Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy and Arka Dhar, cofounder, Zinier, talk about how field service is at an inflection point, where manual processes need to become more predictive. He says AI (artificial intelligence) and the IoT (Internet of Things) have been reduced to buzzwords, but they are incredible technologies. The two also dive into the topic of how the workforce is changing, becoming more liquid and blended—and how t...

Peggy and Jason Cohen, founder and CEO, Analytical Flavor Systems, talk about the impact of AI (artificial intelligence) on the food industry. He says 3D printing is making it easier to do small-scale manufacturing and that while AI won't necessarily come in and solve all of our problems, there are very specific problems that AI will make a big impact on. Finally, he is a self-proclaimed blockchai...

Peggy Smedley explains that the industry is calling for a slowdown and that automation will allow workers to focus on more interesting and rewarding aspects of their jobs. She says some big names have come out in favor of a robot tax to fund human services and balance out income inequality—which could essentially slow innovation down. She adds that automation is going to force us to change the way...

Peggy welcomes Brian Marcel, founder and chairman, Intl. Bar Code System Group and author, to the show to discuss his book and how it is a manual for entrepreneurs who want to change the world. He explains that in this day of fast moving technology, you have to keep changing your business model on a fairly regular basis—and if you want to get to the next level, you have to find the next big trend.

Sam George, director of Azure IoT, Microsoft, joins Peggy once again, this time to talk open source. He shares that one of the fundamental truths of the IoT (Internet of Things) is that it will transform virtually every market and business segment on the planet. Further, he says that open source is foundational for the IoT. He also talks security, standards, edge computing, digital twins, and more...

Open source. Inner source. How do the two compare? Peggy Smedley discusses the two. She says some smaller open-source projects do not do thorough security vetting and she asks: what if shared responsibility is keeping us from really being diligent about security? She continues that inner source has benefits such as adding transparency and making code better. In the end, she explains we need to cre...

Peggy and Claudette Rowley, CEO, Cultural Brilliance, and author of Cultural Brilliance, The DNA of Organizational Excellence, discuss brilliant cultures—and the biggest cultural challenges in companies today. They identify how to determine if a culture is in trouble and the best way to integrate cultural change. They also discuss why leaders have a hard time assessing and addressing their culture...

Peggy and Tom Wheeler, visiting fellow, Brookings Institute, and book author, "From Gutenberg to Google, The History of Our Future", talk about how technology is evolutionary. It isn't always two guys in a garage having a Eureka moment. He explains that each new technology has had a serious economic and societal challenge—and why should we expect anything to be different today. He points to exampl...

Peggy Smedley talks about the American AI Initiative and what the U.S. is doing to preserve its role in innovation. She explains that it is a multi-pronged approach to maintaining and accelerating America's leadership in AI and it makes a point of saying it intends to prepare the U.S. workforce to adapt and thrive in this new age of AI. Further, she compares President Trump's American AI Initiativ...

Peggy and Bill Eckstrom and Sarah Wirth, co-authors of The Coaching Effect, talk about high-growth coaching activities. They explain that the most effective coaches are not running the team meeting all themselves and they are only holding meetings once a month. Further, training and education should rotate in team meetings and the only way to measure the effectiveness of coaching is through the ey...

Peggy and Greg Bentley, CEO, Bentley Systems, sit down for a candid conversation about open source and how it helps the construction industry go digital. He explains that it is possible to have an open information environment with a digital twin, which can be used for analytics and machine learning. He adds that what has been the inhabitation in infrastructure going digital is the work of engineer...

Peggy Smedley shares examples of how open source is bringing people together to address real-world problems and attracting the next generation of knowledge workers. She explains that trust is an essential component and standards and best practices will help open source grow. She also says the nature of open source is that users can view, change, and distribute source code as necessary or desired.

Peggy Smedley celebrates episode 600 of the show by looking back at how the IoT (Internet of Things) community has evolved since the podcast first began. She explains that we are changing the world of autonomous vehicles, smart cities, sustainability, infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and more. She also looks forward, suggesting that maybe in 10 more years we'll be calling...

Peggy and Joshua Peschel, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, kick off the month by talking about open source—and a big initiative for 2019 with open livestock. He shares that stakeholders include academic institutions, government agencies, and private industry. Also, this evolving technology will change careers and majors going forward.

Peggy and Sara Brown, vice president of marketing, MultiTech Systems, discuss the big things that have changed in the past 10 years. She also says adding a communication pipe and transmitting data has value, but at the same time, there is potentially even more value to build processing power into edge devices. Taking it even further, there is an opportunity to automate decisionmaking, which improv...

Wrapping up the month of January, Peggy and John Pletz, senior reporter, Crain's Chicago Business, have a conversation about all the emerging technologies that were center stage at CES—and how that will translate into innovation in the year ahead. They also discuss what new technologies to keep an eye on in the year ahead, especially as it relates to smart cities, autonomous cars, and drones. 

Peggy and Maria Lensing, vice president, Healthcare Solutions, AT&T Business, sit down for a candid conversation about digital health and how the industry is moving toward a digital transformation. They discuss challenges, benefits, and what's coming next in this vertical market. They also dive into the topic of how 5G will impact the healthcare industry in the coming years.

Peggy Smedley covers the topics of AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and reality-as-a-service. She points to examples in government and customer service, where businesses have benefited from a digital-reality pilot program. She also explains tele-presence technology can link experts with technicians who were onsite performing equipment maintenance and how AR can provide key data about...

Peggy and James Arthur Ray, entrepreneur, author, and life and business coach, address what is authentic leadership and how to develop it. He explains that the No. 1 imperative for leaders today is authentic leadership and it has to start inside. He suggests reorganizing our big ideas in the world and our big values.

Peggy and Matt Mason, chief scientist, Berkshire Grey, and professor, Carnegie Mellon University, dive into the topic of robotic manipulation. He says there are a lot of problems and great applications for robotic manipulation and details how robotic manipulation works in conjunction with the sensory input. He recommends that if you are going to tackle something, you need to focus on the problem f...

Peggy Smedley talks about how the law is going to play an important role in shaping the cybersecurity landscape going forward. She explains that the lack of awareness about cybersecurity is a real problem in our industry—pointing to one statistic that shows 86% of IT and security decision makers say their organizations need to improve their awareness of IoT threats. She recommends IT leaders focus...

Peggy and Joshua Peschel, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, talk about new technology that is needed in 2019: systems related to automation and technology related to agricultural intelligence. He says the focus needs to be on assistive technology—not replacement technologies.

Peggy and Sotiris Bantas, president and CEO, Centaur, discuss food waste and food safety liability in the supply chain. He also says we are on an exponential curve, with population increasing and more complexity in the food industry that needs to be addressed with innovation and technology. Further, he adds the biggest driver in the last mile that the retail industry is pushing for digitization of...

Peggy Smedley dives into the topic of cognitive technologies and how they impact the IoT (Internet of Things). She discusses recent research from Deloitte, which shows roughly 76% of respondents say they expect cognitive technologies to transform their companies in just three years or less, and she explains the business value of cognitive technologies goes beyond cutting costs. Finally, she wraps...

Peggy and Dr. Cathy Kapica, founder and CEO, The Awegrin Institute, discuss why food science is important—and how technology factors in. She says 2020 is the next update of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, and they are the foundation of health nutrition and health messaging. She adds that food is the original medicine, and food does not become nutrition until it is eaten, and that artificial intellige...