Chris Schembra started his business facilitating meaningful connections through dinner parties that sparked vulnerability and gratitude - qualities that are often undervalued in business. In this podcast episode he shares how qualities like empathy and gratitude are becoming recognized as powerful drivers of employee engagement, customer loyalty, and innovation across organizations. Chris describes the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing human capabilities through emotionally intelligent assistants that can understand context and tone to guide empathetic responses. Companies like Walmart and Siemens are already using AI for compassionate leadership. Your host: Daryl Pereira, Senior Content &amp; Brand Strategist, IBM

As a facilitator and community builder, my initial love was the dinner table and a focus on gratitude to create spaces for people to gather. For the last decade, I've dedicated myself to creating dynamic team building and client engagement experiences for some of the world's leading corporations. As an author of two bestselling books, including the Wall Street Journal bestseller 'Gratitude Through Hard Times,' I teach a heartfelt yet data driven and scientifically backed approach to business. My approach prioritizes empathy, authentic connections, asking meaningful questions, and creating a culture of recognition, appreciation, and belonging within professional environments. It's been an honor to collaborate with hundreds of remarkable organizations and industry associations, including giants like Google, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Citi, and the US Navy, to name just a few.

Chris Schembra

#1 WSJ Bestselling Author | USA Today's "Gratitude Guru" | Keynote Speaker on Workplace Connection

Chris Schembra started his business facilitating meaningful connections through dinner parties that sparked vulnerability and gratitude - qualities that are often undervalued in business. In this podcast episode he shares how qualities like empathy and gratitude are becoming recognized as powerful drivers of employee engagement, customer loyalty, and innovation across organizations. 

AI meets emotional intelligence: Chris Schembra on the future of compassionate leadership

This is the Business Schooled podcast where you will learn about the latest happenings in the world of business, from tech innovation through to social entrepreneurship and the role of creativity in creating business opportunity. Listen to experts from academia and industry as they share real-world examples of the kind of business you won't find in most textbooks.

Business Schooled

John Licata, Chief Innovation Foresight Strategist at SAP, discusses his role in making SAP and its customers more future-ready. With a diverse background spanning finance, marketing, and consulting, John takes a curiosity-driven approach to foresight that combines thought leadership with prototyping potential solutions. He is excited about the rapid evolution of Generative AI but stresses the importance of responsible, ethical, and sustainable AI that augments rather than replaces humans. He underscores storytelling as a key to making foresight concepts understandable, and emphasizes the importance of empathy and inclusion, to ensure new technologies create opportunities that level the playing field for all. Your host: Daryl Pereira, IBM Senior Brand &amp; Content Strategist

John explores multiple future pathways for SAP including the vision for the company's Business Technology Platform (BTP) in order to unleash transformative innovation across business functions. By constantly challenging what's possible through a sharp qualitative lens, John often authors thought leadership to inspire leaders to consider and prepare for the next technological disruption. He frequently engages with customers and advises on digital transformation through unparalleled market insights and outside the box correlations across industries (as seen on Wall Street for over 20 years). 

As a futurist, his innovation vision and GTM strategies help customers and partners become more competitive while making the BTP platform more future ready by bringing together data and analytics, artificial intelligence, application development, automation, and integration in one, unified environment.

John Licata

Chief Innovation Foresight Strategist, SAP

John Licata, Chief Innovation Foresight Strategist at SAP, discusses his role in making SAP and its customers more future-ready. With a diverse background spanning finance, marketing, and consulting, John takes a curiosity-driven approach to foresight that combines thought leadership with prototyping potential solutions. 

The importance of foresight for innovation, with SAP’s John Licata

Jessica Hanan, lead AI innovation strategist at Altruistic, discusses the importance of prompt engineering skills for effectively utilizing generative AI tools in business and academia. She explains how the Prompt Pilot tool provides real-time feedback as people interact with AI tools to improve prompting abilities, leading to productivity gains. Hannan advises embracing generative AI as the "democratization of digital transformation" accessible across backgrounds, while understanding its pros and cons. She emphasizes learning this "new language" of communicating with AI, which is crucial for individuals and organizations to fully leverage these powerful technologies as assistants rather than replacements. Your host: Daryl Pereira, IBM Senior Brand &amp; Content Strategist

Jessica is an accomplished Innovation Strategist with expertise in leveraging generative AI to advance businesses towards innovation. Her track record in AI startups showcases her ability to enhance strategy development and achieve impactful bottom-line results.

As the founder of Prompt Pilot, she aims to revolutionize the global workforce into expert prompt engineers, democratizing access to innovation and technology for individuals across various organizations. She is particularly focused on fostering collaborative environments where cross-functional teams thrive in generating, designing, and executing innovative ideas.

A visionary leader, Jessica is dedicated to making AI and innovation integral parts of business cultures, promoting a more inclusive future. She underscores the critical role of the 'art of prompting' in navigating the dynamic domain of AI integration, seeking to unlock generative AI's new possibilities for all.

Jessica Hanan

AI Innovation Strategist, Altruistic

Jessica Hanan, lead AI innovation strategist at Altruistic, discusses the importance of prompt engineering skills for effectively utilizing generative AI tools in business and academia. She explains how the Prompt Pilot tool provides real-time feedback as people interact with AI tools to improve prompting abilities, leading to productivity gains. 


How prompt design bridges the gap between humans and machines, with Jessica Hanan

Michelle Cavanaugh, an expert in AI-generated art, discusses her process of using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is typically used by health practitioners. She explains how AI can be used to create artwork depicting mental health conditions like depression in an empathetic way without stigma. Cavanaugh sees AI as amplifying human creativity rather than replacing it, reflecting the shift from the industrial era to the emerging "knowledge era" focused more on leveraging individual skills over rigid roles. She advocates for embracing technological change responsibly while emphasizing human traits like empathy. Your host: Daryl Pereira, IBM Senior Brand &amp; Content Strategist

What started as a curious exploration into the realm of AI-generated art swiftly evolved into a lucrative side business. Operating under the pseudonym Zelda Cavanaugh as a tribute to my beloved Doberman, I established a digital storefront featuring and selling artwork. Initially, my approach was an informal experiment aimed at gauging AI’s grasp of empathy and human emotion, and ended in yielding profound results. Recognizing its potential, I decided to elevate the pieces by incorporating hand-generated embellishments, showcasing the beauty of human-computer collaboration in a unique and explicitly human-centric manner.
In rare moments of silence, I am pursuing a Masters of Science degree from Northwestern in Information Design and Strategy with a focus on Data Visualization and also serve as the Sr. Director of Product Management for Ticketmaster.

Michelle Cavanaugh

AI Artist and Director of Product Management

Michelle Cavanaugh, an expert in AI-generated art, discusses her process of using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is typically used by health practitioners. She explains how AI can be used to create artwork depicting mental health conditions like depression in an empathetic way without stigma. 


Destigmatizing mental illness through AI-generated art, with Michelle Cavanaugh

Denise Hartsoch, an industrial psychologist and president of two companies, shares her insights on the intersection of psychology and business. She discussed her work developing career assessment tools like the <a href="https://techtypequiz.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tech Type Quiz</a> that match people's interests and strengths to potential careers, especially in technology fields. Hartsoch highlights the widespread applications of psychology in areas such as marketing, sales, learning and development, and organizational strategy. She explains the pivotal role of AI for understanding human behavior, as well as the ethical considerations around this technology that need to be taken into account. Your host: Daryl Pereira, IBM Senior Brand &amp; Content Strategist <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-leaser/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Connect with Denise</a>

I believe that when people love what they do they can change the world. That's why I am committed to developing tools and programs to match people to the jobs they were born to do. MyInnerGenius uses predictive analytics to match people to emerging job roles. MyInnerGenius helps uncover hidden capabilities to help match people to future-proof careeers and ensure companies are ready for change.

Denise Hartsoch

Founder & CEO, My Inner Genius

Denise Hartsoch, an industrial psychologist and president of two companies, shares her insights on the intersection of psychology and business. She discussed her work developing career assessment tools like the "Tech Type Quiz" that match people's interests and strengths to potential careers, especially in technology fields. 


AI and the human factor in business: how psychology is being redefined, with Denise Hartsoch

AI and the human factor in business: how psychology is being redefined, with Denise HartsochDenise Hartsoch, an industrial psychologist and president of two companies, shares her insights on the intersection of psychology and business. She discussed her work developing career assessment tools like the "Tech Type Quiz" that match people's interests and strengths to potential careers, especially in technology fields. Hartsoch highlights the widespread applications of psychology in areas such as marketing, sales, learning and development, and organizational strategy. She explains the pivotal role of AI for understanding human behavior, as well as the ethical considerations around this technology that need to be taken into account.

Peter Cardon, a business communication professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, discusses the impact of generative AI on business education and the workplace. He explains how generative AI has democratized AI capabilities, making them accessible to anyone rather than just experts. He describes USC Marshall's comprehensive approach to understanding and integrating AI into the curriculum across disciplines, addressing concerns around academic integrity and creating opportunities for deeper critical thinking. He also shares insights from surveys and interviews on global AI adoption trends, cross-cultural implications, and the importance of maintaining awareness and intentionality when using AI tools. Your host: Daryl Pereira, IBM Senior Brand &amp; Content Strategist <a href="https://www.marshall.usc.edu/personnel/peter-wilson-cardon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Connect with USC's Peter Cardon</a>

Pete Cardon teaches a variety of business communication courses. He researches team communication, role of technology in leadership communication, and intercultural business communication. Professor Cardon previously served as President of the Association of Business Communication. Pete previously taught at the University of South Carolina for six years and Utah State University for three years. Before working in higher education, he held several marketing and management positions in the tourism and manufacturing industries. He is the author of Business Communication: Developing Leaders for a Networked World and co-author of Business and Professional Communication: Putting People First.

Peter Cardon

Professor of Clinical Business Communication

Peter Cardon, a business communication professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, discusses the impact of generative AI on business education and the workplace. He explains how generative AI has democratized AI capabilities, making them accessible to anyone rather than just experts. 


Integrating Generative AI into business and education: insights from Peter Cardon of the University of Southern California

Rifa Thorpe-Tracey, a coach who works with women in tech and digital industries, discusses her background in tech marketing and project management, and how this opened up doors for mentoring underrepresented women in the field. She emphasizes the importance of diversity in product development and marketing teams, and shared positive trends as well as ongoing challenges faced by women of color in the industry. She discusses team dynamics, communication challenges across cultures, and imposter syndrome, among other topics. Your host: Daryl Pereira, IBM Senior Brand &amp; Content Strategist <a href="https://rifa.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Connect with Rifa </a>

I love to help people transform. I offer deep healing, coaching, courses and events so that you can get success, creativity and meaning in your life. I help women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ become more successful and fulfilled by sharing tools to increase confidence and be more authentic. My clients are not just uplifted: they thrive and create change in the world.

Rifa Thorpe-Tracey

Women in Tech Coach

Rifa Thorpe-Tracey, a coach who works with women in tech and digital industries, discusses her background in tech marketing and project management, and how this opened up doors for mentoring underrepresented women in the field. She emphasizes the importance of diversity in product development and marketing teams, and shared positive trends as well as ongoing challenges faced by women of color in the industry. She discusses team dynamics, communication challenges across cultures, and imposter syndrome, among other topics. 


Recent Episodes

SEASON 2

AI meets emotional intelligence: Chris Schembra on the future of compassionate leadership

The importance of foresight for innovation, with SAP’s John Licata

How prompt design bridges the gap between humans and machines, with Jessica Hanan

Destigmatizing mental illness through AI-generated art, with Michelle Cavanaugh

AI and the human factor in business: how psychology is being redefined, with Denise Hartsoch

Integrating Generative AI into business and education: insights from Peter Cardon of the University of Southern California

Diverse Teams, Diverse Thinking: insights from Rifa Thorpe-Tracey

About The Show

Business Schooled

Cristina McComic

Content Designer, IBM

Sam Smitte

Data and AI Leader, IBM

Amanda Downie

Editorial Content Strategist, IBM

Daryl Pereira

Senior Content Strategist, IBM