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I'm excited about voice as a UI layer for existing visual applications — where speech and screen update together. This goes well beyond voice-only use cases like call center automation.

The barrier has been a hard technical tradeoff: low-latency voice models lack reliability, while agentic pipelines (speech-to-text → LLM → text-to-speech) are intelligent but too slow for conversation. Ashwyn Sharma and team at Vocal Bridge (an AI Fund portfolio company) address this with a dual-agent architecture: a foreground agent for real-time conversation, a background agent for reasoning, guardrails, and tool calls.

I used Vocal Bridge to add voice to a math-quiz app I'd built for my daughter; this took less than an hour with Claude Code. She speaks her answers, the app responds verbally and updates the questions and animations on screen.

Only a tiny fraction of developers have ever built a voice app. If you'd like to try building one, check out Vocal Bridge for free: https://vocalbridgeai.com

My dad has cancer. Mom’s a caregiver herself, and just had a hip replacement. My brother and I are having conversations we used to call hypothetical.

We’ve got it easy: they're stable and don't need us day to day. But between 10% and 20% of workers across every industry are providing unpaid elder care right now. Nearly half are Gen X. Many are also raising kids. Most are senior managers or leaders.

And almost none of them are talking about it at work.

We have a cultural blind spot: when someone has a baby, there's a shower, a card, pictures in the Slack channel. Elder care? People hide it. Because it's associated with loss, not celebration. Because it rarely ends with a good story.

After interviewing KPMG economist Matthew Nestler, PhD about the care economy, I posted in a few group chats: "Anyone willing to talk about elder care?" The response was immediate: stories people wished someone had told them before they suddenly found themselves in it.

Karen Fascenda, CPO at Udemy, was in a brand new role when her mother died suddenly. That same day, her father broke his hip and eventually moved into her home, where he began showing signs of dementia. She was grieving, caregiving, and trying to prove herself in a new job—mostly in silence. "I don't want people to think I can't do this job because I have to care for my dad, too."

Most people doing this don't even think of themselves as caregivers. That's exactly the problem.

The numbers are accelerating. Assisted living now costs nearly $5,500 a month. Home-care costs jumped 20% in the back half of 2025. A trillion dollars in Medicaid cuts start hitting the care economy in 2026 and more in '27.

The caregivers in your workforce are already overwhelmed. The least leaders can do is normalize the conversation.

I wrote about this in Charter today and focused on three zero-cost things any organization can do, starting with the language we use.

👉 Please give it a read, and let me know what you think (link in comments)

Part two drops Thursday in Charter Pro, and goes deeper into what leading companies are doing to address the growing gaps, and retain critical talent.

Thanks to Karen, Matthew, Dina Chaiffetz, Madhavi Bhasin, PhD, Theresa de la Osa, Sarah Kagan, Tracy Layney for sharing their stories. And to my Mom and Dad, for being OK with me telling ours.

Are you navigating this right now, or have you had to?

Do you like chocolate? 🍫
What about traveling in chocolate?

A 55-meter chocolate train 🚂
crafted down to the smallest detail.
Not just dessert , an experience you can almost step into.

That’s the difference most brands miss.

People don’t remember products.
They remember how you made them feel.

This wasn’t about chocolate.
It was about imagination.
Scale.
Story.

That’s marketing.❤️

Not louder messages.
Not more campaigns.

But creating something so immersive
people stop scrolling,
and start feeling.

Because when your audience can picture themselves inside your world,

You’re no longer selling.

You’re inviting.



🎥VR: guinnessworldrecords
@andrewfarrugiachocolatier


#management #innovation #digitalmarketing #leadership #technology

I saw this online. Not sure what social media site.

First I laughed. Then I thought….wouldn’t it be lovely to say what’s on our mind?

Without fear of retribution or guilt.

To go to work, do our jobs, go home.

After all, 98% of us are not superstars.

We aren’t ninjas. 🥷

We aren’t rock stars or anything more than who we are.

We are solid. Reliable. Honest.

Companies who want you to continue to justify your existence….

As if the work you did all year…wasn’t already the proof.

Stop making people audition for jobs they’re already doing.

#WriteYourOwnReview
#JustPayMe
#ItsAllTooMuch

How to build a 4-person team that creates 200+ pieces of content per month:

Most founders try to do content alone.

They burn out, get inconsistent, and give up.

Here's how I built a media machine:

1. The Solo Creator Problem

Doing content alone means:

• Tracking all metrics
• Managing all platforms
• Handling all distribution
• Creating every piece yourself

This doesn't scale.

2. The Media Team Framework

I don't create content.

I design content systems.

Role 1: Content Strategist (Me)

• 4 hours per month
• Set overall direction
• Provide strategic input
• Create flagship content

Role 2: Content Editor

• Full-time role
• Maintain brand voice
• Ensure quality standards
• Transform raw ideas into polished content

Role 3: Visual Designer

• Part-time role
• Design video thumbnails
• Build presentation slides
• Create scroll-stopping graphics

Role 4: Distribution Manager

• Part-time role
• Manage content calendar
• Handle all platform posting
• Track performance metrics

3. The Content Multiplication System

I create 1 piece of flagship content per week.

My team transforms it into:

• 3 blog posts
• 1 newsletter
• 1 YouTube video
• 1 podcast episode
• 5 short-form videos
• 7 social media posts
• 10 micro-content pieces

Total: 28 pieces from 1 original.

3. The Hiring Strategy

Don't hire content creators.

Hire content operators.

Content creators think in pieces.

Content operators think in systems.

The Onboarding Process

Week 1: Voice Training

• Learn our frameworks
• Study my best content
• Practice writing in my style
• Get feedback on early attempts

Week 2: System Training

• Learn our workflows
• Understand our tools
• Practice content creation
• Get comfortable with processes

Week 3: Quality Control

• Refine approach
• Prove capability
• Create test content
• Receive detailed feedback

Week 4: Full Integration

• Hit production targets
• Maintain quality standards
• Take on full responsibilities
• Create content independently

The Results

Before (just me):

• Limited reach
• Constant stress
• 5 posts per week
• Inconsistent quality

After (team of 4):

• 10x reach
• Consistent quality
• Systemized process
• 200+ pieces per month

The Investment

Total team cost: $22,000/month

Content revenue generated: $264,000/month

ROI: 1,200%

—

Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Matt Gray for more.

Want to learn how to build a profitable personal brand that grows even when you’re not around?

Join my free live Workshop on April 21st (7 days away) to steal my homework: https://lnkd.in/ehMWgysW

Someone on your team is quietly undermining your decisions right now.

Not in the meeting. 
After it.

In 25+ years of working inside large organizations, I’ve seen this pattern derail more transitions than any loud conflict ever did.

They smile in the room.

They nod when you speak.

Then they gather the group in the hallway and walk back everything you just agreed on.

This is the shadow meeting problem.

And it's one of the fastest ways a new executive loses a mandate.

It's not always malicious.

Sometimes it's a passed-over peer.

Or a loyalist to the previous leader.

Sometimes it's someone who just doesn't trust the new direction yet.

But the impact is the same.

Your decisions get diluted before they're ever executed.

How to stop it before it derails your transition:

1. Set the ground rules before you need them
2. Watch who speaks last in the room
3. Name it privately, not publicly
4. Trace the pattern, not just the incident
5. Move fast when the pattern is clear

If the real conversation happens after the meeting, bring it back into the room.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?

Get insights in The First Year newsletter:
dora.coach

Discipline is everything. It's how I stopped driving soda all the time...I hired a full-time person 12 years ago to make sure I didn't take a sip of soda.

We can all create our own healthy patterns and habits...it starts mentally with believing YOU CAN.

Today, I'm officially changing my profile to "Retired".

I retired this past Friday after 25 amazing years at Dell Technologies - writing that still feels surreal. A quarter century is a long time, but what has made this journey so meaningful is the people. Thank you to all my colleagues, leaders, and teams who challenged me and supported me every step of the way. I'm grateful for every opportunity, every conversation, and every friendship built over these many years. You all are simply the best.

I leave with genuine optimism for Dell's future. The talent, culture, and vision inside the company are extraordinary, and I'm excited to cheer on what comes next.

And life had one more milestone waiting for me this past week - on Saturday, I had the joy of officiating my daughter's wedding. Starting retirement with that moment reminded me how important my family is to me and how much they have supported me throughout my career. I joined Dell to create a better opportunity for myself and my family, and I'm proud to say: mission accomplished.

Thank you to all my friends and colleagues who have been part of the last 25 years. It's been an incredible journey that I'll never forget. Now, I look forward to this next chapter and the many new adventures ahead!