Meet the Gurus

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Catherine Mattice about the root causes of toxic workplace cultures and the practical strategies organizations can use to build environments grounded in trust, accountability, and civility. Why leaders allow toxic high performers to go unchecked and how that behavior spreads through an organization The hidden financial costs of turnover a...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Daniel Stinchcomb about securing Azure cloud environments and avoiding the most common vulnerabilities that lead to breaches... His path from IT helpdesk to database administrator to Azure infrastructure architect How AWS and Azure really compare on usability, maturity, and tooling Why internet-exposed storage accounts are a leading breac...

In this 'Meet the Gurus' discussion, you get to hear from Peg Drummond about how to plan, lead, and facilitate effective meetings in today's online-first work environment... Why pre-work is the single biggest predictor of meeting success The five pillars every facilitator needs: objectives, agreements, decision-making, a parking lot, and an agenda Why "any questions?" kills engagement, and how Wha...

In this 'Meet the Gurus' discussion, you get to hear from Yuriy Grigoryev about Lean Six Sigma, Agile, and how process improvement methodologies drive real organizational performance... What Lean Six Sigma actually means pairing waste reduction with variation control Why striving for perfection must be balanced against industry tolerance and cost The micro versus macro divide why project-level win...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Ahmed Zekraoui about how to think differently about cybersecurity budgeting and where security spend actually delivers value... The top three attack vectors every company faces: compromised credentials, weak credentials, and malicious insiders Why the human being is the single most important factor in any cybersecurity program How employe...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Amber Vanderburg about human-centered leadership development and how AI is reshaping but not replacing the role of expert facilitators in learning... Why skilled human facilitators remain essential even as AI transforms instructional design The critical difference between facilitation and instruction, and why it changes learning outcomes...

In this 'Meet the Gurus' discussion, you get to hear from Anil Erkan about enterprise risk management, how leaders make high-stakes decisions, and why risk must be tied to strategy rather than treated as a back-office function... How risk is defined by events, objectives, and context not just probability calculations Why individual risk profiles differ and how company risk appetite must drive lead...

In this 'Meet the Gurus' discussion, you get to hear from Thomas Giordano about navigating career transitions between engineering, business, and leadership roles... Why shifting your "love affair" from technology to customer impact drives career transformation The recurring career moment every 4–5 years when saying yes to an uncomfortable opportunity pays off How embedding engineers in real custom...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Ana Lucas about environmental investing, climate risk management, and how banks are transforming their lending practices to address sustainability challenges. Climate risks are now quantifiable financial risks that banks must measure and disclose transparently Banks must assess ESG factors across lending portfolios and manage their own ca...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Eric Zackrison about the intersection of emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence in leadership, team building, and organizational culture. Why keeping a "human in the mix" is essential when integrating AI into leadership and team management How AI can make experts more efficient but cannot elevate mediocre skills to expertise T...

Discover why context engineering is the most critical discipline in enterprise AI and how it is transforming personalized learning with Starweaver CTO Manas Dasgupta. Context engineering is already deeply embedded in the architecture of every AI system we interact with today, from ChatGPT to Gemini, yet most business leaders and professionals do not fully understand how it works or why it matters....

In this " Meet the Gurus " discussion, you get to hear from Jean-Michel about how banks can architect and execute large-scale digital transformations to remain competitive against fintechs and big tech disruptors. Forces reshaping banking: fintech, big tech threats, evolving consumer expectations, and legacy IT burdens A four-part transformation framework: customer experience, data and analytics,...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Bartosz Jaworski about what it truly takes to succeed as a product manager in tech from defining product vision to avoiding costly pitfalls. The critical difference between a product manager and a project manager, and why it matters for your career Defining product vision and translating it into strategy, OKRs, and KPIs that keep teams al...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Jungwoo Ryoo about how software engineers and architects can systematically integrate cybersecurity into every stage of the software development process using architectural analysis techniques. Why security is a critical quality attribute that must be addressed early in software design rather than treated as an afterthought How security t...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Paul Siegel about how bankers and financiers should approach companies using a financial structure and strategy framework shifting from a product-selling mindset to a client-centered advisory approach. Why effective bankers must understand a company's business dynamics, life cycle stage, and decision-makers before offering financial produ...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Manish Gupta about financial modeling — how it works, why every business needs it, and the best practices for building models that drive smarter decisions. The importance of building customized models from scratch rather than relying on generic templates, especially for those still developing their Excel skills Best practices for structur...

In this ' Meet the Gurus ' discussion, you get to hear from Shaun Wassell about building a career in React development from understanding the framework's core strengths to navigating the job search process and acing technical interviews. How Shaun transitioned from iPhone development and Ember into React at a pivotal moment in the framework's growth What React is and why it became the dominant Jav...

In this " Meet the Gurus " discussion, you get to hear from Haytham Omar about how data science is transforming supply chain operations from warehouse floors to last-mile delivery: Defining the supply chain as both physical product flow and digital information flow How open-source tools like Python and Julia empower professionals to build custom solutions at zero cost Applying the Traveling Salesm...

In this Meet the Gurus session, Dr. Rachel Chung discusses the use of behavioral science and economics in business decision making, including your own career. How can have a set of measurable behaviors and attitudes impact where you are now, and in 25 years. What habits should you develop and maintain, and how can you consider unraveling what needs to be done first, second, etc.? About our Guru: D...

In this “, Meet the Gurus ” discussion, you get to hear from Pete Zerger , a 15-Time Microsoft MVP in Azure, Cloud and datacenter management. What will you learn? Why Azure matters. What security engineering is all about. What are the fundamental things you need to know about Azure and security. What competencies are key to your career, even if you are not a cybersecurity pro. What AZ-500 is and w...