Why do only 10% of companies succeed with AI? In this series by MIT SMR and BCG, we talk to the leaders who've achieved big wins with AI in their companies and learn how they did it. Hear what gets experts from companies like NASA, Github, and others excited to do their jobs every day and what they consider the keys to their success.

Many of us know Goodwill Industries International as a retailer that accepts and resells donated goods. What the average consumer may not know is that the nonprofit takes in over 5 billion pounds of goods each year — and not all of it can be resold. For those unwanted or unviable items, the organization can either look into recycling or upcycling, and with the help of AI, it’s able to efficiently make that determination while also improving its process for sorting and allocating sellable goods for different retail channels.

Additionally, Goodwill helps its workforce with career-development skills. Much of this training has been enhanced with AI. Tune in to this episode to hear directly from Goodwill CEO Steve Preston about how the organization is using technology to fulfill a mission that extends beyond the retail store. Read the episode transcript here. 

Guest bio: 
As president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International, Steven C. Preston leads a network of 153 local Goodwill organizations with a combined revenue of $8.2 billion. In addition to being a secondhand retail leader, Goodwill is a leading nonprofit provider of workforce training and development in North America.

Positioning the organization at the forefront of workforce development has been a top focus for Preston since he joined Goodwill in 2019. He has also forged partnerships with organizations focused on sustainable practices in the secondhand retail marketplace and developed mission-focused marketing efforts to elevate the Goodwill brand.

Previously, Preston served in numerous operational and financial leadership positions in both the public and private sectors. After heading the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration, he led successful turnarounds as the CEO of Oakleaf Global Holdings and Livingston International. He also served as the CFO of Waste Management and ServiceMaster. 

Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the executive producer is Allison Ryder.

Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.

We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.

Me, Myself, and AI

Upcycling and Upskilling With AI: Goodwill's Steve Preston

In today’s episode, Chandra Kapireddy, head of generative AI, machine learning, and analytics at Truist, delves into the evolving landscape of AI with a particular focus on how GenAI tools reshape the way Truist and similar organizations must navigate model risk management and regulations. GenAI is more versatile than traditional AI, he notes, yet its flexibility introduces new challenges around ensuring model reliability, validating outputs, and making sure that AI-driven decisions don’t lead to unfair or opaque outcomes.
Chandra’s responsible AI approach at Truist is focused on risk mitigation while emphasizing the importance of human oversight in high-stakes decision-making. He points out that while GenAI can vastly improve productivity by handling repetitive or analysis-heavy tasks, it’s essential to properly train employees in order to use the tools effectively and not over-rely on their outputs, especially given their tendency to hallucinate or produce inaccurate results. Read the episode transcript here.
Guest bio
Chandra Kapireddy is head of generative AI, machine learning, and analytics, at Truist. He brings over 27 years of experience building and leading world-class data, analytics, and artificial intelligence teams to the financial services firm. Kapireddy has held key leadership positions at some of the industry’s leading companies, including Capital One, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Oracle, and Amazon Web Services. Most recently, he served as managing director and head of AI/ML products for JPMorgan Chase, where he served on the firm’s AI Executive Council, which influences its strategy, products, controls, and governance.

Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the executive producer is Allison Ryder.
Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.
We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.

Overcoming AI Hallucinations: Truist’s Chandra Kapireddy

Linda Yao, chief operating officer and head of strategy for Lenovo’s Strategy, 
Solutions, and Services Group and vice president of hybrid cloud and AI 
solutions, joins us to explain the organization’s transition from technology product company to managed services provider. It’s now helping organizations with the change management required to implement AI in the enterprise.

She shares both a framework around speed, ease, and expertise to facilitate this adoption, as well as the four pillars of AI readiness that Lenovo guides its clients to achieve. Tune in to this episode, also, for Linda’s perspective on the role of human connection in what she calls the era of inference, a time when we should focus on the implementation of maturing AI tools. Read the episode transcript here.

Guest Bio:
Linda Yao serves as vice president of hybrid cloud and AI solutions at Lenovo.
Yao recently also took on the role of chief operating officer and  head of Lenovo’s Strategy, Solutions, and Services Group and established the company’s AI Center of Excellence. 

Previously, at Boeing, she  incubated a data science practice in the U.S. and India, built an 
M&A team, and oversaw investments for one of the largest corporate  retirement plans in the world. She earned her finance chops at IBM in  New York and Shanghai. Yao earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and an engineering certificate from MIT. She is  an active liaison for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Foundation and the 
YoungArts, a national foundation.

Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the executive producer is Allison Ryder.

Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.

We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.

Speed, Ease, and Expertise With AI: Lenovo’s Linda Yao

Harvard Business School professor Raffaella Sadun’s research has historically focused on digital reskilling. Now, rapid technological changes — like AI — are reshaping the nature of work. Raffaella’s research has explored how AI might empower those with intermediate expertise, such as store managers and blue-collar workers, to become more efficient and satisfied in their roles. She shares a bit about her research on today’s episode of <cite>Me, Myself, and AI</cite> and highlights the potential for AI to improve teamwork and innovation by bridging the gaps between different functional teams. Her experiments show that AI can enhance productivity and output quality, sometimes even substituting for team collaboration, while also improving speed and efficiency in problem-solving tasks. Read the episode transcript here.
Guest bio:
Raffaella Sadun is the Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where she cochairs the Project on Managing the Future of Work and is coprincipal investigator of the Digital Reskilling Lab. Her research focuses on managerial and organizational drivers of productivity and growth in corporations and the public sector. She cofounded several large-scale projects to measure management practices and managerial behavior in organizations, such as the World Management Survey, the Executive Time Use Study, and U.S. Census Bureau’s Management and Organizational Practices Survey of hospitals.
Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Alanna Hooper.
Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.
We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.

MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Me, Myself, and AI by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

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