AI is not a technology problem
it fundamentally is a leadership problem.
Some conversations around AI are loud
this episode features Jon Hilton
who is super grounded on the topic.
Jon leads the AI practice at LBMC
and spends his time helping organizations
turn ambition into execution.
He's a data scientist a former EY and Exxonmobil leader
and a West Point graduate.
Who served two combat tours and earned the Bronze Star.
What I appreciate about Jon
is how he brings structure to the chaos.
He spent time talking about two things with me
that really matter number 1
why most AI efforts fail and 2
what it actually takes to build AI
that scales responsibly inside complex organizations.
This is a conversation for leaders who want progress
not hype so let's dive right in.
We've been talking a lot about AI leadership
really the thesis is right now
AI is not a technology problem
it fundamentally is a leadership problem.
And some some recent
statistics are really starting to back that up,
a recent survey found that you know
75% of C suite executives said their AI
adoption has been going well over the past 12 months
or been successful.
And 45% of their people say the same thing
and then 89 or 80 some plot plus percent of
C suite executives are saying they have a clear AI
strategy, and 57% of their people say the same thing.
So something's wrong here
and we are not going to get
companies and organizations
are not gonna get where they wanna go on AI
if they don't start figuring this out and it's really
really a misalignment.
So that's that's a big leadership you know problem
just trying to talk about how do you really solve that.
I love that and this is a leading question
but I'm gonna do it on purpose
what are some
maybe unique life experiences that you've had
that you can bring to the table
analogies that you can use?
Yeah that's and that's part of it
and I know you gentlemen know me
and some of my background.
But you know I'm
I'm a West Point graduate did two combat tours in Iraq,
and then you know
got out and got into corporate leadership. And
a lot of what I've started to see is
there's a lot of analogies of where we are
as a society and an organization with AI,
as you find yourself in a combat situation
and it's not to be macabre or dark
it's just what are the key things that you face
when you're about to go on a mission.
Or you're in those kind of environments
you you face a lot of fear
uncertainty and chaos at any time,
something that's well planned
could go completely sideways.
You have an unknown of what's out there at all times
and and you have to be the one to start
to dictate the situation,
requires a lot of planning and preparation and
and being a leader is
is one of the fundamental aspects.
And so that's part of what I've started to say is hey
there's some things here I've learned and
you know
that's the nature of even being in corporations
of what you're gonna face as you
you take on any initiative.
And so it's really starting to think about
how do I use my leadership principles here
if we know it's a leadership issue
not a technology issue you know
what are some of the things that we can really apply
to help move our organizations forward
with AI in a meaningful way.
In general
tell us something you're working on right now to
to make that impact
what are you being intentional about when it comes to
leveraging veterans to solve some of these problems?
Yeah that's a great question,
that's what we're really you know
here trying to start up again as
the Greater Nashville Tech Council's
peer group for veterans. Had a great showing there
in the pre covid era
you know like many things
covid tend to to sap some energy
and so we're trying to launch
relaunch that and
really start first and foremost with
can we build a community for veterans
as technology professionals.
Well you've
you've got a target rich environment here
as they say in the military right
we've got a Clarksville just up the street.
A lot of the focus of educating leaders in a combat
or a military environment relies on technology
and I think maybe the competitive
relative effectiveness of any armed force
is going to be tied to its technology
and its use,
use and deployment in service of the mission.
So you know how
how does military technology in the Greater Nashville
region
how has Nashville done in the producing
and creating and graduating of
of technologies that wound up having a military use,
either first or ultimately
in your experience in this ecosystem?
That's a great question.
You know first
I'll just kind of lay my I don't
I'm not as
involved in the military technology development.
Maybe I can speak to the development of the veterans
you know with
like I said with
with Clarksville being such a large
you know 101st Airborne being there
and then others that are coming from
from other bases around. You know
I think it teaches you a lot about
you know
how to handle problems and understand and learn
seek to learn right
and become much better at that.
And so I'll probably have to punt on the
where are we what is being developed in Nashville
for military technology to be fair
some of it probably
is quite secret.
But
you know obviously there's a lot of things that are
that are you know
the AI adoption in the battlefield
is very important to the future of
of warfare
but that's not you know
obviously not my my area of expertise.
But I do think there is a lot that
you know veterans bring to organizations
in terms of their ability to adapt and overcome
and to learn new skills and to be leaders in
in a place where again
you know this is really about leadership right now
of how do I take this technology and
and move it forward.
You know one observation on that point is
you know we're
you know I talk in my role as a consultant
to a lot of you know
C suite executives and and even CIOs, and
what we're finding is
that they're getting overwhelmed with these demos. Cause
you know
everybody and their brother has an AI technology now
I mean it's
it's unbelievable like you
you know pick up a rock and it's like
oh we got this new AI tool. And so you
the
if it is a leadership issue and not a technology issue
there's plenty if I just went out right now and said
I just need a I want to see AI technology
I mean you'd
you'd be flooded with thousands of emails and calls.
Just to say hey look
I got I got the next best
you know tool that's gonna help you.
But really
that's not the problem you're trying to solve
you know the analogy I make is
you know would you
you know just randomly go to Home Depot and say
there's something in my house I need to solve
but I heard there's really good tools out there
you know
let me just walk around and look at all the possible
tools. That's a problem for me when I go to Home Depot.
Fair enough, maybe some people are like that
like I just need to go see what I need to do next.
But you know you started about where you're like hey
there's a real problem in my house
I need to go fix it let's go find the tools next.
And so that's really we're trying to help
give the confidence to CIOs
give the confidence to IT directors to say
you don't have to just rush out there
and look at all these shiny tools
maybe let's take a step back
and let's
formulate some strategy and vision around this.
And develop use cases that connect to problems
and then that's what we're actually
we're gonna go ahead and say okay,
now it's time to open the door a little bit
and see what tools can meet that problem.
Maybe you build it maybe you buy it
but at least that's a better strategy than
than probably just sitting here taking calls all day.
Cause they are they're getting overwhelmed
they ask any CIO like how many of you you know
how many AI tools come through your door
I mean they're just like it's in some I've just stopped,
I just I I can't anymore because it's too overwhelming.
Sure.
What what about AI as an attack surface? Or a I mean
I hate to go back to the military thing,
but that is one of the you've got good AI bad AI
I've talked to a lot of people about cybersecurity.
You know
the more you experiment with it
the more flexible and dynamic your attack surfaces are
as well, so. That's right, yeah,
I mean from a cyber security standpoint
I know they're they're struggling with that you know
there's not the
you know the Nigerian prince isn't writing you in
in half-English anymore and dear sir.
I mean it's gonna sound legitimate to you I mean
it's the scams are just going up and up and up.
You know we
you know go post a job on LinkedIn right now
related to some technology
and watch how many applicants you get,
They're not real applicants.
Maybe they are,
but they're there's something that is amiss
right, is because they're just there's
you know you have automated applications,
you have automated email generation,
you have agents that can call you
and sound like they're your next door neighbor.
And so the attack services are
you're right it's it's quite
prevalent and that's something.
You know you're gonna have to really address,
and really step back and start thinking about.
You know on on the topic of of attack though
that is one of the premises that I
I think is important you know
maybe not on the cyber security side
but I say on on the technology side.
Which is right now is a time for
for leaders to have courage in
in the space of AI
so if you do have a vision and a strategy
and you've developed that clarity,
now it's time to have the courage.
You know Patton essentially said
"In absence of orders attack!" right?
And that's been a theme
of great leadership through history,
is to attack a problem.
Not with haste
and there is a difference, and I could go into that,
but doesn't mean you just hastily run off. But
I think now is a time for
technology leaders to have the courage to move forward
with attacking this problem of AI
in terms of whether it's in cybersecurity
or whether it's adoption
and implementation in your company.
It is the time to act
and so if you're in times of
kind of going back to the combat analysis analogy.
You know if you're in a place of fear and chaos and
and uncertainty
the natural human reaction is to just have paralysis,
or to make very small gestures towards a
a goal or an accomplishment.
But not really be moving forward
and so that courage to attack is to say
we gotta move forward
we're gonna dictate our future
a little bit and so that's been you know.
I like how you brought up the attack element.
I know you went cyber security
but I do think I'm also telling people no.
I think you'd be on the attack too
I think it's relevant yeah.
Very relevant. If you're gonna have a strategy
you gotta have an underlying attitude. Right.
And that and that's what a lot
a lot has missed because paralysis and fear
are what's gonna always keep you as a leader
from doing what you need to do. And
and what I'm telling people is it
that again that's not haste,
you know I had a battalion commander in Iraq who said
"don't rush to failure".
I kept that in my mind because you can
you can rush to failure just as fast.
But it is a matter of using all of your professional
experience and planning
and your leadership to say okay
we're gonna still do something
we're gonna move forward
we're not we're not rushing
and we're gonna do it deliberately
against our use cases and our vision.
Because
that's what's going to move your people forward.
I and I think
the last point is really
about a commitment to your people
because your people are really scared right now.
And so you're really gonna have to rally,
you know if there's this big a disconnect
so if you've set a vision
you've
you're starting to attack the problem with courage.
And say hey
we're gonna we're gonna go after these use cases
you gotta get your people behind it. Because
you know there is a
there is a Luddite dilemma that
that's kind of sitting out there right now.
There are some surveys
that are saying that there is a portion of your people
that may be actively working against you in AI in
in in sabotaging your efforts.
You know how real that is
I don't know but I
I do think there is a sentiment of
you know you're gonna have to
bring people along.
And then you're also gonna have to as a leader
make some choices
because if people don't wanna follow you along
those are gonna become some dilemmas
that leaders are gonna have to kind of
face here as they go.
And so really kind of put
putting that all together is
you know being on the attack
but also
who in your organization is getting behind you?
How do you bring them along,
and then what are you gonna do when some say
I'm just not going to go along.
You have a challenge.
I know you've got a luncheon that you're going to
for the the veterans peer group. Yeah.
But for the last question
I'd like to actually bring
bring you back to that veterans peer group.
And you've talked a lot about the
sort of training and the
the analogies that we've used here to explain this
this crazy world of AI
coming at us. And how really well prepared
veterans are to address some of these problems.
But whenever a peer group gets formed
there's always other problems that
that are getting solved within that group.
So for leaders that are looking to leverage veterans
what are some of the things they need to be aware of
that are challenges of veterans that are coming out of
the military and into the workforce?
What are what are the three things that that are
these are challenges that we're dealing with as
as veterans. Yeah
I think first and foremost
is an understanding of what a corporate
leader or corporations looking for
when you're recruiting a veteran.
Because you're trying to translate what you knew
and all of these acronyms and all of these things that
a lot of
you know civilian leaders don't understand. And
and in your mind you think you
you know it's
it's like I did a lot here
you know there was very
very a lot of responsibilities.
So being able to translate that one
I know
there's a lot of organizations that can help that.
Number 2 is a network you know
people lose track of how valuable their network is
as a young professional just being in a company, being.
You know if you're a young person
you're involved in some of the data
meetups here in Nashville
or in part of NTC and other places
you're building an advantage over time
just because you know people.
You know as a veteran you
you don't have that
you've been moved around the country
the world
been potentially in combat zones and your network is
is is strong, you
you know your brothers and sisters and
and in arms but you may not have known
you don't know these others that that can help you.
And it's a you know
I know Johnny
Johnny knows so and so and if I go to Johnny
he might connect me. So that's part of it is the
the second one being the network and
and third is some of the technical skills is
knowing how to start just not the bridging the gap.
You may not have done hands on Power BI dev
Databricks or Snowflake.
But these are needed skills
and so how do I just say I know how to code
or I know how to do something technical
maybe I need to go get some certification.
So what are those things that
that companies would be looking for.
And so I would say from my point of view
and that's not exhaustive in any means
that's some of the things
I would encourage a veteran to think everyone.
So that's what we're trying to do is bring
bring us all together so others can say hey
by the way build the network.
These are the things people are looking for and
and really help get them in awareness of some of that
from a decision maker as well. Man
you're talking about leadership commitment,
yeah
community commitment
and you're bringing
the type of personality to the table
that understands commitment.
Yeah thank you.
Yeah that's right.
Well thanks for the leadership.
I'm ready to charge hell with a water pistol with you.
Yeah well yeah.
Let's go. Well
appreciate you gentlemen appreciate you
you know taking time to sit down with me today
and I really appreciate your support.
I know both of you are supportive of
of these veteran groups as well.
So appreciate that and yeah
look forward to to talking more.
And thank you for your service.
Thank you for your service
It's an honor to serve is what I say so thanks