The Catalyst by Softchoice

Softchoice
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A documentary-style podcast about how IT leaders tackle high-stakes transformations. Each episode weaves together real voices, expert insights, and compelling narratives that reveal universal challenges and practical wisdom. Season 7: "Small Teams, Big Dreams" explores the human stories behind IT transformations—from AI adoption experiments to burnout crises, from toxic job markets to infrastructure decisions that matter. These aren't polished case studies. These are authentic accounts from IT professionals navigating the same impossible gaps between expectations and resources that you face every day. From Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company.

  1. 1 lug

    The Mandate Episode: Why Return to Work is a Losing Fight

    If you read the headlines, you'd think nearly every major employer marched its workforce back to the office five days a week. The data says otherwise. And so does the human cost when companies push it anyway. In this episode of The Catalyst, Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward, an anonymous 30-year IT veteran and former Marine, and Softchoice's Lisa Walkden lay out what return-to-office mandates are actually about — and what they cost the leaders who issue them. Here's what you'll take away: Why only about a third of US companies actually went back to five days — and what's really driving the ones that didHow a 30-year tech veteran ended up quiet-quitting his job, and what that reveals about the real cost of a mandateThe reframe one Softchoice leader uses with executives weighing RTO — and the data that backs it upWhy the same companies still picking the RTO fight are often the same ones struggling with AI adoptionFeaturing: Brian Elliott, founder of the Flex Index and CEO of Work Forward; Lisa Walkden, Senior Manager of Workplace Experience at Softchoice, a World Wide Technology Company; and an anonymous IT leader who agreed to share his story on condition we don't name his employer. #ReturnToOffice #HybridWork #ITLeadership #WorkplaceStrategy #FutureOfWork #FlexIndex #TheCatalyst Guests Brian Elliott — Work ForwardFlex Index (Brian's data set) — flexindex.comLisa Walkden — SoftchoiceAnonymous — 30-year tech veteran and former US Marine Research & Data Cited Flex Index quarterly reports — flexindex.com/reportsStanford Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (Nick Bloom, WFH Research) — wfhresearch.comRichmond Fed Economic Brief No. 24-16 (May 2024) — "Return-to-Office Orders: A Survey Analysis of Employment Impacts" by Grey Gordon and Sonya Ravindranath Waddell — richmondfed.org"Return-to-Office Mandates and Brain Drain" — research from the University of Pittsburgh and Baylor's Hankamer School of Business (3M+ workers tracked via LinkedIn data) — hankamer.baylor.eduCBRE data on workforce-manager geographic distribution (cited by Brian Elliott in interview)More from Brian Work Forward newsletter — theworkforward.substack.comThe Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    31 min

  2. 17 giu

    The Imposter Episode: Why Tech’s Best People Feel Like Frauds

    There’s a quiet crisis running through IT leadership that nobody names in the meeting: the certainty that you’re in over your head, and that any minute now, someone’s going to find out. It comes with the job. And for women in tech, there’s a second layer underneath. In this episode of The Catalyst, from Softchoice, a World Wide Technology Company, host Katey Teekasingh sits with three women who’ve lived imposter syndrome from every altitude: an IT director who wasn’t the first pick for her role, a five-time CTO who argues the field itself is the problem, and an MIT scientist who built a whole technology field while the engineering world dismissed her work — then won one of its highest honors. Their answers about how to lead through doubt without faking it will reframe what most IT leaders quietly carry. Key takeaways Why getting promoted for being the best engineer sets you up to feel like a fraud — and why it’s structural, not personalThe second layer of doubt women in tech describe — the “merit, or a box to check?” question that follows them into every roomHow a top scientist reacted to winning one of engineering’s highest honors (hint: her first thought was “is this a scam?”)Three different strategies for leading through uncertainty — without pretending it isn’t thereGuest credentials Rosalind Picard, ScD — Founder and Director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab; co-founder of Empatica and Affectiva; 2026 recipient of the IEEE Medal for Innovations in Healthcare Technology. Meri Williams — Chief Technology Officer at Pleo; five-time CTO across fintech, retail, banking, and biotech; previously scaled the team that built GOV.UK at the UK’s Government Digital Service. Julie Szaj — Director of Organizational Change Management at Washington University; 25+ years across education, learning design, and technology leadership. About Our Sponsor This episode is brought to you by HP, in partnership with Softchoice. HP helps organizations shape the future of work with AI-powered solutions across devices, printing, and services.  Learn more at https://www.softchoice.com/technology-partners/hp Hashtags #TheCatalyst #Softchoice #HP #ITLeadership #ImposterSyndrome #WomenInTech #CTO #DigitalTransformation #MidMarketIT Show Notes & Resources Connect with our guests: Rosalind Picard — MIT Media Lab Affective Computing Group: media.mit.edu/groups/affective-computingMeri Williams — Pleo: pleo.ioJulie Szaj — Washington University in St. Louis: wustl.eduReferenced in the episode: Affective Computing (1997) by Rosalind Picard — the founding text of the fieldIEEE Medal for Innovations in Healthcare Technology — 2026 recipient: Rosalind PicardEmpatica — wearable health technology co-founded by Picard: empatica.comLearn more about HP’s partnership with Softchoice: https://www.softchoice.com/technology-partners/hp The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    21 min

  3. 3 giu

    The AI Ethics Episode: Whose Job Is It?

    Somewhere in your organization, an AI decision is sitting on someone’s desk right now. Who owns it? In most mid-market companies, nobody does — or rather, it’s landed on the IT leader who was already doing three other jobs. In this episode of The Catalyst, we follow Jeremy Wight, CTO of CareMessage — a patient engagement platform serving 22 million low-income patients across the US — who had to write his organization’s AI policy himself. No committee. No playbook. Just the weight of getting it right for some of the most vulnerable people in the healthcare system. Alongside Jeremy, we hear from Reid Blackman, author of The Ethical Nightmare Challenge and founder of Virtue, who argues that the standard policy-first approach to AI governance is already broken — and offers a framework any team can implement in weeks, not years. Olivia Gambelin, AI ethicist and author of Responsible AI, reframes the vendor selection question entirely: it’s not about auditing their product, it’s about whether their values align with yours. And Anthony Vinci, former intelligence officer and author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution, draws an unexpected parallel — between the integrity required of a spy with no rulebook, and the integrity required of an IT leader doing the same. ==== This episode is brought to you by HPE. From AI to data center and network modernization, HPE delivers a cloud-like experience right on your own infrastructure — the full portfolio, from one partner. softchoice.com/technology-partners/hewlett-packard-enterprise  ==== In this episode: Why the policy-first approach to AI governance is broken — and what to do insteadA practical three-question framework any team can implement this weekHow to evaluate AI vendors by values alignment, not just product capabilityWhat it actually looks like when one IT leader has to make these calls alone — with 22 million patients on the line Featured guests: Jeremy Wight (CTO, CareMessage) • Reid Blackman (Founder/CEO, Virtue) • Olivia Gambelin (AI Ethicist & Author) • Anthony Vinci (CEO, VICO) • Craig McQueen (VP Microsoft Practice, Softchoice) #AIEthics #ResponsibleAI #ITLeadership #AIGovernance #TheCatalyst #Softchoice #MidMarket #HPE === Show Notes & Resources Guests Jeremy Wight, CTO — CareMessage: caremessage.orgReid Blackman, Founder/CEO — Virtue: reidblackman.com • The Ethical Nightmare Challenge (book, April 2025) • Ethical Machines (HBR Press, 2022)Olivia Gambelin, AI Ethicist: oliviagambelin.com • Responsible AI: Implement an Ethical Approach in Your Organization • Values Canvas framework — free download at oliviagambelin.comAnthony Vinci, CEO — VICO: anthonyvinci.com • The Fourth Intelligence Revolution (Henry Holt, 2025) • VICO forecasting platform: vico.aiCraig McQueen, VP Microsoft Practice — Softchoice, a World Wide Technology Company Sponsor HPE via Softchoice: softchoice.com/technology-partners/hewlett-packard-enterpriseSoftchoice AI & Ethics resources: softchoice.com/EASThe Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    27 min

  4. 13 mag

    The Inheriting a Mess Episode: When the Building Is Already On Fire, What Do You Do?

    Every IT leader has a “day one” story. The moment they opened the server closet, logged into the admin console, or reviewed the vendor contracts and realized the job they were hired for isn’t the job they actually have. In this episode of The Catalyst, we follow Chris Schopf, an IT operations team lead who walked into a new job to find twelve-year-old servers, two unfinished infrastructure projects, and a team that had been poached by the outgoing manager. Then we hear from Leon Adato, a 37-year IT veteran who’s made a career of walking into other people’s messes, and Ned Bellavance, a former consultant who warns that not every mess is actually a mess. Some of it is “purposeful chaos” you just don’t understand yet. What you’ll learn: How to tell the difference between a real disaster and “purposeful chaos” with reasons you don’t understand yetWhy Chris convinced his CEO to stop all projects for two weeks — and how it saved the teamThe three-word business framework that gets IT leaders budget, staff, and permission to fix the mess: revenue, cost, riskWhy learning to “speak business” doesn’t make you less technical — it makes you bilingualFeaturing: Chris Schopf — IT Security Architect  Leon Adato — Principal Technical Marketing Engineer, Cribl Ned Bellavance — Founder, Ned in the Cloud | Podcast Host  From Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company — this is The Catalyst. The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    28 min

  5. 7 mag ·  Contenuti extra

    What's Next on The Catalyst: Season 8

    After our biggest season ever — nearly 80,000 downloads, a top 2% global ranking, and a documentary-style approach unlike any other show in B2B tech — host Katey Teekasingh is back to set up what's coming next. Season 8 takes on the questions mid-market IT leaders are quietly wrestling with right now: the rise of accidental AI ethics officers. The imposter feeling that follows even the most senior leaders. The SaaSpocalypse threatening to undo years of cost optimization. What happens when you inherit a mess. The new realities of security and the return to the office. And a lot more. We're bringing you the human side of IT — told like a documentary, not a Q&A. New episodes every second Wednesday. Only on The Catalyst — from Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company. Subscribe now and join the thousands of IT leaders already listening. Listen to back episodes and more: https://www.softchoice.com/podcast  The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    2 min

  6. 22 apr

    The Vibe Coding Episode: The Pilot is Dead. Long Live the Pilot.

    For decades, building software meant doing eighty percent of the hard work before you had anything to show for it. AI just flipped that equation. And it's creating a risk nobody planned for. In this episode of The Catalyst, host Katey Teekasingh explores vibe coding — the technology that lets anyone build software by describing what they want in plain language. It was named Collins Dictionary's 2025 Word of the Year. It's already inside your organization. And in late 2025, it might have taken down Amazon's own cloud for thirteen hours. Three experts break down where vibe coding genuinely helps, where it's dangerous, and what to put in place before it touches anything that matters. In This Episode Why “the pilot is dead, long live the pilot” — and what that means for how mid-market IT teams test new ideasThe 80/20 flip that makes AI-generated code fundamentally different from everything before itWhat happened at Amazon when an AI coding tool deleted a live production environmentThe five questions every IT leader should answer before a single line of AI code gets generated Guests Greg Whalen, CTO, Prove AIRon Espinosa, Director, Google Category, SoftchoiceSean Larkin, AI Principal Architect, Softchoice Support Our Sponsor This episode of The Catalyst is brought to you by Veeam Data Cloud Vault — fully managed, secure cloud storage for your backups, with no surprise bills and zero configuration headaches.  Sign up for their AWS Demo Series and see it in action: https://veeam.com/aws-native-backup-demo-series.html The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    24 min

  7. 8 apr

    The Curiosity Episode: You're Not What You Know

    What got you here won't get you there. For most IT leaders, the path to the top was paved with expertise — knowing the systems, owning the decisions, having the answers. But something happens when that playbook stops working. Not a crash. Not a failure. Just a quiet plateau that tells you something needs to change. In this episode of The Catalyst, we explore what's on the other side of that wall: a shift toward curiosity, empowerment, and a fundamentally different way of leading. Featuring leadership coach Kirsten Schmidtke, curiosity researcher Dr. Deb Clary, and Benevity VP of Engineering Rob Woolley — three voices who all landed in the same place. What you'll take away: Why expertise becomes a trap for senior IT leaders — and how to recognize when it's happening to youThe one behaviour change Rob Woolley made that created what he calls "titanic shifts" in his leadershipWhat MIT-commissioned research reveals about the direct link between curiosity and organizational performanceWhy the best leaders aren't the ones with the most answers — and what they do insteadFeaturing: Rob Woolley, VP Core Platform & Data Engineering at Benevity | Kirsten Schmidtke, Leadership Coach & Growth Advisor | Dr. Deb Clary, Author of The Curiosity Curve (Fast Company Press) Learn more about Kirsten at kirstenschmidtke.com  Take Deb's curiosity assessment at debraclary.com  #ITLeadership #MidMarketIT #TheCatalyst #CuriousLeadership #Softchoice #LeadershipDevelopment #FutureOfIT The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    24 min

  8. 11 mar

    The Agentic AI Episode: What IT Leaders Need to Know

    Every vendor in the industry is slapping the word "agentic" on their roadmap. But, what is agentic AI, really? And should IT leaders care? In this episode, we bring together three voices with very different answers: a skeptic who says it's rebranded orchestration, a strategist who says the reasoning layer is genuinely new, and a founder betting his company on it. Together, they cut through the noise and answer the question every IT leader is quietly asking: what should I actually do about agentic AI in 2026? Key takeaways: Why 80% of AI projects fail — and it has nothing to do with the technologyThe difference between "embedded agents" you're already using and custom agents you probably don't need yet"Start with your decisions, not your technology" — a practical framework for mid-market teamsHow to move AI from "pet project" to operationalized infrastructureFeaturing: Sean Larkin, Principal Architect at Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company | Scott Trump, Founder & CEO of Treva AI (former AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle) | Skip Vanderburg, Founder of Prioriti AI #AgenticAI #MidMarketIT #AIStrategy #TheCatalyst #Softchoice #ITLeadership The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

    28 min
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Descrizione

A documentary-style podcast about how IT leaders tackle high-stakes transformations. Each episode weaves together real voices, expert insights, and compelling narratives that reveal universal challenges and practical wisdom. Season 7: "Small Teams, Big Dreams" explores the human stories behind IT transformations—from AI adoption experiments to burnout crises, from toxic job markets to infrastructure decisions that matter. These aren't polished case studies. These are authentic accounts from IT professionals navigating the same impossible gaps between expectations and resources that you face every day. From Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company.

Informazioni

  • Creatore
    Softchoice
  • Anni di attività
    2020 - 2026
  • Puntate
    111
  • Classificazione
    Contenuti espliciti
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Catalyst by Softchoice
  • Sito web del podcast
    The Catalyst by Softchoice

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