Each month, “Lochhead on Different” episodes will explore the need to differentiate people, products, and services in a world that encourages a lot of imitation. A best-selling author, top podcaster, and former tech-industry CMO, Christopher Lochhead is a student of not only business and technology and marketing but also human nature, human folly, human genius, and very human joy.
Episode 8
In this episode, Christopher and I start by discussing September 11. The 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York is a profound experience that everyone should visit. Chris says he felt anger, emotion, and sadness during his visit—but he also felt uplifted. In his view, the wildest thing is that the memorial captures the worst of humanity and the best of humanity at the same time. The quote from Virgil at the 9/11 Museum always sticks with me: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”
On a lighter note, Chris kicks off another discussion with the fact that, these days, about 50% of marriages originate digitally. And, couples who meet online tend to communicate better and have longer and happier relationships. Oh, how the times are changing! A new trend in marriages, Chris says, is putting pot in the wedding bouquet—and even in the floral arrangements at the dinner table. Somewhat relatedly, the conversation turns to babies. Chris and I consider the pro’s and con’s of a recently revealed Google AI baby monitor. The fact that Google will essentially be spying on your baby fires up Chris’ internal George Orwell.
And finally: Chris had Eric Yuan of Zoom fame on his podcast. Zoom is now a $20 billion+ publicly traded company. It has created a tremendous amount of wealth for his employees and shareholders. And it was founded by an immigrant. Chris recalls Eric saying, “I think it was a good thing that it was really hard for me to get into the United States. Because it taught me, as a young man, perseverance.”
Hear the audio-only version of this episode on any streaming service or via the player below:
Highlights
'Our digital life is our real life, and our physical life continues to interrupt it.' #CloudWars Click To Tweet 'They're gonna monitor everything about your baby, and they're gonna compare that against all the other billions of babies in their database, in order to tell you whether something's up with your baby or not.' #CloudWars #AI Click To Tweet 'If you go on Glassdoor and you take a look at #Zoom, the ratings are absolutely crazy. They're in the high 90s.' #CloudWars Click To Tweet
CLOUD WARS LIVE DIGITAL ALL-STARS
Christopher Lochhead is one of our regular Digital All-Stars. The All-Stars are experts who will appear in regular video podcasts. Our focus is on the critical themes shaping (and re-shaping!) the business world in the digital age of 2019. Our intention is to provide regular chunks of timely ideas, insights and conversations on high-priority subjects from industry veterans with diverse backgrounds.
