Latest news with #DaveWagner
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Real Leadership Starts With Purpose
Dave Wagner is President & CEO of Everbridge, which helps to keep people safe and organizations running. In business, we talk a lot about purpose. It shows up on walls, websites and in investor decks. It shapes our values and drives our mission statements. But too often, purpose is treated like a slogan—something you reference, not something you rely on. The truth is, purpose only matters when it's lived. In my experience, the most powerful expressions of purpose don't happen in presentations or offsites. They happen in the quiet, unscripted moments when someone chooses to step up. Not because they're told to, but because it's who they are. Not long ago, we received a message from a longtime customer. He wasn't writing about a product issue or a support ticket. He was writing to thank one of our team members for stepping in during a moment of personal crisis. This wasn't about implementation timelines or system uptime. It was about compassion, presence and leadership during a time of deep personal need. That moment had nothing to do with contracts or technology, but it had everything to do with purpose. I share this not as a corporate anecdote, but as a leadership lesson. Because in a world where disruption is constant—where cyberattacks, extreme weather, geopolitical instability and supply chain shocks are reshaping how we operate—leaders are being forced to make faster, higher-stakes decisions than ever before. In that environment, strategy is important and technology is essential, but purpose is what keeps your people aligned when the playbook runs out. Purpose is what builds resilience. When I speak to other CEOs, I often hear the same concerns: How do we keep our teams engaged? How do we adapt to change? How do we stay focused through uncertainty? My answer often starts with purpose. Not as a vague ideal, but as a practical tool for resilience. One effective way I've found this can be encouraged is through personal purpose statements. Ask people to reflect on the moments when they've felt most proud, and then articulate the values and motivations behind those experiences. It's a simple but powerful step, because when someone knows why they do the work, they're far more equipped to navigate how to do it, especially under pressure. Purpose empowers people to act with autonomy, even when direction is limited. It encourages collaboration over silos and reduces friction during times of stress. Purpose also builds trust, internally and externally. Customers don't just buy what you make—they believe in what you stand for. And employees, especially today's workforce, want to feel connected to something larger than output or quarterly goals. They want to know their work matters. Purpose doesn't replace performance—it drives it. There's a misconception that purpose is somehow 'soft' or that it comes at the expense of performance. I believe the opposite is true. Purpose clarifies priorities. It helps leaders make faster, more consistent decisions, and it motivates teams to go further, especially when the stakes are high. At Everbridge, for example, our purpose is to help organizations manage critical events and protect lives. It's why we exist. And in our world, the difference between a timely response and a delayed one can be measured in lives saved. That weight comes with responsibility, but it also inspires action. I see it in how our teams show up for customers and how we partner with governments and enterprises to prepare for the unexpected. I saw it most clearly in that customer note from a customer thanking one of our team members for showing up during one of life's most difficult moments. Leading with purpose starts at the top. If you're a leader reading this, I'd offer this reflection: Does your organization know its purpose? Not the words on your website—the real purpose. The one that shows up in how you hire, how you recognize people and how you lead in moments of uncertainty. And more importantly: are you living it? I'd suggest leaders should even go a step further, challenged to create their own personal purpose statements—clear, human answers to questions like 'What do I want to be known for?' and 'When do I feel most alive at work?' When leaders can name their purpose, they can lead from it. If your team sees that you prioritize what matters, even when it's inconvenient, they'll follow. If they see you cut corners or treat purpose as optional, they'll do the same. In my view, the best leaders today are the ones who can help teams stay focused amid distraction, lead with values when there's pressure and return to purpose when things go sideways. Purpose is a long game. You don't build a purpose-driven culture overnight. It takes time, consistency and trust. And that return on investment shows up in how your teams collaborate, in customer loyalty and in performance. Sometimes purpose shows up in moments you never expected, when someone takes action not because they have to, but because they believe in what you're building together. That's when you know your purpose is real and your organization is ready for anything. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Google parent Alphabet surprises with capital spending boost after earnings beat
Alphabet on Wednesday cited massive demand for its cloud computing services as it hiked its capital spending plans for the year to about $85 billion and predicted a further increase next year. The search giant strongly beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on the back of new AI features and a steady digital advertising market. Revenue growth was driven by Google Cloud's sales, which surged nearly 32%, well above estimates for a 26.5% increase. "With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures." CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings release. Shares of the company, which have risen more than 18% since its previous earnings report in April, dipped initially in extended trading after the report before rallying as executives shared details about strong cloud demand on a call with analysts. But investors were surprised by the planned capital spending increase. "I don't think anyone was expecting a change to that 2025 capex guide," said Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. "Google had an amazing quarter. It was an easy beat, and it was just offset by this $10-billion increase in capex." Capital spending is expected to increase further in 2026 due to demand and growth opportunities, Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said on the call. Ashkenazi added that while the pace of server deployment has improved, Alphabet continues to face more customer demand for its cloud services than it can supply. Google had earlier pledged about $75 billion in capital spending this year, part of the more than $320 billion that Big Tech is expected to pour into building AI capabilities. CLOUD GAINS The rise of artificial intelligence technologies has propelled demand for cloud computing services. Google Cloud still trails Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure in total sales, but has tried to gain ground by touting AI offerings, including its in-house TPU chips that rival Nvidia's GPUs. The business segment grew its quarter-over-quarter customer count by 28%, Pichai said on the call. "The comprehensiveness of our AI portfolio, the breadth of our offerings, both providing our models on GPUs and TPUs for our customers, all of that has been really driving demand," he said. In a huge win for Alphabet, ChatGPT maker OpenAI recently added Google Cloud to its list of cloud capacity suppliers, as Reuters exclusively reported in June, in a surprising collaboration between two companies that are competing head-to-head in AI. It also marked OpenAI's latest move to diversify beyond its major backer Microsoft. The capex increase nevertheless raises concerns about Alphabet's pace of monetization and its impact on near-term profitability, senior analyst Jesse Cohen said. Alphabet and its peers have defended their aggressive AI spending amid rising competition from Chinese rivals and investor frustration with slower-than-expected payoffs, saying those massive investments are necessary to fuel growth and improve their products. AI RACE Google Search's artificial intelligence features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode are also helping the company boost engagement and tackle rising competition from chatbots such as ChatGPT that have surged in popularity. AI Mode has grown to 100 million monthly active users just two months after Google announced the start of its large-scale rollout during its annual developer conference. Google's own ChatGPT competitor, called Gemini, has more than 450 million monthly users, Pichai said. Google's advertising revenue, which represents about three-quarters of the tech major's overall sales, rose 10.4% to $71.34 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations for $69.47 billion, according to data from LSEG. "Hopefully, this will damper concerns by the investment community that has been worried that products like OpenAI/ChatGPT could be having an impact on Google's Search query growth," said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust. Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.43 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of about $94 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company reported profit of $2.31 per share for the period, beating estimates of $2.18 per share, according to LSEG data.
Economic Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Google parent Alphabet surprises with capital spending boost after earnings beat
Alphabet saw a surge in cloud computing demand. The company is increasing its capital spending. This is to about $85 billion. Alphabet beat Wall Street estimates for revenue and profit. Google Cloud sales grew significantly. AI features and a steady digital ad market helped. The company's shares initially dipped but then rallied. This was due to strong cloud demand details. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads CLOUD GAINS Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads AI RACE Alphabet on Wednesday cited massive demand for its cloud computing services as it hiked its capital spending plans for the year to about $85 billion and predicted a further increase next search giant strongly beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on the back of new AI features and a steady digital advertising growth was driven by Google Cloud's sales, which surged nearly 32%, well above estimates for a 26.5% increase."With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures." CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings of the company, which have risen more than 18% since its previous earnings report in April, dipped initially in extended trading after the report before rallying as executives shared details about strong cloud demand on a call with investors were surprised by the planned capital spending increase."I don't think anyone was expecting a change to that 2025 capex guide," said Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. "Google had an amazing quarter. It was an easy beat, and it was just offset by this $10-billion increase in capex."Capital spending is expected to increase further in 2026 due to demand and growth opportunities, Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said on the added that while the pace of server deployment has improved, Alphabet continues to face more customer demand for its cloud services than it can had earlier pledged about $75 billion in capital spending this year, part of the more than $320 billion that Big Tech is expected to pour into building AI rise of artificial intelligence technologies has propelled demand for cloud computing services. Google Cloud still trails Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure in total sales, but has tried to gain ground by touting AI offerings, including its in-house TPU chips that rival Nvidia's business segment grew its quarter-over-quarter customer count by 28%, Pichai said on the call."The comprehensiveness of our AI portfolio, the breadth of our offerings, both providing our models on GPUs and TPUs for our customers, all of that has been really driving demand," he said. In a huge win for Alphabet, ChatGPT maker OpenAI recently added Google Cloud to its list of cloud capacity suppliers, as Reuters exclusively reported in June, in a surprising collaboration between two companies that are competing head-to-head in AI. It also marked OpenAI's latest move to diversify beyond its major backer capex increase nevertheless raises concerns about Alphabet's pace of monetization and its impact on near-term profitability, senior analyst Jesse Cohen and its peers have defended their aggressive AI spending amid rising competition from Chinese rivals and investor frustration with slower-than-expected payoffs, saying those massive investments are necessary to fuel growth and improve their Search's artificial intelligence features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode are also helping the company boost engagement and tackle rising competition from chatbots such as ChatGPT that have surged in popularity. AI Mode has grown to 100 million monthly active users just two months after Google announced the start of its large-scale rollout during its annual developer conference. Google's own ChatGPT competitor, called Gemini, has more than 450 million monthly users, Pichai advertising revenue, which represents about three-quarters of the tech major's overall sales, rose 10.4% to $71.34 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations for $69.47 billion, according to data from LSEG."Hopefully, this will damper concerns by the investment community that has been worried that products like OpenAI/ChatGPT could be having an impact on Google's Search query growth," said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus reported total revenue of $96.43 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of about $94 billion, according to data compiled by company reported profit of $2.31 per share for the period, beating estimates of $2.18 per share, according to LSEG data.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Google parent Alphabet surprises with capital spending boost after earnings beat
Alphabet on Wednesday cited massive demand for its cloud computing services as it hiked its capital spending plans for the year to about $85 billion and predicted a further increase next year. The search giant strongly beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on the back of new AI features and a steady digital advertising market. 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"With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures." CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings release. Shares of the company, which have risen more than 18% since its previous earnings report in April, dipped initially in extended trading after the report before rallying as executives shared details about strong cloud demand on a call with analysts. Live Events But investors were surprised by the planned capital spending increase. "I don't think anyone was expecting a change to that 2025 capex guide," said Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. "Google had an amazing quarter. It was an easy beat, and it was just offset by this $10-billion increase in capex." Capital spending is expected to increase further in 2026 due to demand and growth opportunities, Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said on the call. Ashkenazi added that while the pace of server deployment has improved, Alphabet continues to face more customer demand for its cloud services than it can supply. Google had earlier pledged about $75 billion in capital spending this year, part of the more than $320 billion that Big Tech is expected to pour into building AI capabilities. CLOUD GAINS The rise of artificial intelligence technologies has propelled demand for cloud computing services. Google Cloud still trails Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure in total sales, but has tried to gain ground by touting AI offerings, including its in-house TPU chips that rival Nvidia's GPUs. The business segment grew its quarter-over-quarter customer count by 28%, Pichai said on the call. "The comprehensiveness of our AI portfolio, the breadth of our offerings, both providing our models on GPUs and TPUs for our customers, all of that has been really driving demand," he said. In a huge win for Alphabet, ChatGPT maker OpenAI recently added Google Cloud to its list of cloud capacity suppliers, as Reuters exclusively reported in June, in a surprising collaboration between two companies that are competing head-to-head in AI. It also marked OpenAI's latest move to diversify beyond its major backer Microsoft. The capex increase nevertheless raises concerns about Alphabet's pace of monetization and its impact on near-term profitability, senior analyst Jesse Cohen said. Alphabet and its peers have defended their aggressive AI spending amid rising competition from Chinese rivals and investor frustration with slower-than-expected payoffs, saying those massive investments are necessary to fuel growth and improve their products. AI RACE Google Search's artificial intelligence features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode are also helping the company boost engagement and tackle rising competition from chatbots such as ChatGPT that have surged in popularity. AI Mode has grown to 100 million monthly active users just two months after Google announced the start of its large-scale rollout during its annual developer conference. Google's own ChatGPT competitor, called Gemini, has more than 450 million monthly users, Pichai said. Google's advertising revenue, which represents about three-quarters of the tech major's overall sales, rose 10.4% to $71.34 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations for $69.47 billion, according to data from LSEG. "Hopefully, this will damper concerns by the investment community that has been worried that products like OpenAI/ChatGPT could be having an impact on Google's Search query growth," said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust. Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.43 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of about $94 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company reported profit of $2.31 per share for the period, beating estimates of $2.18 per share, according to LSEG data.
The Star
6 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Google parent Alphabet surprises with capital spending boost after earnings beat
(Reuters) -Alphabet on Wednesday cited massive demand for its cloud computing services as it hiked its capital spending plans for the year to about $85 billion and predicted a further increase next year. The search giant strongly beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on the back of new AI features and a steady digital advertising market. Revenue growth was driven by Google Cloud's sales, which surged nearly 32%, well above estimates for a 26.5% increase. "With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures." CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings release. Shares of the company, which have risen more than 18% since its previous earnings report in April, dipped initially in extended trading after the report before rallying as executives shared details about strong cloud demand on a call with analysts. But investors were surprised by the planned capital spending increase. "I don't think anyone was expecting a change to that 2025 capex guide," said Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. "Google had an amazing quarter. It was an easy beat, and it was just offset by this $10-billion increase in capex." Capital spending is expected to increase further in 2026 due to demand and growth opportunities, Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said on the call. Ashkenazi added that while the pace of server deployment hasimproved, Alphabet continues to face more customer demand for its cloud services than it can supply. Google had earlier pledged about $75 billion in capital spending this year, part of the more than $320 billion that Big Tech is expected to pour into building AI capabilities. CLOUD GAINS The rise of artificial intelligence technologies has propelled demand for cloud computing services. Google Cloud still trails Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure in total sales, but hastried to gain ground by touting AI offerings, including its in-house TPU chips that rival Nvidia's GPUs. The business segment grew its quarter-over-quartercustomer count by 28%, Pichai said on the call. "The comprehensiveness of our AI portfolio, the breadth of our offerings, both providing our models on GPUs and TPUs for our customers, all of that has been really driving demand," he said. In a huge win for Alphabet, ChatGPT maker OpenAI recently added Google Cloud to its list of cloud capacity suppliers, as Reuters exclusively reported in June, in a surprising collaboration between two companies that are competing head-to-head in AI. It also marked OpenAI's latest move to diversify beyond its major backer Microsoft. The capex increase nevertheless raises concerns about Alphabet's pace of monetization and its impact on near-term profitability, senior analyst Jesse Cohen said. Alphabet and its peers have defended their aggressive AI spending amid rising competition from Chinese rivals and investor frustration with slower-than-expected payoffs, saying those massive investments are necessary to fuel growth and improve their products. AI RACE Google Search's artificial intelligence features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode are also helping the company boost engagement and tackle rising competition from chatbots such as ChatGPT that have surged in popularity. AI Mode has grown to 100 million monthly active users just two months after Google announced the start of its large-scale rollout during its annual developer conference. Google's own ChatGPT competitor, called Gemini, has more than 450 million monthly users, Pichai said. Google's advertising revenue, which represents about three-quarters of the tech major's overall sales, rose 10.4% to $71.34 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations for $69.47 billion, according to data from LSEG. "Hopefully, this will damper concerns by the investment community that has been worried that products like OpenAI/ChatGPT could be having an impact on Google's Search query growth," said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust. Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.43 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of about $94 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company reported profit of $2.31 per share for the period, beating estimates of $2.18 per share, according to LSEG data. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Kenrick Cai in San Francisco; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Rod Nickel)
