Five Industries. One Blind Spot.
70% of technology transformations fail. Not because of the technology, but because of the gap between what leaders deploy and what people actually do with it.
In this compilation, host Donna P. Mitchell puts a year of the show's strongest answers side by side. Five leaders from five industries — consulting, behavioral science, mission-driven transformation, insurance and health, and product innovation — answer the same question in two rounds: what do organizations get wrong about technology adoption, and what does it actually cost them?
They share almost no vocabulary. They arrived at the same place independently.
It was never the technology. It was the gap.
TOPICS COVERED:
- Why adoption gaps are leadership gaps and experience gaps in disguise
- The difference between sending a message and creating meaning
- Why human-centered discovery has to come before the platform decision
- What executives miss when they fund technology before defining the problem
- Why employees make emotional decisions, not rational ones
- The dignity question nobody is asking about AI and workforce replacement
- Three specific failure signals inside a stalled project
- Why the phrase "it's a tech project" predicts failure
TIMESTAMPS:
(0:00) Cold Open
(0:18) Round One — What They Get Wrong
(0:54) Bryant Richardson: Adoption gaps are leadership gaps in disguise
(1:39) Will Leach: Messaging is not the same thing as meaning
(2:55) Dusty Gulleson: Why you never start with the technology
(3:53) Rohit C. Nambiar: Technology is overglorified, change is underspoken
(4:33) Noel Sobelman: Solve the customer problem before you buy the tool
(5:49) Round Two — What It Really Costs
(6:36) Will Leach: Employees make emotional decisions, not rational ones
(8:16) Dusty Gulleson: The dignity question in replacing people with AI
(9:22) Rohit C. Nambiar: The moment it becomes "a tech project"
(10:00) Noel Sobelman: Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
(10:40) Close
IN THE GUESTS' WORDS:
"Adoption gaps are really leadership gaps and experience gaps in disguise." — Bryant Richardson. "Messaging is not the same thing as meaning." — Will Leach. "Adoption only happens when you have people being heard, understood." — Dusty Gulleson. "Technology is over-glorified in transformation, and change is not spoken enough." — Rohit C. Nambiar. "Fall in love with the problem, not the solution." — Noel Sobelman.
ABOUT THE GUESTS:
Bryant Richardson — Founder and President, Real Blue Sky LLC (EP113)
Will Leach — Founder and CEO, Mindstate Group; author, Marketing to Mindstates (EP117)
Dusty Gulleson — CEO, Tectonic (EP118)
Rohit C. Nambiar — Co-Founder and COO, SabaiHealth; former Group CEO, Tune Protect; author, The Simplicity Trap (EP120)
Noel Sobelman — Partner, Accel Management Group; author, Innovation Portfolio Management (EP123)
ABOUT DONNA P. MITCHELL:
Founder of The Transformation Authority™ and CEO of Mitchell Universal Network, LLC. Forbes Business Council Member and Senior Executive Healthcare Think Tank Member. 49 years across five regulated industries — telecommunications, aviation, airline management, healthcare and pharmaceutical, and emerging technologies — enabling 150,000+ professionals. Author of Pivoting to Technology Adoption: Mind the Gap and host of the IAB-certified podcast of the same name, 120+ episodes reaching 64 countries.
WORK WITH DONNA:
Keynotes, workshops, and executive education on the people side of technology adoption.
The Adoption Assessment — a 90-minute strategic diagnostic that locates exactly where adoption stalls between deployment and durable use.
Executive PR — earned media distribution and AI indexing for executives.
Start here: pivotingportal.com
New episodes every Tuesday.
Forbes Business Council Member.
Founder / Keynote Speaker / Author
Bryant Richardson is the founder and president of Real Blue Sky,
LLC, a consultancy focused on empowering businesses to craft
compelling customer experiences. He translates world-class
customer experience (CX) strategies into practical, impactful
solutions tailored for growth-minded business leaders.
Bryant's journey in customer experience is rooted in a lifetime of
learning and curiosity. His inquisitive nature led him to
understand how things worked, with an innate desire to improve
them.
For over 30 years, he has been a recognized leader in
transforming customer experiences for top brands across
varied industries, including financial services, technology,
telecom, healthcare, retail, and nonprofits.
Bryant was named to ICMI’s Top 25 Thought
Leaders for 2025. He is also a highly-rated
speaker, coach and the author of numerous
industry articles and his forthcoming book,
The Next CX Economy.
Outside of work, Bryant is deeply committed to
his community, generously sharing his time,
talents, and resources with organizations like
Embrace Waiting Children. He enjoys
motorcycling North Texas’ scenic byways
and cooking for friends and family in his
Dallas-area home
Founder
Will Leach is the founder of Mindstate Group, where he helps leaders understand why customers choose and how to build decision confidence through behavioral AI. A behavioral research expert and marketing strategist, Will previously led PepsiCo’s Behavioral Science Lab and now advises executive teams across industries. His work applying behavioral science to brands like PepsiCo, Mars, Capital One, 7-Eleven, and Disney has helped leaders uncover the psychological drivers behind growth, brand loyalty, and strategic clarity.
He is the best-selling author of Marketing to Mindstates, which reached #1 in six Amazon categories and introduced a practical framework for understanding the psychological states that drive customer decisions. Today, Will works with executive teams to uncover the behavioral drivers behind growth, brand loyalty, and strategic clarity.
Will speaks and advises on behavioral science, AI-powered insight, and how leaders can make smarter decisions in uncertain markets.
Gulleson
Dusty is CEO of Tectonic (formerly eResources), where he’s spent 25+ years leading large-scale technology transformations across mission-driven organizations. He’s built and scaled a 100+ person company without outside capital, led multiple acquisitions, and worked with institutions like Stanford, Google, and PG&E.
Noel Sobelman works with corporate leaders to accelerate core business vitality while simultaneously building new sources of growth. For the past 25 years, he has worked in the areas of growth strategy, innovation capability building, portfolio management, organization design, ecosystem development, and digital enablement. He is widely recognized for bringing a practical and applicable approach to companies looking to ignite change. Prior to joining Accel Management Group, Noel was a Partner & Managing Director with Kalypso. His background also includes senior-level corporate roles, new venture creation, and executive advisory.
Co-Founder, SabaiHealth | Author, The Simplicity Trap
Rohit C. Nambiar is Co-Founder and COO of SabaiHealth, an AI-powered care companion serving underserved populations across Southeast Asia through LINE, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
Before SabaiHealth, Rohit spent over twenty years as a C-suite operator across Asia and the Middle East. As Group CEO of Tune Protect Group (Bursa-listed), he reversed four years of decline into 26% CAGR growth. As CEO of AXA AFFIN Life Malaysia, he delivered 74% YoY revenue growth against a 16% market average — the fastest turnaround in AXA Asia's regional portfolio. He led several Malaysian industry firsts: the country's first telematics motor insurance, first online health insurance, and the first insurer to migrate all core systems to cloud — clearing regulatory approval in 10.5 months.
He is the author of The Simplicity Trap (Notion Press, 2026), which debuted in Amazon India's Top 5 Bestsellers in Management, and is finalising his second book, The Execution Illusion: Why Most Strategies Fail Between the Boardroom and the Front Line. Rohit completed MIT xPRO's AI for Senior Executives programme in March 2026 and serves on UNICEF's Expert Advisory Panel on Fintech and Children. He is based in Kuala Lumpur.
