Everyone suffers from Information Overload. Not everyone realizes it can be solved.

I do. I was possibly the first person to identify runaway IO as a threat to productivity and quality of life. Since 1995 I’ve developed multiple solutions, exchanged insight with scores of organizations worldwide, and passionately led the battle to restore balance to the workplace. I am the founder and president of the worldwide Information Overload Research Group.

In this lecture I summarize the research about information overload, and show the ROI for solving it. I then describe some of the solutions developed at the few companies that have positioned themselves as leaders in this field. Many companies are in denial as to their ability to solve this issue, and this lecture aims to trigger a change by showing people that solutions are both possible and necessary. As a bonus, I share practical personal strategies for improving your own coping with the flood entering your Inbox. If you take away even a fraction of what you hear, this could become the best spent hour of your career!

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We live at a time of explosive technological progress. Exciting new technologies are rapidly morphing from Science Fiction into fact, and are transforming business, politics, and our everyday life.

This lecture surveys the origins, present and future of key new domains that are at the forefront of this wave of change: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things, Neural Networks, and more; explains their implications for human society; and places them in the context of our evolving relationship with our technological creation, from recent developments to the technological singularity that many forecast for the near future.

Sure, Innovation is all the rage in today’s business world… but how do you bring it about? This fast-paced lecture uses examples from the fascinating history of computing in the past 2000 years to illustrate, from an original angle, central lessons for enabling Innovation in ourselves and among those we manage.

As an avid researcher of computing history, and a key player in Intel’s IT Innovation and Research group, I can bring a unique point of view to this lecture. It examines selected chapters from the lives of luminaries such as Pascal, Babbage, Turing, and Von Neumann; and shows why some of them succeeded while others failed to realize the vision that led them to implement groundbreaking computing innovations. In so doing, I teach my audience key insights of significance to driving successful innovation at both the individual and organizational scope.

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In a tragically short life Alan Turing had laid the foundations for today’s Computer Science. His inquisitive mind gave us breakthroughs in computability, artificial intelligence, computer design and programming – all before computers have come to exist; and his code-breaking work on the German Enigma played a key role in securing the outcome of WWII. Even more fascinating, his philosophical contributions to our understanding of the mind as a conscious computer had revolutionized philosophy to an extent similar to that of Charles Darwin’s work.

I am a passionate student of computer history, and as curator of the Alan Turing Year exhibition at the Jerusalem Science Museum I was in a unique position to study Turing’s work and legacy. This lecture draws on this study, and on my deep admiration for the misunderstood genius who taught us that we should look at the computer and see the reflection of our mind. The lecture surveys Turing’s life and contributions to science, technology, and the philosophy of mind. These achievements are contrasted with the tragic persecution and death that had finally cut them short.

Lecture details (Hebrew)

This unusual lecture relies on action, observation and lessons from my 30-year career as a serial change agent who had driven novel ideas in a number of large organizations. It examines the roadblocks thwarting the introduction of a culture of innovation in large organizations, and outlines ways to overcome them.

The lecture provides practical insights regarding how employees can transform into internal entrepreneurs – “Intrapreneurs” – and survive to tell the tale; and how managers can harness their subordinates to drive innovation and out-of-the-box thinking without threatening the organization’s stability. It presents exciting “war stories” from many companies and generalizes them to show actionable principles that the audience can apply in the field.

What did the ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Romans have in common with the scientists of the modern age? Why, they all created innovative computing hardware!

Combining my expertise in information technology with my passion for the history of computing, I take my audience on a kaleidoscopic journey from prehistory to the present day, examining groundbreaking ideas, technologies, and the men and women who made them a reality.

What adds to this lecture’s attraction is that it exposes the “dark side” that the official histories often hide: the hardships, the intrigue, the politics, the quarrels – and, triumphing nevertheless, the innovators’ unrelenting drive to give the world machines that can relieve humans of the drudgery of computation. You could call this a lecture about Innovation, or about History, or about the Sociology of technological progress… either way, it never fails to fascinate!

 Lecture details (Hebrew)

The concept of intelligent machines has fascinated people for centuries, but it was the arrival of the computer that made it relevant to our lives. The full philosophical significance of the computer / brain analogy is only beginning to dawn on us, yet computer power grows exponentially and is projected to exceed the collective brainpower of humanity in a few decades. The concept of the resulting “Technological Singularity” poses dramatic questions for the future of humankind, placing visions of man/machine integration, extreme lifespan extension, and the emergence of super-intelligence within the scope of serious, if speculative, scientific thought.

This lecture surveys the development of intelligent machines from the automatons of the 18th century through Alan Turing’s ground breaking work in the 20th to the present day; discusses progress in man/machine interfaces; and presents the concept of the Singularity with its astounding ramifications for the near and far future.

Engineers are the most precious asset a tech company has. And the most neglected.

Every organization has a career ladder for managers; few also have one for those professionals who don’t have the desire (or the aptitude) to manage people. The outcome is that engineers feel compelled to switch to managerial roles in order to advance; the organization thus loses excellent engineers and converts them into frustrated mediocre managers. This can undermine the engineers’ self-image, damage the professional excellence of the entire engineering group, and ultimately impact the company’s competitive advantage.

The lecture will present the issues, needs and solutions related to nurturing a professional career path in a hi-tech environment, drawing on the speaker’s rich experience as a senior engineer who had successfully led the implementation of this concept in a group of thousands of employees at Intel corporation. In parallel, it will outline the significance of the Engineering profession and clarify how engineers can assume personal responsibility for driving their career forward to the benefit of themselves and their organization.

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The usual discussion of information flow alternates between “Knowledge is power, the more the better”, and “Help! We’re drowning in Information Overload!” – and often, absurdly, both at once. What is missing in this rather shallow conversation is attention to the fact that the same batch of information can be of completely different value to different people, to different organizations, and even to the same person at different times, places and circumstances.

In this lecture I take an original look at this subject. I review all the ways in which the value of information to its creators and consumers can be assessed, looking at criteria like usage model, connectivity, redundancy, searchability, cultural context, and more. I explain why there definitely is a thing like too much information, and point out what organizations should do to optimize their information and IT strategies to maximize user value and thereby the bottom line.

 Lecture details (English)     Lecture details (Hebrew)