Latest news with #Grit


CNA
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Getting the Nitty Gritty on Grits
CNA938 Rewind Have you got Grit? It's a type of grain you may not find anywhere in Singapore, except at this new place. Hui Wong gets the nitty gritty on how 'love is in the details' for this African American soulful food that infuses some local flavours, from Matthew Bradley, Founder and Head Chef & Wanyu Lee Bradley, Founder and General Manager at Nitty Gritty.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Leaders in AI need to reinvent themselves every year, says Cisco's former CEO
John Chambers, Cisco's former CEO, said leaders need to reinvent themselves every year. Refreshing a company's strategy every two to three years is no longer sufficient in this AI age, he said. The pressure to keep up with AI is already being felt in many boardrooms. John Chambers has a message for executives in AI: Remake yourself every year or risk falling behind. "Most leaders do not reinvent themselves," said the former Cisco CEO and current VC on an episode of the "Grit" podcast published Monday. "As a leader in AI, you have to reinvent yourself, in my opinion, every year." This is because AI is moving in "internet terms" at "five times the speed" and delivering "three times the results," Chambers said. That pace means companies will succeed and fail faster than ever before, he added. He was the CEO of Cisco from 1995 to 2015. The pressure to keep up with AI is already being felt in boardrooms. JPMorgan Chase on Monday told investors that starting this year, less of its $95 billion in annual spending will go toward hiring as the bank seeks to do more with less, thanks in part to AI. LinkedIn data showed that since the fall, AI hiring has risen 30% faster than overall hiring. By 2030, 70% of the skills required for most jobs will change due to AI, the company said. Chambers, who now runs JC2 Ventures, said refreshing a company's strategy every two to three years is no longer sufficient. In this AI age, the lack of change just means "you're not getting the leverage out of it, you're chasing the new shiny object," he said. Reinvention, in his view, means rethinking everything from target market and products to how companies differentiate and go to market. Chambers said a founder he works with has grown his company 100% year-on-year and still cut his head count by 10% because he used AI "to change everything." The founder uses AI not only for his core product development, but also in sales, analytics, forecasting, and customer service, Chambers said. Large language models, often seen as the cornerstone of AI, are also quickly becoming commoditized. What sets companies apart now is how they use AI across their entire tech stack, he said. Across the tech world, executives are voicing a similar urgency — that keeping up with AI means constantly adapting, or risk falling behind. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who considers himself an AI optimist, said the tech transition comes with responsibility. "One of the things we have to watch is that the pace of this transition may be quick, it may be quicker than other technology transitions in the past," Jassy said while speaking at the Harvard Business Review Leadership Summit last month. "We have to make sure that we're responsible about the way the algorithms work and the way the models work." Consulting firms like McKinsey and BCG are also echoing this shift. ' "About 40% of the work we do is analytics-related, AI-related, and a lot of it is moving to Gen AI," a McKinsey senior partner told BI last year. Read the original article on Business Insider

Business Insider
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Leaders in AI need to reinvent themselves every year, says Cisco's former CEO
John Chambers has a message for executives in AI: Remake yourself every year or risk falling behind. "Most leaders do not reinvent themselves," said the former Cisco CEO and current VC on an episode of the "Grit" podcast published Monday. "As a leader in AI, you have to reinvent yourself, in my opinion, every year." This is because AI is moving in "internet terms" at "five times the speed" and delivering "three times the results," Chambers said. That pace means companies will succeed and fail faster than ever before, he added. He was the CEO of Cisco from 1995 to 2015. The pressure to keep up with AI is already being felt in boardrooms. JPMorgan Chase on Monday told investors that starting this year, less of its $95 billion in annual spending will go toward hiring as the bank seeks to do more with less, thanks in part to AI. LinkedIn data showed that since the fall, AI hiring has risen 30% faster than overall hiring. By 2030, 70% of the skills required for most jobs will change due to AI, the company said. Chambers, who now runs JC2 Ventures, said refreshing a company's strategy every two to three years is no longer sufficient. In this AI age, the lack of change just means "you're not getting the leverage out of it, you're chasing the new shiny object," he said. Reinvention, in his view, means rethinking everything from target market and products to how companies differentiate and go to market. Chambers said a founder he works with has grown his company 100% year-on-year and still cut his head count by 10% because he used AI "to change everything." The founder uses AI not only for his core product development, but also in sales, analytics, forecasting, and customer service, Chambers said. Large language models, often seen as the cornerstone of AI, are also quickly becoming commoditized. What sets companies apart now is how they use AI across their entire tech stack, he said. Across the tech world, executives are voicing a similar urgency — that keeping up with AI means constantly adapting, or risk falling behind. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who considers himself an AI optimist, said the tech transition comes with responsibility. "One of the things we have to watch is that the pace of this transition may be quick, it may be quicker than other technology transitions in the past," Jassy said while speaking at the Harvard Business Review Leadership Summit last month. "We have to make sure that we're responsible about the way the algorithms work and the way the models work." Consulting firms like McKinsey and BCG are also echoing this shift. ' "About 40% of the work we do is analytics-related, AI-related, and a lot of it is moving to Gen AI," a McKinsey senior partner told BI last year.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I'm Not Scared Of Sundays,' Says HubSpot CEO, Who Beats The Sunday Scaries By Simply Working Through The Weekend
Turns out, a lot of people feel anxious on Sundays. According to a 2023 survey by HR software provider Ciphr, nearly half of senior managers in the UK report experiencing the 'Sunday scaries' multiple times a year. On the other hand, HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) CEO Yamini Rangan says she doesn't get the Sunday scaries. In fact, she skips right over them by turning Sundays into a full workday. "I'm not scared of Sundays,' Rangan said on the recent episode of the 'Grit' podcast. 'I enjoy it because it's my time. I get to decide what I'm learning, what I'm doing, what I'm thinking, what I'm writing. It is completely my schedule.' Don't Miss: Hasbro, MGM, and Skechers trust this AI marketing firm — 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Her version of a day off? Saturday. She completely disconnects from work after Friday night and doesn't pick it back up until Sunday morning. No emails, no messages, not even from the board. That one-day break is non-negotiable. Then comes Sunday, which for her is anything but restful. She turns it into a dedicated workday: reading, thinking, planning, and writing. It's her time to prepare for the week ahead with focus and intention, without interruptions. "It is completely my schedule," she said. By the time most people are still winding down their weekend, she's already scheduled a full set of Monday morning emails, often timed to hit inboxes at 5 a.m. This rhythm, she says, keeps her balanced. It's her way of eliminating the dread many feel about Mondays—by turning Sunday into a day of action instead of anxiety. Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Rangan's approach may sound intense, but she's not alone in working this way. A recent survey by HR software firm Ciphr shows that stress and anxiety about the workweek are widespread among senior managers. Nearly half – 47% – of the 265 UK senior managers polled said they felt the Sunday scaries multiple times over the past year. About 13% felt them multiple times a month, and 5% said they felt them every week. Only 8% of respondents said they had never experienced the Sunday scaries. The top three causes of stress among senior leaders were high inflation and rising prices (34%), the cost-of-living crisis (33%) and burnout (27%). Workload and to-do lists (24%), economic downturn (23%) and unfinished work tasks (21%) are also some of the reasons. Rangan, who leads a company with more than 9,000 employees and billions in revenue, says the key to avoiding burnout is to find a rhythm that works and stick to it. 'Peak performance requires peak rest,' she said. So she made a rule: 'I've said to people that I will not respond on Saturday.' Even when board members send emails, Rangan says she holds firm to her Saturday boundary and doesn't Rangan took over as CEO in 2021, it wasn't under normal circumstances. HubSpot co-founder and then-CEO Brian Halligan was injured in a snowmobile accident and suddenly out of commission. Rangan, who joined as chief customer officer in 2020, stepped in.'He said, 'Remember I told you if I ever got hit by a bus, you'd have to run it? I need you to run it.'' Rangan accepted the interim CEO role, thinking Halligan would eventually return. He didn't. Six months later, the board made her appointment permanent. Since then, she's guided the customer relationship management and marketing automation platform through pandemic growth, a sudden market slowdown, and the rise of AI. Each year, she says, requires reinvention. "Every year I've been CEO, I've had to reinvent what I'm doing and my mental constructs," she said. 'Every year, there's something completely different we're trying to drive.' Rangan's no stranger to pressure. She grew up in a 350-square-foot home in a small Indian town. She came to the U.S. with $300 and worked her way up through engineering and sales. Even now, she says, she often feels 'behind.' 'I've embraced that discomfort," she said. "If I'm not learning, I'm behind.' Read Next: Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Inspired by Uber and Airbnb – Deloitte's fastest-growing software company is transforming 7 billion smartphones into income-generating assets – UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? HUBSPOT (HUBS): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'I'm Not Scared Of Sundays,' Says HubSpot CEO, Who Beats The Sunday Scaries By Simply Working Through The Weekend originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Business Insider
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
HubSpot CEO's schedule includes a personal workday on the weekend to avoid the 'Sunday scaries'
HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan has a method to avoid the " Sunday scaries" — starting her workweek early. "I'm not scared of Sundays," Rangan said on a recent episode of the Grit podcast. "I enjoy it because it's my time. I get to decide what I'm learning, what I'm doing, what I'm thinking, what I'm writing. It is completely my schedule. I have nothing else to disturb me except my own thoughts." Rangan said there hasn't been a weekend in the past fifteen years that she hasn't been working, though she hedges that it's not always particularly grueling. "I can't claim that I work really hard," she said. "I have a schedule that works for me." Rangan said she uses the day to prepare, more than anything else. Keeping up with the ever-shifting trends within the tech industry demands a decent amount of study, she added — she often uses Sundays for catching up, learning, and "play." "Sunday morning, it's a full workday for me, and it's my workday," Rangan said. "This is the time I read, this is the time I do deep thinking, this is the time I write. It's a full day." Rangan has set a hard line, though. Whenever she's finally done with work on Friday night, she's firmly clocking out for her version of the weekend. "Then what I try to do is, Friday night whenever I'm done — it might be 8, 9, 10 — whatever time I'm done on Friday, I don't touch my computer and I don't think about work 'til Sunday morning," Rangan said. Her boundaries came about, in part, thanks to the blurring of the home and the workplace during the pandemic. Because there was no real distinction between her office and what had previously been places of rest, Rangan said she had to set mental limits. "One of the things I found, especially post-COVID or during the pandemic, is that there was no constraint," she said. "Your office was two minutes away from your kitchen, and so you're working all the time." The CEO said that when she does pause on Saturdays, she doesn't send out so much as an email, even if a board member is trying to get a hold of her. "My team knows that most of the time, almost always, I will schedule it for Monday morning," Rangan said. "They're probably waiting for the 5 a.m. Monday morning string of emails from me. But I work on Sundays, and I think on Sundays, and I do everything, and then I send it out. That's my day. I enjoy my Sundays." Monday through Friday, it's lots of meetings and long days. "During the work week, I start probably around 6, 6:30, and my first call is at 7," she said. "Then it's a full day—lots of calls like everybody else. Then I'll have dinner with the kids and then I'll work 'till 11. That's my schedule. Any day is maybe 12, 14, 15 hours." To operate at full capacity, Rangan says that stopping, even if only for a day, is a nonnegotiable. "I've constrained myself on that to say I need a break," she said. "It's almost like peak performance requires peak rest. You do need to take breaks."