Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy and Stephanie Slocum, founder, Engineers Rising LLC, engage in a conversation about the role of women in engineering careers. They talk about the labor shortage and how we can get more women involved in the trades and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

Peggy and Michelle Anderson, director of operations, The National Road Safety Foundation, talk about the change that is happening today and leading to more distracted driving; not to mention how it is becoming an epidemic. They discuss the emerging FOMO (fear of missing out) syndrome and just how dangerous this is becoming when sitting behind the wheel of a car. Anderson discusses how it is raisin...

Peggy shares that the percentage of people clustered around urban centers is globally going to grow from 55% to 68% by 2050—which is going to bring new and exacerbated transportation challenges. She explains how one DOT (Dept. of Transportation) is developing relief plans to address congestion issues with the IoT (Internet of Things). She says technology is opening the door for new types of traffi...

Peggy and Praveen Edara, professor of civil and environmental engineering, University of Missouri, discuss a recent research project that looks at naturalistic driving. He explains that we need behavior-counter measures to reduce distracted driving—especially in work zones. He says that while it is one of the biggest, cellphones are just one of many distractions that drivers experience.

Peggy and Phil Renaud, executive director, The Risk Institute, talk about research related to the distracted-driving epidemic. He says we need to be more aware of our environment and that the approach to distracted driving can't be one dimensional. Rather, it has to be multi-dimensional. We need both legislation and behavioral changes to address it. He also indicates that urban planning—and rounda...

Is 5G connectivity necessary for an autonomous future? Peggy explains that 5G is going to be something to watch, as solutions are developed leveraging its power and speed. Still, she asks: Is 5G here? It depends on your definition of here. If you're saying 5G is here is that the hardware is here, then yes. She says we can potentially do a lot of things quickly, but we have to think about what we a...

Digital farming and Advanced Seed Prescriptions Mark Young, CTO, The Climate Corporation and Bret Sitzman, Global Director of Product Marketing, The Climate Corporation

Scott Tibbitts, CEO and founder, Katasi, adds to the conversation about distracted driving, and offers a software solution. He talks about his software-as-a-service platform, which blocks off notifications while a driver has their vehicle in motion. He notes many users find the application helpful, and even say, they are able to relax without the pressure of having to answer their phone notificati...

With Distracted Driving Awareness Month underway, Lisa Robinson, senior program manager, National Safety Council, joins Peggy to talk about patterns in distracted driving. She explains there is an increase in accidents due to distracted driving. She says many drivers exhibit a not-me syndrome, where many drivers are not taking accountability for their bad habits behind the wheel. She adds 100% of...

Peggy begins the show by highlighting the changing relationship between humans and machines. She talks about the increase in autonomous and intelligent systems in the workplace. She encourages a public discussion, which confronts ethical questions. She brings up the IEEE, which recommends a set of principles when implementing AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning into a work site. Tech...

Mike Kellenyi, founder, PADD (People Against Distracted Driving), talks to Peggy about distracted driving, labeling driver's bad behaviors as a new epidemic. He shares his initiative in spreading the message against distracted driving. He states drivers need stricter penalties in order to put their phones down and pay attention to the road. In the end, he asks listeners how many days they can go w...

Håkan Agnevall, president, Volvo Bus Corp., joins Peggy to discuss the future of transportation. He says the future of autonomous vehicles requires a step-by-step approach that will take time to achieve. He agrees in a collaborative approach in order to have the autonomous future come to fruition. Further, he answers Peggy's questions in regard to the redesign of cities, government regulation, and...

Peggy Smedley starts the show by presenting the preparations the U.S. DOT (U.S. Dept. of Transportation) is making to inform the nation on AV (autonomous vehicles). She points out the evolution of technology, marking the transformation of transportation. She acknowledges the significance in talking about the autonomous future, and the collaborative effort it will take to arrive at an autonomous fu...

Peggy welcomes Rob Mathews, coauthor of Entrepreneurship the Disney Way, to the show to discuss the differences between entrepreneur and enterprise leaders. He explains that many innovators can't turn their ideas into business models, whereas established companies work under a set of systems. He talks about the key elements all leaders share and the importance behind supporting business disruption...

Beth Mosher, director of public affairs, AAA, joins Peggy in the studio to talk about distracted driving in depth. She describes multiple ways a driver can experience cognitive distractions. Further, she discusses the safety involved with autonomous vehicles, and the need for professional training for consumers who purchase cars with autonomous systems. She goes into detail about the process of ad...

Peggy kicks off Distracted Driving Awareness Month by sharing daunting statistics in vehicle accidents due to distracted drivers. Despite the numbers, many people still give into distracted driving. Peggy describes two major problems in the area of distracted driving. She says the message is not reaching teenagers, and that many people are not taking responsibilities for replicating the problem. S...

James Arthur Ray, author and entrepreneur, joins Peggy once again, this time to talk about leadership roles and responsibilities. He encourages leaders to be self-aware to recognize the pertinence between leader and employee. "When something is wrong with my company I have to look at me first," he says, as he advises leaders to take a deeper look into their employees' interior values.

Peggy welcomes Robert Mercado, a partner in the Assurance Services division at Marcum LLP, to the show to discuss best practices to improve profitability. He agrees that to adopt technological innovation in any industry, it begins with leadership. He advises that in an industry facing fast changes, a leader's role is to offer mentorship opportunities in order to prepare future workers. Further, he...

Technology is changing the way work is done. How can industries keep up with the demand of innovation? Peggy Smedley takes a stance, and holds leaders responsible for the task of skilling, reskilling, and upskilling employees for the future of work. She talks about the labor shortage—which is due to the retiring baby boomers—younger generations' lack of interest for trade jobs, and even the result...

Gregg Witt, partner and chief strategy officer, Engage Youth Co., and author of "The Gen Z Frequency: How Brands Tune In and Build Credibility", explains the similarities and differences between Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. The major differences between Gen Z and prior generations is their unrelenting relationship with information, media consumption, and mobile connectivity. Witt n...

Mike Walsh, global futurist and CEO of Tomorrow, and author of "The Algorithmic Leader", describes the different styles of organizations that are succeeding in digital transformation. He discusses the ease in experimenting with automation, and the difficulties in changing company culture. Further, he dissects the purpose of a company and the role of leaders. In establishing the main responsibiliti...

Robots are changing the market, and these changes  benefit companies. Peggy Smedley explains how cobots, collaborative robots, are enhancing human productivity. Company leaders continue to bring automation to the job-site. She explains that not every job can be 100% automated, so attention to retraining and re-skilling workers is required. Human skills that will remain valuable in the face of auto...

Peggy and Juliana Stancampiano, author, Radical Outcomes and entrepreneur and CEO of Oxygen, discuss how training or re-skilling of employees is really broken. She says we have strayed so far from the market where we started with corporate education for employees. Further, they talk about perfection in today's fast-moving culture—and that now is the time to determine what is good enough.

Peggy and Paul Vragel, president, 4aBetterBusiness, talk about how everybody in an organization needs re-skilling and process thinking needs to be pervasive. He says these are common misconceptions: change cannot happen quickly and people are resistant to change. Employees can be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Even more, if you are going to automate something, you need to understan...

Peggy Smedley says automation is turning industries upside down, narrowing in on customer service. She points to examples in hospitality and fast food and poises the question: How do we prepare workers for a new world in an age of automation? She says we need to talk about how to re-skill employees so they can continue to add value to their employers and still find fulfillment in their career.