Stare Down the Bull with Susan Hunt

Susan Hunt is joined by Lauren Nardone, Chief Legal Officer at CB Insights, known as the “Velvet Hammer”, for a candid conversation about how sales and legal can work together to close deals faster and smarter. Drawing from years of enterprise SaaS and AI negotiations, Lauren shares why legal should be viewed as a strategic partner, not a deal blocker, when to bring legal into the deal cycle, and how trust, transparency, and shared ownership transform negotiations. This episode is a must-listen for sales leaders navigating complex, high-stakes deals. Connect with Lauren: LinkedIn CB Insights Connect with Susan: LinkedIn Surge Growth Consulting

In this episode of Stare Down the Bull, I sit down with Joseph Hackman, founder and CEO of Permanence, former machine learning leader at Intel, and one of the sharpest engineering minds I know. We talked about his early start in coding at age six, his path through Intel and ASAP, how he built one of the strongest AI engineering teams in the industry, and why enterprise AI adoption keeps failing. Joseph shares where AI is headed, what’s hype vs. reality, and how Permanence is redefining what “quality” means in an AI-powered engineering world. Connect with Joseph: LinkedIn Website Connect with Susan: LinkedIn Surge Growth Consulting

In this episode of Stare Down the Bull, I sit down with Dr. Judy Spitz, AI pioneer, former Verizon CIO, and founder of Breakthrough Tech. We explore Judy’s groundbreaking early work in speech recognition, her rise through the executive ranks, her leadership philosophy, and her mission to change the face of tech by unlocking opportunities for overlooked talent. We also dive into AI ethics, algorithmic bias, and why who’s in the room matters more than ever. Connect with Susan:  LinkedIn Surge Growth Consulting  Connect with Judy  LinkedIn Break Through Tech

In this episode of Stare Down the Bull, I sit down with Steve Chambers, an early pioneer in speech recognition, AI, and robotics, to explore how innovation, resilience, and reinvention shape both business and life. From scaling Nuance to a multibillion-dollar company to surviving cancer and earning his PhD at Harvard, Steve’s story is a powerful reflection on technology, transformation, and the human spirit. Episode Highlights: Culture drives success: Steve shares how aligning people and values fueled Nuance’s growth. Pioneering AI and SaaS: He reflects on the early evolution of speech recognition and subscription models. The future of robotics: Steve predicts a wave of emotionally intelligent robots built for real human connection. Resilience and reinvention: After surviving cancer, he’s focused on using AI to advance education and purpose-driven innovation.        Connect with Susan:       LinkedIn Website Connect with Steve:    LinkedIn Website

In this special episode of Stare Down the Bull, Susan Hunt switches seats as guest host Steve Chambers interviews her about the drive, resilience, and bold leadership that define her career. From her fearless start at Motorola to building lifelong professional relationships, Susan shares how she learned to “stare down the bull” in business, leadership, and life and why she’s determined to make space for women’s voices in tech and AI. We covered a lot of territory including: Why saying the thing everyone’s thinking but afraid to say can change the outcome of any meeting How building trust and genuine relationships opens doors that titles and roles can’t The importance of calling out corporate bullies and how to stand up for your team What it means to lead with both confidence and compassion Why women’s representation in AI and tech still has a long way to go Connect with Susan: ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ Connect with Steve: ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠