In this episode of “The CTO Show with Mehmet,” host Mehmet Gonullu welcomes leadership development expert Thom Dennis. With over 40 years of experience, Thom shares his journey from serving in the Royal Marines to becoming a pioneer in leadership development and the founder of Serenity in Leadership. Thom discusses the concept of conscious leadership, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, understanding personal beliefs and values, and taking responsibility for one’s actions in today’s complex business world.

Thom elaborates on the challenges of cultural transformation within organizations, highlighting that effective change requires a long-term commitment of at least three years. He stresses the importance of consistent leadership to maintain cultural change initiatives and discusses how leadership behavior directly impacts organizational culture. Thom also shares insights into the differences in organizational culture across various sectors such as energy, banking, technology, and pharmaceuticals, and the impact of regional cultural nuances on leadership and organizational behavior.

The conversation delves into conflict resolution techniques, where Thom emphasizes the need for creating a safe space for open communication, establishing common objectives, and fostering mutual understanding. He provides practical examples of resolving high-stakes conflicts in multinational teams. Additionally, Thom discusses the key elements of successful strategic planning retreats and workshops, stressing the importance of thorough preparation, clear objectives, and follow-up to ensure productive outcomes.

Thom also addresses the societal trends affecting leadership today, including mental health, physical wellbeing, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). He reflects on the impact of the pandemic on work practices and employee expectations and the challenges of managing diverse and inclusive workplaces in different cultural contexts. For emerging leaders, Thom offers valuable advice on the importance of reflection, presence, building community, and leveraging the strength of diverse perspectives to adapt to societal changes and future challenges.

More about Thom:

Thom Dennis is well known for his expertise in creating transformational change and is a sought-after advisor on a spectrum of leadership, diversity, inclusion and justice issues. Over the last 30 years he has been a coach and confidant to executives of many organisations, facilitated pivotal meetings setting strategy, purpose and vision, and devised and led culture change programs bringing lasting value. He has developed the skills of senior management in leadership, conflict resolution, communication and customer service and enabled change in many corporations in the US, South America, Europe, Africa, India and the Far East.

Thom is the CEO of Serenity in Leadership Ltd, the premier culture remodelling, change and leadership specialists. He is an international speaker, voice over actor and Amazon #1 published author and has been featured on both BBC TV News and radio and as a thought leader in over 100 articles in industry leading publications in just the last year alone.

https://www.serenityinleadership.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomdennis

01:05 Thom Dennis: Leadership Journey

03:42 Conscious Leadership Explained

09:06 Challenges in Cultural Transformation

13:50 Sector and Regional Differences in Leadership

22:53 Conflict Resolution Techniques

27:34 Effective Strategic Planning Retreats

34:41 Societal Trends Impacting Leadership

40:55 Final Advice for Future Leaders

44:16 Closing Remarks and Contact Information

In this episode of The CTO Show with Mehmet, guest Will Pemble, founder of PageLeap and Web.com, shares his journey from founding successful tech companies to re-entering the web hosting industry with PageLeap. Will discusses how his experiences led to the creation of PageLeap, a platform aiming to outperform current competitors in the crowded landing page market by focusing on superior speed, precise SEO optimization, and user-centric design. He explains the importance of building systems with scalability in mind, the evolution from physical servers to cloud computing, and how AI is leveraged to enhance content management and accessibility. Will also touches on lessons learned from his exit from Web.com and the inherent challenges for serial entrepreneurs in navigating mergers and new ventures.

More about Will:

Founder of PageLeap, home to the fastest landing pages online.

Founder of web.com, among the first and largest web hosts on earth.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/willpemble/

01:16 Will Pemble's Background and Career Journey

02:52 The Birth of PageLeap

05:01 Challenges in the Landing Page Market

15:20 SEO and Its Importance

20:46 AI Integration in PageLeap

25:48 Scaling and System Design

28:38 Building PageLeap with Scalability in Mind

30:15 The Evolution from Physical Servers to Cloud

31:29 The Reality of Cloud Services

35:35 The Story of Exiting Web.com

41:14 Challenges and Traits for Successful Founders

42:05 The Birth of GoalBoss and PageLeap

49:28 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

In this episode of “The CTO Show with Mehmet,” we delve into the fascinating world of unstructured data and its impact on the future of AI with Kirk Marple, the founder and CEO of Graphlit. With over 30 years of experience in software development, Kirk shares his journey from Microsoft to founding his own company and the vision behind Graphlit. Discover how unstructured data can unlock valuable insights for businesses and the role of knowledge graphs in enhancing AI applications.

Kirk explains the significance of unstructured data and how it offers valuable insights often overlooked by organizations. He delves into the role of knowledge graphs in enhancing AI capabilities and improving data workflows. Kirk outlines the stages of workflow automation, highlighting the benefits and efficiencies it brings to businesses.

They discuss current trends in AI, particularly those linked to unstructured data, and the exciting developments in multimodal models. Kirk shares key lessons from his experience in bringing tech products to market and offers advice for aspiring tech founders, emphasizing the importance of marketing and building an audience.

More about Kirk, FOUNDER & CEO AT GRAPHLIT

Former Microsoft, General Motors, and STATS leader, Kirk Marple is the CEO and Founder of Graphlit.

Graphlit provides a serverless, cloud-native platform for automating unstructured data workflows, including data ingestion, knowledge extraction, LLM conversations, semantic search, and alerting. Graphlit has raised over $4M in seed funding.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirkmarple

https://www.graphlit.com

01:08 Kirk Marple's Journey and Founding GRAPHLIT

01:48 Identifying Market Gaps and Vision for GRAPHLIT

04:03 Understanding Unstructured Data

05:51 Knowledge Graphs and AI Applications

10:49 Automation in Workflows

14:13 Vertical Use Cases and Industry Impact

19:27 Trends in AI and Unstructured Data

23:08 Challenges and Strategies for Tech Startups

27:38 Balancing Technical and Business Roles

30:34 Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks