From Data Overload to Decision Clarity: Leading with Intelligence in the Age of AI with Tim Piemonte

You're listening to One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most with Outfluencer, Dr. Wayne Pernell. Welcome to One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most. I'm your host, guide, and coach on this journey, Dr. P, Dr. Wayne Pernell. My guest today is a client, he's a colleague, he's a friend, and he's an exceptional human, Tim Piemonte. He's a technology and intelligence strategist who's spent his career translating data and infrastructure into real-world decision-making. Tim brings deep experience across AI integration, cloud architecture, cybersecurity, and enterprise systems. Helping organizations not just collect data, but actually use it to drive clarity and execution, resulting in a boost of the bottom line through massive cost savings. He's now the founder of Empire Intelligence Group, where he helps leaders cut through complexity and build organizations that think, decide, and operate with precision. And here's the truth. Most companies aren't lacking data. They're lacking the ability to think. They're drowning in information and they're starving for clarity. And today we're fixing that. Welcome, my friend, Tim Piemonte. Tim, thanks for being here.

Thank you. I am so excited to be here talking about this exciting world we live in. Today's technology changes that seem to change every day and the, you know, new announcements around technology and AI and cybersecurity. It seems like it's constantly changing, which is what I love and why I do what I do.

So many people are afraid of change. And, you know, AI, by now everybody's heard it and heard it and heard it. And it's like, well, okay, so what do we do with it? Let's back up. Let's talk a little bit about your background. You were with some major organizations. I don't know if you want to name them.

Of course.

Great. So you could talk about where you've been. And some of the work you did. And eventually, like, what I want to weave through what we talk about, what I want to be able to talk about, the leadership lessons along the way. And now that you founded Empire Intelligence Group, what that means to really to the world. And so we'll talk about that. So back up a little bit. You didn't wake up one day and go, I'm going to be the CEO and founder of this beautiful AI integration technology.

That is correct. It took a long time to get here. Yeah. Before I even get to that, I want to thank you for you doing what you do, because if you haven't worked with Dr. Wayne yet, you should. He will take your strengths to make them stronger. He'll take your weaknesses and make them strengths. He's great at what he does. So I just wanted to, you know, thank you. Yeah, because I appreciate you. Uh, so I didn't wake up one day and just say, hey, I want to be a technologist. Uh, I got my start at EMC, which is a company I love. Still love it today. Obviously, EMC was, you know, bought by Dell and at the time one of the biggest technology purchases in, in the world. Very hard charging, you know, infrastructure hardware software services company. And that's really where I learned a lot about technology and, and how enterprises use it. From there, I went to, you know, when, when Dell bought EMC, I went to a cybersecurity company. So I got the background in cybersecurity. I spent a couple of years there, moved to a company called Pivotal, which was purchased by VMware. And what they do is cloud-native application development using Kubernetes and containers, a very cool technology. And then when VMware purchased Pivotal, I moved back to Dell Technologies and ran the entire city of New York. And then, and then I—

When you say you, you ran it, what, what was your role?

Yes. So my role was to lead Dell Technologies in the public sector of New York City. So under my purview, I had all of the New York City agencies from, you know, Department of Transportation to the Office of Information Technology to really everything, the Department of Education, largest school system. NYPD, FDNY. I really loved focusing on emergency management, bringing new technologies to, uh, serve the city of New York and the citizens, uh, in a better way. That was exciting to me. Slacker. Slacker. It was an easy job. It was so easy.

So piece of cake. That's awesome. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, congratulations. It's one of the reasons I wanted to bring you, and, um, I am so glad that we're working together, um, in various roles. And, uh, it's just, it's a delight to have you here. So, so, I mean, obviously you've had, in leadership, you've had leadership challenges along the way. Um, let's talk about decision-making a little bit.

Okay.

So can you think about some of the hardest decisions you ever had to make? Sure. Oh, okay.

Just like that.

Yeah, there's—

yeah, there, there have been, uh, they're the, the easy ones to come up with. Unfortunately, you come across them quite a bit. Yeah. Uh, you know, I find it hard to make the right decision when you're in between, uh, maybe an employee who reports to you and the end user customer, because sometimes there's a decision that needs to be made that's going to affect one or the other, and to find that happy medium can be a difficult thing inside of technology because you have a lot of choices, you have a lot of different ways to go that may affect your direct reports' compensation or, you know, the ability to provide the best technology for the enterprise, which is always the way I swing. I always swing in the way of the customer to provide what's best for them. It's just sometimes a hard topic to discuss or to make a decision on. Because you've got somebody who, you know, well, there are stakeholders and their stakeholders. That's correct.

That's right. So you're balancing, we're the, we're the organization that's funding this versus we're the organization that's actually funding this. That's right. Because we're using this. So tough stuff. And, you know, good, you know, I think it's really important that as leaders, we do keep in mind what's best for the end user. And you're saying end user enterprise, so it's not just one person's— oh yeah, this is terminal somewhere.

That's exactly right.

It's thousands of people, actually, the pool of end users.

Correct.

Correct. Anything. Yeah, cool. Yeah, I like it. So when we, when we say intelligence, right, we— artificial intelligence or any kind of data is really intelligence, correct? Where do you think most leaders get it wrong?

So most leaders get it wrong in defining what artificial intelligence actually is because it's really, I mean, I don't even like to use the term artificial intelligence anymore because it's got a stigma these days of being either something that's unattainable or scary to something that, you know, gets overdeployed and then causes complex problems inside of an enterprise. I like to call it data intelligence because That's really what it is, taking the data that resides inside of a corporation, right? Identifying it where it is because typically it'll reside in silos and then putting the value around it, extracting the value, using it, automating it, providing a strategy around it, and deploying the right technologies to use it in a more efficient way.

So when you talk about value, you're talking about how is it actually used. We have this information, we have this data, we have And the data could be how does, how does an individual, you know, use, they type in something and they're using their one unit of their, right, their computer. How do they use that? That's data.

That's correct.

Right. And then there's data of, well, who is the individual?

Exactly. Let me give you another example. Yep. So this is pretty common knowledge, but NYPD, FDNY typically don't talk to each other, which is crazy, right? The FDNY has all kinds of data, valuable data on buildings, schematics, because if they're addressing a fire, they need that, right? The NYPD doesn't have that data. So a Imagine if they shared data together. Imagine, imagine what, how much better off both agencies would be correlating that data together, using it for whatever purpose there is. That's, that happens time and time and time again across enterprises that silo their data and don't correlate it, identify it, and pull the value out of it.

It's an interesting thing because I do work with organizations and there's always this rally cry against silos. We hate silos. And it's like, so if you hate them so much, why are you creating them? Why are you tolerating them? Um, you know, I worked with an organization where they were doing very much what you just described, and they were— it was two different divisions. They were working toward a similar outcome. They had such overlap, and they were using resources to do almost the identical thing, right? And if they had shared resources, they could have streamlined how quickly they got— they each got to their end goal.

Exactly.

And saved money along the way.

Yeah.

I went to this one leader of the division, of one of the divisions, and I said, what about collaboration? Like, what if you guys could collaborate on this and share resources?

What was the answer? I'm very interested to hear because I have my own Didn't you know why this doesn't work?

His answer was, we'd be happy to collaborate. I'd be collaborating with them just fine if they would do it our way. We'd be collaborating just fine. That was the answer. And I was like, are you kidding me? Do you know what collaboration means? It's not do it my way and then we're collaborating. It's like, let's figure out how to share the resources.

Yes.

Yeah. So what was your answer? What'd you come up with?

Almost always political.

Oh yeah.

Almost always. They're, you know, one department head is so protective of their data.

Yeah.

That they, they don't open up. And it's a very, uh, challenging thing to, uh, try and fight. Are you familiar with, with, uh, an event called a standup? You know what a standup is?

As in a meeting?

It's, it's a type of meeting.

Yeah. The standup meeting is where you start your day.

You start your day, 5 minutes, right? So when, when we were talking about DevSecOps for Pivotal, when I worked at Pivotal, they had a great standup type of scenario that they would start every project stakeholder with, and it got together networking, security, infrastructure. Nobody can see your head. Sorry, networking, infrastructure, security.

I keep you in the frame also, so you can't gesture your way out of here.

Okay.

Okay.

I'll stay right with him, Frank.

There you go.

So it, it got the, you know, bringing these people together and starting to talk and share data. That's great. The outcome of that was incredibly powerful where they started to be comfortable sharing the data with their own organization, which then led to bigger, better things in terms of pulling the value out of that data.

Amazing.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

When it's, when you let go of ego, it's amazing what happens. That's correct. Because Politics is very often about ego and which side are you choosing and there's a right and a wrong. It's like, well, you're a traitor. If you focus on the vision, then it stops being a tug of war about you or me. It's like we're both heading, we're all heading toward this big thing. Exactly. Let's climb the mountain together and help each other get there.

Yeah.

So what happens that organizations are data rich and decision poor? Is that it? Is it about politics? Is it about— Hardly.

It's partly about politics. It's partly about operations. It's partly about strategy. It's partly about technology. What technology are they using? It could be a combination of all of the above. It could be one thing. It's, it's different for every company, but that's, that's where I like to focus first is let's take a look at the people, the processes, and the platforms that a company is using to deploy new technologies in the interest of positive business outcomes and more efficiency, you know, and obviously saving operational expenses.

I want to pause you for a second. We talk a lot about that on the podcast, on One Sharp Sword. We talk a lot about platform, process, people. And I really want to call out, if you guys listened, if you heard it, Tim put it in the opposite order, and that's significant. He talked about people first and then process and then platform. And I think that that is so important that you hear that, because that is part of what makes Tim a great leader. That stepping in and going, who do we have? What are their strengths? How do we support them? It's right. It's huge.

It's huge. I'm interested in knowing why you have it swapped.

I don't have it swapped. Oh, okay. Okay. Right. I don't. That's great. It's a great question. I don't have it swapped. No, it's that it comes up when I talk with— so I've had chief security officers on. I've had AI experts on. I've had various people that have dealt in technology. Peripherally, and they'll talk about, you know, you need to build the platform and you have to have processes in place. And of course, you need to support the people. And mostly by the time we are done with the conversation, usually they're like, and of course, it's people first. I'm delighted you put people first in that sequence.

So people are the lifeblood of your organization.

Ta-da!

They, you know, if you have happy employees, guess what? You're gonna have a successful company. Uh, so I always start with the people.

If you have happy employees, you end up with happy customers. That's what makes— that's exactly right. So people who are engaged— this is— so when I work with organizations around culture, it's not like that's a nice thing to do. It's like that is a mandate.

That was a percent, right? Yeah, you must have that.

So, so talk a little bit maybe about how you build culture. Like, what did you do you know, you were in charge of this massive operation with Dell. What did you do to make sure that your team members knew who you were and that you actually cared? Yes.

Yeah, no.

That's how you get happy team members is you give them— so just to digress for a second, this is a teaching thing. Psychological safety comes from give me meaningful work, tell me that you see me doing it, and give me hope. Those are the 3 components. To psychological safety. And that's where people go, I feel good when I work here. I'm doing meaningful work. I'm acknowledged for it. And there's room for me to grow. So with all of that, how did you take that? What did you do?

Yes, it's a great question, actually, because I really feel that most people don't even think about it. Most leaders don't even consider that.

I agree with you. So they want, you know, HR should fix that.

HR's got it.

Yeah, exactly. And it's, it's not delegated, it's abdicated. And that is how you erode trust and cause implosion.

I completely agree. So what I like to do is I like to, uh, you know, once I engage an employee, I like to find out what they like to do. What, what is it that you enjoy about your job? What is it that you— that, that gets you up in the morning and excited to do? Is it being in front of a customer? Is it customer service? Is it creating new opportunities? What is it that you love to do? Because that's where I'm gonna put you in the company itself. That's where I want you to focus maybe half of your time. Right. And then the other thing is, what would you like to learn? What would you like to, achieve while you're working here? And then the other, say, third of the time is focused on developing that strength for that employee. So they're, they're happy doing what they love. They're learning what they wanna learn. And then they're integrated. They have a voice to give feedback. My door is always open. If you'd like to speak, you know, to me personally or professionally, whatever it is, come on in. You know, we'll, we'll talk about— So great. —the challenges you have or whatever it is.

You just defined a learning organization. And so many organizations are like, yeah, we're a learning organization. I'm like, tell me about your programs. Well, we've had to divert those funds over here for this project. And it's like, then you're not a learning organization, right? You just took two steps back. Yeah. So what you've done is you've said, what do you love? Right? So that gives someone meaning. Where do you want to grow? That gives someone the hope that they need. And the, like, we all want to grow somehow. Correct. And then you reduce friction. As a leader, you reduce friction so that they can grow and you give them the tools to grow. Exactly. My guess, because I haven't asked you about this, you circle back and you find out how's the growth going? Of course.

Yes. Typically on a quarterly basis, every 3 months. Hey, we, we set a goal together. Are you having challenges with that goal? Are you finding success? Are you, do you have questions? You know, it's a communication is key. Love this. The leaders that don't communicate are the leaders that think they're doing great. And, you know, the company goes out of business 3 months later. It's the communication that, and not just communication, it's meaningful communication. Correct. You care, you listen and you care.

Yeah. You know, that's— You notice that he's making eye contact with me while he's explaining this. It's so good. It's so good. Uh, it's, it's why we're in the same orbit right now. It's, it's really, really I love Tim. That's awesome. I love Wayne. That's awesome. You heard it here. All right. So this is so good. Let's go back to technology. We've talked a little about people and how we grow them. People are using technology in some ways for massive growth, and some people are using it as a crutch. And almost masking their capabilities. Yes. Yeah. How does that show up? Where are you seeing that go really right? And where are you seeing it go, it's going kind of wrong?

What was the phrase that you used one time? Progress disguised? No. As I have so many. You do. There was, there was this saying, which I could remember, it was, it was the, you know, progress is disguised as something else, you know, and it's actually like falling apart. Oh, yeah. Which is what typically happens. But So, so the way, you know, that the way, the way to start and address technology is to start small. Okay. So there's all these new technologies, which is what I do is I represent new emerging technology companies. And you, you find out what the initiatives are of that enterprise and you take the low-hanging fruit. The low-hanging fruit is the operations, the opportunities that don't have a lot of interdependencies inside of the organization. So they're not gonna break anything, but they have a good ROI and a good efficiency correlation between the processes inside of a company. That's the way you get the buy-in from company leaders to explore more about integrating technology into the enterprise. Does that make sense?

It makes sense to me. Does that make sense as you're listening? Awesome. Good.

It's— so what happens typically is a company will say, okay, we're gonna use AI. Let's launch 5 different, you know, technologies at the same time with no defined initiative or end goal, you know, and then let's see what happens. Well, what happens is it breaks everything. And then you, then you, you know, you retreat and you're, you know, once bitten, twice shy about using technology at all. So that front-end strategy, which also involves the people, process, and platform, is a critical component of assessing the initiatives of implementing new technologies.

So what tells you whether an organization is, like, really aligned and ready to implement versus they say they're ready and really all their— everything about them says they're not? What's the clue for you? It's a great question.

I can tell immediately by the initiatives that they outlined to me. So if they have no initiatives, oh, we're just gonna, you know, we're gonna see what happens.

We want that AI thing.

We want that AI thing. Okay. We got problems. Yes. Right? Yeah. Okay. So we want to use technology to, you know, do loan origination, client onboarding, automate those operations. And this is an example of a good, of a good side for what Empire Intelligence Group is doing right now. Correct. Yeah. We do all of this.

So talk about that for a second. Just back up and say what you just said. Okay.

So an example of a, of a good enterprise with, you know, positioned accurately to succeed in new technology is defining those processes as I come in. So if I sit down with a CTO or CIO and they say, okay, we wanna do loan origination, client onboarding, and automate those operations, which is what I do with my clients, then I'm like, okay, they've thought about this, they have a plan. We'll take it from there and take the deeper look at the what's underlying and then go from there. You want to know what pitfalls you're up against, what they've tried in the past. You want to know any challenges that potentially might be there, and that will, you know, alleviate your friction. Okay.

Could that be that they're using an old mainframe and they're asking for something? But absolutely.

Have you seen it? Yes, definitely. So that's part of the platform. Component of the strategy. You want to know what technologies they're using. So you know where you have to fill the gaps. You know what you potentially could leverage to keep costs down. You want to know where those challenges are before you even start doing anything like that.

But Tim, I've worked here 30 years and it's always worked this way. Why can't we just keep doing it the way it works?

Because John over there, who's the CTO, said that it doesn't work that way. And, you know, you might want to have a conversation with John. And, you know, look at the macro, right? Look at the whole organization because you've been 30 years in mainframe and you haven't come out of your closet, right?

Yeah. Not closet, but you know what I mean. Whatever the hovel is. Yeah. Little hovel, yeah. That's so great. That's really good. Just like because this is platform, this is process, this is people.

Exactly. That's really great. I mean, that, that's how Empire started, because my love for emerging technologies. There's so many good technologies out here that are either startups or 20-year-old companies. I have both that I represent, and they can't get the, uh, exposure that they need to produce revenue. But on the other side of the coin is, is really interesting too, because The other side of the coin, you have enterprise CIOs, CTOs, COOs, CEOs that say to me, I need help because every technology looks the same, sounds the same, says they do the same thing more or less. I can't figure out who's good and who's not, which is where I bring value because we've, we're, we're trusted. You know, I've done, you know, some deals with these enterprise buyers before. Yes. And they say, okay, if, if I have this initiative and you're telling me you have technology that does an excellent job of it, bring them in. That's, that's the equation that works.

So you're the, you're kind of the filter in the screen.

I'm a tech liaison in the middle. Tech liaison. A tech liaison between CTOs and emerging companies.

That's awesome. Yeah. That's good. Yeah.

When would people call you? People would call me when they have a new project revolving around technology. So if they have, you know, a, a a budgeted initiative to achieve X. They would say, okay, I have a, I have a project centered around cybersecurity. I need some help defining policy and implementing AI for cybersecurity. Or I have 5 AI technology companies and I am getting complexity around managing them. That's when I would bring in one of my clients named Aperion. And what they do is they are the top layer to all of those technology components that policy flows through.

So they integrate. Yes. And you're going use this tool. Yeah. It happens to be a company.

Yes. So, yes. So say you have 5 different AI technologies. They're all operating independently in sort of, you know, policy and compliance. Apeiron will sit on top of that and make sure that all of them follow the same policy and compliance, which it doesn't happen today without a company like that. And you, you run into problems if you're not operating that way.

This is huge, right? The, the, I just wanna point out that that is a huge obstacle for moving forward for a lot of companies that, that regulations compliance and having multiple processes in place that aren't exactly aligned. Exactly.

That's a big issue. Yeah. So Appurian is the trust fabric for AI in enterprises.

It's amazing. Okay. Sometimes, like, that part gets muddy, right? It does. And And so there are different pockets where things get muddy. And sometimes that lack of clarity, when it's not like crystal clear, this is the direction, this is the direction, and it's not aligned. Sometimes those pockets, that lack of clarity, um, is a systems process problem. Sometimes it's a, uh, platform problem. Yes. And sometimes it's a people problem, but it's not the people doing the work. Sometimes it's a leadership problem.

Without a doubt. How do you handle that? It's a good question, and I love the answer because the muddiness— I love that you have the answer.

Great.

The muddiness is sometimes caused by, one of my clients not doing everything that the initiative of an enterprise is demanding, right? So there's parts of what a company can do. So I started, I started to explore something called an SVT, which is a software vendor technology partnership. Okay. So, and I love it because when two of my clients start to talk together and they're, they're a better together story that addresses an initiative of an enterprise, it's good for everybody. So I'll give you, I'll give you another example. So one of my clients called Multimodal, you know, will set up an AI platform. From there, there's data that comes out of that AI platform. And CEOs, C-level executives like to have a quick dashboard where they can say, okay, this project's on track, this project's on track. Oops, I need some help on this project, right? That doesn't come naturally. Green, green, yellow. Yes. Right. That comes from a company, project managers out there. Exactly. That comes from a company called Domo. Okay. Which is a 20-year-old company, successful company, one of my clients, and they are business intelligence and analytics. So together, they're an amazing end-to-end solution. So that's, that's sort of the way I started to address the muddiness where, you know, you don't have all of the solution, you have a piece of it, but 2 clients together are phenomenal.

So this is good when you bring in the clients, right? Let's talk about a leader who might be getting in his or her own way.

Oh, okay, okay. From a leadership perspective. Yeah. Um, and you've got the muddiness, muddiness around managing your employees.

You got the muddiness around, um, really, it's, I said we needed to go in this direction, and I, I said it needed to be yesterday. I see.

See, that's not my style, really.

I know it's not your style, but you've seen it, right? When you—

I have seen it. I mean, to me, it's just a turnoff. It tells me that they're not open-minded to ways of doing something better.

So they don't actually become your clients, do they? Well— Do you filter them out?

I— if some— if a company is so headstrong that, you know, this is the way that we're going to achieve success, And it's the only way, you know, I will tend to, you know, decline that. And there's a lot of reasons why I might decline a client. If their technology is not ready, you know, I'm happy to help develop a go-to-market strategy or if they're in a saturated market, that's a very difficult place to accelerate revenue. I'll give you an example. Endpoint in the cybersecurity world, endpoint technologies are they're a dime a dozen. There's a lot of companies that do it and they do it well. If you're an endpoint security company and you come to me asking to do what I do, I'm probably going to say thank you, but no thank you, because it's very difficult to get, you know, that technology integrated in a fashion that makes a difference in terms of revenue. So I don't know if I just—

your question, but sort of, yes. It's I guess actually it's probably where I step in more. Like, I would guide a leader to reflect, right? Here's a style, here's a certain style. And then I would probably pull you in the room with maybe some of the vendors and talk about what's the vision, like, get really clear back. When you get clear about the vision, then again, it stops being about Well, I said I wanted it this way, right? It's like we all agreed we were going this direction. So, right, cool. What, um, there's still a lot of hype about AI, right? Yes. Yeah, huge. So beyond the hype, what, like, if you were guiding both new leaders in their startups and seasoned leaders who are like, yeah, we need to integrate this, beyond the hype, what do they need to be thinking?

So they need to be thinking, what's a realistic achievement? Because who defines realistic?

Because I'm, you know, I'm sort of allergic to that word. Yeah. Okay. You know, it's sort of like realistic is someone else's imposition of boundaries. And it's like, come on, let's go. Let's go big. Right?

Yeah. But going big might never have an end. You know what I mean? Like, it's, it's—

Well, in terms of human performance, that's a good thing. In terms of business performance, it's sort of like, okay, so we need metrics along the way.

1000% agree. Okay. So I would say the way to do it is to, is to pick projects in the beginning that are short runs, easily less complex. And then, you know, that foundation that you're building, will lead to the larger, more complex projects being successful because you've built that foundation where the technology is integrated to a degree with, you know, smaller runs that are easy to achieve, and then you just replicate that on a bigger scale. It's 6 o'clock.

I thought we killed that voiceover thing. It's good to know it's 6 o'clock. Yeah, I guess. All right. So this is— that's awesome. All right, so here's a question for you. Sure. Um, you had some notes written for yourself. I had some notes written for myself. Uh, what didn't I ask you? Where, where did you— what do you want to bring up? Was there anything on your notepad that I didn't touch on or didn't open the door for?

Well, I, I think I'd like people to know that I love what I do. I love— it comes through— helping, you know, helping technology companies achieve success. Because if you're a client of mine, I believe in you. I love the technology and I'm gonna do all I can to get that traction inside of—

100%. And I've watched you do that. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Watch that.

That's, that's what's exciting to me. That's what's fun. You know, and that's at the heart of, I think what we should all do. You love what you do. Why not love what you do? And, you know, I like, I like being in front of big enterprises and I like new technology. That's what keeps me motivated during the days.

That's great. How does someone know if they're ready to call you or to reach out to you? How do they know, like, I'm working on this and it's both, like you're looking at enterprise and you're looking at the people that have technology, right? Both sides could actually reach out.

It's a great question actually. So if you started a new technology company and the code is ready, the product is ready, and then you say to yourself, oh, I don't have a sales team. I don't know where to go to, you know, get my first level of success. That's, that's when you call me because I will sit down with you just like I did today with, with a new client. And I want everything. I wanna know, you know, where your, your persona is that you're gonna sell to, you know, what your case studies are, all that sort of stuff is gonna help me define either where I know opportunities exist within an existing enterprise or where I I can easily go to, to start to develop that traction. Because that's, that's what happens is I'm basically a, a sales model that you don't have to hire, no benefits, nothing like that, right? That I just, I'm gonna go out and bring everything I've got from 25 years of experience and, and start, you know, getting your name out there and, and selling what you do. And on the other side, if you're a, a CEO or a CIO and you're scared to make a decision around implementing new technologies or you don't know where to go, that's when you would call me also because what's happening today is you've got CEOs that are driven to increase productivity but keep full-time employees and headcount down to save opex. And the way to do that is through technology, but sometimes you don't know where to start.

That's great. That's really great. That is, that's a That's a great definition of what you do. That's awesome. Yeah. Cool. Anything that I haven't asked you that you were hoping I would ask you?

I don't think so. I'd like to give one shout out to X5 Labs, my friend Bill, who works there because I love what he does. He's creating or he has a company that creates a digital twin of you as an employee. And ramps up productivity immediately. It learns your decision tree, your thinking process. And it's a technology that I'm genuinely excited about. And I think it can help a lot.

We'll get Bill on. Yeah, let's get Bill on. Get Bill on the, on the One Sharp Sword podcast. Bill Serino is an amazing gentleman. I did have the chance to meet him. So, so preview of coming attractions. I like it. We haven't even talked to Bill, but I'm sure he'll— I'm sure he would love it. What, anything else that you wanted to say?

No, we built a strong team. I mean, I said no, but I do have something else to say.

See, see how that works? No, I'm done.

No, besides that, yeah, we have, besides yourself, we have an impressive ecosystem of people that's supporting Empire Intelligence. Carl Hagerty, of course, a good friend of yours. Yes. He's a great connector of people and a great human being. We also have Sanford Brown, who is the retired president of research and innovation at L'Oréal and Procter Gamble and Unilever. And then Jeff Barker. Yeah. Do you know Jeff?

I had breakfast with Jeff.

Yeah. 2 days ago. Jeff Barker is another great one. The ex-president of Bank of America who does a great job too. So, and of course yourself and Richard.

So Jeff has actually been on the One Sharp Circle. Oh, he has?

Yeah. Oh, I've gotta watch that episode.

Yeah, it's exciting. He's probably done enough that I could bring him back. Like, he's doing— since he retired, um, he's got— he's into all kinds of stuff. Um, and now that he's joined the Empire Intelligence Group, he's not really retired. He's got his hand in—

he's in a lot of— he's working very hard. Yeah, he's, he's, he does a great job, which is, which is really great.

I think, you know, the reason we're bringing up other people who aren't, you know, on the podcast currently is, uh, is just to say, look, there's It's kind of a leadership moment. It's the— just because you are done with a project doesn't mean that you're done with all projects, right? And we've probably all heard of the people that retire and then within 2 years they're dead. And it's like, that's some retirement, isn't it? So really to recognize that just because you are done with a portion of your life, you're absolutely opening a new portion of your life, and that's called growth, that's called development, that's called, uh, your own personal leadership. So I'm all for that.

And it's a podcast for another day. That could be a whole podcast right there.

It could. Well, I love to create lessons along the way as we talk. So yeah, it's, uh, it's a blog post at least. Exactly. So get Wednesdays with Wayne at WaynePernell.com if you haven't. All right, um, wow, anything else? No, thank you for your time. How do— how— well, you are welcome.

And how do people reach you? So you can reach me by phone, 908-675-0691.

Wow. Is that your cell phone? Yeah. Did you just give, like, publicly your cell phone? Call me.

I'll help. All right. Why not?

Cool. And what about email? And what about LinkedIn?

Sure. LinkedIn, Tim Piamonte. Email is tim@empireintelgroup.com.

Cool. And Piemonte is P-I-E-M-O-N-T-E. Thank you. You're welcome. Just because it could be spelled so many different ways.

Yes. Cool. A lot of people throw a D in there.

P-I-E-D. I saw that. Actually, we were at an event the other day and it's like very common. I've never seen that.

What's the airline? P-Bahn Airlines?

Uh, no D. Okay, Piemonte. All right, so Very good. My guest today, uh, president and founder of Empire Intelligence Group, empireintelgroup.com, uh, is Tim Pimonte. So thank you for being here. Thank you for inviting me. It is a pleasure. This is One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most. Please like and share this episode. Uh, I hope you enjoyed it. I don't get a chance to sit side by side, um, with my guests very often. It's great that, uh, I'm in New York, Tim's in New York, and we found a quiet corner to be able to do this together. So, um, beautiful. This is One Sharp Sword. I am Dr. P, Dr. Wayne Pernell, your host, your guide, your coach on this journey. We will see you again next time. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening to One Sharp Sword, cutting Through to what matters most with Outfluencer, Dr. Wayne Pernell. For more information, please go to one sharpsword.com.