Stuart Chuang

Humans are wired for stories. It’s how we share history and information. Stories evoke emotion, build trust, and help us form memories. They also influence how we navigate the world, from what we purchase to the narratives about who we are and even where we choose to work. That’s why storytelling isn’t just a marketing tool—it’s a strategic advantage in attracting talent. When we lead with authentic stories, we connect on a human level and give candidates a true sense of what it feels like to be part of our teams. By bringing our values to life, sharing real employee journeys, and opening a window into our everyday culture, we inspire people to imagine their own future with us. I was grateful to get the opportunity to present at the NC State Poole College of Management's Employer Summit and share what I’ve learned about building impactful stories and how to apply to talent acquisition. https://lnkd.in/exbwDuQ6 I shared some practical Tips for storytelling to potential candidates, including: 🛣️ Share real employee journeys. Highlight growth, challenges, and impact, showing candidates what’s possible. 🎯 Showcase your origin and mission. Tell why your company exists, what it stands for, and how that mission shapes daily work. 🤝 Give day-in-the-life views. Use quotes, photos, or short videos to authentically illustrate workplace culture and team dynamics. ✨ Feature values in action. Demonstrate how your culture is lived out—from community volunteerism to supporting work-life balance. 🩷 Be transparent and vulnerable. Acknowledge challenges and explain how employees overcome them, to set honest expectations. 📢 Align your stories across platforms. Ensure LinkedIn, careers pages, and your interview process all reflect your true EVP. 💡 Invite employees to co-create content. Let team members share their stories, amplifying authenticity and reach. ✍ Measure impact. Track how storytelling content affects candidate engagement, time-to-fill, and offer acceptance. Stories do more than disperse information – they inspire, connect, and motivate us. We don’t buy products or choose a company because of the benefits – we purchase stories about who we want to be and find our way to organizations that that fit into our greater narrative. #Storytelling #EmployerBranding #TalentAttraction #EVP #RecruitmentTips #Authenticity #WorkplaceCulture #CareerGrowth #ncsu #gopack #valueproposition

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As an Adobe employee and shareholder, I’m frequently asked for my take on the company’s valuation. I think this article explains it best: the market often overlooks the depth and complexity of the enterprise business while overestimating the momentum of VC‑backed companies fueled by the AI hype cycle. https://lnkd.in/eb63sa4A

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I’m excited to be advising PolyAI Voice is the interface we were born with. It’s how humans naturally communicate, and I believe it will continue to play a central role in the future of customer engagement. For years, I’ve argued that most “self-service” experiences failed because they were designed in back rooms by engineers tasked with deflecting calls to save cost and not to build meaningful, long-term relationships with customers. The irony is that people actually prefer self-service for many use cases. But enterprises have historically made it rigid, confusing, and full of friction. When customers feel known, valued, and their needs are anticipated, they engage. It’s why PolyAI's recent Gordon Ramsay ad says it best: “Finally. Someone who f***ing listens.” AI—particularly when combined with an exceptional voice experience—changes the equation. That’s one of the reasons I’m excited to be advising and working with founders Nikola Mrkšić, Shawn Wen, and Eddy Su. The team is building technology that enables enterprises to deliver voice experiences that feel natural, fluid, and actually helpful. Frankly, the team continues to WOW me with every interaction! Let's go!

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Turning Engineers into Influencers: A Repeatable System for Thought Leadership The best BD tool in technical services is not an ad. It is your engineers’ credibility. by Jenny K. Toole The problem Most firms agree SMEs are the most trusted voices. The challenge is bandwidth. People are busy, content is ad hoc, and drafts stall in review. You end up with a trickle of assets that do not support pursuits or move pipeline. Good news. There is a simple system you can run every quarter. The framework: Topic mining → SME briefing → 1-hour interview → content atomization → approval lane → distribution plan 1) Topic mining Start with demand signals: upcoming pursuits, client FAQs, RFP themes, regulatory moments, and win–loss notes. Score each idea on buyer value, proximity to revenue, and SME availability. Pick 3 to 5 topics for a 90-day cycle, mapped to target accounts or segments. 2) SME briefing Send a one-page brief 3 to 5 days before the interview: audience, business problem, desired outcome, five guiding questions. Confirm the use case you want: risk reduction, cost avoidance, time to value, or compliance assurance. 3) 1-hour interview Record one focused session with the SME and a facilitator. Use a buyer-first arc: Problem, Impact, Approach, Proof, Next Step. Capture specifics: before and after metrics, constraints, what changed operationally, what the client cared about most. Transcribe right away to speed drafting. 4) Content atomization From one interview, create a cohesive set: One technical paper or long-form article to anchor the theme One case study that shows the approach in the real world One webinar with the SME and a client-facing moderator Three short posts that pull highlights from the paper and case study Sales enablement: a one-slide solution narrative, a two-page brief, and three talk tracks for BD calls 5) Approval lane Predefine reviewers by asset type to prevent endless edits. Technical accuracy: SME and project manager Brand and positioning: marketing lead Legal and confidentiality: compliance owner Limit to two rounds. Use a checklist and a change log. Lock style rules for numbers, acronyms, and claims to cut friction. 6) Distribution plan Publish the anchor piece first. Release the case study within 7 days. Host the webinar within 21 to 30 days and align invites to ABM tiers. Repurpose into three short posts over 30 to 45 days, tag SMEs and partners. Enable BD with a short outreach email, a call script, and tracking codes for attribution. Need a jumpstart? DM me for a plug-and-play template and SME coaching steps. 💬 #ThoughtLeadership #ExecutiveLeadership #MarketingStrategy #GoToMarket #ABM #DemandGeneration #ContentMarketing #SalesEnablement #B2BMarketing #BrandStrategy #DigitalMarketing #MarketingImprovement

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Imposter syndrome is the new "lean in". On one hand, it’s helpful to have a name for something so many of us, especially people who identify as women, experience. We’re told it shows up in ways that hold us back: 🚫Not applying for a job until we meet 100% of the qualifications 🔇Staying quiet in meetings because we worry we’re wrong or missing something 🤝 Redirecting credit to the team instead of owning our accomplishments ❓ Second-guessing our instincts, even when they’ve served us well But here’s the problem: the concept of imposter syndrome puts the blame back on women instead of on the systems and conditioning that created it. We don’t apply for jobs until we meet every qualification because the bar is higher for women to be seen as “ready.” We stay quiet because we’ve been dismissed in classrooms and conference rooms for getting one detail wrong. We downplay success because women who self-promote are called “arrogant” or “not team players.” We second-guess ourselves because we’ve been told our instincts about our bodies, our choices, our leadership can’t be trusted. It’s convenient to label this as our issue. But imposter syndrome isn’t a personal flaw. It’s a predictable response to decades of messaging that taught women to doubt themselves. We’ve designed a workplace structure to keep women out of leadership, not just by the obvious blockers (though those still exist), but this a more insidious mechanism that both erodes women’s confidence and then blames us for it. Reshma Saujani has it right. The question isn’t how women can “fix” imposter syndrome. It’s how workplaces can stop creating it. #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #ImposterSyndrome #Equity #WorkplaceCulture #Inclusion #CareerGrowth #WomenAtWork #BiasInTheWorkplace #PsychologicalSafety

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Grammarly's CEO just published a great piece on decision-making rituals in the age of AI! He breaks down four principles—check out his advice in Fast Company Executive Board on how the best leaders can make choices faster, fairer, and more consistently.

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Sharing our latest quarterly economic bulletin... "41 percent of US executives expect the economy to improve next year—down 12 percentage points year-over-year—and their hiring intent weakened across every job category, pointing to constrained business spending in 2026."

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I'll never forget my interview with Davis Smith from Cotopaxi for a podcast. It was at the beginning of the pandemic and we were all still adjusting to virtual meetings. Davis had his chair way back in the room where I could see his whole body. He was attentive, insightful, and nodded whenever I talked. Contrast that with the "typical" virtual meeting with cameras off, multitasking, and being unsure if anyone is even listening. Austin Strong and I pride ourselves on showing up to virtual meetings and fully participating, and thought we would record a short video of best practices we have learned over the years. What else would you add? #unwrittenbusinessadvice #virtualmeetings #careeradvice

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Had a great time chatting with Camille Ricketts and Mada Seghete about where AI is driving impact for Marketing teams, especially those targeting technical audiences. The fundamentals haven’t changed. Developers still want authentic, helpful content vs. the hard sell. Now we just have more tools to help them faster. Check out their full series - they have an awesome lineup of speakers on deck from a range of backgrounds and companies.

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AI conversations at Davos feel noticeably more grounded this year, with a clear shift toward ROI and scale. In this panel with Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn, Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy shares why the next phase of AI depends on orchestrating agents around trusted, governed data. Deep expertise in managing cloud data and access control is becoming a real differentiator. The race isn’t just about smarter models—it’s about operationalizing AI safely and at speed. Watch the panel highlights to learn more about where enterprise AI is headed.

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CHROs don’t need more tools — they need clarity.  Here’s how the latest Dayforce release helps cut workforce complexity and support more confident, consistent talent decisions at scale.  https://lnkd.in/e_DKUApf 

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Pattern recognition is key, even beyond buying or selling a company. In any meeting, you can sense who's engaged and who isn't—a vital cultural indicator. My leadership principles begin with accountability, starting with alignment. A strong CEO paints a clear vision, like a flag on a distant hill, uniting the team towards a shared goal. #Leadership #Accountability #Vision #TeamAlignment

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What stood out from all the new product highlights and rehashing of leadership principles in Andy Jassy's 2025 letter to shareholders is that it signals a major mindset shift.  AI isn't a feature, it's an operating system. Amazon won't be layering AI on top of existing workflows; they are rearchitecting the core of their business to be AI-first. The TL;DR is crystal clear: stop thinking about the features you can build with AI, and start thinking about the business you’d build for an AI-native world.  Your next customer to obsess over might not be human. Build accordingly. "AI is a once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of everything we know." - Andy Jassy "You’re either the windshield or the bug" - Jakob Nielsen https://lnkd.in/gpWJqzht

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Over the past day, I've attended a Korn Ferry webinar on AI, read a Wharton article on How Can Leaders Adapt to AI, read an A16Z blog on There is no God Tier video model, and read a Bloom Equity post on the New Software Moats: Stickiness Beyond Product Features. What's the common thread here besides AI? It's that there is crazy tech disruption underway with AI but as leaders, the best way to help our organizations is to embrace ambiguity by developing organizational tolerance for it, focus on progress not perfection, and get to delivering continually evolving customer value as quickly as possible. There is so much exciting stuff going on with AI (after a 30 year break from coding I decided to vibe code an app for a customer base of 1) and I'm a believer that the combination of Human Intuition with Machine Intelligence will unlock so much value in companies through trusted, continuously learning B2B SaaS solutions. I've thought for some time that B2B SaaS companies better embrace AI in both their internal operations as well as in their products to drive outsized, defensible value. If not, bye bye. Having been through each wave of tech disruption from my starting days at Netscape during the Internet Revolution all the way until now with AI, I have the perspective that lots of money will be spent, mistakes will be made along the way, but customer value will rule in the end as the final arbiter of those companies who success and those who fail. So I encourage all leaders out there (just like I do with my daughters) to dive into AI, use it in your personal and professional lives, be the leader who shows how it can help people do better in their jobs and their careers, and manage the workforce transformation underway with empathy and understanding. p.s. For those interested in the webinar & articles I read, here you go: - Korn Ferry The Mind Meld: Leading the Human + AI Era: https://lnkd.in/gg4XTqmy - Knowledge @ Wharton - How Can Leaders Adapt to AI: https://lnkd.in/gr-dSdVX - A16Z - There is No God Tier Video Model: https://lnkd.in/g_n4tteh - Bloom Equity - The New Software Moats: Stickiness Beyond Product Features: https://lnkd.in/g3YcQxrT

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Some of the best lessons in my career have come from honest feedback. I recently received 360 feedback as part of our most recent performance review cycle at Help Scout, and I’m reminded how powerful feedback can be when it’s shared with care. The best feedback, whether you’re giving it or receiving it, is specific and actionable. It helps uncover blind spots, highlight strengths, and gives you something concrete to work toward. I’m grateful for the feedback I received this round; it gave me clear goals I can put into practice right away. Feedback isn’t always comfortable, but it really is one of the most valuable tools we have for learning and growth. Curious: what’s a piece of feedback that’s helped shape your growth? #LearnAndGrow #FeedbackMatters #LeadershipJourney

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The Davos Day 3 highlight for me was hopping on stage at The Female Quotient Lounge™ with Sally Paull from Regeneron and Judith K. Wallenstein from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for our panel, Beyond the Stack: The Human Edge of AI. What I loved most about this conversation was how human it was. It felt less like a traditional panel and more like an open discussion with and for leaders navigating AI transformation right now. The big takeaway we kept coming back to was this: Most people aren’t resisting AI. They’re hesitating. And usually not because they’re anti-AI, but because they’re unsure what’s allowed, encouraged, or safe to try out loud. At Workhuman, we see this in the data all the time. People are already using AI. What actually makes the difference is whether leaders make it safe to experiment, learn, and say “I tried this and it didn’t totally work, but here’s what I learned.” Once that signal is clear, things start to move. A few other callouts from the panel: • Sally reminded us that leaders can’t bring others along if they’re still frozen themselves. You don’t need all the answers, but you do need enough confidence to move through uncertainty and help others do the same. • Judith offered a powerful reframe: AI should make work more meaningful by removing the grunt work people never wanted to do in the first place. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: People have roles. AI has tasks.) • And from my own perspective, people pay far more attention to what leaders reward than what they say. When leaders make experimentation visible and reinforce adoption by recognizing it publicly, recognition becomes a way to show people “this is what good looks like” in moments of intense change. Huge thanks to Fleming Longino for shepherding the discussion and for keeping us all honest. Watch our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/e7zCrEbS #WEF26 #Davos2026 #HumanCenteredAI #Workhuman #Leadership #FutureOfWork

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Bridging the Gap: Why 2026 Demands a Unified Al Vision With ClOs and CFOs As we look ahead to 2026, the urgency for tech and finance leaders to find common ground on AI investments cannot be overstated. The pace of AI adoption has accelerated, but many organizations are still grappling with how to unlock its real value, especially when it comes to bridging the gap between the CIO's enthusiasm for innovation and the CFO's focus on measurable, near term ROI. Too often, misaligned expectations stall progress. CIOs, eager for transformative results, may push advanced AI solutions without laying the essential foundation, or considering user adoption. Meanwhile, CFOs are cautiously seeking clear evidence of how these initiatives translate into bottom line impact. The reality is, unless both sides align on business objectives, success metrics, and implementation timelines, AI projects risk getting stuck in perpetual pilots or falling short of true financial returns. Finalizing 2026 business plans requires honest conversations. CFOs need to get more comfortable with strategic risk, while CIOs must ensure solutions address real business problems and drive operational efficiency. It is important that leaders agree upfront on how success is measured, from productivity gains and process optimization to cash flow improvements. Transparency, discipline, and a relentless focus on the end user will determine which companies emerge with a sustainable competitive advantage. As the window for next year's planning closes, now is the time to move beyond AI hype and champion meaningful collaboration between finance and technology teams. Leaders who are able to think pragmatically and across functional teams will be best positioned to realize the promised value of AI. #AI #FinanceTransformation #2026Planning #CIO #BusinessStrategy #DigitalLeadership

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Accountability isn’t just about holding people to outcomes—it’s about creating the conditions where great work can actually happen. I loved this article from MIT Sloan Management Review that points out when building out a culture of accountability, it helps to understand what barriers exist and why. Melissa Swift offers up “circuit breaker” questions as a way to steer yourself and your teams in the right direction: Are too many people involved? Are too many things going on at once? Are roles within teams unclear? Did you ask people to do something silly and no one will tell you the truth? These questions are helpful, because sometimes, it's not a performance issue—it’s a clarity issue, or a complexity issue. As leaders, we set the tone. When we create space for honesty, define clear roles, and focus our teams, accountability becomes something people own—not something they fear. Read the rest of the article and find the three remaining questions at this link here: https://lnkd.in/ga743n2A Have you ever had a time where you found yourself having to reign in accountability? I’d love to hear in the comments! #Leadership #HRLeadership #Teamwork #Accountability #PsychologicalSafety #PeopleFirst

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