Eccles Business Buzz

Written by: David Eccles School of Business
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  • Summary

  • Welcome to the Eccles Business Buzz Podcast. My name is Frances Johnson, and your host for our podcast show. We know the Eccles community is only as strong as its alumni network and as I have built relationships with alumni across the nation, I’ve learned how truly remarkable our network is. Our goal is to share alumni stories, perspectives, and voices on topics that are driving conversations around the globe and within our school today. The core values of the Eccles community will underlie everything we discuss here: Entrepreneurial Grit, Continuous Curiosity, Empathetic Global Citizenship, and Impacting Your World.

    Eccles Business Buzz is a production of David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.
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Economics Management & Leadership
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Episodes
  • S7E10: The Role of AI in Sustainable Business Growth feat. Jay Barney

    S7E10: The Role of AI in Sustainable Business Growth feat. Jay Barney
    Jan 23 2025
    We conclude our series of conversations about Artificial Intelligence and how it's changing the world around us. Today’s episode focuses on the use of AI by businesses, specifically as a sustainable competitive advantage, and why AI may not be the magic pill that it seems like at first.Here to help untangle the whole issue is Jay Barney. Jay is the Presidential Professor of Strategic Management at the David Eccles School of Business.Jay addresses common misconceptions about AI's ability to provide a competitive edge, likening its impact to previous technological innovations such as personal computers and the steam engine. He asserts that while AI can drive innovation and efficiency, it cannot by itself offer sustainable competitive advantage as it is widely accessible. Jay emphasizes the importance instead of unique organizational processes and the human element in maintaining a competitive edge, and discusses the potential pitfalls for early AI adopters. Frances and Jay also explore how businesses can leverage AI within the context of strong organizational processes and culture to generate real value.Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.Episode Quotes:Will Gen AI be a source of advantage or disadvantage for firms?[02:51] We're not arguing that Gen AI is not going to have a profound impact on the way we do business. In fact, because the impact is going to be so profound, all firms will have to respond to it. And that's not likely to be a source of advantage by itself for any firm. That's the great irony.What benefits do companies gain in deploying Gen AI? [14:59] Jay Barney: There are millions of things that Gen AI can do. Most of them fall in a couple of big buckets, right? One of them is pulling costs out. And by the way, how are you going to pull costs out? By taking human beings out of the process. Now, that has huge social implications. This started by the way in the sixties with lean manufacturing. We're pulling people out and using automation robots and supply relationships and all those things. And it's a continuation of that long-term trend of reducing human contact in our business, which, by the way, points to how important that residual human contact is. The stuff that's left over, all this other stuff…[15:39] Frances Johnson: Gets even more important.[15:41] Jay Barney: Even more important. Exactly right. And another one is going to be an innovation.Skills students need in the age of Gen AI[17:15] Frances Johnson: As you think about the students you're teaching, the students we have at the Eccles School, our recent graduates and alums who need to make themselves competitive in that leftover 10%, what do you see as the skills or the capabilities that are critical for them to have?[17:35] Jay Barney: Well, this is not specific to this Gen AI conversation, but it's all about building socially complex relationships among individuals so they are willing to share, work together, [and] create ideas that only come out of those kinds of human processes. For example, "Go Gen AI, give us a list of seven toothbrushes." Great! "How do we make those?" Ask Gen AI. It'll give you 15 choices on how to get them made, how to distribute. But at some point, someone is going to have to make creative decisions about, "Is there really demand out there?" Gen AI doesn't know that because it can only analyze what is, not what might be. And so, that's going to require another set of skills that may be even more human in nature. So, I think that the ability to build a team, to generate a sense of commitment to each other, to the organization, its purpose, to inspire are sources of sustained competitive advantage. I have yet to be inspired by a Gen AI experience, amazed, shocked, amused, entertained, uninspired.Show Links:Jay Barney | LinkedInJay Barney | Faculty Profile at the David Eccles School of BusinessJay Barney | jaybarney.orgJay Barney | Amazon Author PageDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) • InstagramEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) • Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine
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    31 mins
  • S7E9: Using AI Agents and Models Effectively feat. Derek Egan

    S7E9: Using AI Agents and Models Effectively feat. Derek Egan
    Jan 9 2025
    We continue our series of conversations about Artificial Intelligence and how it's changing the world around us. In today’s episode, Frances talks to an AI engineer at Google about the ins and outs of the newest crop of AI models and agents.Joining the show to give an insider’s perspective is Derek Egan. Derek is on the Vertex AI team at Google Cloud where he works on helping developers build generative AI-powered agents for their own applications. Derek is also a graduate of the David Eccles School of Business with a degree in Operations Management. David and Frances discuss the difference between models and agents, and why humans are still very much integral to the process. They address the strengths and weaknesses of these types of systems and the ways in which they might be used by organizations most effectively to help them work more efficiently. Derek speaks to the realistic worries of some AI critics and gives some of his own real-life examples of how AI agents help streamline his work life and personal life. Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.Show Links:Derek Egan | LinkedInVertex AI | Google CloudMaster of Science in Business Analytics - The David Eccles School of BusinessDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) • InstagramEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) • Instagram Eccles Experience MagazineEpisode Quotes:Google Cloud invests in explainable AI and safety filters to build AI that benefits everyone[09:06] How can we build AI that's beneficial for all is a critical question. At Google Cloud, we take that really seriously for responsible AI. It all starts with a set of AI principles that translates into multiple things in practice as we build these products and up front and not as an afterthought. A few examples of that are ethical reviews. So, internally, there are dedicated teams that essentially conduct ethical analysis and risk assessments for any new product that's going to launch and their job is to identify potential biases. [09:57] We haven't been perfect here and no one has been perfect here because it's a process and we're all learning. And that's also why, as we gain learnings and learn how to interact with these models and how to control the types of responses, we're also building explainability into the models themselves. That's really important. AI will not take away your job but someone who uses it better might. 18:35 If I'm a student at the University of Utah right now in the David Eccles School of Business or an alumni, I would be pretty anxious about this, right? Like, hey, how does AI impact my job? What I would encourage people though, is to think about reframing that question. And the way I reframe it is I don't think AI is going to replace your job, and I don't think you're competing directly with AI for your job. I do think you're going to compete with other people who can competently use AI to do your job and that will lead to disruption. That will lead to a change in the way that works done, day in and day out. So, my guidance, my invitation would be to try it out, embrace AI and start using it. See how it can make you more productive. See how it can take the nitty gritty tasks off of your plate and help you to automate them on your behalf.Derek shares a developer's guide for building AI applications.32:39 If you are a developer and you want to build an application, my guidance would be to identify something that's fairly low hanging fruit, fairly simple, where you're going to get started. And where it's going to be an interaction between the person and the agent and not something that's going to go run autonomously and not have the right feedback loop. And then you can measure and get a sense for how helpful is that agent, and then iterate on it. And I'd encourage you to check out some of the use cases. We have like 185 customer use cases on a blog post published from Google Cloud. But there's a bunch of examples out there and there's a bunch of documentation that we offer as well to help people get started.
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    26 mins
  • S7E8: Human in the Middle: AI Insights feat. Jessica Ellett

    S7E8: Human in the Middle: AI Insights feat. Jessica Ellett
    Dec 26 2024

    We continue our series of conversations about Artificial Intelligence and how it's changing the world around us. Today’s episode focuses on the use of AI in the financial sector and both it’s potential strengths and weaknesses.


    Joining the show to help us start making sense of it all is Jessica Ellett. Jessica is a senior manager and lead modeler at Cambridge Technology, a financial services technology startup. Jessica is also an MSBA graduate from the David Eccles School of Business.


    Jessica shares her insights on developing AI-operationalized applications for large banks, highlighting tools like loan processing applications, financial report generation, and predictive trade outcome models. Frances and Jessica cover the concept of 'human in the middle' AI and the importance of human involvement in AI processes. Jessica also touches on concerns around AI bias, data privacy, and the critical need for business-led AI projects. Jessica also looks forward to what she predicts the landscape of her industry could look like in five years.


    Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.


    Show Links:
    • Jessica Ellett | LinkedIn
    • CTFSI - Cambridge Technology Financial Services Inc.
    • Master of Science in Business Analytics - The David Eccles School of Business
    • David Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) • Instagram
    • Eccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) • Instagram
    • Eccles Experience Magazine


    Episode Quotes:


    How the MSBA programme equipped Jessica to be a voice in the AI space


    [37:02]: When I first finished in 2018 with the MSBA program, I got multiple job offers afterwards when we moved here to Charlotte, North Carolina. And, often, it was kind of an undefined structure. Hey, what can you help us do? What can you help us know or ask? Help us do this in a better way, or help us ask the right questions. And so I think it's still young enough—I mean, the whole program, data science programs, MSBA programs—within the last 10 years, I would consider that a really young program. And so new talent coming out of those are going to be the thought leaders on how AI gets adopted and how these programs run at different companies. And think about that. So you come out of this program and you think, "Well, I don't know much. I just got this degree, or I don't have a lot of application." But people are willing to listen to you because you've had focused study on this topic more than they have, so for better or for worse, you're going to be a voice in that space.


    How AI works best with people by having the human in the middle


    [07:24]: Think of AI as the best assistant you've ever had, but you need the right systems or processes in place to interact with that assistant to get the most out of them, right? So, it's not just building or designing the perfect assistant. It's when am I going to use them? How am I going to use the output? How do I give it the right information to get out of it? What I want—all that interaction. That's human in the middle. You have to design that well to get the most out of it.


    Why do AI projects need to align with business goals?


    [41:18]: I'd say AI projects need to align with the business goals, not just tech advancements. You have a shiny new tool, and you want to use it but don't lose sight of what the business goal is. Using a shiny new tool could be expensive. If you suddenly have to build the whole machine that it fits with, that could get expensive. So, I'd say that transformation has to have a business-led approach because it has to align with the business goals. And if none of the business goals are ready or positioned to need AI—which is hard to believe—but it could be possible, then it doesn't fit in the plan or the goals.
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    32 mins

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