Nick Constantine

In a recent Federal Operations Executive Fireside Chat, our organization welcomed James O'Connor, CVP leading Microsoft Business Operations, Global Operations Service Center. James engaged in a thought-provoking discussion with moderators Desmond Powell, MBA, and Adam Harlow (MBA), sharing invaluable insights that resonate with business operations. Key Takeaways from the session: 1. Operational Excellence: James emphasized the paramount importance of operational excellence, advocating for continuous improvement methodologies such as Gemba walks and value chain mapping. He championed a customer-centric ethos, prioritizing customer needs to drive operational optimization. 2. AI and Process Optimization: James shed light on AI advancements across diverse contexts. He stressed a process-centric approach as a precursor to AI integration, emphasizing streamlined and effective processes as foundational to successful AI adoption. James endorsed incorporating Copilot into daily workflows to enhance operational efficiency and productivity. 3. Career Journey: James elaborated on his professional evolution, from his Microsoft's early days as and Individual Contributor to his current CVP role. He highlighted three defining traits - persistence, empathy, and adeptness at connecting dots. These qualities fuel his business outcomes, nurture empathy within teams, and facilitate effective networking of individuals and ideas. James's insights on Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement, and leveraging AI offer actionable guidance for refining business operations and steering transformative change. #OperationalExcellence #AI #ContinuousImprovement Kristen Bryan Scott Wilson Denise Clarke Mohini Sharma Simone Figula

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Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Five9 as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. 🌟 This is Five9's second time being named to this prestigious list, coming in at No. 17. Earning a spot means that Five9 has surpassed rigorous benchmarks, establishing itself as one of the best workplaces among companies headquartered in the San Francisco Bay region. Learn more: #Five9 #BestPlacesToWork #CustomerExperience

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Hayete Gallot's breadth of knowledge across our solution areas is second to none. However, what I admire most is her disciplined and pragmatic approach to continuous learning.   As CVP of Commercial Solution Areas, her discipline is complimented by her curiosity and passion, and she's a pro at protecting her time. From building white space into her calendar to regular partner and customer visits, Hayete shared her system for staying on top of the latest innovations during a recent SMC+DS Women in Leadership discussion. She exemplifies the growth mindset, and I loved her expert advice!   How do you incorporate continuous learning into your busy schedule? Share your strategies for personal and professional growth. 👇   #WomenInLeadership #GrowthMindset 

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Here’s No. 3 of the 10 best practices I've learned over 10 years building and leading #ABM programs. (Ten years have flown by because #ilovemyjob!) Create a program structure and process that constantly reinforces the importance of the message. Technology should enable your program, but not define it. Know your customer--what are their business objectives and what hurdles do they need to overcome to achieve them. Clearly identify how your company can help the customer achieve those objectives and overcome those hurdles. Focus on the message. Develop a UNIQUE value proposition. Create unique content. Then package/deliver that content in a way that its interesting, applicable and drives action by the target audience. Tools like #Draup, #6Sense, #SFDC, #Marketo, #Postal and #Folloze are excellent at informing, actioning, and making your content look beautiful. But they can’t make any impact if you start with a weak or irrelevant message. PS. Partner with a great ABM agency like #Hut3 to create your message! #accountbasedmarketing #contentisking

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The marketing landscape is continuously evolving, with new privacy regulations, tech advancements, and shifting consumer behaviors. By embracing a strategic, customer-centric approach and leveraging the combined expertise of AWS and Slalom, companies can confidently navigate this transformation. https://slalom.ws/3Zq8ohe

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From revealing our new LEED silver certified Seattle headquarters, to turning AI hype into real business impact, 2023 kept us on our toes. Explore how we stayed grounded in our annual report: https://slalom.ws/47yh6fM

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Two days ago, I had the privilege to host The Honor Foundation and 40 of their Fellows--transitioning servicemembers from the Navy and USMC--at Salesforce's Denver Hub with a handful of colleagues from within Salesforce and Slack. I'm the son of two career Army officers and grew up in the military lifestyle, but to say it was profound doesn't do the experience justice. Let's just say that Imposter Syndrome vibes were off the charts in the few hours I was able to spend with these men and women who have given years if not decades in service. I fielded questions about my role, responsibilities, the company...and what I thought they should do. I explained it the best I could in regards to my role driving revenue growth and customer success--talking about the outcomes I'm responsible for instead of simply communicating "I'm a sales rep." See, the latter is simple, but doesn't communicate to people accustomed to targeting objectives and delivering mission success effectively what some of us do and what's available to them in the private sector. And of course, I asked what they did. Their responses, their roles and accomplishments... 😳 Who was I to tell them what they should consider next? I told my Dad about the experience, and this is what he sent. For any of you who are, hire, or recommend a servicemember into your orgs or to a peer...consider the following : "My experience with retiring Military folks was that few of them believed they had transferable skills. To paraphrase many of them 'I know how to take a military objective and harm people if needed, but how do I use that in the civilian world.' They simply need to be reminded of a few things: 1) for their age, they have from the beginning of their military careers, been expected to assume responsibilities that none of their age-peers would see for twenty years; 2) they understand how to accomplish a mission, regardless of obstacles thrown in the path; 3) they understand the backward planning sequence; 4) when the boss says “I’d like this done quickly, but take the weekend off” he didn’t mean the second part; 5) if they have any technical skills, that means means they can add, subtract, multiply and divide--skills that are frequently missing in the broader civilian workforce, that they take for granted; [quantitative judgements in decision-making...he's not saying the rest of us are bad at math] 6) they possess self discipline that will always show through; 7) their egos don’t bruise as they’ve been yelled at by masters, typically under very stressful circumstances and; 8) they are quick learners as many times they’ve been told the equivalent of 'This is your new job, title, phone and desk. I know you haven’t done this before, we can’t afford the time to send you to school for it, just go to work and figure it out.' End of the unsolicited soliloquy. 😊 A headline just reminded me of this: They don’t understand the concepts of overtime pay and bonuses, as they never received either. 😂"

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From revealing our new LEED silver certified Seattle headquarters, to turning AI hype into real business impact, 2023 kept us on our toes. Explore how we stayed grounded in our annual report: https://slalom.ws/3AMin6A

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Everyone is talking about AI but where do you get started? Check out this quick read to learn how to use Einstein Copilot and MuleSoft to accelerate your AI journey. #RunWithTheMules

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I had the pleasure of speaking at an Adobe leadership offsite last week with fellow leaders Marissa Rexer, David Tokheim and Rob Commons, and it was an incredible experience. Here are my top points and takeaways: 1 - Find and Solve Problems: Every business has its challenges. Identifying and addressing these problems is crucial for success. 2 - Sell Solutions, Not Products: Customers don’t buy products; they buy solutions to their problems. By helping them find these solutions, you build trust and loyalty. 3 - Build Relationship Currency (Something I learned from Carla Harris): Enjoy what you do and who you do it with, including your customers. Be a good friend and colleague. We’re all people striving to do good things. A positive attitude and genuine connections lead to great outcomes. 4 - No Bad Ideas: Leverage your team and cross-functional partners for ideation. Often, bad ideas lead to good ones, which can be more valuable than refraining from sharing thoughts altogether. Thank you, Adobe, for the opportunity to share my insights and learn from such an inspiring group of leaders! #Leadership #Innovation #ProblemSolving #CustomerSolutions #Teamwork #CustomerExperience #Agile #LeadershipDevelopment #Adobe

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Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Five9 as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. 🌟 This is Five9's second time being named to this prestigious list, coming in at No. 17. Earning a spot means that Five9 has surpassed rigorous benchmarks, establishing itself as one of the best workplaces among companies headquartered in the San Francisco Bay region. Learn more: #Five9 #BestPlacesToWork #CustomerExperience

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Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Five9 as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. 🌟 This is Five9's second time being named to this prestigious list, coming in at No. 17. Earning a spot means that Five9 has surpassed rigorous benchmarks, establishing itself as one of the best workplaces among companies headquartered in the San Francisco Bay region. Learn more: #Five9 #BestPlacesToWork #CustomerExperience

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Thrilled to have completed the Artificial Intelligence: Business Strategies and Applications program with UC Berkeley Executive Education. This program offered invaluable insights into how AI can transform businesses—covering everything from strategic formulation to practical, real-world applications. It was a fantastic blend of technology and business strategy. The tools and knowledge I’ve gained will help me empower organizations to harness AI for smarter decision-making, improved efficiency, and greater innovation. Looking forward to applying this knowledge to drive impactful changes in the world of Wealth Management and Financial Services technology. Grateful for this invaluable learning experience. #AI #BusinessStrategy #Innovation #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #AIForBusiness #LifelongLearning

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Disruption mode on! Exciting times to be in AI and Fintech. As a consumer - I can’t wait to see what all this investment will yield! Especially when it comes to saving my time and money. As a professional - let’s go and make history defining the next-generation of products and delightful experiences our customers will love! #aiproductmanagement #letsgo!

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Nature is at risk. It’s vital that we increase investments to protect and enhance the health of ecosystems. But there are barriers for companies to invest holistically in nature to protect and enhance ecosystem health. Throughout Microsoft's sustainability journey, we have learned that companies need better tools, more accessible science, and stronger incentives for corporate investments in nature to be effective. We have taken a holistic approach to our investments in nature. We’re partnering with scientists, local communities, and industry partners to remove carbon from the atmosphere, replenish water in water-stressed basins, and protect land for ecological conservation. We’re also building AI-enabled tools for measuring and improving ecosystem health, advancing the science to support evidence-based policies and standards, and helping to build markets of high-integrity nature-based solutions.    Today, we published our latest white paper discussing the opportunities and challenges of corporate investments in nature and reflecting on learnings to inform the way forward to maximize the sustainability impacts of corporate investments in nature. https://lnkd.in/diybkv4k

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Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index report released today, with this edition offering a broad view of how AI is not only reshaping work, but the labor market overall. There’s so much in here but a big headline is we now see 75% of knowledge workers using AI at work, doubling in just six months! People are finding AI saves them time, boosts creativity, and allows them to focus on their most important tasks. If you are interested in how AI is changing the workforce, there is so much in this WTI report – check it out. #microsoft365

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This was a blast! The recording is now up, for folks who missed it. Topics that I covered with Cathryn and Shivaprasad included: - What new areas are airlines looking to use data to drive and why? - Is data and data platform a capability that airlines should invest in building up themselves or can it be meaningfully delegated to vendors? - How confident are airlines on regulation topics like GDPR and the EU AI Act? - Is generative AI living up to the hype (yet), or are other machine learning and optimisation techniques still dominant? - Do airlines really want personalisation? There’s a lot of talk about it, but isn’t it easier to treat people as bums on seats? “The airline industry is all about diverse data sets coming in from different angles.” - Shiv “The customer expects you to know them, especially if they’ve logged in.” - Cathryn https://lnkd.in/dNDtDQUt Thoughtworks #data #aviation

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