Technology Leadership

Microsoft President Brad Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. This might seem uncontroversial, but it flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, we have reached an inflection point. The world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon.

Great companies can fail: not because they do anything wrong, but because they do everything right. Meeting customers' current needs leads firms to reject breakthrough innovations, "disruptive technologies", that create the products and opportunities of the future.

The difference between growing your business and going out of business is your ability to think strategically. The problem is, most leaders are stuck in the operational weeds, struggling to find the time to make better strategic decisions. This challenge is only heightened by the rise of AI. While you know AI is the future, current demands leave you with no time to explore its benefits. Meanwhile, your competition is gaining an edge by integrating AI. The time to act is now.

Technology is awesome. Teachers are better. Blending new technologies into instruction is a non-negotiable if we are to help our students gain the skills they'll need to thrive in careers. And so too is educators' old school wisdom in planning intentional blended learning that works. Too often, sincere enthusiasm for technologies pushes proven instructional strategies to the wayside, all but guaranteeing blended learning that is all show and no go. Bold School is an audiobook that restores teachers to their rightful place in effective instruction.

Understanding AI technology is just the beginning. Leaders must understand how to employ power skills to elevate how humans interact—with one another and with AI. Critical thinking, leadership, conflict management, stakeholder engagement and other power skills are essential in all projects. AI-Powered Leadership aims to empower leaders to navigate the complexities of the AI-driven world by developing human competencies and integrating them with AI capabilities, fostering a balanced, innovative, and ethically sound leadership approach that drives sustainable success.

The Real Business of Blockchain is one of the first audiobooks on this transformative technology written for business leaders. Authors David Furlonger and Christophe Uzureau - both of Gartner, the world-renowned research and advisory company - will help you: assess how blockchain will impact your business by cutting through the hype and finding the real story; explore the value proposition that blockchain technologies offer; make smart near- and mid-term investments in your blockchain strategy; and position you and your organization in a new competitive landscape in the future.

For the first time in history, we have instantaneous access to the world’s knowledge. There has never been a better time to learn, to contribute, and to improve ourselves. Yet, rather than feeling empowered, we are often left feeling overwhelmed by this constant influx of information. The very knowledge that was supposed to set us free has instead led to the paralyzing stress of believing we’ll never know or remember enough. Now, this eye-opening and accessible guide shows how you can easily create your own personal system for knowledge management, otherwise known as a Second Brain.

What happens when the art of storytelling meets the speed of machines? In The AI Effect: How Artificial Intelligence Is Rewriting the Rules of Public Relations, Nick Leighton – communications strategist, agency founder, and global advisor, delivers a playbook for the future of public relations in a world powered by artificial intelligence. With wit, clarity, and a sense of urgency, Leighton challenges PR professionals to stop reacting to disruption and start designing within it. AI isn’t coming, it’s already here. It can write press releases, analyze sentiment, even mimic tone. But ...

From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.

The future is coming, and fast. Will it bring us a world of war or peace, abundance or misery, autocracy or democracy? World renowned futurist and educator Langdon Morris offers this detailed and fascinating exploration of the next ten critical years for humanity, and answers these essential questions to help you prepare for the coming turbulence. With more than 100 color graphics that illustrate and explain the key concepts with exceptional clarity and detail, this book is essential reading for leaders, strategists, educators, parents, and citizens worldwide. From the Preface: This book is...

Isaac Sacolick, a technology leadership expert and a former CIO and CTO, delivers a hands-on guide to help technology and business professionals at all stages of their careers acquire the skills necessary to drive transformative change. With an eye-opening collection of stories and more than fifty lessons, Sacolick gives listeners a view into what goes on behind-the-scenes in leading digital transformations. From tense IT Ops conference calls to make-or-break executive meetings, Sacolick presents the challenging scenarios faced by product, technology, and data leaders.

At most technology companies, you'll reach Senior software engineer, the career level for software engineers, in five to eight years. At the career level, your company's career ladder won't require that you work towards the next promotion; being promoted further is an exception rather than expected. This is also when many engineers are first given an opportunity to move into engineering management.

In an age of Twitter, smartphones, and self-service kiosks, high-tech but still high-touch customer service is the answer. Today’s customers are a hard bunch to crack. Time-strapped, screen-addicted, value-savvy, and socially engaged, their expectations are tougher than ever for a business to keep up with. They are empowered like never before and expect businesses to respect that sense of empowerment - lashing out at those that don’t. Take heart: Old-fashioned customer service, fully retooled for today’s blistering pace and digitally connected reality, is what you need to build the kind of loyal customer base that allows you to survive - and thrive.

The use of cognitive analytics/artificial intelligence (AI) systems is set to accelerate. Advanced Analytics and AI prepares business users for the era of cognitive analytics/artificial intelligence. Building on established texts and commentary, it specifically prepares you in terms of expectation, impact on personal roles, and responsibilities. It focuses on the specific impact on key industries (retail, financial services, utilities and media) and also on key professions (such as accounting, operational management, supply chain and risk management).

For decades, technology encouraged people to squander their time and intellect as passive consumers. Today, technology has finally caught up with human potential. In Cognitive Surplus, Internet guru Clay Shirky forecasts the thrilling changes we will all enjoy as new digital technology puts our untapped resources of talent and goodwill to use at last.

How can we apply technology to drive business value? For years we've been told that the performance of software delivery teams doesn't matter - that it can't provide a competitive advantage to our companies. Through four years of groundbreaking research to include data collected from the State of DevOps reports conducted with Puppet, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim set out to find a way to measure software delivery performance - and what drives it - using rigorous statistical methods.

You're probably aware that generative AI can output quality text and create stunning images in seconds. But smart managers are now using gen AI for high-level work—problem-solving, driving innovation, strategic thinking, and dozens of other applications. Managers who develop their generative AI capabilities will soon be leaping ahead of those who don't. Fortunately, you can start today and see immediate results. The HBR Guide to Generative AI for Managers is packed with practical tips, prompts, and case studies to accelerate and improve countless aspects of your work.

The purpose of this study was to relate the strength of Chief Information Officer (CIO) transformational leadership behaviors to innovation in the form of the computing platforms selected for a firm’s critical business applications. At their inception, nearly all computing platforms are seen as innovative. Over time, though, innovative platforms naturally become outdated as they give way to a new crop of more contemporary, capable, and agile business-enabling platforms. Firms that embrace platform innovations may reap benefits related to business agility, but those same firms can also ...

In their book Abundance, best-selling authors and futurists Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler tackled grand global challenges, such as poverty, hunger, and energy. Then, in Bold, they chronicled the use of exponential technologies that allowed the emergence of powerful new entrepreneurs. Now the best-selling authors are back with The Future Is Faster Than You Think, a blueprint for how our world will change in response to the next 10 years of rapid technological disruption.

One of the most influential figures of our time, Elon Musk is the most talked about man in America who isn’t running for president (yet!). In The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk, veteran business journalist Dennis Kneale chronicles Musk’s extraordinary journey, presenting him as a beacon of inspiration. Musk’s unparalleled success as an innovator and entrepreneur is not just a testament to his genius, but a playbook for those daring to dream big.