Managing difficult conversations on new technology integration: the case of generative AI Available to Purchase

Tojin Thomas Eapen, PhD is a researcher, educator, and consultant focused on augmented creativity, bioinspired design, and sustainable innovation. He is the founder of the Center for Creative Foresight. He is a Senior Fellow of the Conference Board and an advisor at StratRocket and Innomantra. In the past, Dr Eapen taught at the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. He has advised over 40 organizations, including Google, Samsung, ABB, KBR, Robert Bosch, NetApp, Qualcomm, Bureau Veritas, SKF, and Newell Brands. Dr Eapen holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MBA from the Indian School of Business, and a degree in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut.

Daniel J. Finkenstadt, PhD is a professional military officer and previously an Assistant Professor in the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Department of Defense Management offering courses in Enterprise Sourcing. Dr Finkenstadt is the principal at Wolf Stake Consulting LLC and earned his PhD from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2020). He has over 20 years of defense contracting experience in operational (base level), systems center, headquarters, joint, overseas, and classified environments. He is also a graduate of NPS (M.B.A., 2011). His research interests are business-to-government markets, professional services (knowledge-based services), generative artificial intelligence, gamification of education and contingency and scenario planning. He was the founder and Principal Investigator for the new Simulation and Ideation Lab for Applied Science (SILAS) at NPS. He has published multiple articles in the Harvard Business Review, including the recent Jul/Aug 2023 cover article along with Dr Eapen. He has published various works in the National Contract Management Association Contract Management Magazine, Defense Acquisition Review Journal, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, the Milbank Quarterly, and California Management Review. He coauthored the Springer Nature book, “Supply Chain Immunity” with Dr Rob Handfield in 2023. This book covers supply chain lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. His book, Bioinspired Strategic Design (2024), published by Productivity Press (Taylor & Francis, LLC.), coauthored with Tojin Eapen explores how human organizations can draw inspiration from living organisms to craft sustainable and innovative systems.