Leveraging Thought Leadership | Jen Cohen | 283

Today's guest is Jen Cohen the Vice President of Engineering at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI).  Jen has over twenty years of technology and operations leadership experience that she uses to make technology work for business. Jen shares how her work at TRI is helping to strengthen the research structure that is developing technology that amplifies humans, allowing them to age in place and continue to enjoy their lives with the aid of AI and robotics without replacing the human aspect. Jen discusses the ever-important need to create processes in the development stage that will guide a project to completion.  With 50% of IT projects failing, she understands the need to have effective change agents in place and to never take shortcuts in development. During our discussion of what successful thought leadership means to Jen, she shares the concept of Ikigai, a Japanese concept meaning "A reason for being."  We chat about how our lives feel most fulfilled when we incorporate work that we love and how TRI is helping people to achieve their Ikigai. Three Key Takeaways: ·         Thought Leaders can include various forms of automation in their work, the key is to ensure it enhances the human experience and does not replace the human. ·         When developing processes for anything thought leadership should look at the end goal and ensure the steps to get there are developed early and nothing is skipped. ·         Ikigai is a great concept for thought leaders.  Finding ways to help others live their best life by doing work they love will increase the productivity and satisfaction of clients.