Episode 32 – Kate O’Neill, Tech Humanist

With her signature strategic optimism, Kate O’Neill is helping humanity prepare for an increasingly tech-driven future. She is the founder and CEO of KO Insights, an industry leader, and someone who excels at introducing new successes to companies. Kate has always sought to understand the meaning of music, words, and interactions and how they impact our day-to-day lives. A self-professed language nerd, she speaks multiple languages and plays multiple (12!) instruments. Encouraged by her family, her mom set an example of what hard work and determination can accomplish and always encouraged her curiosity. Adaptable and always attracted to people who could reinvent themselves, Kate doesn’t take a traditional approach to her professional or personal growth. She loves that the generation coming into the work phase of their lives is taking a different tact. That they don’t stress about anticipating what their entire career path will be. Sure, they plan for it and take on new challenges as they present themselves much more readily than previous generations. Kate has reinvented herself on what has become available. “No way I could have anticipated what would be available after college,” she says. But with, a mindset of openness and adaptability and a willingness to apply what she learned and knew to new things gave way to tremendous opportunities, like heading up a language lab at the University of Chicago and building its first website. Toshiba then recruited her to develop its intranet. She moved into the start-up world while managing her technical writing and website management business. From there, she sought out Netflix, impressed by its vision. At first, they didn’t know what to do with her, but they knew they wanted her. One of its first 100 employees, they created and gave Kate the platform’s first content management role. Kate is currently working on book #6 – admittedly, it is going slower than expected. She’s taking a more considered approach – trying to listen to her audiences and clients to address the challenges they face in today’s technology-laden world and what impact they and the solutions we come up with will have on all facets of our future. Following her advice, Kate is falling in love and focusing on the problems, not the solutions, as she writes her book. She’s letting herself be fascinated by the questions, not the answers, making sure she considers all the options and potential outcomes. I can not wait for this new book! Website: KOinsights.com About: koinsights.com/about/about-kate-oneill/ | linkedin.com/in/kateoneill Pronouns: she/her (Why do I include these? Learn more.) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateoneill/ Mastodon: https://mastodon.cloud/@kateo