#428 Bridging Business Needs with Technology: Tom Altman on the Future of AI and Strategy

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO Show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me Tom Altman. Tom, thank you very much for being with me here today on the show. The way I love to do it, I like to keep it to my guests to introduce themselves. So tell us a bit more about you, [00:01:00] your journey and what you're currently up to and then we can take it from there.

Tom: Well thanks Mehmet. Yeah, currently a fractional CTO with a company called Altus. Think of us as a company that can help you much like a law firm might help you. We have disciplines in technology, HR, finance, but, uh, my, uh, my journey has been kind of fun. I always say I was a radio DJ turned web developer.

Tom: I wasn't that great at web development. So they made me into a manager and that, and then, uh, kind of worked my way through some consulting firms and media companies and landed about 15 years ago into e commerce and just really enjoyed that world as it was coming up, um, kind of getting bigger and better.

Tom: And so. That kind of led me into fractional work, which has been just a really great time hoping companies help themselves. I like to say I pour digital concrete, meaning I just want to help companies get their technology foundation solid. And, uh, that's never been more important than it is today with kind [00:02:00] of all this AI tidal wave coming in, in 2025 for us, my man.

Mehmet: Wow. You know, what a journey, Tom. So, uh, I'm always fascinated by hearing these stories and thank you for sharing that with us here today. So any reason why did you choose, you know, technology, you know, rather than anything else, and especially you come from a, As you said, like a radio DJ background. So what attracted you to, to the tech, uh, Tom?

Tom: Yeah. You know, I think I was ignoring that part of my life the whole time I met. Um, you know, I was always involved, you know, radio is a very technical, um, business, uh, maybe more than people realize. I came up in radio when the automation was, was coming into play. So when I first started, we were playing either CDs or kind of carts, they call them, which are like an eight track tape.

Tom: And, uh, so you were. As that started to go digital, then pretty soon everything was being run on a computer. Uh, so things were scheduled, uh, things were then of course [00:03:00] automated. Um, this was in the early, you know, early, late nineties, early two thousands. And, uh, you started seeing this automation come into play where.

Tom: Some for some overnight shifts, I'd come in and record, you know, maybe a month's worth of, of content, which then just get automatically run at night. And so, like, I think I was just always around technology. I was always helping out. And I think the only one that was surprised when I met, when I said, I'm going to leave radio and go to technology, I think I was the only one surprised.

Tom: Everyone was like, yeah, that's what you should have been doing the whole time. So I think it was just one of those things where that's what I was kind of doing as hobbies and it just made sense. Yeah.

Mehmet: Fantastic. And nice again. Nice to hear all these stories. So now let's go, you know, and talk about technology, right?

Mehmet: Um, one of the reasons, Tom, why I wanted to start, uh, this show actually, uh, and I call it the CTO show for a reason, of course, is because I always believe technology should be [00:04:00] driving, you know, the business, right? And driving in a way also bridging the business needs with, with, you know, through technology and through, you know, all these fantastic things that we can do.

Mehmet: So in your opinion, what are the key elements to successfully align technology to a company strategy and let's say like the longterm vision and mission as we call them?

Tom: Yeah, I love that question because I think it's forgotten so many times. I think, You know, I was at a client here recently and we were joking about the audio visual system in the conference room, you know, and the quote was, you know, we have to make this system CEO proof.

Tom: Right. And I, and it was funny, right. And everyone laughed, but at the same time, I think that's one of the little problems we see, um, with strategy of companies. And then, um, not always being aligned with the technology department or the team. And I think that what we're going to see here, [00:05:00] especially in 2025, if the company's strategy and technology are not aligned, that's going to be worse than it's ever been.

Tom: Um, 2025, in my opinion, Mamet is the year to get your technological house in order, because 2026 is when The AI agents and kind of agentic is kind of a word that's used there. Um, the agentic systems are going to start to really get serious. And if you don't have your systems diagram and your processes documented.

Tom: You're going to find yourself in a serious technology debt in 2026. So I think this is the best time we've ever seen to get your company strategy and your company technology aligned, because let's face it, what are you doing at your company? That's not technology. There's almost nothing. Everything has something to do with technology.

Tom: And if you don't have that kind of documented, written down, And kind of posted on the wall for everyone to read. I think it's going to be a problem for some of these companies now, you [00:06:00] know, whether it'll cause them to be, uh, you know, uh, non recoverable problem. We don't know that yet, but I do know that the further ahead we can get with system documentation and processes, the better off things are going to be for, for those companies.

Mehmet: Love this. Uh, you know, now you, you brought me early to something, which is very interesting. So everyone is talking, Tom, and I've been. Talking about agents, AI agents, since the beginning of 2023, you know, and I'm repeating this because I was, you know, lucky, I would say to get to know about these, uh, agents through some posts on X or Y.

Mehmet: Twitter as people call it. Um, and I started to see first attempt with the baby AGI and you know, auto GPT and these things. So you mentioned something about now how this aligns with the business strategy. So, and I was reading an article just couple of hours back. Do you think, how do you think Tom, you know, [00:07:00] really companies should be prepared?

Mehmet: Like, is it only about adopting saying, Hey, we're going to implement AI or like they need to go and do kind of a full assessment that do they have the data that they want to build, you know, on top of that, like, where should they start? Because agents are coming, as you said, and you are saying that 2026 will be that the year where the agents will, you know, pick up.

Mehmet: So what, what organizations should be doing currently so they don't get, you know, missed, uh, you know, by the time 2026 comes and, you know, we're going to have this as a, Norm, I would say.

Tom: Yeah, great question. I like to start at the systems documentation of let's just make sure we write down all the systems that we have because that's kind of the backbone of the technological roadmap.

Tom: So that's usually not too bad. I mean, sit in a room hour or two. You can get all that kind of knocked out. The second piece is the hard part, right? It's the processes. I like to look at the how many departments, how many people touch [00:08:00] each one of those technologies. Yeah. And then the hard part comes in the SOPs, right?

Tom: Standard Operating Procedures. How are we using this stuff? Because it's kind of like, I remember vividly back in my, in my elementary school time, uh, and it was kind of a fun thing that the teachers did. They said, write down how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, right? Um, and so then when we came back, Uh, later it was like, all right, now give your directions to make a peanut butter jelly sandwich to your friend and you take your friends and then you could only do exactly what was written down and you were trying to assemble a sandwich.

Tom: And of course, people were saying things like put the peanut butter on the bread, right? And then, like, it didn't say open the jar. It didn't say get a knife. It didn't say spread it out over the bread evenly. So I think these are the kind of SOPs that we're missing in our businesses because people just have that knowledge in their head.

Tom: And if you think about what an agent might be able to do, it's kind of that analogy of making the peanut butter sandwich for us, right? There's going to be a lot of powerful [00:09:00] tools that can come in and read your processes and say, oh, I can do that for you, you know. Or, you know, have a couple of questions for you and then be able to execute.

Tom: And I think if we think of that in, in, in the way that we run our business, um, it's a very important piece, right? I think it's very similar to like exit planning or preparing to sell a business. This is the same structure and, and, and, and processes that we need to go through to say, am I ready to like allow automation to come to me?

Tom: Because I think so many times we just make assumptions about what happens. And I think. When I think of that SOP and process written concepts, it's very popular in the, um, investment banking world. Uh, and this is more for security reasons that they do this, but you have to take a two week, uh, you know, PTO, um, study.

Tom: Sometime during the year and they turn you off. You cannot have access. No one can call you and the processes and And the information that you've written down someone else has to take it and see if they can manage it I mean they do that [00:10:00] to make sure that there's not fraud happening but they also do that to make sure that they have everything documented and written in such a way that If you were happening to get hit by a bus That would be something that someone could pick up and the company could go on.

Tom: And I think that's kind of the mentality that we need to be taking. As we start to look at these things, I think there's so many times I've come into clients and they're just not prepared. I mean, one person has the keys to everything. One person is the linchpin to so many things. And I think we have to get away from that mentality and make sure that these documents exist, especially when we start to look at, you know, all the effects that cyber security breaches and these things can have on us.

Tom: I mean, and those are just the extreme natures. We're just not talking about when Mamet needs to take. A little holiday and wants to just go have some fun and not get called while he's away, right? I mean, these are the things I think that we just we kind of bury him and we don't always just really Take him seriously,

Mehmet: right?

Mehmet: Now, let's shift, you know the [00:11:00] discussion to you know, the fractional part like, you

Tom: know

Mehmet: Last year, I spoke a lot with fractional CTOs and even fractional CMOs, fractional CROs. So if we want to just, you know, for the folks like who maybe are not familiar. So what is exactly the role of a fractional CTO in an organization, um, Tom?

Mehmet: Like, like usually if you want to describe like your day to day, uh, tasks with these, or like, let's say. you know, on the high level, what do you do with the companies that you offer your fractional services to?

Tom: Yeah, the, well, I usually start by saying fractional executives are part time C suite members, right?

Tom: And when I've talked to people that have run businesses and explained this theory to them, people that have maybe retired now. And they said, wow, that would have been something that was very helpful to me. Because as we all know, we need expertise and [00:12:00] we need experience to help us. And what, what we see here is that fractional executive brings in their prior experience with you, and that can just help you kind of, you know, Laser focus some of these things in.

Tom: So what, what we see is kind of two to three scenarios. Um, one scenario can be, um, there someone leaves unexpectedly and they're not really prepared. The people that they have, like maybe in the second tier and third tier roles are good people. They're just not quite ready to be the leader yet. So what we see there is what we call interim.

Tom: So you might just come in, kind of get the feel of everything and kind of just hope. Maintain the, the, the normal things, the day to day work and kind of help direct some of these people that are really good employees, but maybe just not ready to take over the full piece of that. Usually that's a shorter term, you know, contract or, or an engagement.

Tom: Um, and it could be anywhere from a few months to a year. Yeah. And sometimes you're just gonna decide, do they need a full time CTO or can [00:13:00] this work for them long term? Or can we help them hire someone? So I think that's one scenario. I think another scenario is a bigger project or an initiative, uh, come in and just help people get it.

Tom: Um, get a project done or get something done. We see that a lot in, in software implementation. Uh, ERP is a great example. Um, you know, I always say if you ask the salesperson of this software that you're buying, if this will work for them, you know, very rarely do you hear a salesperson say, yeah, we're not for you.

Tom: Um, you know, and they're not lying. I think the answer is usually. Yes, we can do that, you know, and the work that it takes and that kind of comes back to reflect on the stuff that Needs to get done before a software gets implemented is do you know how you use things? Do you know how it works for you?

Tom: These are the processes that we have to understand when we present those to the software companies They can understand how your business works so those are those two pieces and then and then a lot of times we'll come in and and it could just be um, They know they need a little help from a CTO, but they know they don't want to be paying for a [00:14:00] full time CTO type salary.

Tom: And that's where we can just help or, you know, maybe we give them a retainer style engagement, which ends up being four, eight hours a week. Um, and just help them make it, make it just keep going on. And then that gives them more leverage and money to use in other ways. So that's kind of the three basic ways that we see it.

Tom: I think fractional CFO ing has been going on for probably seven to 10 years, but now you're really seeing these other disciplines kind of ramp up. And what I've seen from a lot of companies, it's a really good way for them to really, um, kind of amp up a team. Um, and then decide whether, you know, especially to get them through a small growth spurt.

Tom: Um, these are the times when you need that expertise, but you just don't need the burden on the budget. Right.

Mehmet: Right, and I think it fits also startups if i'm not mistaken also tom, right? So absolutely

Tom: Yeah, I mean, that's the problem, right? You you get in this knowledge deficit when you're in a startup and you have a really amped up [00:15:00] ceo that knows what they want To do but there's so many, you know There's just so much to it now And I think the other one we're seeing a lot more too recently is cyber to cyber attacks and cyber security You can't i mean there's Technology has changed so much even in just the kind of 30 years that I've been around it, right?

Tom: I mean, it's just um used to be you were either a hardware person or you were a web software person Or you were a not web software person and now there's just so much Intrusion testing all these things that you just have to know and I mean These people study for years and years just to understand Just a Cisco router or, you know, a Cisco switch system, right?

Tom: I mean, so you have to be, there's just so many levels and layers that you really almost cannot, it's so expensive unless you're an enterprise level company to have the kind of knowledge you need. And, and unfortunately this is where you see some of these breaches happen is, you know, the it person that they've got is a smart person.

Tom: [00:16:00] They're just simply overtaxed. And they either forget or don't know some of the things that they need to do. And, uh, you know, and it, and it ends in disaster for them sometimes.

Mehmet: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm happy you're bringing this, uh, Tom, because some people, they still underestimate, you know, uh, the effect of this cyber incidents on, on the business.

Mehmet: And I tell people sometime your business can be wiped out if you don't, you know, uh, give them attention. So it's good. You're mentioning this now from a fractional You know, executive perspective, Tom. Um, so you, you are on a retainer based model, obviously. And sometimes, you know, you, you need to, to help, you know, the, the CEO, you know, mainly in, in adapting, as we said, like some strategies, but when it comes to, you know, something that involve innovation, so, because you're [00:17:00] not there all the time and innovation needs like kind of a follow up or, You know regularly.

Mehmet: Yeah, so And you know, we are living also in a world where everything becomes like remote first and people usually don't come together to office Is this a challenge like is there something, you know, as a fractional you need to do it differently So you can make sure that still, you know innovation happens and still people Understand the high level strategies that this company is trying to do So if you can walk us through this this part on that would be really helpful You

Tom: I think it's the piece that, uh, is probably the most important.

Tom: I think is just the people part of it. Um, you know, anytime there's change, there's anxiety and nervousness. And I think what I try to do immediately is just really get to know the people that are on the team, get to know them, get to know the details about them, because I think once you can kind of get people to relax, let their guard down, because the knee jerk reaction is always.

Tom: I'm [00:18:00] getting let go. I'm getting fired. You know, I'm going to get, you know, removed from my position. And, and the irony of this whole thing is, is when you come in, it's, you know, things about technology in general. I know a lot about these things, but I don't know anything about their company and the way they do it.

Tom: And right. And everything is a, is really a unique situation. So I think. If you can find a way to get everyone kind of calm down and saying this is a good thing I'm here to help. I want to make sure that this company succeeds, you know hits the goals and uh, I want to remove roadblocks, you know, like any good manager should do So I think that the first thing to kind of build trust Build, um in that piece of it and when you can do that I think that's when things kind of the gears get greased and things start to move along You know and listen to people too.

Tom: I think um so many times I think You People have ideas. They've been kind of suppressed with those because they just get caught up in the day to day. And, and I think that's what happens at times where people just, they know things. I mean, these people have been at these companies for many years and [00:19:00] have so much tribal knowledge.

Tom: There's no possible way that I can know these things. Um, without them. So I think finding a way to really connect with people, let them know you're here to help them. Let them know you're not here to take their job. Let them know it's, it's, it's, you know, us unifying and, you know, serving as that conduit, maybe the leadership team.

Tom: When that can happen, you can really see high success happen. And that usually takes a little bit of time. But for me, I don't get too worried about the remoteness. I think it's always good if you can meet in person at some point, that's just kind of one of those things that That kind of helps. I think it's just human nature, but I don't think it's a necessity and I think you know a lot can be done Um, just taking a couple minutes at the beginning of meetings to kind of just you know, be normal be human You know talk to people Get to know them a little bit.

Tom: I think that's helpful, too

Mehmet: Do you think uh, although like all of us we suffer do you think covid helped us to to accept this factor? It

Tom: seems like it doesn't it? I think between covid kind of forcing us Forcing our hand in these things. [00:20:00] And I think eventually this, you know, the VR thing will also help. I mean, I don't know if you've used any of the VR things, Mamet, but it's so interesting how quickly that you can think, my gosh, I'm holding a lightsaber and I kind of believe my, you know, I kind of believe it.

Tom: Right. And I think if we can get maybe one more level of, uh, you know, HD, and if you and I were sitting here and, and we had VR glasses on and we were sitting across the table. Boy, it would almost feel like we were sitting there together, you know, um, I think as bandwidths increase and, uh, you know, the quality of these connections increase, I think our brains, I think the statistic is somewhere around the 95 percent range of our brain believing what we're seeing when it comes to that visual aspect of things.

Tom: And I think that's going to help as well. I mean, It is kind of funny. I mean, you and I are in a great conversation. We're enjoying ourselves and, um, we don't need to be right next to each other to have this conversation. And it's good, you know, and I think with the world becoming smaller as technology grows, I mean, there's [00:21:00] just so many interesting people and so many interesting ideas from people all over the place.

Tom: I would hope that we can tap into these things. And I think that's the thing that's that's so interesting, I think, about about this remoteness of things.

Mehmet: But why do you think still some in tech, some managers still insist on, you know, being in the office? I

Tom: mean, in technology, I think, because, you know, at one point in time, people had to go touch those servers and touch some of these things that it kind of becomes this kind of thing that they get used to.

Tom: I know, uh, but I've had some colleagues before that really wanted to push me and, you know, we got to get to see them. We got to get this. I'm like, The problem with that is, is the person comes in in the morning, they sit down at their desk, you wave to them when they walk by your office door, then when you get up and go to another meeting that they're not involved in, you, you know, you wave at him again and, and pretty soon everyone's going home and you see him one time filling up their water bottle.

Tom: And I mean, I just don't, I don't understand why people think that that [00:22:00] is authentic, um, interpersonal communication. Um, it just, I don't know. It's interesting. I think it's just going to take time. Um, the one thing that I do think it exposes Mehmet is, you know, bad managers or even worse when they're remote, um, when you're a bad manager, but yet you can shake hands with somebody.

Tom: That does not make you a better manager when you're remote, because now people don't know anything about what their expectations are. And I think, I think it exposes bad managers even worse. And I think that's what some people are a little scared of. I think, you know, I think there's been a lack. I mean, I know that over the time that I've had maybe one, one job where I got some real management training that was authentic.

Tom: And other than that, you kind of learn it as you go and you do what other people did to you, or you try not to do the things that other people did to you as, as when you were being managed. Uh, I think that's where the trouble hits with some of this stuff is I think people don't know how to manage people and give them expectations and hold them accountable.[00:23:00]

Mehmet: Right. So I want to go back to the tech side of, of the, of the business, Tom. So we, we, we discussed AI and the AI agents, you know, and this landscape. So other than, you know, ai, which is all obviously, you know, the, the number one Sure. Uh, trend and, you know, the number one imperative I would say that should be on all of us currently.

Mehmet: So what else are you seeing? Especially because. And I think Tom, correct me if I'm wrong. So you cover different types of clients so you don't focus on one specific vertical. So but you must be seeing something common other than AI which you know seeing maybe an adoption from tech perspective or maybe you think it's the next big thing after AI of course that is coming.

Mehmet: So what are like some of the trends you're seeing currently?

Tom: Well, what I've been hearing from progressive leaders at companies is they know, you know, [00:24:00] and we've heard this for a number of years. I mean, for example, one client that I have, they have about six people in their finance department and they know that they can do that job with maybe four or less, but they also know they've got some team members that are aging out.

Tom: So, I mean, that's one of the things that I see there. And I think AI gets this broad brush kind of painted on everything. But I think what, what I'm seeing, a lot of people are wanting to do is really dig down and automate some of these jobs because they know that, that a lot of the things that people do on a day to day basis is rather mundane and boring and really could be, uh, automated.

Tom: So, so we're seeing that. And I think in relation to that, I think. Um, we're really seeing the cyber security piece and it's not exciting and fun. It's actually very scary, but I think what I've noticed or, um, trying to communicate with the people that I work with is that, um, we've, we've been kind of lackadaisical in the way that we've organized our data and information.

Tom: And it's really, um, protected in our, in our big share [00:25:00] drives and, and in our cloud files by obscurity, right? It's really hard to find the information, but Sometimes mislabeled. I think what a big another thing that I really encourage my clients to do is really get their arms around the data where it's stored and the governance that it's that it's with.

Tom: Because there's a lot of data that's that can be exposed and stolen and exploited. And those are the things we want to try to avoid when it comes to it. I mean, I think, um, outside of that, I mean, just It's all AI all the time and that it's hard to get around it. I mean, I think things are going to change so much.

Tom: I think of, you know, I, we used to build our own shopping carts back in the, in 2000, you couldn't go buy one. You just built one. Right. And, and when we think about that, and then you think about influencers and social media, I mean, those didn't exist yet in 2000. I think that's the thing that people just don't, it's hard to get your mind wrapped around, but there's just going to be so many more opportunities of words and jobs and things that we just.

Tom: We can't even explain yet because they, they don't exist yet. And, you [00:26:00] know, you can see that over the time. I mean, it's, you know, as we move from industrial to a technological nations, you know, things change and there's just so many things that exist. And so when you start to think that way, I think things will become very interesting.

Tom: I think the way that companies operate will become interesting. The other thing I see is I think we're just becoming more of a. You know, call it gig, gig nations, gig, gig of five things. I mean, I think we're going to become our own bosses more. I mean, everyone's going to kind of work for each other. You know, you're going to call me when you need a certain thing that I'm just really good at and, and, and, and vice versa.

Tom: Um, I think that we're going to see just a lot more of that kind of thing. And I think hopefully, uh, society insurance. All these kind of things kind of follow along with it. Because that's the hard part now for a lot of people that want to kind of be their own boss is it's really, there's a lot of, uh, elements that we, um, we depended on with employers, right.

Tom: P PTO and, and benefits and things like that. And I think hopefully we'll see some, some innovations [00:27:00] there as well. So that kind of people can. do their thing. I mean, I mean, we're here to, we're not put on this earth to just walk around and work. I mean, you want to experience the world and people and things like that.

Tom: That's what I love about shows like this. You just get to talk to new people. I mean, we probably never would have ran into each other who would have been for an opportunity to be together. And I just love meeting people. Um, it's just so interesting to hear people's take on things.

Mehmet: Absolutely. And thank you for bringing this, Tom, because, you know, you mentioned many things which I also believe in.

Mehmet: So the first one is, you know, yeah. So we're gonna becoming more entrepreneurial by default, I would say, right? More than before. So because everyone will figure out, Oh, like I can do everything by myself. So, you know, I can offer the service and you know, the gig economy helped us in, in doing also this as well.

Mehmet: The second thing, yeah. Like regarding also keeping this personal touch and meeting new people. This is, you know, people [00:28:00] ask me why, why you still do it? Like, uh, I say, man, this is, you don't, you don't. You know, put a price tag to, you know, the fact that you keep meeting new people because every time I have a guest on the show, you know, like say new connection and then we keep it for a long time.

Mehmet: Of course, like we don't speak maybe often because of the time difference, because I'm in Dubai, you know, majority of my guests are in the US, but guess what? It happened many times, you know, I remember for example, Tom is specialized in fractional, you know, CTO work and I got someone I don't know someone else looking for something So I I refer him to Tom and vice versa and you know this this whole thing.

Mehmet: It's priceless I tell people look guys, it's priceless like having these real conversation with real people and keeping the you know, the Relations going it's it's something really priceless. So You know, and this is why I like to keep doing this, Tom, and thank you for bringing this in. You wanted to say something.

Tom: Well, it's just [00:29:00] so interesting, right? I mean, you look at Dubai, which is just an amazing place, right? But then, you know, I'm sure that there's some even more interesting places, you know, within, you know, so many hundred kilometers, miles from Dubai. But it's almost impossible to live there today because it's so hard to get resources there.

Tom: But you look at these drone technologies that come, you know, and to be delivering drones. And then we have a star link, which pretty much allows us to get internet anywhere we are. And I mean, honestly, between those two things, if you can get supplies and you can be connected to the outside world, how amazing is it?

Tom: I mean, I love to watch these video shows and short video things of people that are, Building off a grid or they're living on this area. And, you know, before, like it was just so hard, right? I mean, how do you get enough just supplies to live? Right. But now, like with these drone capabilities, I mean, in the United States, you know, Alaska is a very remote area, but they drop things in from planes and you can imagine that they could do the same thing with a drone [00:30:00] delivery.

Tom: And, and how interesting is that? I mean, it just. It really, really does continue to connect the world. And we start to learn more things about areas that have not had people in them for so long. And it's just, it's amazing and fascinating to me how, uh, how small the world can become, um, you know, you can watch a video about someone in any, any part of the world now almost, and, and just feel so connected with them and it's just a, such a beautiful medium and it's a, it's a beautiful thing.

Mehmet: Absolutely. A hundred percent. Uh, some people ask and I get asked the same question. So I ask it to people as well. How, how, how do you keep with all, you know, you mentioned a lot of things like a few moments ago, how do you keep yourself updated and, you know, educated on everything? And really we are living in a such time where like the other day I slept and I woke up and I found out like, you know, Google has released, I don't know how many, You know new things and nvidia released The new mini [00:31:00] computer and I said, oh my god, like what what a exciting time to be alive So but as technologists, let's put it this way.

Mehmet: Tell me your your story Like how do you keep yourself up to date and you know making sure that you know, you're ready to answer everything about All what's new?

Tom: Yeah, I think it's twofold, right? I think You got to find that thing you're going to focus on and really kind of dig in and learn that. And then I use shows, I don't know if you've heard of the daily AI show, like for one example, and they kind of summarize.

Tom: I mean, they have a daily show. I do not catch that every day, but I do check out their like summaries, right? And I think that's what you kind of have to do. You kind of have to, to be a generalist in many things and listen to some of these updates. And then you have to be a specialist. Um, you know, and I think tools like Google LM is a notebook.

Tom: LM is a great example of ways to kind of, to put kind of some things into pockets and you just have to kind of, I think you have to accept the fact that you're not going to know everything. And that kind of blends into what we've been talking about a little bit too. Right. Is [00:32:00] that now I need to know that my met is my guy when I need to know more things about, about X, Y, or Z.

Tom: And Tom's the guy for this. Um, we just can't be experts in it all anymore, and I think we just have to succumb to that fact. And maybe we use AI to kind of get, uh, overarching knowledge, but you just can't know it all. Um, it's gonna, it just gets segmented and segmented over and over again. And I think the only thing that will happen is I think you'll end up pulling all your hair out if that's what you're trying to do to learn it all.

Tom: And I think, you know, we get caught up in learning all these things. And I think Sometimes we have to forget that we just need to enjoy life more too. So

Mehmet: absolutely. Yeah for me You know, I I do the same thing Uh, the note, uh notebook lm is is is next level. I tried it a couple of times Mind blown. It is crazy.

Mehmet: It's crazy. I haven't gotten

Tom: back to it lately, but now it's my understanding Then you can talk to it and you know, and I haven't tried that feature, but [00:33:00] now not only does it have the podcast that it creates from your information, but now you can, you can ask it questions and it'll respond, which I know is in some of their earlier demos, but how amazing for learning is that going to be?

Tom: Customizable learning for people. I mean, that is the way I think maybe, I think we'll just start to see more channels of people, maybe just providing the knowledge base. And now you can put that into your LM, you know, your notebook LM and learn it your way. Um, you know, it's just a whole entire different way to think.

Tom: I was talking, uh, just recently to some, some family members who are education, you know, in education. And I said, please tell me you're keeping up with this. This is so amazing for kids because we all know that kids don't learn the same way and they certainly don't like the same subject matter. So if one person can learn physics based on basketball.

Tom: And one person can learn physics based on Pokemon. How amazing is that? I mean, so now you can really just help them. I mean, let's, let's tailor the education to them and the things that they [00:34:00] like instead of, you know, in, in the United States, it was Bill and Jane, you know, do this, and it was so boring.

Tom: Right. I mean, it was so generic and now like it can just become part of. Part of you and I don't know the educational system is probably in, um, in trouble and hopefully we can change it so that, you know, I know like Norway is a very experiential learning place for people like I know that's part of their educational system.

Tom: So is Japan. I mean, I see these, these, um, educational systems in Japan and the kids are making the food, they're cleaning the place. How impressive is that right? Like, and it's just it's not about the test scores. It's about these Children and their experiences and how they learn. And let's teach them logic.

Tom: Let's teach them to think these are the things that are that are hard to replicate for some of these for the A. I. S. In my opinion, it's going to give us this culture. I mean, I think you think of Russia and they learn so much [00:35:00] culture and they learn about philosophy and there's so many different places that teach so much mhm.

Tom: Interesting things. I think I know, at least in the United States, we found our way away from that. And I hopefully this will be somewhat of a renaissance for that kind of thing.

Mehmet: I hope to. And I think it's across the not only in the U. S. We have these problems everywhere. And this is why I'm excited, you know, about, um, the effect of AI in education and how, you know, we can, as you said, I like your, your, your term, like it's kind of renaissance in education.

Mehmet: So a hundred percent, um, Tom, before we wrap up, you know, a lot of people, you know, they want to be in tech and they want to, to follow the same path maybe as you. So for folks who are still new, And in their baby steps, I would say, so what kind of advice you, you, you, you can give them?

Tom: Yeah, I would say, [00:36:00] um, you know, corporate world is an interesting place and I think it's a great place for people to start, get a taste of so many things, but.

Tom: I think you just got to be so careful anymore. I'm in the United States, you know, they like to label everything, right? So I'm part of what they call generation X, and we're also a part of the people that are getting pushed out of corporate more than anybody else. I mean, you used to go to work for a company a long time ago and you kind of grew up there, you learned there, and then you retired from there.

Tom: And I think that's something that's changing. And I think in this immediate results world that we live in, you just have to remember that, uh, Some of this stuff is pretty short lived. And so I would just say, you know, think about yourself, learn about what you can do, learn the things, you know, you know, build yourself a system so that you can kind of be ready to, uh, to change gears as needed.

Tom: Um, Everyone of us has a wealth of knowledge and information that we know, and you have to trust that you're really, um, you're a smart person. Everyone's a very smart person, and the things that they know can help [00:37:00] benefit you in many other places. So just don't be afraid to test around and experiment. And just be your own advocate at times, because I think, um, I think corporate has a way of grinding us down.

Tom: I know that's the way it was when I was there. And it's so much, there's just so much more to life than just that job and working. I mean, these conversations that we're having, it's just, it's fun. It's nice to talk to you. And just, uh, you know, kind of iron sharpens iron in that way. Right? Like we get to learn from each other.

Tom: We get to talk and, and how interesting is that? I mean, I think just knowing that you're a good person and that you know things and that there's plenty of things that you can learn and do, I think people just get beat down so much sometimes. And if you're not having an enjoyable time with the people you work with and the place you work with, there is a place for you that will be better.

Mehmet: Absolutely. I like this Tom. Um, so finally, as we are wrapping up, Tom, you know where people can get in touch and, uh, you know, connect with you.

Tom: Yeah. I think the easiest place is probably just look up Tom Altman on [00:38:00] LinkedIn. I'm there. I like to interact there. It's a great place to connect anymore. And, uh, Yeah, find me there and please connect and let's let's have a virtual coffee or something

Mehmet: great So for the folks you don't need to go search.

Mehmet: I will make your life easy. So i'll put the link in the show If you're listening on your favorite podcasting platform And for the folks who are watching this so you'll find it in the description on youtube tom I really enjoyed the discussions and you know, uh, this is why I like keep doing this this podcast Because you know, I bring you know You know, authentic people like yourself who not only share their experiences, but also, you know, you showed us really how things are getting, you know, really exciting.

Mehmet: And you know, the point of view that that you bring, you know, and with your experience, of course, this is You know, priceless. I always call it. It's priceless, right? So you cannot put a price tag next to it. So thank you very much for sharing your insights with us today. And this is for the audience. If you [00:39:00] just discovered this podcast by luck, thank you for passing by.

Mehmet: I hope you enjoyed it. If you did so give us a thumb up, share it with your friends and colleagues and, you know, come back again. And if you are one of the people who are. Loyal to us. Thank you for keep listening and watching and keep recommending us. Thank you very much for also You know the questions and the suggestions you keep sending and as I say always thank you for tuning in.

Mehmet: We'll meet again very soon Thank you. Bye