Jessica Marie, Founder and CEO of Omnia Technique Group, leads her firm on the intersection of know-how, ethics, and impactful management. With a give attention to “marketing as truth” and a imaginative and prescient of know-how serving humanity, Jessica challenges the established order in tech communication and strategic innovation. On this interview, she shares insights on navigating the complexities of AI, balancing innovation with moral issues, and the way tech leaders can foster actual societal change via daring thought management. Learn on for a deeper look into her strategy to shaping the way forward for know-how.
In your imaginative and prescient, thought management performs a transformative function. What are some ways in which you consider tech leaders can transcend conventional thought management to genuinely encourage societal change and foster extra profound public engagement?
A lot of as we speak’s so-called “thought leadership” efforts quantity to little greater than echo chambers: the identical concepts recirculated in boring press releases that no person reads, or three-minute convention shows. It’s no shock that most individuals are tuning out. What they’re drawn to, as a substitute, are platforms like long-form podcasts—two or three hours of actual dialog that dives beneath surface-level speaking factors and addresses advanced matters with unvarnished honesty.
Tech leaders who wish to transcend this outdated, superficial mannequin have to let go of the concern of being controversial. By definition, true thought management challenges entrenched concepts. In case you’re hedging each assertion, watering down opinions, or scrambling to not offend anybody, you’re simply including to the noise. As an alternative, boldness—paired with real curiosity and willingness to study—is what captures individuals’s consideration. Meaning being ready for pushback, for misunderstandings, and sometimes for outright disagreement. However that’s the value of slicing via the fluff and providing one thing actual.
Leaders also can deepen engagement by being unafraid of nuance. We dwell in a world that craves depth, but most public statements are bullet factors designed to suit a social media publish. In case you can communicate or write in a method that embraces complexity—discussing not simply the shiny prospects of a brand new know-how, but additionally its limitations, trade-offs, and ethical weight—you’ll discover an viewers hungry for that candor. Lengthy-form discussions reveal what issues: the way you arrived at your viewpoint, what you realized from failures, and why your resolution might really enhance lives.
Even seemingly easy improvements can drive profound societal shifts. A tech startup that introduces a less complicated file-sharing device is, at some stage, difficult the outdated method of doing issues. The distinction between commonplace and transformative thought management is the willingness to current these modifications as a part of an even bigger story—and to take action with conviction. Which may imply spelling out precisely why the present system is damaged, how the brand new strategy addresses it, and what it’ll take to maneuver ahead responsibly. Sure, it’s riskier than publishing a well mannered press launch, but it surely’s the one method to foster the sort of dialogue that results in actual societal influence.
Your philosophy of “marketing as truth” is a strong and unconventional strategy in an trade typically pushed by buzzwords and surface-level messaging. How did this philosophy evolve, and the way do you implement it when guiding corporations to craft their narratives authentically?
“Marketing as truth” started as a blunt response to the limitless string of generic messaging that’s normalized in enterprise tech and cybersecurity. All over the place I seemed, corporations have been too busy messaging to their competitors, not their prospects, and even higher, extra “hacks” to look algorithms, reasonably than partaking actual people with actual issues. Firms appeared extra interested by stuffing their communications with acronyms, buzzwords, and platitudes that left me questioning, “Is anyone actually reading—or believing—this?” That realization sparked a brand new course for me: it’s time for a completely new strategy.
However championing straight discuss will not be for the faint of coronary heart; it calls for a radical rethinking of danger.
I purposely keep away from utilizing the phrase “authentic,” as a result of even that time period has been drained of which means by overuse. At Omnia Technique Group, we ask founders and leaders to look at their very own urge for food for danger. It takes guts to be candid. It takes guts to critique your trade’s sacred cows (and your individual), and say one thing that’s really significant. It takes guts to carry an actual opinion about what your know-how solves—and what it doesn’t. But it’s exactly this boldness that separates corporations who genuinely join with their audiences from those that mix into the numerous different corporations saying the identical factor.
After I work with corporations, step one is to banish the concept that we have to use the identical phrases and sound like everybody else simply to “show up in Google search”. Fairly than defaulting to the same old discuss “industry-leading” options, we dig into the founders’ core motivations, the challenges they’ve confronted (skilled and private), and even the failures that formed their merchandise. We then flip these trustworthy conversations into content material that holds a viewpoint—whether or not which means admitting a product’s limitations or calling out complacency within the trade. By intentionally taking these dangers, leaders show they don’t have anything to cover. And that actual, clear strategy is what creates the sort of loyalty and credibility that no AI-driven “hack” can replicate.
You communicate passionately about know-how as a servant to humanity. How do you navigate the stability between innovation and moral issues when advising leaders, notably in fields as advanced as AI and cybersecurity?
I consider know-how ought to serve humanity and never the opposite method round. When advising leaders, I typically begin with a easy query: ‘Will we use technology, or will technology use us?’ It’s not simply theoretical—we’re already seeing know-how form habits in ways in which don’t serve our highest good. We’re seeing a flood of laws—over 120 AI-related payments in Congress, state-level actions in 45 states, and the EU’s first complete AI Act—however regulation alone can’t seize the deeper societal, psychological, and even religious implications of those applied sciences. How can we successfully regulate what we don’t but perceive?
An excessive amount of of our present AI discourse is caught in a slim loop—debating jobs automated, cash saved, or moral traces crossed. Sure, these matter, however they barely scratch the floor of what AI and rising tech imply for society. There’s a deeper dimension—societal, psychological, and religious issues beneath the present conversations. How we deal with that greater dialog will decide whether or not these improvements in the end assist us evolve and develop or simply feed into one other wave of hype and confusion.
Typically, I’m wondering if it’s all a part of a broader human narrative—one which intersects with our values, our emotional well-being, and even our sense of goal. This implies going past protected, predictable ‘ethics checkboxes.’ How may AI change the way in which we perceive ourselves? How may it form {our relationships}, our tradition, and even our perception programs? These questions immediately influence how an organization positions its merchandise, trains its workforce, and addresses public issues.
AI and automation are reshaping enterprise landscapes at an unprecedented tempo. What long-term impacts do you foresee on organizational buildings and workforce dynamics, and the way can corporations put together for this shift with out sacrificing human-centered values?
The push to embrace each AI and automation is smart—many instruments are massively enhancing on how work will get executed. However there’s a essential distinction that impacts how organizations ought to put together: whereas fundamental automation follows predetermined guidelines, AI-powered automation requires high-quality information to make clever choices. With out clear, organized information, even probably the most subtle AI programs will produce nothing greater than flashy misfires.
My LinkedIn feed is affected by “2025 will be the year of AI agents,” posts, but it’s extra prone to be the yr organizations scramble to get their information home so as. That course of—establishing clear information methods, guaranteeing company-wide information literacy, and refining AI maturity—will likely be far tougher than merely rolling out one other chatbot or generative mannequin.
We’re already seeing automation take root in every single place: digital assistants area routine questions, AI-driven platforms deal with outbound gross sales efforts, and software program instruments summarize lengthy discussions or schedule whole calendars. This may appear spectacular, however for true transformation, corporations can’t skip the onerous work of clarifying how and why information is collected, saved, and used. “Garbage in, garbage out” stays a common rule, and also you merely can’t spin crap information into AI gold.
And naturally, automation has been reshaping work for the reason that Industrial Revolution – from steam-powered looms changing handweaving to meeting traces reworking manufacturing. In the present day’s AI and digital automation are merely the newest chapter on this centuries-long story. Like earlier waves of automation, they may get rid of some jobs whereas creating solely new ones. Many repetitive duties are prime candidates for AI-driven workflows, however this additionally opens up alternatives for individuals to develop new expertise that demand deeper analytical thought, contextual consciousness, and the sort of human judgment know-how nonetheless can’t replicate.
For leaders, this in the end means getting critical about information and folks on the similar time. Earlier than rolling out superior AI initiatives, organizations ought to spend money on information integrity, sturdy coaching applications, and methods that align AI developments with real human-centered values. That features reskilling staff to allow them to thrive in roles the place they improve, reasonably than compete with, AI. The people who’re in a position to 10x their work by changing into energy customers of AI would be the winners.
