The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving · FirmsConsulting.com & StrategyTraining.com

637: Growth and Innovation at Scale, with Former IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce Executive Jason Wild

·54 min·3 clips

Mr. T showed up in a red Rolls Royce and taped-up work boots.

The episode begins with a direct biographical prompt. Jason Wild is introduced as a former executive at IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce, and as a former child actor. That detail gives the conversation an immediate human hook. Krista asks how that happened, and the discussion opens out from there into his background and the lessons that come from years inside major technology companies. Jason speaks in a measured way. He does not rush the answer. He uses the moment to explain how experience shapes judgment. The conversation then shifts toward AI. Jason says he has been around AI for almost 20 years. He points back to his time at IBM and the Watson go-to-market work. That history frames his view of the current cycle. He says he was not surprised by AI's potential. He also argues that technology should benefit humanity and be applied equally. Open source becomes central to his position. He says he believes the future of LLMs and AI is open source. He also says he is wary of concentrating too much power in organizations driven by Wall Street profitability and share price. For him, governance and transparency are not optional extras. They are part of the design problem. He wants the industry to balance transparency with bleeding-edge innovation. Krista then pushes on the gap between preference and prediction. She asks what he thinks will actually happen. Jason answers as an optimist. He says he may be optimistic to a fault. He does think an AI bubble is getting close. Even so, he argues that bubbles do not erase revolutions. He compares the moment to earlier industrial revolutions that hit speed bumps without stopping. His larger point is that the current wave is different because multiple technologies are advancing at once. The conversation keeps returning to mechanisms rather than slogans. Jason's comments about incentive models, alignment, and governance give the episode its real weight. The show stays in an interview mode that lets him build the case step by step. Krista's questions keep the discussion anchored and practical. The result is a conversation about strategy, technology, and long-term direction that favors judgment over flash.

As heard by us

An executive AI conversation that keeps open source and governance in view while staying focused on incentives and human benefit.

Jason Wild's time at IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce gives the discussion a steady, practical feel. It starts with child acting, then moves into AI, open source models, governance, and the idea that the field may be brushing up against a bubble.

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Why you'd press play

Hear an IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce veteran think aloud about AI, open source, and the next industrial shift.

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