What has been your business/work highlight of 2024 so far?

I’ve been focusing quite a bit on interoperability and open source standards in the XR in recent years. In particular, I’m passionate about the ways in which we can harness the amazing opportunity that XR presents around global workforce enablement and the development of robust talent pipelines. XR has the ability to erase physical barriers in our world that have, in the past, separated people from learnings and experiences that make the value of their skillset fully visible to industry – in essence, it allows us to more efficiently and equitably connect people with opportunity. In 2023, IEEE LTSC published xAPI 2.0, an open source standard ideal for measuring human performance and skill development in immersive environments. In 2024, I’ve had the great privilege of collaborating with global corporations and tech providers as they find new ways to innovate with the standard. I am thrilled to see some of the ways that it’s beginning to be adopted worldwide. I believe it will be a game-changer for the industry and help attach tangible value to people’s experiences in XR that they can they can share with others, should they choose, to help make their career aspirations attainable.

Who is your business hero and why?

It’s difficult to choose just one. My personal and professional purpose is to be an unrelenting advocate for the potential that exists in others. Thus, I really admire the work of many around the globe who have found ways to ensure that industry remains in service of the people around it, in particular those who are underrepresented and/or underserved. In essence, I admire those who have truly worked to build sustainable value that has significantly changed people’s lives. Larger than life historical figures like Andrew Carnegie and even local business heroes in my own hometown like George Mitchell come to mind. In the here and now, I’m really inspired by people like Efe Ukala at JPMorgan, who is working to identify and empower amazing female entrepreneurs across the African continent. I also draw strength from great women role models in tech and engineering, like Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation, Marillyn Hewson, former CEO of Lockheed Martin, and Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM, who have repeatedly demonstrated both strong leadership and innovative thinking and who have paved the way for generations of female tech and business leaders to follow.

What’s the biggest business mistake you’ve made and what did you learn from it?

I had an aunt growing up who said the word “FAIL” stands for “Finding An Important Lesson.” As a leader in business, I’ve certainly learned a lot along the way! In particular, in earlier parts of my career, my passion for innovation and change and “bias for action” sometimes caused me to move straight from envisioning change into immediately engaging in projects and initiatives to bring the “possible” to life. It took some large missteps and less-than-ideal outcomes to realise that I was missing the most critical and important step: enrolling others. Enrolling others means that we take this “brilliant” idea that we’ve conceptualised in our minds (and maybe even put down on paper), we put aside our own biases and egos, and lovingly place it in the care of a group of diverse and perfectly imperfect people who will most likely rip it apart. They will turn it inside out and upside down and, in the end, what will emerge is something infinitely more powerful and sustainable than anything anyone could have dreamt of themselves. It takes a lot of discipline (and courage!) to insist upon the time and space to enroll before we engage. This how we truly create powerful and sustainable change.

What’s the most inspirational book you’ve ever read and why?

Educated, by Tara Westover, made a lasting impact on my life and still serves as a great motivator for the work that I do today, as it speaks to some of the challenges that “frontline” workers around the world still face today, particularly those in more rural and underdeveloped areas. Simon Sinek’s Start With Why and Heidi Grant-Halvorson’s Reinforcements are also great books that have shaped the ways that I approach my work today, particularly as it relates to building coalitions to create sustainable change and maximise shareholder value. Give and Take, by Adam Grant, is probably the one that’s most front-and-centre for me at the moment, as it’s all about enabling others’ full potential, and that’s truly at the heart of what I aim to do as a business and innovation leader.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role in 2024?

I’ve seen the XR community really starting to come together in recent years. I think the passion and the intent to do world-changing things **together** is really bubbling up to the surface and this excites me because there’s so much promise and potential in this moment in time. Now is the time to start getting very serious about open standards and foundational infrastructure that will ensure that we really do create sustainable value and champion accessibility. This is work that doesn’t always get a lot of front-page headlines and does come at a cost with regards to time and effort, but is essential for us to collectively get this right. My biggest challenge for 2024 will be motivating all of the brilliant people who are passionate about this space to come together and co-create a vision that we can build together, one that represents a diversity of perspectives and ideals but, in the end, maximises the value to humanity as a result.

What technology will have the greatest impact on your business this year and why?

The emerging Learning and Employment Record (LER) data standard, which essentially enables one common, user-owned and controlled “digital wallet” of validated skills and capabilities that follows a person throughout their lives, will continue to have a major impact on my work this year. In combination, the xAPI (human performance and experience) data standard and the Shareable Competency/Skill Definition standard that underpin LERs will also prove incredibly powerful. As the standards are just at the beginning of their adoption journey, new technology is still emerging and maturing in ways that will allow for their potential to be maximised. However, the existing early paradigms around the “learning and training” use cases in XR are prime for positive disruption. My dream is to be a part of the efforts to create and commercialise tech products to achieve this end, and I predict that this will increasingly become the focus of my work as the year continues on.