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Welcome back to Making Data Simple, where we explore how data-driven strategies ignite innovation and transform businesses. In this exciting episode, we sit down with Marco Rota, VP of Strategic Technology Alliances at Lumen Technologies, whose incredible journey spans from the glitz of Hollywood to leading-edge telecommunications. Tune in as Marco reveals how embracing a vibrant culture, drawing on lessons from the entertainment industry, and championing new technologies can propel teams and organizations to new heights of success. Get ready for an inspiring, behind-the-scenes look at how “culture eats strategy for breakfast”—and why that’s a game-changer for your organization, too!

• 01:47 – Meet Marco Rota
  Marco shares his background and how his career path took him from the dynamic world of Hollywood to a leadership role at Lumen Technologies. He underscores his passion for storytelling, collaboration, and innovation—elements that continue to shape his work in tech.
• 03:35 – Learnings from Hollywood
  Drawing on Hollywood’s fast-paced environment, Marco highlights the importance of creative thinking and adaptability. He explains how these traits help push organizations to stay ahead of disruption and continually evolve, just like the film industry does to meet audience demands.
• 10:56 – Transitioning to Lumen Technologies
  Marco describes his shift from entertainment into the telecommunications and technology space. He emphasizes the parallels between Hollywood and tech—both thrive on communication, audience engagement, and cutting-edge production processes.
• 15:55 – What IS Lumen Technologies
  Marco explains Lumen’s core mission: powering next-generation connectivity, cloud, edge computing, and security solutions. By marrying technology services with an innovative culture, Lumen seeks to help organizations accelerate data-driven transformation.
• 18:29 – Culture versus Technology
  An organization’s culture can be its greatest asset—or its biggest hurdle. Culture “eats strategy for breakfast” because fostering collaboration, trust, and continuous learning is what truly drives successful technology initiatives forward.
• 24:20 – The Management System
  Marco talks about the framework for leadership and team alignment at Lumen, which integrates vision, purpose, and measurable goals. This system ensures that cultural values and strategic objectives reinforce each other—resulting in cohesive, energized teams ready to tackle the biggest challenges in tech.

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/marcorotapix

Website: https://www.lumen.com/en-us/home.html

Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple? Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next. The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

#MakingDataSimple #CultureEatsStrategy #DataInnovation #DigitalTransformation #TechLeadership #PodcastEpisode #HollywoodToTech #LumenTechnologies #BusinessInsights #Inspiration

Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple? Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next. The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

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Tackling the messy reality of data fueling artificial intelligence, Andrea Muttoni—President & CPO at Story—joins the show to unpack how Story is building an AI-native infrastructure for intellectual property and training data. We dig into making the $80T IP asset class programmable, traceable, and monetizable, and how Story aims to turn “mysterious training data blobs” into transparent rights and payments for creators and enterprises.

• 01:10 Meet Andrea Muttoni
• 06:49 Story's Core Mission
• 13:41 IP Monetization
• 21:08 Biggest Competitor
• 22:49 Compute, Models, & Data
• 27:46 What to IP, Where Not
• 31:16 Blockchain
• 34:54 Protecting Your IP
• 41:36 Reaching Story

Andrea explains how Story is building a blockchain-based IP and data layer so AI systems can train on licensed content while proving usage, enforcing licenses, and automating payments to rights holders. We talk about the practical challenges of cleaning and labeling real-world data, what “IP-safe” datasets look like in practice, and how developers and companies can plug into Story’s infrastructure. Andrea also shares where blockchain actually adds value (and where it doesn’t), why he thinks “AI can’t scale on legal ambiguity,” and concrete steps creators and founders can take today to protect and monetize their IP in the AI era.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/muttoni
Website: https://www.story.foundation/

#AITrainingData, #IntellectualProperty, #IPEconomy, #StoryProtocol, #DataInfrastructure, #AIGovernance, #AILaw, #Web3, #Blockchain, #CreatorEconomy, #DataOwnership, #RightsManagement, #Licensing, #TechPodcast, #Developers, #MachineLearning, #AIEthics, #DataMonetization

Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple? Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next. The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.

Send us a text

Prasad Calyam, Curators’ Distinguished Professor and Center Director at the University of Missouri, joins the show to explore how knowledge graphs, modern data platforms, and AI are reshaping power grids and cybersecurity. He breaks down graph database fundamentals, real-world research projects, and how industry can tap into cutting-edge university work—all in language that engineers, data folks, and developers can put to use.

Timestamps

• 01:30 Meet Prasad Calyam
• 02:57 Why Higher Education?
• 05:22 Data Analytics
• 06:59 The Modern Power Grid
• 09:40 Graph DB Fundamentals
• 12:21 Cybersecurity via Graphs and RAG
• 13:45 Research Projects
• 14:38 Industry Leveraging University Research
• 16:07 Advice for Students
• 17:16 What's Fun for Professors

Links
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/prasadcalyam
Website: http://www.missouri.edu

#KnowledgeGraphs #GraphDatabase #RAG #Cybersecurity #PowerGrid #DataEngineering #AI #MLOps #TechPodcast #Developers #ResearchToProduction #UniversityResearch

Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple? Reach out to us at almartintalksdata@gmail.com and tell us why you should be next. The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.