Dispatches from an Internet Pioneer Podcast
Episodes
Deep Dive: Who Should the CIO Report To?
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores how the reporting line of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) in higher education influences their authority, responsibilities, an...
Deep Dive: The Illusion of Innovation
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is Shadow IT a sign of innovation or a symptom of institutional short-termism? This episode explores the hidden costs of side-door technology projects...
Deep Dive: The Power of Strategic Restraint
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode examines the transformative impact of strategic restraint, preference falsification, and calibrated silence in higher education leadershi...
Deep Dive: Why ERP Implementations Fail
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we unpack why ERP projects so often go sideways, not because of bad technology, but because institutions skip the hard, early work of...
Deep Dive: Negotiation Styles
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore the art and science of negotiation through the frameworks of Chester Karrass and Chris Voss, examining how structure, empa...
Deep Dive: Storm Scars and Bright Skies
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore how four major disruptions, the dot-com collapse, the Great Recession, the pandemic, and the unraveling of federal higher ...
Deep Dive: Negotiation and CIO Credibility
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore why negotiation isn’t just a helpful skill for CIOs, it’s a defining one. Drawing on lessons from the dot-com crash, T...
Deep Dive: The World of Shadow AI
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores one of the most overlooked dynamics in today’s workplace: the widespread, hidden use of generative AI. As tools like ChatGPT a...
Deep Dive: The Ideal CIO, The Right CIO
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore what it truly means to be an ideal university CIO today, far beyond managing systems or fixing Wi-Fi. We discuss how the C...
Deep Dive: The VMware Dilemma
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the backbone of your IT infrastructure suddenly costs dramatically more? Broadcom’s overhaul of VMware pricing has left CIOs scram...
Deep Dive: Hiring for the Long Game
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hiring IT staff in higher education is harder than ever, but not for the reasons most people think. In this episode, we unpack why chasing mid-career ...
Deep Drive: ERP and Lifelong Leadership Lessons
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we unpack why ERP implementations, especially projects like Workday, are far more than system upgrades. They’re crucibles for leade...
Deep Dive: The Negotiation Escalation Ladder
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores the subtle ways conversations shift from collaboration to confrontation, breaking down the five rungs of the negotiation escalat...
Deep Dive: Orchestrating AI-Infused Research
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore what it really takes to build an AI-infused university, going beyond buzzwords to the infrastructure, people, and processe...
Deep Dive: What Makes Professors Great
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore what makes truly great professors unforgettable, not just for what they know, but for how they teach, mentor, and lead. Fr...
Deep Dive: ERP Success Starts Outside IT
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore why ERP implementations in higher education so often struggle and what it really takes to make them succeed. Drawing on tw...
Deep Dive: Sweating the Details Together
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we unpack what it really means to “sweat the details together. Not as a micromanagement tactic, but as a leadership philosophy root...
Deep Dive: Mandela's Legacy of Leadership
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to leave a legacy that lasts? This episode draws on Nelson Mandela’s quiet refusal of conditional release in 1985 to explore seven...
CS Lewis: Membership
03 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore C.S. Lewis’s profound essay “Membership” from The Weight of Glory, unpacking his vision of what it truly means to be...
Deep Dive: The Power of Silence in Negotiation
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we break down why leaders and negotiators often lose power the moment they start talking too much, and how real influence is built th...
CS Lewis: A Slip of the Tongue
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if a simple slip in prayer revealed something deeper, something true about how we protect our comfort from God’s call? In this episode, we expl...
Deep Dive: Vibe Coding and Technical Debt
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In an era where AI makes custom coding easier than ever, universities must balance innovation with sustainability. This podcast explores the exhilarat...
CS Lewis: The Weight of Glory
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore C.S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory, one of his most profound and stirring reflections on Christian desire, eternal identit...
Deep Dive: The Case for Paper and Pen
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore how abandoning digital note-taking in favor of pen and paper reshaped their attention, thinking, and leadership. From the ...
CS Lewis: Learning in a Time of War
13 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, CS Lewis: Learning in a Time of War, we explore Lewis’s powerful message about finding purpose and living faithfully even when the ...
Deep Dive: Edge, Leverage, and Trust
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore the Edge–Leverage–Trust model, a strategic framework that balances centralized efficiency with decentralized innovatio...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Chapter 12, 13, 14
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore the final chapters of C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, where profound images of love, freedom, and eternal choice come al...
Deep Dive: Seeing How College Pays Off
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In an age when many are skeptical of the value of higher education, Georgia Degrees Pay offers a rare, data-driven approach to transparency. Operated ...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Chapter 10, 11
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore Chapters 10 and 11 of C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, where love twists into control and sin clings desperately to the s...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Chapter 9
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode delves into Chapter 9 of The Great Divorce, where Lewis meets his guide—George MacDonald—and begins to grasp the spiritual logic of c...
Deep Dive: Being Cautious vs Driving Change
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores one of the most urgent dilemmas facing leaders in higher education technology today: how to balance the push for innovation with...
Deep Dive: AI and Jobs—What Actually Changes
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we dive into the quiet revolution reshaping the modern workplace—not through mass layoffs, but through the erosion of routine, entr...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Chapter 7, 8
14 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore Chapters 7 and 8 of The Great Divorce, where C.S. Lewis paints two haunting images of resistance to redemption. A jaded cy...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Chapter 5, 6
14 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore Chapters 5 and 6 of The Great Divorce, where C.S. Lewis confronts the illusions of intellectual pride and the agony of sel...
Deep Dive: The Scimitar Solution for Technical Debt
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore what it really takes to modernize ERP systems in higher education. Drawing from the vivid metaphor of Gartner’s Andy Kyt...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Chapter 3, 4
07 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore Chapters 3 and 4 of The Great Divorce, where the journey moves from abstraction to confrontation. The ghosts arrive at the...
CS Lewis: The Great Divorce - Preface, Chapter 1, 2
07 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we begin our journey through C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce by exploring the Preface and Chapters 1 and 2—where Lewis lays out hi...
Deep Dive: Copilot vs. ChatGPT vs. Gemini
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who’s really winning the Everyday AI race in higher education—and why does it matter? In this episode, we explore how Google, OpenAI, and Microsof...
Deep Dive: The AI-Infused University
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Universities globally are adapting to an AI-infused future. Navigating the AI revolution in higher education requires actionable strategies to make sm...
Deep Dive: The Art of Staying in the Room
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this Dispatch, we explore what negotiation reveals about leadership—especially within the complex, trust-dependent dynamics of higher education. ...
Deep Dive: Leading Through Higher Ed’s Fourth Disruption
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Deep Dive, we explore what it takes to lead higher education IT teams through profound uncertainty. Drawing on lessons from four ma...
Deep Dive: GenAI, Copyright, and Global Competition
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s dispatch, we unravel the complex legal challenges surrounding generative AI—challenges that could shape not just the future of tech...
Deep Dive: Rethinking Scale in the Era of Vendor Lock-In
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores why the long-standing strategy of scaling through vendor standardization is now putting higher ed IT at risk. As costs rise and ...
Deep Drive: How Tech Disrupted Trust
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore how the Internet, smartphones, and artificial intelligence have fundamentally reshaped the way we connect—not just to in...
Deep Dive: The Quiet Work of Great Leaders
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, we’re talking about mentorship—but not the kind you find in structured programs or formal pairings. This is about the kind o...
Deep Drive: The Hidden Memory of Generative AI
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini retain more user data than most people realize, raising serious ethical, legal,...
Deep Dive: Understanding and Countering Extreme Anchors
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Extreme anchoring isn’t just a negotiation tactic—it’s a strategy for shifting the entire debate in your favor. In this episode, we explore how ...
Deep Dive: Why Low-Code Everyday AI Changes the Game
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode examines why low-code everyday AI is the smarter, more sustainable choice for higher education—and why the old “build-it” mentality...
Deep Dive: GenAI and the Economic Revolution of Work
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode examines how GenAI could drive economic transformation by radically simplifying workflows, contrasted with the Internet's success in 1993...
Deep Dive: AI in Higher Ed: What Matters and What’s Just Hype
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode examines the real role of AI in higher education—what’s useful, what’s overhyped, and where universities should actually invest. Wi...
Deep Dive: Apple’s AI Play: Gurman Is Right—And Completely Wrong
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AI-generated discussion of recent post “Deep Dive: Apple’s AI Play: Gurman Is Right—And Completely Wrong”.Based on Substack article:https://di...
Deep Dive: 1993, 2007, and 2022
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AI-generated discussion of recent post “1993, 2007, and 2022”.Based on Substack article: https://dispatchesinternetpioneer.substack.com/p/1993-200...