15. JD Miller - Rothschild & Co

In this episode of Making More, Billy Fischer sits down with JD Miller, PhD— a seasoned executive leader, board advisor, and author who has helped organizations navigate growth, complexity, and renewal across decades in the technology industry.

JD’s story starts in an unlikely place: an internship connected to the Clinton White House. From there, his path moved into tech sales and leadership, where he learned how trust is built (and lost) when relationships increasingly happen through screens, meetings, and digital noise.

We also dig into JD’s work as an author — including The CRO’s Guide to Winning in Private Equity — and how his perspective on leadership has evolved into something both simple and difficult: building a life that makes room for the people in it.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why trust is harder (and more important) in modern professional environments
• What executive presence actually means beyond titles and credentials
• Lessons from writing for CROs and leaders navigating private equity
• How to think about AI and sales without losing the human element
• The leadership discipline of “making more time for quality interactions”

Connect with JD Miller:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdmillerphd

New Book: The AI Handbook for Sales Professionals: A Practical, Tactical Guide for Sellers, Managers, and Executives to Reclaim Their Time and Expand Their Humanity. (https://a.co/d/09BWuO6s)

JD's Foundation: https://www.jdmja.org/

Find Billy on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bigeyedfisch/ or visit his website, billyfischer.focalpointcoaching.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Making More, the podcast where high-performing business owners and visionary executives share how they're building more than just bottom lines. I'm your host, Billy Fisher, an engineering leader, turned business and executive coach, and I'm guided by a personal mission to help leaders create clarity, build forward momentum, and make more of what matters most. Today I am delighted to be joined by Dr. J.D. Miller, a seasoned executive leader, board advisor, and author who's helped guide organizations through growth, change, and renewal. JD has built a career around the belief that leadership isn't about titles or authority, it's about clarity, curiosity, and the courage to bring out the best in others. His story springs from the intersection of business, technology, and humanity, and he holds a deep understanding of what it means to lead with purpose. I'm excited to explore his perspective on lasting leadership and why philanthropy is such an important part of that journey. JD, welcome to Making More.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Thanks for having me, Billy. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Oh, it's my pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for uh agreeing to just share in a little conversation with us and for our audience. But I want to get started with your internship because it's such a unique thing to be able to tell people. And it's it's one of the things that I remember from our time together.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Sure. Uh so we go way back when. Uh, you know, I've I've been in tech sales now for almost 30 years, but it's career that began actually out of an internship in the Clinton White House. When I went to college, I thought I was going to become a lawyer. And so I had done an undergraduate degree in philosophy, communication, and comparative literature, which is a very kind of thinking, speaking, writing sort of approach to law school. And it landed me in President Clinton's uh Office of Scheduling in Advance for an amazing summer internship. Um, now, for those of us who are around during that time, you remember that there were some very famous interns. I was not the most famous Flinton intern. Uh, but that experience, although great for me, is one that really changed my mind about law school and shifted me off on a new course. And so uh I left the White House knowing I wasn't going to be an attorney, looking at my undergraduate degrees and saying, well, I'm not gonna be a professional philosopher, and I'm not gonna be a professional literature comparer either. So I must be able to do something with my communication degree and a career in dot-com sales was born.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

There you are, and a good time for it when you were coming, coming out and getting into the industry. So my gosh, what it what it must have been like before the bubble burst.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yeah, it was a it was a really interesting time. And you know, the communication school in the in the mid-90s knew an awful lot about how interpersonal relationships worked, you know, in the physical world. And we talked a lot about this notion of back then we used to call it computer-mediated communication. We imagined this sort of Zoom type conversation, and the internet was just getting born. Um, and a lot of it was not even video, it was just, you know, chat rooms and text rooms back and forth with different people. Um, so it was a really great time. The University of Illinois was one of the six uh sort of major hubs of the internet in the United States. Um, so we had access to all of this data about groups forming online and you know, a really neat research environment to say, what do we know? How do we build trust in the real world? How we how do we trust build trust online? What's the same and what's different? And so then, you know, shortly after that, um, I got a job at a small.com that said we didn't even know you could get a master's and then a PhD in kind of social networking online. Um, so it's you know, being in the right place at the right time for that.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Very good. And so your PhD is in what exactly?

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Uh so we say it's in organizational communication, um, which is you know very, very large. But um, my particular focus was really looking at how do we um use technologies to you know kind of translate organizational goals and and relationship goals um to online contexts. Or look at, you know, I had a sales career, um, but I looked a lot at, you know, how do we put messages online that people are interested in and will resonate from marketing perspectives? How do virtual teams work together? How do we create trust? How do you build authority? Um, and how do you use these platforms to, you know, if not in person in the same offices, um, still have that same feeling of camaraderie? We never really thought about these topics, I think, then until 2019 when COVID and, you know, said everyone rushing home. But it had been stuff that the academy was looking at, you know, 20 years previously.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Wow. It was uh maybe January of 2020. And we were just gotten a pilot of Microsoft Teams. We're the first group in the whole organization to have that and uh had to beg for it. And um it was four months later that suddenly everybody has to have teams. We're all going home. You can't come to the office for two weeks. COVID is here. Uh, we don't know what the future looks like, but I think we all know now that Microsoft Teams became an absolute requirement for doing business in in the world. And um just so lucky that we got to kind of jump a little bit ahead of it and get to know the system and kind of its ins and outs.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Absolutely. And you know, it's it's really interesting because when you take those physical barriers away, you know, tools like Teams or Zoom or anything else, you know, let you kind of expand the walls of your team and get the best talent literally from around the world. And so computer-mediated groups, you know, can do really great things together. I think the leadership challenge is um the conversations when we turn on the camera are immediately business. And as soon as we finish the business conversation, we turn off the camera. And so we miss a lot of those like water, cooler, get to know you, trusted bonds. Um, so that you know, the challenge for leaders in these kind of environments is you know, how do we still create a sense of team camaraderie, a recognition of one another's humanity so that we are building culture in addition to doing really great work?

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah, that relationship building piece is so huge. And I think you're exactly right. It it's it's a little bit unnatural uh to do it over a computer screen. I think um I'm of the camp in the belief that um, you know, kind of the best interactions still happen in person when you have that uh ability to look somebody in the eye. And I know you can do that over a computer screen and a camera, but it is just a little bit different when you're in the same room, you're sitting together and just able to connect like that. But I think um it is funny to think back to the days of like the beginning of the internet when it was very far-fetched to think that we'd be having conversations over a camera um with others regularly as a part of just life. And so I think we've we've made the most of it. There's there's probably more things that will come in the in the years ahead, but I think for right now we've we've struck a pretty good balance with it.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, well, you know, what is that saying? History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme with itself. And I hear a lot of those echoes of, you know, the dot-com boom and all the things we talked about 25 years ago now are the same things we're saying about AI, which is we don't know exactly where it's gonna work, but we know it's gonna change the world. And uh, you know, is it gonna put me out of a job? And how is it gonna change the nature of how we work and all of these uncertainties? I suspect there are gonna be a lot of AI companies that, you know, flame out massively, like we saw in the dot-com bus. Uh, but I also suspect five and ten years from now, there's gonna be a couple of those AI applications that we look back and our kids will say, how did you ever work without these tools as part of your life's context?

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Absolutely right. It's already changed. I have I cannot imagine what it would be like coming through school right now. And like imagining my son who's getting it ready, he just started kindergarten this year, understanding what it'll be like for him to get a lifetime of education where he has ready access to anything he needs, whether it is writing things for him or um opening up uh page nine of the encyclopedia about this topic. You know, it's we had we had Wikipedia, sure. That's that's one thing, but this is you know a completely different level of um just opp opportunity at your fingertips. And I just hope that the next generation doesn't lose the ability to learn and uh they can they can make the most of the tool as a as a helper, as an assistant, but not as a replacement for like you know doing the doing the hard work and really learning to think.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Right. Well, you know, I think about AI tools as as sort of an extended tool. Uh, I'm writing a book right now, actually, about the role of AI in sales. And where I'm really settling on the thesis is that um the pieces that AI will not be able to replace are the core human elements. And so all of those things that we do to build a relationship, to build trust, to have friendships, um, you know, all of that is gonna be even more important and an even more highly prized skill. So, you know, salespeople who kind of live in that domain, yes, we're gonna change a lot about how do we research customers and how do we get background. And I think there's gonna be a lot more expectation that with AI, I need to show up to every sales meeting really well prepared and knowing everything because it's so easy. Um, but still all of that kind of soft skills human stuff, um, you know, I think is is always gonna be highly prized for us.

unknown 9:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

I was also I was gonna say they they say you can't train on soft skills. Maybe that's true also of the AI models. You can't train the models on soft skills.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Perhaps not. You know, but I was also thinking about um how the different generations, you know, grow up with these tools. I came out of school right as you know, one of the first classes that had email throughout our college education. And I entered the workforce really on this transition where people used to type memos to each other, and all of a sudden we were, you know, emailing, and it just felt very natural to me. I was talking to a colleague who said, My son is growing up in a world where he thinks it's completely natural to just talk into the air and have things happen. And I was like, Oh, and I thought a second about that, but sure. He sits in his living room, he says, Hey Alexa, you know, what's the baseball score? Can you turn on the lights? And just, you know, the world happens. And so it feels very different to us, um, and certainly people in my generation, but um, that's going to be the new normal. And then, you know, there will be other kind of challenges that that you know they'll tackle with kind of this new baseline.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

You're exactly right. My my son turns the lights on with Siri. He is knows how to do it. He he picked up on what we were doing and just it came naturally to him. So you're you're absolutely right. That that's what they know. That that's that's their normal. And so it, you know, and you have to think a generation ahead. What where's it gonna go from there? Snap. Snap of the fingers, maybe, and it's done. All right. So, Jay, you have uh an interesting um, I think, leadership track where you have led sales teams and you you just got to the point where you kind of wanted to take a slightly different role in leadership, being on the advising side. So, can you walk me through how that transition went?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, after my first serendipitous job at a dot com, I wound up, you know, falling into a career where every tech company I was working for was owned by private equity. Um, and that's a that's a unique niche space. Uh, people have heard that word a lot and they don't exactly know what it means. Um, but I, you know, I often describe it as sort of like house flipping for tech companies. And so, you know, I had this career as a salesperson and then a sales manager and a chief marketing officer and chief revenue officer. Six times the companies that I worked for had been flipped by private equity. And, you know, there's a unique mindset and there's a unique way to work when you're constantly working on, you know, how do we lead this company to a next plateau and then be able to tie a bow on it and give it to someone else? Um, and so after doing that six times, I said, There are a lot of other people who have no idea, you know, it's often, you know, I've just been bought by private equity. I don't know how to operate in that environment. Um, and so I started pulling together all sorts of materials that people kept asking, you know, how do I do annual planning? How do I talk to a board? And it got packaged up into a book called The CRO's Guide to Winning in Private Equity. Um, and that book also just opened the door to private equity firms themselves, saying, our our companies, you know, need this kind of guidance and advice. And so I've been really fortunate. Uh, I work primarily with uh five Eros Capital Partners from Rothschild and Company, a couple other sit on a couple other boards with other investors as well, um, to be able to make my full-time occupation being a board member who knows something about sales and being an advisor who gets to talk to, you know, 30, 40, 50 different CROs and companies that we work with, um, sharing best practices from one company to the next and and providing a little bit of experience guidance along the way.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

How natural was it for you to transition into that position where uh you are being the one at the table that they are looking to for advice? Did that like was it did you have imposter syndrome at first, or was it was it just something where it just it felt natural because you'd written the book, you'd you'd obviously lived it for many years, and it's just kind of the natural evolution of it?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

You know, I think this is a kind of job that again comes back to those kind of core soft skills of communication and particularly perspective taking and empathy. The biggest challenge or the biggest change that happens when you go from being the CRO of the company to the board member of the company who has ideas for the CRO is I'm not the one who gets to do the work anymore. And so no longer can I say, you must do this and follow this this way. Instead, you have to really understand, you know, who is the leadership that you've empowered with the company and what is their personal style. How do we help them flex their style and be successful and know that what happens for Billy is maybe going to, you know, be very different than what happens for JD and Mike and Jane, uh, but still get to the same result. Um, and I think, you know, we see I've seen that through my career in sales as well, that, you know, people who are really great salespeople get promoted up to be the sales manager or the sales leader. And they have to overcome that transformation of it doesn't mean I've got eight sellers who are going to bring me deals and I go in and tell them how to close it and do it myself. It becomes much more about how do you coach each unique seller and their each unique way of being. And so board advising is, you know, very much the same sort of process.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

I would imagine it's a lot about the relationships that you're building with these leaders that understanding like what is it that they need at this time? Where are they at on that continuum of private equity acquisition and then sell off? And and what do they need to learn? But like you said, it's not about solving their problems directly or giving them directions um that um that you know they must follow. That was my life as an engineering manager. I was there to solve problems and love that, but stepping into a business coaching role is completely different. It's about just trying to facilitate and get them to understand what is the issue uh that they are trying to solve, what is the goal that they are seeking, and get clarity with that. So I can't solve the problem for them. And I think you probably face the same uh realization.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

That's right. I spent uh part of my younger life as a marathon runner and then an Iron Man triathlete. Uh, but I remember the first time I was running the Chicago Marathon, which is my native kind of hometown race. And I joined a running group and I had an amazing coach who had run lots of those races before, who you know ran alongside me every Saturday. But at the end of the day, she knew Marathon Day was gonna come and I was gonna have to run my own race. And she would be able to tell me, here's things to watch out for, and here's what you should be thinking about, and here's how I like to, you know, eat and drink and deal with all the all the things. Um, but the day's gonna come and you're gonna have to do it yourself, and you're gonna have it in your own unique way. I'm gonna be cheering for you on the sidelines and be as supportive as I possibly can. But the trick about being a coach is then to step back a little bit and say, I've equipped you. I hope I've given you something helpful. And I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope it works out well for you.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

That's it. And tremendous congratulations on the marathons and triathlons. I think Ironman triathletes are some of the most inspiring people that I've met. I know a few, thankfully. And uh I I was only a swimmer. I can't I can't put that all together for a triathlon. I've done a couple of sprint triathlons in my day, but nothing like an Ironman. That's next level. So kudos. Oh, thank you. So I think would it be fair to call the private equity cycles intense for most business owners? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Uh, you know, we're we're very goal-oriented people. Because if we think about that house flipping analogy, uh private equity owner wants to sell the company for as much money as they can possibly make for it, uh, but they also want to do it in the shortest amount of time possible. And so, you know, the the from the very beginning, from the day we purchased the company, we're talking about what are the value creation levers, you know, what are the things we're going to do that are going to make this more valuable? And how do we really get close to the exit? Briars use this kind of house flipping analogy because it's just like you bought a fixer upper house. And boy, it would be great. You know, we know you've got to replace the kitchen. We know we're gonna have to, you know, repaint the dining room or whatever that is. It would be great if we can do that in one month instead of two months worth of mortgage payments or 12 months worth of mortgage payments. And so, yeah, it can create a it can create a big culture of like go, go, go, and and lots of lots of intense effort and focus. Uh, but hopefully it's building value and and you know something that's intellectually challenging and exciting for everyone else along the way.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I want to touch on something that is also, I think, unique in your education and background. And I want to know why are there no more philosophers today, or maybe are there, I just don't know about them. But you you talk about like historical philosophers and all of the philosophers we've studied. Um, but I don't hear of any today. Are there, son?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Well, there are professional philosophers. Um, and I think a lot of them wind up being religious scholars or um or things like that. But also I think the point of philosophy isn't really to say deep things like Socrates. It's really about training your brain. And so, you know, philosophical discussions are really teaching us logical thought. How does one idea lead to the next and how do you make those connections? And I think we see that skill all over the place. And so, you know, right now, you know, we're in the middle of so many wars all around the world. And how do we resolve these conflicts? You know, a really good kind of philosophical philosophical thinking, you know, has that chess moves of, you know, what are these people valuing and what are these people valuing? And how do you weigh the relative values of both of those points of view? And how do you, you know, create a new future that respects everyone's point of view? And so, well, there's not, as far as I know, outside of the academic context, you know, there's not a company that says, you know, help wanton philosopher. There's certainly a lot of places that, you know, critical thinking, logic, a lot of ethical dilemmas that, you know, you have to do trade-offs on. Um, all of that kind of comes out of our deep philosophical past.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

And I think that's what makes you hopefully such an excellent leader, right? You're having exactly those soft skills, those human um skills that tie so closely to being able to um guide people and lead people in in life. Um, so how has that helped you, you think, need to in that unique position?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Yeah, I didn't know it was going to work out that way, but I think you're right. Um, you know, at the end of the day, when I was leaving college with a you know, a really well-rounded humanities degree, liberal arts degree, um, I was a little bit frustrated on the first job hunt because there was no, you know, help-wanted ad that said speech communication majors apply here, philosophy majors apply here, in the same way that you know, there are some very functional tactical degrees, like I need an accountant, I need someone who knows mechanical engineering. But all of that liberal arts background that teaches me how to have great relationships with people, develop good trust, um, really listen to you and learn, you know, perspective taking, understand what's important to you, and then reflect back and respond appropriately, turned out to be the great foundational skills for becoming a salesperson who you know gets you the solutions that you need, becoming a manager of people who understands what larger groups of people need. And now on my coaching and mentorship work, um, being a board member that you know hopefully can guide you know larger organizations and their leaders where they need to go.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

I love that. Reflections from your first book. Let's say that maybe I want to write a book. What what do I need to know? What's the advice that you give me as a never before um published author? What what do I need to know?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Oh gosh. Um so writing a book, I think is is uh it was an exciting journey. Journey for me. I had written a dissertation as part of my PhD, but writing this last book was the longest piece of text I had ever written. I think what's what's important is that we start with knowing what are the what is the message that you want to deliver. You know, what do you have to say? Because at the end of the day, you know, we're writing a book because someone wants to read it and get value from it. So, you know, maybe that's a novel and you're trying to entertain someone. In my case, this is a business book that's really trying to teach someone something. But, you know, beginning the process, understanding the purpose it's supposed to serve for you and for your audience really helps, you know, guide that. Um, I also was fortunate to work with a really great publisher at Catalyst Inc. who had, you know, walked me through the journey and said, you know, in the same way that I now go to companies and say, you know, this is your first time being owned by private equity. There's this is your first time you're writing a book. We've done, you know, thousands of them. And so, you know, having a good smart publisher who can help you along the way, keep you accountable for hitting all of your deadlines. Um, and then, you know, actually, just like a board member, have a really critical eye in the editing room. Um, and that was a great skill for me that I'm like, here's this beautiful story that you know I really want. And they're like, it's doesn't really on the page, it doesn't translate the same way you seem to think it means, you know. Um and so, so you know, being comfortable with that. Um, and then and then finally, the other thing I learned about books is, you know, the work is not done when you've written the last word. Uh, the work actually starts there because it becomes in a big sales journey of, you know, book marketing, book promotion, visiting podcasts like your own, public speaking and all of that to, you know, sort of promote and sell the book uh instead of just writing it and sticking it on a shelf.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Very good. Has the process for the second book that you are currently writing, has it been easier? Has it been different? What's what's the take on that so far?

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Yeah. So we're about halfway through the second book, which come out in early 26, first half of 26. Uh, and it's the AI handbook for sales leaders. Yes. So it's a you know, it's an educational uh guide to all the uses of AI for sales processes. Um, you know, certainly I'm seeing a lot of familiar patterns of like the discipline of making time to write and getting drafts, you know, for review and all of that sort of stuff. It's been really a beneficial process to me because this is a book I'm learning a lot about, uh, the topic as I'm writing it. The first book, I'd been a CRO a ton of times, and I was like, here's all the knowledge I've got to go. AI is moving so fast. Um really actively engaged with, you know, interviewing all of our companies. How are you using AI? Getting tons of demos from you know AI tech providers and understanding those. Um, so this book is much as much an educational journey for myself as it is hopefully, I think, for my audience when it's done.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah, I would think that that would be just a wild process. On you're on the cutting edge of this technology. You're trying to write a book about it. You finish the chapter. By the time you finish the chapter, it's changed. That's old. There's a new thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah, I worry that you know, we're gonna we're gonna have to get it published really fast so that it's not outdated. And then I suspect this is gonna be a book that's gonna need a lot of like merge two, addition three as the world keeps moving. Uh, but it's been a great way for me to crystallize my own thinking about this. You know, we go back to that discussion of the dot-com age. Um, companies who resisted the internet, um, you know, they that didn't work for very long. Um, they ultimately had to transform. And so the same thing is going to be true for us is that in the next two years, five years, companies aren't going to be operating without AI. So the trick for us is how do we get really smart about it and incorporate all of the kind of new learnings as fast as we can and start getting the results that um that it can unlock for us.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Yeah. I uh I had the opportunity to have a uh a fantastic international lawyer on the podcast a few weeks ago. And he was explaining like uh just the idea that there aren't really going to be lawyers that exist that don't use AI, because if they aren't using AI, they aren't going to be able to keep up and they are going to just disappear. And I thought about that. I think that probably applies to most every technical career. Um at this point, there is so much efficiency to be gained if you are using these tools effectively that um it's just such a such a boost to the capacity that you have as an individual. And if you put it on the team, what that team can accomplish. So um I think there's such a parallel to that dot-com era uh boom where people that didn't adopt, that didn't see the benefit of what the internet could offer, they don't exist anymore. They're not around today. And I think you're gonna have that same phenomenon where organizations that don't invest in AI and with that invest in the leadership of how to lead in an era of AI. Um, you know, those organizations are gonna suffer greatly.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah. You know, I think um it it can be very dangerous to think of yourself as an expert in anything and very humbling. And, you know, I think a lot about a company I had worked with that was a big data provider. Um, and as we started to look at, you know, all the all the people and the jobs that they did, uh, there was one particular gentleman who said, you know, here is this really critical report that we generate every week and we sell it. And, you know, I'm the only one in the company who knows how to run this report. And I, especially once it comes out, I do this little editing thing and I pull out the anomalies and I sort of fix that. And in the beginning, he really felt like his value for the rest of his life and the rest of his career was going to be I'm the expert who knows how to, you know, tweak this final report and send it. What we learned really quickly is that's a recipe for getting your job automated. Um all of a sudden technology came along, and you know, the thing that he used to spend 30 hours a week doing was done in two or three minutes. Um, but you know, where he landed was the next evolution, is he was the only one in that company who understood what that report means and how to interpret it and how to apply the values. And so, you know, if we keep thinking our value is about the past and just doing the same things we used to do in the past, not gonna be so great. If we think our value is about I'm an expert at this and I want to teach someone else so it's off my plate so I can do the next thing, um, we're gonna have longevity no matter where you know AI takes our careers.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

I like that perspective. That's terrific. What do you think leaders should be paying attention to? And there's such, I think, I'd call it like a hype cycle with AI. And there's just so much every day that you hear about and new technology. I mean, just even this week, uh, for time purposes, we're recording this episode on October 22nd. Yesterday, OpenAI released their new chat GPT browser, Atlas. So it's just every day there's something new, but but how much of it is is hype, how much of it is actually changing the world?

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Well, I think we learned this in the dot com boom too. Um, I think the most important aspects or applications of AI, we always need to be asking, what is the purpose? So, you know, AI can do a lot of different things. And we always have to stop and ask ourselves, do I want to do this because it creates value, or am I doing it just because it seems kind of cool? Um, I was working with um an AI vendor the other day who works with commission planning and um territory planning for salespeople. And there, on the one hand, there's this huge promise of this product that can, you know, analyze customer database and look at where salespeople live and you know, kind of draw the boundaries of here's what a sales territory might look like that's different than just saying you have the state of Illinois or the state of New York, but you know, really draw the boundaries in really unique and interesting ways. And then the next level of that was, you know, AI can be doing that constantly as markets keep changing. What if, you know, once a week AI kind of relooked at the territories and the boundaries and said, here's where customers are, and let's balance this back and forth. But as we got to the end of that conversation, it was really clear like, yes, AI could completely optimize your sales territory on a daily basis or an hourly basis, but your salespeople aren't going to respond very well to that if if you know their patch keeps changing. And so, you know, always we have to kind of look at this balance of what does the technology make possible? Why do we want to do it? And then what are the trade-offs of it? And if we're doing it just because we can and for no other reason, maybe it's not something we should be doing.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

That's so good. I think it's it's as much as anything about having good processes in place. And I I fell into the trap, I'll admit, at Toyota, where I would be responsible for bringing in new software. Let's try out some new software, let's figure out what's out there that can help us gain advantage, gain more efficiency. Um, and a lot of those tools were dabbling in AI as well at the time. But I think what I fell into the trap of, I would always kind of fall onto that like pioneer part of the adoption curve where I want to be an early adopter and I want to try out the latest and greatest new things. But it would, it would oftentimes become a distraction and it would take away from doing the actual work that needed to be done using the old systems. And and and it would be kind of a case of like, if we were to adopt this new software, we would have to radically change our process. And then it would be a matter of like convincing um leadership that yes, we need to adapt our process so that we can survive. Our old process isn't going to work. But that in a large corporation, that is a really hard ass because there's just so much technical debt and there's so much customization that's built in that you have just barriers to overcome at every phase. And so um, you know, that was, I think, one of the greatest learnings that I had my last couple of years there was just, you know, there are new things, but don't let the new things take away from the really effective and established process that you have, um, if if that is um, you know, paying the bills.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Right. On the other hand, kudos to you for being on the on the on the you know, side of let's continue to innovate. Because if we only keep doing the things we've always done, eventually, you know, we're gonna stagnate and not move forward. And so, you know, I think it's tricky as a leader to find that balance of, you know, how do we always have some little pilots and explorations of of what the future might look like, but not let that overwhelm, you know, where where we need to be today.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

I think we talked about it a little bit, talking about the things that you can't really train AI on with the the human piece, the soft skills, the the connection. But what's your what's your perspective on trying to balance that when you have all of these incredible gains and efficiency that can be be had with AI, but are they are they coming at the cost of human connection?

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Well, this is actually, you know, as a communication scholar, it's a thing that's really near and dear to my heart. Um at the moment, um humanity is not really in AI. I think it's very tricky uh because the technology of AI is one about pattern recognition. And so it has been taught, if I say please, it says thank you. If I say I'm not having a good day, it says, I'm sorry to hear that. Um but at the end of the day, AI is doing that just because it's been taught that that's the pattern of how those conversations go. They don't actually have empathy, they don't really have understanding. Now, for an uninformed person, you can start develop attachments and think this AI bot is my therapist, or this AI bot is my romantic partner, or the person that I, you know, reveal all my deep deepest secrets to. Um, and we have to, you know, we have to get better educated about it's really not that. It's not building an emotional connection with you, it's just kind of responding in a formulaic way. Um, and so I think I think that's a big part of the answer to your question is um, you know, AI is gonna be important for us, you know, to do a lot of routine tasks, but really not fill in the gaps of of where you know human beings shine and the you know, the physical and mental kind of pieces of us. From a career standpoint, I also think that you know, there's always this hand-wringing about is this technology going to put people out of jobs? And I know anytime anyone prognosticates about that, you know, you're always wrong. But at the risk of you know, making a mistake that 10 years from now we'll say JD didn't know what he was talking about. You know, I fundamentally believe there are actually, you know, physical labor jobs that, you know, my plumber, really important guy when I've got a huge leak in my basement. Um, and I think those kinds of skills, um, highly valued. Uh when your basement is flooding, there's not a dollar amount that's too high for you to pay to get it fixed. And you need them out there right away. Um, so I think AI, you know, may take away some knowledge worker jobs, but those like, you know, physical labor jobs, I think are still gonna be highly prized in the future. And then again, you know, back to the liberal arts person, the fundamentally empathetic jobs, you know, the therapists, the salespeople, the relationship builders, the caretakers, um, all of those are jobs that I think are gonna be um, you know, AI might teach them how to do them differently, but I don't think AI is gonna replace those kind of human connection type things anytime in the near future.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

I hope not. And I I do fear for the people that are trying to use the uh generative AI tools as their therapists as such a dangerous space to be in right now. And uh I I wish you luck if you've ventured down that road. But I think get a proper human therapist and you'll be much better off.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

That's right. But on the other hand, you know, I went to I went to the doctor this morning uh and I had my annual exam. And he said, JD, do you mind if, you know, I have this new AI thing that's you know, listening to our conversation and transcribing and all of that kind of stuff? And so sure, go ahead and do that. Um doctors, if they've got an AI companion who says, you know, I have not only listened into your, you know, 200 patients, but I've listened into a hundred thousand patients that doctors across the country are having. They can start to uncover these unique patterns of, you know, when someone says this, this really happens probably down the line. Or, you know, there's lots of applications right now with um lung cancer that, you know, a great radiologist has seen a thousand lung screens. Uh, a great AI bot has seen a million lung cancer screens. Um, and so, you know, now when they're wrong, they're really wrong. And so we can't rely only on the AI to diagnose things. But I think they might be interesting toolkits alongside your doctor, alongside your radiologist, or alongside your therapist to say, have you thought about this? Because I'm noticing this pattern. Um, and then we've got to go back to the interpersonal judgment to kind of put that insight into context and you know, make a choice about what we do about it.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

I love the word companion. It's a little bit like unsettling because you think of a companion, you think of a human relationship. But I think that's exactly the place that it needs to hold is like, you know, um, something that is alongside human um efforts and human work. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

And take over all the mindless tasks that you know, my doctor, insurance and all of that kind of healthcare stuff in the US. There's a lot of reporting and charting that has to get done after our interaction. And if AI can speed up his time in writing down my answers to all the questions and filling out the paperwork and sending that off to insurance so that he can spend more time doing what you know he's uniquely good, good at, which is diagnosing intriguing patients. That's a great application to that medical companion for him.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Absolutely. JD, I want to let you uh share with the audience a little bit about what you're doing with your foundation and your philanthropic efforts in Chicago, please.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Oh, thanks. Um, so you know, I've been really fortunate. I've had this great uh professional career starting from an early.com that was really successful and you know, private equity and so on. But I also recognize that I haven't gotten my success by myself. And so my husband and I really, you know, feel obligated to, you know, very cliche, give back, pay it forward, go help somebody else. Um, and so we've established the JDMJA foundation. You know, it's sort of our initials, JD Miller and so on. Um, and the kind of the mission of the foundation is to tell the stories that need to be told to make the world a better place. Um, so that involves things like um, you know, supporting universities and and classes that help people, you know, communicate important messages. It's supporting arts organizations in in in the city of Chicago for sure, and and elsewhere as well, that you know, help us understand other people's perspectives, develop empathy and see things there. And then finally, it's about supporting organizations with the the foundational training they need to get better. So, you know, how do you tell someone the story of how to be a better fundraiser, how to be a better governing board, and you know, get your organization you know more effective at the end. You can find out all about that too, uh, either from my website or uh the foundation itself at jdmja.org.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Okay, we'll put that in the show notes for sure. Thank you so much. The signature question now podcast called Making More. So for JD Miller, making more blank is most important for you at this point in your life and career.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Making more genuine human connection. You know, no surprise. We've talked about this already. But you know, with technology, with social media, we have lots of volume of connection. Uh, but often the algorithms that run those things prioritize, you know, the small sound bites that are polarizing and and you know, driving people away. What I think we need more of, you know, whether it's you know resolving an argument in the boardroom or arguing it, you're resolving an argument around, you know, borders of countries and who belongs where, is having a genuine human connection where we see someone else as human, we have empathy for them, and then we engage in some problem-solving conversations from there.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

I love it. JD Miller, thank you so much for being with us today. Dr. JD Miller, I get that right.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

Thanks for having me today.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Oh, it's been a great pleasure to have you. Thank you so much, everybody. We'll talk soon. All right. Thanks for listening to Making More. If today's conversation sparks something in you, let's connect. You can find me on LinkedIn and threads at CoachFisher FPT or by visiting Billyfisher.focalpointcoaching.com to learn more about how I help leaders create clarity, build momentum, and make more of what matters. This recording is copyrighted by Engineers Consulting Incorporated. Until next time, take care.