This episode tackles the ultimate leadership challenge: achieving next-level performance across profit, people, AND purpose without trading one off against the others. How do you turn AI vision into daily execution? What's the minimum viable AI roadmap that delivers value in 90 days? And how do you coach teams through transformation while maintaining speed and accountability?

Guest:

Greg Mester, co-author of "The Change, Vol. 20" and upcoming author of "Get to the Next Level" (2025/26). As an experienced Agile Coach and Program Manager, Greg helps companies break through blockers and accelerate performance using proven PMP, Scrum, and Agile frameworks across IT, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and finance.

Key Takeaways:

• The minimum viable AI roadmap that produces value in 90 days

• Leadership behaviors that compound profit, people, and purpose

• Proven frameworks for stakeholder alignment and team coaching

• Weekly leading indicators that actually predict AI success

• Governance guardrails that enable speed without compromising safety

• Growth metrics that drive action and resist gaming

• SMB-specific strategies for rapid AI adoption and margin improvement

Perfect for:

Executive leaders driving AI transformation, mid-market and SMB owners, product leaders, marketers, operations professionals, and anyone ready to move from AI hype to measurable results.

Season 2 delivers battle-tested strategies from leaders getting real results. Subscribe for practical, implementation-focused frameworks you can apply immediately.

Join hosts Mac and Sam for an exciting season finale as they explore the cutting-edge intersection of AI and robotics with Daniel Ritchie, veteran technologist and founding member of Brain Wave Collective.

🤖 What You'll Discover:

• How AI is revolutionizing robotics across industries—from disaster zones to space exploration
• Real-world insights from AI hackathons with Hugging Face, NVIDIA, and Meta
• The role of reinforcement learning and computer vision in modern robotic control
• Strategies for ensuring ethical, safe, and interpretable autonomous systems
• Future trends that will reshape the AI-robotics landscape over the next 5 years
• Practical advice for AI enthusiasts entering the robotics space

About Our Guest: Daniel Ritchie brings 15+ years of experience in DevOps, software integration, and system design, with hands-on expertise in networked robotics and agentic video frameworks. His unique perspective spans enterprise environments and rapid prototyping, making him the perfect guide for understanding how to evaluate technical feasibility and iterate toward breakthrough innovations.

Connect with Daniel:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielritchie123/

BrainWave Collective: https://brainwavecollective.ai/

This marks the conclusion of Inside Asemble AI's first season—thank you for joining our journey through AI's transformative impact across industries. Stay tuned for Season 2!

#AI #Robotics #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #TechPodcast #MachineLearning #Automation

In this episode of Inside Assemble AI, hosts Mac and Sam sit down with Claude Jones to explore how artificial intelligence is being democratized through community-driven education and strategic implementation. This episode addresses the critical question of how to turn AI access into opportunity and create meaningful change through inclusive AI education.

Claude, a veteran tech leader with over 20 years of experience at companies like Yahoo, Walmart, Strava, and Centr, is the founder of San Diego Tech Hub and Do It With AI—a platform offering free AI training, certification, and consulting to help people and businesses learn faster, build smarter, and create real-world results. What makes Claude's perspective unique is his passion for turning access into opportunity and using technology to drive meaningful change through community-building.

Key insights from Claude Jones include: • The mission and vision behind democratizing AI education • How AI has shifted strategic priorities across different organizations • The role of community in successful AI transformation • Surprising patterns about who adopts AI fastest • Frameworks for deciding where to integrate AI in business operations • Building AI fluency in executive teams without technical backgrounds • Overcoming internal resistance to AI adoption • Emerging trends in AI education and community building

🎙️ Runtime: ~1 hour

In this episode of Inside Assemble AI, hosts Mac and Sam sit down with Jen Hanson to explore how artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping product management. This episode addresses the critical question of how AI is transforming what it means to be a product professional and what success looks like when building AI-enabled products.

Jen, a seasoned product leader with over 15 years of experience building and launching products at early-stage startups, currently works as a fractional product consultant helping founders define MVPs and align teams. She's also co-organizer of AI & Product Colorado, a community exploring how AI is reshaping product management. What makes Jen's perspective unique is her hands-on experience with both traditional product development and emerging AI-first product strategies.

Key insights from Jen Hanson include: • How AI is reshaping traditional PM responsibilities • Practical AI workflows for day-to-day product management • Unique challenges in AI-enabled product development • Methods for evaluating when AI is the right solution • Balancing innovation with user trust and transparency • Gathering feedback and iterating on AI features • Driving AI adoption among non-technical users • Essential skills and mindsets for the future of product management

🎙️ Runtime: ~1 hour

In this episode of Inside Assemble AI, hosts Mac and Sam sit down with David Catalano to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming business strategy and innovation. This episode, titled "Agentic Leadership in AI," addresses the critical question of how non-technical executives can successfully lead AI initiatives that drive real business impact. David, a former opera singer turned McKinsey consultant, is currently finishing his MBA at the University of Oxford, where he also tutored and presented at the university's AI summit on autonomous AI agents and his concept of agentic leadership. He coined the term "agentic leadership" in a recent LinkedIn article.

Key insights from David Catalano include:

• Identifying Strategic Pressure Points

• Defining Well-Scoped AI Use Cases

• Building Governance Frameworks

• Metrics and Feedback Loops for Optimization

• Quantifying ROI

• Upskilling and Mindset Shifts

• Avoiding Pitfalls and Addressing Concerns

🎙️ Runtime: ~1 hour (estimated)

In this episode of Inside Asemble AI, hosts Sam and Mac sit down with Aaron Blythe, a Google Cloud AI/ML expert and seasoned cloud architect, to explore how generative AI is moving from boardroom hype to real-world, enterprise-scale implementation. Aaron shares how companies are bridging strategy and execution by weaving AI into cloud-native architectures, and dives deep into tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude for coding tasks and enterprise transformation.

We discuss practical challenges like trust, scalability, governance, and best practices for deploying AI agents across cloud systems. Whether you’re an executive shaping strategy or a technical leader executing it, this episode will help you understand how AI becomes reality—from pilot to production.

Guest: Aaron Blythe, Google Cloud Architect, community builder, and certified Generative AI Leader, Founder of nextfive.io

Topics: GenAI use cases, cloud-native agent design, LLM evaluation, AI infrastructure, enterprise trends

🎙️ Runtime: ~1 hour

In this episode of Inside Asemble AI, hosts Mac and Sam sit down with a special guest Sean Mclaughlin an experienced VR educator turned certified AI training coach—to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the classroom. From advocating for tools like MagicSchool AI to developing AI-ready pedagogies, our guest shares practical insights for educators, administrators, and parents navigating this digital transformation.

We unpack how AI can foster collaborative learning, promote equity for diverse and SEND learners, and preserve student ownership in an AI-assisted world. The conversation also touches on teacher development, privacy concerns, and the future of lifelong digital learning. Whether you’re just starting or already experimenting with AI in education, this episode offers actionable strategies to keep your innovation efforts both impactful and inclusive.

In this episode of Inside Asemble AI, we explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the role of program managers—from project planners and risk managers to strategic decision-makers. Hosts Mac and Sam sit down with Shea Furey King, a seasoned program manager and technologist, to unpack what it really means to manage complex programs in the age of AI.

We dive into:

• What AI-powered program management looks like in practice
• Real-world tools that automate scheduling, resource conflicts, and stakeholder communication
• How AI is shifting the role from reactive to proactive
• Challenges around ethics, transparency, and human-AI collaboration
• The biggest myths—and biggest opportunities—surrounding AI in this space

Whether you’re a tech leader, project professional, or just curious about the evolving role of AI in business operations, this episode offers both strategic insight and practical takeaways. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of how to augment—not replace—human intelligence in program management.