In this episode of Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Adam Zaouague, Automation and Data Specialist at Reata Engineering and Machine. A finalist for the Manufacturing Leadership Council's Next Generation Leadership Award, Adam has built a connected manufacturing software ecosystem from the ground up while still in his early 20s. He and Tammy dig into how AI is changing the nature of attention and focus, and why taste and design matter more than ever as development speeds up.

Highlights from the episode include:

• Trust over hierarchy. Adam describes his approach to leadership as two people with complementary skills working through a problem together, rather than a manager and a direct report. He shares how extending genuine trust, and inviting open communication when someone needs support, leads to people going above and beyond without being asked.
• Attention is becoming a bottleneck. As AI makes it possible to tackle more problems faster, Adam argues the real challenge has shifted to focus. Working on everything in parallel degrades quality. The people and organizations that will get the most out of AI are the ones who are intentional about what they choose to solve.
• Design as the differentiator. Small design decisions can separate something that merely works from something that works correctly. He distinguishes verification (does it work as designed?) from validation (did we design the right thing?) and says AI finally gives teams the breathing room to focus on the latter.

Check out the full episode to hear more about how Reata is building an internal AI system that lets subject-matter experts create their own tools, and why humanoid robots are next on his radar.

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Please note that the views expressed in this episode may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA.