Leading the Digital Charge with Blockchain Mastery

Unlock the potential of blockchain and step into the future of leadership with our illuminating chat that goes beyond the Bitcoin buzz. Today, we tackle the complex web of blockchain technology, revealing why it's a conversation you can't afford to leave out of the boardroom. Discover how this could be the revolutionary tool for business that computers once were, and gain the foundational knowledge necessary to propel your team forward in a digital world that waits for no one.

We're not just talking cryptocurrency here; we're exploring the vast applications of blockchain across various sectors, comparing its accessibility and impact to that of AI. Equip yourself with the insights to stay ahead, as we guide you through what could be considered a blockchain bootcamp for your company. Join us for a dialogue that demystifies the technology and primes your leadership team for the blockchain revolution that's reshaping the landscape of business.

In this episode, we discuss the following:
1. Understanding and demystifying blockchain technology within organizations.
2. Integrating blockchain discussions into risk management conversations.
3. Exploring how blockchain can be leveraged across different areas of the business to maximize its benefits.

This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
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CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/

CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tomichuk.

Speaker 2: 0:24

And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.

Speaker 1: 0:35

Welcome to Quick Take. I am your host, Suzy Tomachuk, along with James Capps. It's so funny. We always laugh right before we go on and people don't know why. Someday we'll tell them the secret.

Speaker 2: 0:44

I don't know. Sometimes I'm pretty sure that what you're doing before the buzzer sounds is on the phone, so people might be getting a glimpse of that. Okay, fair enough.

Speaker 1: 0:55

So I was like, oh my gosh, I love that I have you as a friend, because there's so many things around technology and things that I read that I want to talk more about. Because I read this article on HBR about blockchain and the relation to leaders and I thought it was really interesting and I thought what a great topic, because I think I talk to leaders that they're like, oh, that's so not anything I need to understand or be aware of, and I thought this would be a great dialogue for us to talk about blockchain and what is it and how is it applicable to leadership.

Speaker 2: 1:32

Yeah, that was a great article. I think, if I look here, the title was Blockchain Basics for Business Leaders and I think it went through. It just did bring up a lot of these ideas, and I think it's a great jumping off point because I do think, like with a lot of technology related items and a lot of things that tend to be very popular in pop culture, we lose the forest through the trees and kind of get confused about where it fits and what we should, whether as leaders, whether it's important for us to discuss yeah, no, it is a good article and, by the way, we'll put that in the show notes too, for people to be able to reference that as well.

Speaker 1: 2:15

But how do you look at it? Like, give us the kind of the, the, the introductory, I want to say readers digest version, but I feel like that's two. That dates me a little bit. So give me the version.

Speaker 2: 2:27

Yeah, I will. I had to think about that for a second. What, what is that exactly? But I think that one of the things I want to tee up is that you know, blockchain and Bitcoin are words that get bantered around a lot and they are not interchangeable. They just are in the same neighborhood, and I think that many people, when we talk about this particular space and specifically blockchain, assume it has something to do with cryptocurrency, and I think that that's a mistake and I think, as leaders, we have to understand that that is an application. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is an application of blockchain and distributed ledger, and so if you just realize that there are a lot of different ways to apply this technology beyond the cryptocurrency, then you can start to realize this is worth having that conversation at your board level.

Speaker 1: 3:25

Yeah, all right, can you think of an analogy? Like you're so good at making that connection, I like the neighborhood piece.

Speaker 2: 3:33

But how?

Speaker 1: 3:34

would you tell people to really be able to put it in the right context?

Speaker 2: 3:39

Well, I, you know, I often say you know, there was probably a conversation somebody had a while back that said look, if we're not an accounting firm, why do I need a computer that does spreadsheets? What does that I don't need? We don't do spreadsheets here, so I don't need a computer, right? And you know, there are companies out there that still don't use Excel maybe one or two, honestly. But the computer, the technology, the neighborhood around the computer is now ubiquitous, obviously. But and I think when we talk about the blockchain ecosystem, there are lots of really interesting ways to apply it, and I think the first thing you need to do as a leader is to start to demystify that. Right, you need to have a blockchain bootcamp at your company. You need to sit down and equip your leadership team with foundational knowledge Because, ultimately, no different than AI, I think AI is a little more accessible.

Speaker 2: 4:33

People are talking about that. They have people in their business who are thinking about it. If you are not having your mind, share, your brain, trust, looking at this different ways to apply it, then you're not going to come to the best approach. I suspect that all of our listeners who are in companies, who are talking about artificial intelligence, have more than one person thinking about it and more than one way that they could apply it, and I think that's exactly how you should think about blockchain there should be more than one person thinking about it and there's definitely more than one way to apply it.

Speaker 1: 5:05

Wow, that sounds a little intimidating, but I think, like you said, even starting by having the dialogue, I like the bootcamp idea like bring somebody in. Would you bring somebody in from the outside, Like, how would you get somebody on your team?

Speaker 2: 5:22

Well, you have to remember, like very few people brought in computer programmers in the early days, they brought in computers and software right Skip the middleman right.

Speaker 2: 5:33

They brought in computers and software right, skip the middleman right. Let me take a step back and say the second thing you need to understand about blockchain, and maybe the only thing you need to understand about blockchain, unless you're talking about a very detailed approach is it is a risk mitigation technology and there is not a leader on this in our audience that is not, in some way or another, responsible for risk mitigation in our audience. That is not, in some way or another, responsible for risk mitigation. And if you are worried about the risk of your company's data, the way that you're doing process your supply chain, your information, your vendors, you have conversations around risk with each one of those Blockchain can be part of that discussion. Do you need to understand the nuances and the details of how it works? No, but you should be able to say, hey, I have risk. This is a tool that may apply to that. Let's start talking about how that works.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Now that really ignites because there's so much conversation around how AI can process data so quickly and how risky that can be. So that makes it very timely in my mind that you better pay attention, because now we're seeing how that can happen so quickly.

Speaker 2: 6:44

Well, and I think you know, the most obvious low hanging fruit around blockchain is the security of data and the way that data is stored and shared, and you know that's almost such a piece of low-hanging fruit for every one of our listeners. There isn't a single company who isn't concerned about this, who hasn't hired somebody. You know, I'm working with a couple hospitals who are in a panic over some of the things that have happened as of late regarding their data being held hostage, and I think again, if I'm worried about data and I need to reduce my risk, there's lots of ways to do it. You can have passwords and you can talk about blockchain. They're both in the same space and you should be looking at that as a leader.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Yeah, that's so helpful to me. That really kind of brought it all home. What's the third? What's the third one?

Speaker 2: 7:34

Well, I think that you need to really realize that it can play in multiple facets of the business, and I think that that's the mistake we are making now is we're thinking it's only for data. But I think if you don't have your legal team looking at blockchain, if you don't have your accounting team, if you don't have your IT team, you don't have your logistics organization, even HR, considering that or talking to their vendors about how they're implementing it, then I think you're missing out. I think blockchain is not terribly complicated as a technology. I think it has gotten a ton of press because the cryptocurrency space has eaten it as a tech and AI has almost usurped it as the new bell of the ball when it comes to the technology spotlight. But I think we will find that if I am a leader in a company and I'm responsible for risk mitigation, this is a tool that can solve a lot of my problems.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Wow, that's so interesting. It makes me think. I think one bonus thing that would be really helpful when I I always worry about asking dumb questions. And so can you what would be three questions that would be good for leaders to frame Like what? How do you say it? How do you start to be curious to the people around you?

Speaker 2: 8:58

I think you know the first thing you do as a leader. You should already know the areas that you feel like you are are, have a higher risk or your risk appetite has changed. You know, I love the concept of risk appetite. Most organizations that have a risk organization talk about what is our risk appetite, how, how, how much risk are we willing to consume to leverage that phrase and that's clearly adjusting right. It used to be that we could manage a little bit of data going out the door, and now the PR around losing data and the financial implications are high, and so our risk appetites have changed.

Speaker 2: 9:34

So I think it is fair for you, as a leader, to start the dialogue by saying A. When I look at these three areas where our biggest risks are, what are we doing to address that? And maybe, what are the risk items? What are we doing to address that? And could blockchain simply be? Could distributed ledger, blockchain be part of that equation? And you know what you, as a leader, would love to hear from each one of your directs is to say, no, we examined it and it only applies to this right you know, or yes, we have a team on it and I'll give you a report on thursday.

Speaker 2: 10:12

More likely than not, you're going to get a response like well.

Speaker 2: 10:16

I don't know maybe, and that's okay too, right, this is new and fresh, but what a great opportunity to go. Let's find out right. I'm okay when my team fails or we make a mistake actively. We looked at it, we decided it was A and it turns out it was B. That's fine. We make mistakes. We didn't do it the correct way, we didn't look at it the right way. But, boy, passive mistakes piss me off. When we didn't take a look, we didn't take the action, we didn't do what was necessary to evaluate that, that's not leadership.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Yeah, I also, really from a leadership on all levels. If you hear this and you're not the person that would say that, having that context, building that knowledge base and going to your and to go, hey, I'm just curious have we looked at how blockchain might mitigate our risk in my area of expertise?

Speaker 2: 11:24

How are we looking at blockchain as managing our data transfers? Are we working with our vendors to maximize blockchain? And if our CTO, ceo, coo doesn't have an answer, then I would encourage all of our listeners to raise your hand and say let me take that tiger team, let me run that down. And even if you couldn't spell blockchain to save your life, well, what a great opportunity for you to become the expert in the business. Never let a good disaster go to waste or, in this case, a gap in knowledge. Never let that go to waste. And if you can step forward as a leader and raise your hand and say, let me take that, that's a huge opportunity.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Yeah, before it becomes a crisis. Exactly right, absolutely To take your words, all right. So what are the three?

Speaker 2: 12:13

Yeah, I think the first one is, you know, demystify it with your team. I mentioned a bootcamp. Get everybody in a room just so you guys can talk about it. Understand, you know, take a look at it and then and then demystify it, then start looking at it as a risk mitigator, start talking about where it can address certain things. And then, third, remember that it can go across multiple venues and it isn't just an IT conversation, it is not just a crypto conversation, it is a risk mitigating tool that can be implemented in lots of your verticals and you want to have a dialogue to ensure that that happens.

Speaker 1: 12:48

Awesome. I learned something new every day with you so it was good. Thanks, james, for starting this conversation, really powerful.

Speaker 2: 12:55

That's good stuff, all right.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Hey James, I was wondering if your leadership style were a movie genre, what would it be?

Speaker 2: 13:07

I mean, is there like a comedy documentary?

Speaker 1: 13:14

Some documentaries are pretty funny.

Speaker 2: 13:17

I think that that you know, my style is very transparent what sees what you get. Um, I share a lot of detail. I like my people to be up to speed, but I also like everyone to feel comfortable and have fun. So I'm like your documentary on a topic that's that's important but not overly depressing Fair I don't know what movie genre that is.

Speaker 1: 13:43

We just made a new one. It's a docu-mery. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the mind of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.

Speaker 2: 14:02

You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. Our links to the show are in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 14:10

We appreciate you.