Built for Turbulence

Kacee Johnson, VP Strategy & Innovation at CPA.com, discusses AI integration in accounting, emphasizing infrastructure, talent recruitment, data quality, and aligning AI strategies with accounting goals. The podcast explores the evolving role of CPAs, challenges of seasonality in tax profession, the role of AI in accounting and tax returns, challenges and opportunities in the tax industry, and the importance of investing in AI and being innovative.

In our discussion, David shares insights from years on the boards of major corporations. He urges CEOs to engage board members for strategic guidance, not just oversight. David sees board meetings as chances to focus on the future, offering strategies like independent incubators and migrating innovations from edge to core. He emphasizes selecting directors individually and fostering a strong chair-CEO relationship. For startups, he advises gradually building an advisory board of experts and wisely anticipating disruption. With four decades of leadership experience spanning multiple industries and roles, David Beatty is a highly accomplished strategist and governance expert. He led a major North American food manufacturer, served as CEO of a closed-end investment trust, and taught strategy at Rotman School of Management. Beatty has served on 39 boards, chairing 9 public companies, and created director education programs. He focuses on helping boards and CEOs collaborate to anticipate disruption and invest time wisely. Beatty has been recognized with the Order of Canada and a lifetime achievement award from the International Corporate Governance Network.

Brant Cooper is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Lean Entrepreneur” and “Disruption Proof,” and the innovative mind behind Moves the Needle. With a rich history of transforming industrial age dynamics into digital age opportunities, Brant brings unique insights on agility, digital transformation, and how to create real value for customers amidst today’s complex and disruptive business landscape. What happened to the glory days when scrappy startups could disrupt entire industries? Brant Cooper says those days are over – but large companies shouldn’t retreat into their innovation labs hoping for breakthroughs. Instead, they must empower diverse teams and partner with the startup community. Cooper provides a dynamic playbook to make companies “disruption proof” in this rapidly changing world. Learn how to balance exploration and execution, drive real impact, and create resilient yet adaptable organizations. A must-listen for any innovator dealing with today’s challenges!

Frederik is a renowned global thought leader and former Chief Innovation Evangelist at Google, where he led the growth of the company's innovation culture and mentored a diverse global community of over 600 Innovation Evangelists. He is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University's d.school and teaches graduate classes on navigating ambiguity at the intersection of innovation, creativity, and design. In our conversation Frederik and I talk about developing a future mindstate, why the future belongs to all of us and not just a few “innovators”, and his upcoming book on the topic.

Christina is the CEO of biotech startup Officinae Bio, and the former cofounder of the Innovation Lab of ViiV Healthcare, a joint venture between GSK, Pfizer, and Shionogi. Previously she held leadership positions at GSK and has spent her career at the forefront of healthcare innovation." Repeat guest Christina, and I discuss all things leadership, how to manage successful innovation initiatives and their teams, and the pitfalls which can present themselves along the way.

Mary is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures. She began her career working on the Google IPO, and went on to lead new business development partnerships, negotiating early-stage product and technology deals worldwide. Mary served as the founding director of Google for Startups, leading the company’s global efforts to support entrepreneurs in over 100 countries. After her 15-year career at Google, Mary worked as an investment partner at Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, where she led dozens of investments in a range of sectors, including healthcare, enterprise software, and fintech. In our conversation, we dig deep into the learnings from thousands of startups, explore how corporates can better partner and work with entrepreneurs and their companies, and discuss common pitfalls to avoid.

Josep heads up Innovation at Swiss-based Oberalp Group, a world leader in mountain sports equipment. Further, he is General Manager at POMOCA, the market leader ski touring skin manufacturer. In our conversation, we explore the many lessons which can be learned from the timeless classic Swiss army knife, why sustaining innovation oftentimes trumps the perceived need for disruption, and what might be next for the outdoor sports industry.

Raphael Gielgen has spent most of his professional life working on improving the office environment. Raphael is Trendscout Future of Work Life & Learn at the legendary design firm Vitra. His curiosity for architecture, technology, and social change in the context of working environments is his fuel — always connected to the question of how the global working world is changing and what impact it has on existing business models. In our conversation, we explore the future of work, the role of the office (and other spaces) in this future, and how leaders can best prepare themselves for the future — not just the future of our working world but all futures.

Barak is the founder of MarketCentrix, a consumer strategy consultancy for tech companies. Barak consults to start-ups, VCs, and large companies and serves as a board member or advisor to start-ups. Most recently, Barak was the Director of Operation and Strategy at the MIT Media Lab. Prior to the Media Lab, Barak was CEO of Evi, the virtual personal assistant acquired by Amazon, and is now the intelligence in Amazon Alexa. Over his 30 years + in consumer technology, Barak established a broad range of businesses. He was the founder or senior executive in many start-ups, including Wolfram Alpha, Six Apart, OmniSky, The Go Network, and Logitech. Before Logitech, Barak spent over nine years at Apple USA and Apple Japan in several roles leading consumer marketing, and he was the founding manager of Macy’s Computer Stores. In our conversation, Barak explores the leadership traits of successful disruptors, how organizations look like supporting those leaders, and the common pitfalls firms encounter along the way. We end our inspiring discussion with an outlook on the possible impact of (technological) change on humanity.

Natasha is the Chief Operating Officer of Signol. Natasha has a Masters of Sience in Global Crime, Justice, and Security from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to Signol, Natasha spent nine years working within the UK Ministry of Defence, specializing in intelligence. Her final role in Defence was as Chief Operating Officer of the MOD’s most successful innovation team, responsible for delivering novel technology in machine learning, data science, special operations, and sustainability to Defence through user-centered design and non-traditional suppliers. In our conversation, Natasha and I explore her approach to innovation in a highly complex and interdependent environment, why and how organizations fail and what to do about it.