2025 Recap: CEOs discuss embracing AI, tracking wellness, and marketing for Gen Z | Leadership Next

Diane Brady (0:00)

Why am I here? What is my purpose? What's the purpose of my company?

Kristin Stoller (0:03)

Yeah.

Diane Brady (0:04)

And, you know, those were the best conversations for me, the ones where you really talk about what drives people personally, because that's the heart of authentic leadership. Hi, everyone. Welcome to Leadership Next, the podcast about the people and trends that are shaping the future of business. I'm Diane Brady.

Kristin Stoller (0:22)

And I'm Kristin Stoller.

Diane Brady (0:23)

Happy holidays, Kristin. This is our end of year wrap up of our fabulous year, Kristin, of talking to incredible leaders.

Kristin Stoller (0:31)

Yes, we have talked to some excellent CEOs this season across a wide variety of industries. And we're going to talk about some of our favorite moments on and off camera.

Diane Brady (0:42)

And excellent at what they do, but some, of course, are struggling in their businesses. A lot of conversations about how they personally prepare themselves to lead, how they're reorganizing their companies in an age of AI. And a little bit of a look around the corner, the tastes of the next generation to the hot products and really some of the products that don't even exist yet.

Kristin Stoller (1:07)

Yeah, well, we'll dive in more after the break.

Diane Brady (1:10)

Quantum computing has the potential to transform industries by solving optimization problems, boosting machine learning, and sparking innovation in logistics, finance, and materials science. Jason Garzata, CEO of Deloitte US, is a long time sponsor of this podcast and is here with us today. Hi, Jason. Thanks for joining us.

Jason Garzata (1:30)

Great to see you, Diane.

Diane Brady (1:32)

So what is quantum computing and how do you see it transforming industries?

Jason Garzata (1:36)

Well, quantum computing is has been a topic for some time in research circles, certainly closely watched by business, but it's fundamentally a different computing paradigm that uses the principles of physics instead of mathematics to drive the computing outcomes. It's been largely the domain of research and it's becoming seen as being a more viable commercial computing methodology and an approach. And I think the real uses will be ultimately around very complex optimization scenarios, further enhancements to scaling machine learning, and also very complicated simulations that could be relevant to a whole host of different business applications.

Kristin Stoller (2:22)

Jason, what steps should leaders take to prepare for both its potential benefits as well as its potential risks?

Jason Garzata (2:28)

It's really about readiness planning right now and preparing an organization to understand the implications. So it's about understanding what skill sets would be required, what type of cybersecurity protocols would need to be in place, and begin to think about the types of use cases that would be very germane around optimization and simulation.

Kristin Stoller (2:51)

Excellent advice. Thank you so much, Jason.

Diane Brady (2:53)

Thanks, Jason. Okay, Kristin, I think let's start by having you hold up your hand. You've still got your aura ring on. I have let mine go, and I think that's kind of not emblematic of the year, but it's certainly we started very much with a deep dive into wellness. And I think one of the things I really enjoyed was talking to people in these high-pressure roles, kind of like the life hacks and their philosophy. And we started with a father-son, Encore Jane, Naveen Jane.

Kristin Stoller (3:27)

And Naveen's company is the microbiome company, all about wellness. And I think we've asked almost every CEO that's come in, what do you do after work? And I think, as everyone says, go to the gym, track my sleep.

SPEAKER_4 (3:41)

I run a couple of times a week. I'm now a yogi. I do a lot of yoga. I do five, six days a week of yoga.

SPEAKER_5 (3:48)

The thing I enjoy more than anything in the world is rock climbing.

SPEAKER_6 (3:50)

I've always thought a fair amount of what I'm eating, and a fair amount of sleep, exercise, sunlight.

SPEAKER_7 (3:57)

Nothing is just going to happen. You have to make it happen. And that could be for getting on the treadmill or the elliptical, or lifting weights, or going for a run. It could be spending time with your spouse. It could be time to spend time with your kids.

I make a really big effort, not just to do that, but my mom passed away a couple years ago, so I spent a lot of time with my dad, but also friends. And so, I've gone to two live concerts in the last week.

SPEAKER_8 (4:23)

I went through a period of my life where I stopped sleeping after being a championship sleeper for most of my life. And I will tell you something, when I stopped drinking coffee and alcohol, it was my cognitive functioning, my perception, my all these things like suddenly were like elevated.