Speed, Ease, and Expertise With AI: Lenovo’s Linda Yao

Linda Yao, chief operating officer and head of strategy for Lenovo’s Strategy, Solutions, and Services Group and vice president of hybrid cloud and AI solutions, joins us to explain the organization’s transition from technology product company to managed services provider. It’s now helping organizations with the change management required to implement AI in the enterprise. She shares both a framework around speed, ease, and expertise to facilitate this adoption, as well as the four pillars of AI readiness that Lenovo guides its clients to achieve. Tune in to this episode, also, for Linda’s perspective on the role of human connection in what she calls the era of inference, a time when we should focus on the implementation of maturing AI tools. Read the episode transcript here. Guest Bio: Linda Yao serves as vice president of hybrid cloud and AI solutions at Lenovo. Yao recently also took on the role of chief operating officer and head of Lenovo’s Strategy, Solutions, and Services Group and established the company’s AI Center of Excellence. Previously, at Boeing, she incubated a data science practice in the U.S. and India, built an M&A team, and oversaw investments for one of the largest corporate retirement plans in the world. She earned her finance chops at IBM in New York and Shanghai. Yao earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and an engineering certificate from MIT. She is an active liaison for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Foundation and the YoungArts, a national foundation. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the executive producer is Allison Ryder. Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn. We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.