like? Governance around this, not just the human kind of element of it, but this broader concerns around who's making these decisions, regulatory bodies, like, have largely not stood up very well to governing these kinds of technologies. We've seen this in consumer data as an example. Right? So that becomes a big component and shifts in that one way or the other related to this are gonna be pretty significant for companies that are placing bets on what will or won't happen. And I think the third one that is incredibly relevant to this is is questions around climate and energy. We don't have an answer right now for how energy is actually going to sustain the type of adoption that is being forecast for these tools.

We are not currently actually, economically sustaining the use of AI. If if we actually were paying for it the way that it should be used, almost every company that's using AI right now would go out of business because it's essentially a free utility, but it's, of course, not a free utility. So the monetization and economic implications of of how we use this are all things that, I think are the the maybe one to 10 clicks down into the conversations that we need to be having about AI beyond it's here, it's big, and sort of the things that we know. But there's a lot of downstream open questions and directions that this could still take. And if less companies are grappling with those scenarios, like the different future proofing, scenario planning, risk mitigation for those different scenarios, implications of all the things I just talked about. I think those are the meaty questions that I've I personally feel are very unsatisfactorily addressed in the discourse around AI right now.

But for those of us in tech are gonna be the ones that are most positioned to shape it, as well as be impacted by it. Both both halves of that, equation. So those are the ones that I'm thinking about in terms of the things we do preparing for now, to be ready for an uncertain future around this frankly.

All are really great points. Okay. Does anyone from the attendees wanna ask a question? I think you can just raise your hand.

Oh, can I answer this question about imposter syndrome real fast? Okay. I am obsessed with this book by called, Likeable Badass by Alison Fergale. If you have not read this book, everybody who is listening, please go read it. She's a PhD out of North Carolina. This book is phenomenal. And her definition of imposter syndrome is, like, the thing that has made me happiest in 2025. She literally defines it as the gap between your own expectations for yourself and where you are right now. And I think that is the most empowering. I read it in January, like, two weeks into the new year. I'm gonna tell everyone with a pulse that about this because it is the most empowering framing of imposter syndrome that is not about other people's perception of you.

It is about you having expectations that are maybe beyond where you are at the moment, and that is about you. And you will therefore always have imposter syndrome because you I can guarantee you will always have higher expectations for yourself than you can currently meet in the moment, and that just means you're moving forward. And I'm just obsessed. I'm obsessed. I'm gonna shout it from the rooftops, but that is my answer on, imposter syndrome, and everybody go by Allison's book. And I don't know her, but I wish I did. I swear to god. It's not like she's one of my best friends or something, But I think we would be friends if I did know her.

That's amazing. Right. The mind's

not moving right there, Corey.

Yeah. I love I need to hear that. I need to hear that. That's great. I know.

Does anyone else wanna add anything around that piece? Alright. Well, that was a perfect note to end on. Thank you.