Lead The Machine Podcast

Hi everyone, Want to know what AI adoption really looks like inside a company? Ask the leaders in the middle. They are close enough to strategy to understand the intent and close enough to the front lines to hear the real questions. They know where teams feel excited, where they feel overwhelmed, where the process breaks, and where AI creates actual value. I sat down with four 2026 Emerging Leader...

Hi everyone, AI is changing the work. Talent strategy will determine who benefits from it. That is the real issue beneath so many conversations about AI at work. Tools can remove repetitive tasks, speed up analysis, and change how people make decisions. Leaders still need to rethink roles, skills, culture, and career development so AI creates more capability instead of more pressure. This week on...

When only 13% of companies feel confident measuring AI ROI , you know two things: you are in a hype cycle for a new technology, and operational issues prevent progress. AM Best’s report, “Artificial Intelligence Appears to be Ready, But Most Insurers Are Not,” makes that reality hard to ignore. Sure enough, 45% of insurers cite data readiness as a top challenge. For those of us who have spent year...

Hi everyone, The rubber meets the road when we need to prove ROI with any new technology. It’s inevitable and it’s hard. Rob Cressy is an AI enablement coach who works with leaders and teams that want measurable performance from AI. I like that he brings a human-first approach, and anchors AI adoption in identity, vision, and values. Then turns that into execution through systems. AI results come...

Hi everyone, This week on Lead The Machine , I recorded a special dual interview on site at the Emerging Leaders Conference in Nashville with Wendy Davis Johnson and Marguerite Tortorello . We used the moment to look backward and forward. We traced the early days of the Insurance Careers Movement (ICM) , and we connected that work to the talent and skills demands AI creates right now. I’ve shared...

Hi everyone, This week on Lead The Machine , I spoke with Dakota Koontz, Executive Director at Housing Heroes Hub, about what it takes to lead inside broken systems, and how AI can reduce the load for leaders who carry too much. Now… this may seem counter to my consistent advice to fix broken processes first, rather than slap AI onto inefficient workflows. This is different. Dakota works with hous...

Hi everyone, Bill Walsh , the CEO of Mediafly , has played a meaningful role in my leadership journey. I met him more than a decade ago when he served on the board at Valen Analytics, and he has been a steady mentor for me since then. Bill brings 30 years of executive leadership across enterprise software, analytics, logistics, and AI-driven solutions. He has led organizations through growth, prod...

Hi everyone, I love intergenerational conversations about AI and the future of work, especially with Millennial leaders like John Hyde, a real estate and hospitality project management consultant. AI brings us a rare opportunity to learn from each other, across generations and levels of an organization. John brings a Millennial perspective to questions many leaders are wrestling with right now: Wh...

Hi everyone, What happens when recruiting becomes AI talking to AI ? That is the question at the center of my newest Lead the Machine episode with Jessica Peskin, CEO of Global Recruiters of Denver . It is one of the most practical and timely conversations I’ve had on the show because it tackles a growing problem hiding in plain sight: companies are adding more AI to hiring, but that does not auto...

Hi everyone — This week on Lead The Machine , I’m truly honored to share my conversation with Brian Duperreault — former CEO & Chairman of AIG , and a leader who has shaped modern insurance through CEO roles at Marsh & McLennan, ACE (now Chubb), and Hamilton. He’s currently Executive Chairman of Cedar Trace. Brian and I begin where real transformation always begins: people . We talk about why tale...

Last week, nearly $300 billion in market value was wiped out across software companies . Because AI is accelerating faster than many businesses are ready for. AI-native products are forcing a reset because they’re built on cleaner data, tighter workflows, and clearer value propositions. When AI levels the playing field, weak foundations, technical and organizational, are exposed quickly. That’s wh...

I sat down with Richard Lackey , CEO of the World Food Bank Group, to unpack a crisis that is both urgent and misunderstood. Nearly 40 million children are suffering from acute food shortages today , and more than 300 million people globally face chronic hunger. If we don’t turn this around, that number could grow by one billion within a generation. But Richard challenges a common assumption. This...

Hi everyone, This week on Lead The Machine , I had the opportunity to sit down with Colleen Campbell , Founder and CEO of A-Human-I. Colleen is one of the most grounded, practitioner-oriented leaders I’ve spoken with about AI adoption. Colleen has spent decades leading large-scale transformation efforts across industries and complex enterprises. She’s been in the room where strategy meets reality,...

Hi everyone, Welcome to a purpose-driven conversation with Laston Charriez , a longtime CPG marketing leader turned educator and advocate for transforming how we grow food, nourish people, and undo bad practices. Laston shared something that takes real courage to say out loud: “I was part of the problem, and now I can be part of the solution.” After decades working inside food systems optimized fo...

Hi everyone, This week’s episode of Lead The Machine digs into one of the most important truths emerging: the future of industry, software, and work are now deeply intertwined with what emerges in the era of AI. And few people understand that intersection better than Tim Griffin . Tim has spent his career helping companies rethink workflows, redesign software systems, and automate what’s broken. H...

Hi everyone, In this week’s episode of Lead The Machine, I sit down with David Chaddock , a cybersecurity and compliance leader who has spent decades guiding organizations through high-stakes decisions where trust, risk, and innovation collide. David was previously at Accenture and West Monroe Partners. Now, he is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Infinite Partners, a firm that provides fractiona...

Hi everyone, This week’s episode of Lead The Machine is one I’ve been excited to share. I sat down with Marty Welch , a seasoned insurance executive and CEO of HEMIC, whose career has been shaped by leading people through waves of technological change — from the first PCs to predictive analytics to today’s era of AI. What stands out about Marty isn’t just his experience. It’s his clarity. He under...

When you’ve spent your career assigning financial strength ratings to insurance companies, you learn a thing or two about what holds companies back, and what pushes them forward. Matt Mosher is a Strategic Advisor to Stonybrook Capital and the former CEO of AM Best Rating Services. He brings a rare, honest perspective on innovation and the importance of leadership and culture. Matt doesn’t just ta...

DON’T DO THIS. “I was shocked. I didn’t get a single journalist to tell me that this is a career worth pursuing.” After years spent getting an undergraduate and graduate degree in English, with her sites set on being a journalist, Chloe Frantzis was told by everyone in the field that journalism is a dead-end career. Putting aside what that means for the current state and future of journalism, it w...

“We had to invent the math before we could build the model.” That’s how my dad, Clay Marr , describes his early years at the dawn of Silicon Valley, from his time at Lockheed getting the first man on the moon and at Fairchild launching the semiconductor revolution. Bottom line: AI requires the research discipline that made Silicon Valley what it is. Would you believe that AI innovation is directly...

I’ve known Manny Rodriguez for years, and have always admired how he leads: with purpose, vision, and the courage to push the envelope with a sense of urgency to stay on the leading edge. Few things are more personal than healthcare, except maybe our own careers. Both are being transformed by AI. So when we sat down to talk about AI’s impact on healthcare, the conversation quickly became about som...

No question about it, Valen Analytics was well ahead of its time for the property & casualty insurance industry. Dax Craig co-founded Valen in 2004 and served as it’s CEO until 2017. I came on as the CMO in 2012 and took over as President in 2018, when Valen was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Insurity, a core software provider. We understood the power of data and the need to collect a lot of it in o...

Hi, I'm Kirstin Marr and so glad you are here! Take a listen for what to expect in upcoming episodes and learn a bit more about my background. Please share this with your colleagues. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leadthemachine.substack.com