Hard Reset: How Lenovo is redefining AI PCs, edge computing, and trust

Summary

The Speed of Culture Podcast

Episode: “Hard Reset: How Lenovo is redefining AI PCs, edge computing, and trust”

Host: Matt Britton (Founder & CEO of Suzy)
Guest: Milo Speranzo (Chief Marketing Officer, Lenovo North America)
Date: February 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Matt Britton sits down with Milo Speranzo, CMO of Lenovo North America, live from CES in Las Vegas. Their conversation uncovers how Lenovo is pushing boundaries in AI PCs, edge computing, wearables, and earning consumer trust in a moment where privacy and data are center stage. From the inside story of Lenovo’s landmark Sphere event to the company’s vision for democratizing AI at scale, Milo offers candid insights on brand strategy, consumer trends, and lessons in leadership.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lenovo’s Bold Presence at CES and The Sphere

• Setting the Stage: Lenovo’s large-scale, sold-out event at the Las Vegas Sphere (03:04-05:12)

  • Over 14,000 attendees, major partners including Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, and a guest appearance by Jensen Huang.
  • Production highlighted both consumer and commercial advancements in Lenovo’s portfolio.

• Quote:

  “We had over 14,000 in the sphere. … They really did come for the Lenovo launches and releases, which… we did take that as a wow.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 04:42

2. Coordinating a Massive Product Launch

• Company-wide Collaboration: Marketing, sales, alliances, and comms united to orchestrate the event (05:28–07:44)

• Audience Acquisition: Sales played a significant role in filling seats, given CES competition.

• Quote:

  “Sales took the lead on … audience acquisition, and marketing played a role in all of that. Our corporate marketing team and comms team took the lead on developing the production piece.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 06:58

3. Product Announcements & Strategic Differentiators

• AI Innovations on Display (07:44–10:30):

  • Late-stage wearable concepts
  • Kira: An AI agent orchestrating tools across devices (“your personal AI twin”)
  • New ThinkSystem servers with breakthrough AI benchmarking
  • Moto Razer Fold: Latest in elegant, foldable phones

• End-to-End Ecosystem: Lenovo uniquely provides phones, wearables, PCs, servers, storage—all in one portfolio.

• Differentiation in AI: Complete ecosystem enables data privacy, speed, and user control.

• Quote:

  “There is nothing stopping us from making those leaps … nobody has phones, wearables, PCs, servers, storage, all in one portfolio… that enables us a pretty big differentiator in AI.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 09:34

4. Edge Computing, Consumer Demands, and Privacy

• Shift to Edge Computing (10:30–14:56):

  • Running AI on-device boosts privacy and speed, less reliance on cloud/internet.
  • Privacy as a “non-negotiable”—major focus at the event.

• Quote:

  “We’re allowing AI to be done at the edge, at the PC without even being connected to the Internet. And we think that’s going to be a demand.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 11:54

  • Accelerated hardware refresh cycle expected as AI tools become necessaries for both consumers and technical professionals.

5. Wearables, Data, and the Trade-Off of Privacy

• Early-Stage Wearables: Discussion around a pendant device and its privacy implications (16:37–20:28)

  • Transparency and external privacy audits critical before mass production.
  • Generational attitudes toward privacy are shifting; Gen Z and Alpha may be less concerned.

• Quote:

  “We have to be very, very sensitive, not just with the user privacy, but with the privacy of holistically what you’re capturing.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 18:23

• Trade-offs of convenience vs. privacy—using a personal AI twin could free users from note-taking and orchestrate daily life.

• Quote:

  “That personal AI twin is really the beachhead into what AI will be in your life… going to orchestrate daily chores and life.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 20:28

6. From Hardware to Data Companies—The Evolution of Lenovo’s Business Model

• AI and Data as Core Value:

  • Hardware becomes a conduit for AI-powered, data-driven services.
  • Data’s value is finally being realized through personalization and business transformation (22:00–24:24).

• Changing Marketing Strategy: Now targeting broader decision-makers in B2B, such as CFOs, as AI purchasing power shifts.

• Quote:

  “Now all of a sudden, that data is actually becoming valuable and useful in a personalized way…”
  — Milo Speranzo, 23:29

7. Lenovo’s Role in the 2026 FIFA World Cup

• Global Sponsorship & Tech Integration (24:25–27:54):

  • Lenovo’s tech (AI, device-level stabilization) will be used for referee cameras, VAR, analytics.
  • Democratization: Leveling the playing field for small countries/teams with powerful analytics and data (AI-powered Football Intelligence).

• Quote:

  “AI is that level setter. So AI allows them to punch way above their weight… FIFA wants to do that with the countries. … Every country…the smallest countries to the biggest, will all have the same ability to parse the data.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 26:08

8. Lessons in Leadership and Professional Mantras

• Career Path & Authenticity (28:02–30:52):

  • Transitioned from the Air Force, through sales, to marketing—attributes growth to authenticity and relationship-building.
  • Learning from mistakes and being resilient.

• Mantra for 2026 (30:57–31:25):

  • “Fail fast and be a goldfish”—Improve continuously, don’t dwell on mistakes, focus on the positive.

• Quote:

  “There’s 10 things that I wanna fix for the next Sphere event. So don’t rest on your laurels. … Fail fast and be a goldfish.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 31:25

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Lenovo’s Risk-Taking & “Adventurism”:

  “That should be your new… tagline for 26, Lenovo adventurism.”
  — Matt Britton, 09:34

• Consumer Trust & Privacy:

  “With your permission. We said it a lot because we… want that trust.”
  — Milo Speranzo, 12:04

• Generational Shift on Privacy:

  “I don’t know that [Gen Alpha is] even going to care… they’re just…”
  — Milo Speranzo, 19:57

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Timeline of Key Segments

• 03:04–05:12 – The story behind Lenovo’s CES Sphere event & its massive scale
• 07:44–10:30 – Product launches: wearables, Kira AI agent, Moto Razer Fold, enterprise AI
• 10:30–14:56 – Edge computing, privacy concerns, the new AI PC refresh cycle
• 16:37–20:28 – Wearables & the privacy trade-off (“AI pendant”), generational perspectives
• 22:00–24:24 – Lenovo’s evolution: from hardware to data and AI company, marketing implications
• 24:25–27:54 – FIFA 2026 sponsorship, tech integration, and democratization through AI
• 28:02–31:25 – Personal career path, CMO leadership lessons, mantras for success

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, candid, and occasionally jovial (“Be a goldfish in 2026!”)
• Respectful of complexities in privacy, tech integration, and leadership
• Focused on real-world impacts of AI and the evolving expectations of both consumers and businesses

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Summary

This episode offers an inside look at how Lenovo is taking risks—and setting new standards—at the intersection of AI, hardware, and consumer trust. The discussion reveals the complexity of orchestrating global launches, the philosophy behind privacy-first computing, and how next-generation AI capabilities are already reshaping markets from sports to small business. Milo Speranzo shares not only the strategy but the mindset driving Lenovo’s evolution—and offers listeners actionable takeaways about embracing failure, authenticity, and relentless improvement in fast-won culture.

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“Fail fast and be a goldfish.”

— Milo Speranzo (31:25)

Transcript

[Chelsea Bakken]

Does using social media ever make you feel like you're just yelling into an algorithmic void? That feeds have started to feel a lot less, you know, social. Well, we're doing something about it. I'm Chelsea Bakken, head of audience development and social at Adweek, and I'm so excited to invite you to Social media week. This April 14th through 16th. We're bringing together creators, marketers and social leaders in a vibrant IRL space in New York City for three days of connection, collaboration and learning. You'll get the chance to dish on the latest tools and tricks, hear fresh perspectives on the year's most viral moments, and get the slot free inspiration you need to connect with your audience and optimize performance. Head to adweek.com events to learn more.

[Matt Britton]

Hey, Sal.

[Chelsea Bakken]

Hank.

[Milo Speranzo]

What's going on?

[Matt Britton]

We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy. Too easy. Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, and it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.

[Milo Speranzo]

Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.

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[Chelsea Bakken]

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[Milo Speranzo]

We've pivoted to want our customer demand and what they have told us they want now and what they want in the near and then far future. But one of those non negotiables is certainly privacy. You heard it in our presentation last night, where it was with your permission. We said it a lot.

[Matt Britton]

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture. We are here live and veg. Hey, guys, it's Speed of Culture podcast and today we are thrilled to be joined by Milo Speranzo. The Chief Marketing Officer for Lenovo North America. With a career that spans the U.S. air Force to entrepreneurship and now leading Lenovo's marketing efforts, Milo has been instrumental in driving Lenovo's brand relevance in high growth sectors like sports, tech, gaming and AI powered innovation. Milo, so great to see you today and welcome to the show.

[Milo Speranzo]

Thank you so much for having me here. I need an intro like that everywhere I go.

[Matt Britton]

Take me everywhere you go. There you go.

[Milo Speranzo]

I love this.

[Matt Britton]

You know, we're here at CES and yesterday I had the privilege of attending an incredible presentation that Lenovo put on at the Sphere.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yes.

[Matt Britton]

And I would love to just talk a little bit about that to kick off. First and foremost, what gave you guys the conviction to dive forward with such a big presentation and do it at the Sphere?

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah, multiple factors. The platform of the Sphere is obviously world renowned and to be a part of that and to be a part of CES is absolutely amazing. But frankly, last year when we were here, we did a pivot with CTA and worked a little bit more B2B and less consumer at the event and we didn't know how it would go. So we had some amazing results and customers that wanted to attend that were maybe non traditional CES attendees, they were very much small and medium businesses that wanted to see what the next gen of tech was. And we saw some of our large global accounts even want to attend and be a part of, if it's just the atmosphere or Vegas in general. But we had a really good, good showing last year from a commercial perspective outside of consumer. So we started to ideate after that and said we typically have our annual event in North America in October and it's very much what you saw at the Sphere, minus the giant globe with amazing visuals. But it's a hybrid consumer commercial event. And once again, after the event last year, we started to think, why don't we just do it all here? Why don't we do it all at the Sphere During CES and slowly, with conversations happening with the Sphere and with cta, it all came to fruition in the summer of this year and we made it happen. So very excited to do it. And the turnout was honestly beyond.

[Matt Britton]

It felt like it was a concert. It was completely sold out.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yes, it was. It was completely sold out. We had over 14,000 in the sphere. And what was even more interesting was we had Gwen Stefani afterwards, which was an amazing concert by the way. And we had a lot of folks, not a lot, but we had some leave matriculate out and it was. They were there really to see the Lenovo launches and releases, which we didn't want to see anybody leave. Stay for Gwen. And we did.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

It was amazing. But we did take that as a wow. They really did come.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. Our stuff does.

[Milo Speranzo]

It was matters too. Yeah, it was nice.

[Matt Britton]

And of course it wasn't just like a keynote. It was a full scale production and you had your partners from Microsoft to Intel and Nvidia. You had Jensen Huang, who's one of the most important people in the world right now in the business world, let alone the tech world.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

What goes into a production like that to kind of go through step by step, all the talking points, obviously the production side coordinating with the partners and what's that been like over the last six months?

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah, I mean, as you can imagine, it's a mind numbing amount of emails.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

One a lot of communication and over communication. But as the other marketers who might be listening will know, it is even beyond the production. There is paying for it and the sponsorships and the politics of who's on stage and when and how we actually deliver the visual of the show and all of those complexities were one I think very expertly handled by the team. I could not be more proud of not just marketing, but Lenovo holistically. So as we pulled it together, marketing took the lead in a lot of the areas but we really relied on some of the, you know, let's call it the adjacent organizations. Sales. We needed sales to drive the attendance that 14,000 people. We did email blasts and we did all.

[Matt Britton]

Nothing works that performing to an empty room.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matt Britton]

The room's a sphere.

[Ayoa Kimwile]

Yes.

[Milo Speranzo]

And when it's that big of a production, the traditional, let's call it, marketing strategies around digital and advertising, you're not super confident that that will fill all 14,000 seats.

[Matt Britton]

I think so much competition at CES.

[Milo Speranzo]

Oh my God. It's.

[Ayoa Kimwile]

Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

Everybody go to sphere. A little bit off the beaten path of the CES trail.

[Milo Speranzo]

It is.

[Matt Britton]

And spend two to three. That's no easy feat with everything else that's going on in Vegas right now.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yes, you're absolutely right. So it was sales took the lead on, let's call it audience acquisition and marketing played a role in all of that. Our corporate marketing team and comms team took the lead on developing the production piece. Our alliances team took the lead on interacting with Jensen and Lisa and Christian.

[Matt Britton]

Mattie was a good friend. He was there. Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

It's amazing. Microsoft was a big player. They're A big player in that and also a big player in some of our announcements. So we bifurcated the responsibilities a bit and then had a central, let's call it, ownership team. We had one person and three people working with that person to orchestrate. Really what was everybody in Lenovo working to deliver what you saw at the sphere. It was a company wide effort, I'm sure.

[Matt Britton]

So let's shift gears a little bit to what you actually revealed and talked about. I'll let you do the honors in terms of what was announced yesterday and why you are so excited about it as the CMO of Lenovo. Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

So one, I'm obviously a big homer here and I'm going to give you the Lenovo speak, but I am honestly very, very proud of what we've done and the risks that we're willing to take and how we lean forward. And there's items, for instance, the wearables that we are very much involved in. We have late stage concepts, we're ready to go to market and there was a discussion of, you know, hey, do we want to talk wearables? Absolutely, we want to talk wearables. Do we want to talk, you know, then Kira, the announcement for our AI agent that is really an orchestrator that orchestrates all AI tools across all devices. And Kira is amazing. Our new Think system servers, that inference what you need for all enterprise level AI are just killing the benchmarks I think we had. I forget the number of world records.

[Matt Britton]

I love the healthcare example that you.

[Milo Speranzo]

Gave if you're a hospital, the MRI.

[Matt Britton]

Data and how important that is.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah. And it's securing on prem the data as well as reading that Mr. So that's amazing. All the way to Moto where you got the fold, the new Razer Fold, which is personally I think the most elegant, sleekest designs that we've delivered via the Moto line in a long time. So it's exciting. I think what's the most exciting is we're the only ones that are actually delivering that end to end portfolio. Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

There are other copies in your space that have ecosystem. Sure, sure. That we don't need to mention but yeah. That have not done it yet.

[Milo Speranzo]

No, no, no desire to do it Right. And that's that risk taking and it's almost adventure. Is adventurism even a word? I don't know is that it is now if it's not, let's.

[Matt Britton]

That should be your new, you know.

[Milo Speranzo]

Tagline for 26 Lenovo adventurism. So with the R and D and the resources we have. There is nothing stopping us from making those leaps and also what we already have in house. So we have, obviously, Pocket. Everybody says pocket to cloud. That's a thing these days. The marketers that are listening will know they've heard the word pocket to cloud. Realistically, nobody has phones, wearables, PCs, servers, storage, all in one portfolio. Competitors will say that they, oh, you know, they work well with this other device provider. But in real life, we actually have the ecosystem which enables us a pretty big differentiator in AI, especially when it comes to Kira, for instance, to be able. Able to really navigate your day. Build that personal AI twin that's going to give you one more efficiency.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, superpower you.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah, it's really going to superpower you. That's a great way to put it. Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

So there's a lot of themes that I kind of extracted from the story that Lenovo told yesterday. First of all, it was on kind of the edge computing aspect, where the demands of AI only continue to grow. And if you're relying on the cloud to deliver, it's going to take more time. And there's a lot of use cases where you want that compute to happen on the device itself.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

You know, whether it's your laptop, your phone, et cetera, that will give you, you know, you mentioned the privacy aspect, but the speed, et cetera. Do you see that kind of driving a completely new buying cycle for the hardware that you guys sell?

[Milo Speranzo]

So, yes, I see the evolution of AI driving an accelerated buying cycle. So we're starting AI in its infancy. Not infancy.

[Matt Britton]

First inning. We're in the first inner.

[Milo Speranzo]

First inning. First inning, I believe. Yes, I agree with. And Jensen explained it really well yesterday as far as how it's a platform, it's the new platform. But as we evolve from an AI perspective, we're starting to see these new, let's call it consumer demands. And one of the consumer demands is privacy. So last year, privacy was kind of talked about in the periphery, and it was one of those. And the environment is another one, which is really coming to the forefront. It's becoming mandatory now. So we're allowing AI to be done at the edge, at the PC without even being connected to the Internet.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

And we think that's going to be a demand.

[Matt Britton]

I agree. Even I was on a flight out here to Vegas and the WI Fi was chopping. I was saying, I just wish I had an LLM that could run locally on my device.

[Milo Speranzo]

That's it. So we've pivoted to one our customer Demand and what they have told us they want now and what they want in the near and then far future. But one of those non negotiables is certainly privacy. And you heard that in our. We might have said it too much, but you heard it in our presentation last night where it was with your permission. Yeah, we said it a lot because we.

[Matt Britton]

Because everyone's thinking about that and they really. Because it's. We're almost in a dystopian world right now where this technology is so powerful and everyone's always thinking like, well, what's the downsides of it? You know, how can I control it? You have this kind of counter narrative of AI. And the way that I think you hit that is the way that Lenovo did yesterday. You hit it head on. You can share as much as little as you want. We have this powerful ecosystem put to work for you, the way that you think is best for you.

[Milo Speranzo]

That's it.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

And then functionality wise, it actually functions better. So when you talk buying cycle, having that LLM kind of on. When we say on prem, it's usually an enterprise.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

But having it on the personal pieces on Premier at the edge somewhere, you know, where you can leverage it on a plane or even in the middle of Vegas, but privately. Yeah. So we do think that's going to spark a bit of a consumer, that new consumer buying cycle from an enterprise perspective. And B2B, which we also hit on deeply here. Like, yes, we talked about that buying cycle for AI PCs is all.

[Matt Britton]

Oh, it's crazy.

[Milo Speranzo]

Demand is.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

Right now.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. Because like laptops had a moment during COVID where it's like it was all about mobile. And then once Covid hit, everyone was buying new laptops and even desktops, devices and cameras, everything was coming. And then it kind of went away as you know, the pandemic kind of whittled down. And now you see this other boom coming where you probably do want to upgrade your device. If you want to take advantage of this technology the best possible way.

[Milo Speranzo]

That's it. And if you look at the install base of what was sold during COVID the majority are not. I mean, obviously I don't think any of them during COVID are AI PCs.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

Or capable of really leveraging the LLMs and all these new tools like Canva, everything that's coming out, that's just amazing. So having that is going to be, I want to say, almost a necessity even on the consumer side to interact with maybe the games that are coming out, you know, in the gaming environment and the R and D perspective. We see a lot of architectural and engineering firms, they cannot buy anything but an AI PC now because they're drafting and what they're using in their own in house agents.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, rendering. So rendering.

[Milo Speranzo]

It's so demanding and that's a flow that we've seen forever. The highly technical B2B, the highly technical consumer, the engineers, they tip of the sphere and then it leaks into everything else. So we're seeing that rapidly get adopted this year. So we do think that great refresh cycle is happening and AIPC is definitely the anchor.

[Matt Britton]

We'll be right back with the speed of culture after a few words from our sponsors.

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[Chelsea Bakken]

Does using social media ever make you feel like you're just yelling into an algorithmic void? That feeds have started to feel a lot less, you know, social? Well, we're doing something about it. I'm Chelsea Backin, head of audience development and Social at Adweek, and I'm so excited to invite you to Social media week this April 14th through 16th. We're bringing together creators, marketers and social leaders in a vibrant IRL space in New York City for three days of connection, collaboration and learning. You'll get the chance to dish on the latest tools and tricks, hear fresh perspectives on the year's most viral moments, and get the slop free inspiration you need to connect with your audience and optimize performance. Head to adweek.com events to learn more.

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[Matt Britton]

Learn [e-mail] SapphireServe cards issued by JPMorgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval. There was a device that was also shown on stage that was a pendant. Yeah, the pendant can wear that will.

[Milo Speranzo]

Be way more fashionable.

[Matt Britton]

Right? Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yes, that's.

[Matt Britton]

But I understand was in that early prototype basis. Let's talk about that. Because that's a big consumer shift. I've played around with some of the existing ones that are in the marketplace and I remember being at a dinner with a CNBC reporter and I told her about it. I'm like, but it's not on. And she was like, is this like, am I being recorded right now? And there's like the trade off with AI and I get it all the time after I talk about a on stage is because I talk about a health bot that I built where I took 25 years of personal health information loaded into a model and it helps me make health decision. Oh, that's one of the questions. I love that. Yeah, it's cool. But one of the questions I always get is, aren't you worried about just all the privacy implications? And my answer is always the same. I'd rather not drop dead on stage and risk that Chachi. But he knows my cholesterol score. Yeah. Like, in other words, like, it's a trade off. Yeah. We make trade offs on social media. People post pictures of their family on vacation. Maybe their house will get robbed. But like, to them, they feel safe and it's a trade off. And they wanted to show people the life that they're having in their kids. Everything in use of technology is a trade off. In the case of the device that you're. The pendant that you're wearing, how do you think that tradeoff's gonna play off with the consumer? Because I see the benefit of capturing everything and I'm probably gonna be the first one to adopt it. I know, but a lot of people might even be freaked out about it.

[Milo Speranzo]

People around you, not people wearing it.

[Matt Britton]

Exactly.

[Milo Speranzo]

People that you interact with, especially with.

[Matt Britton]

The camera on it too.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah, we're very, very sensitive.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

And at the beginning when you start to go into the R and D process, you say, well, everybody's carrying a camera anyways. All we're doing is just holding it up so it could see the thing. Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

That's the difference.

[Milo Speranzo]

Right. So then that always on function and then the listening and then whatever other capabilities that end up growing into these, we have to be very, very sensitive, not just with the user privacy, but with the privacy of holistically what you're capturing.

[Matt Britton]

Right. If it's on, there should be ideally a light that's showing it's on and if it's off, somebody could use it and not.

[Milo Speranzo]

Which.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

Which there is. But I think that's kind of table stakes. We have a. At Lenovo that focuses on privacy and consumer advocacy. And so internally we look at it. But then you don't want to write your own report cards.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

So externally we bring in external companies, either governmental agencies or just third parties that come in. And so we looked at homes on Zillow now or whatever the app is. Google Earth, I don't know. You can zoom in and see a house. Well now you can opt out and your house.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, I read that blurred.

[Milo Speranzo]

So they can't. You can't see your house. We need to cross reference all those. And we are cross referencing all those privacy capabilities and say, hey listen, let's leverage what's already out there. If Google Earth is not allowing these houses, then we need to. On our wearables.

[Matt Britton]

Interesting.

[Milo Speranzo]

Make sure that that is excluded. You know, so. So we have a. Which is honestly the tech is there.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

Thousand percent. We have the tech for it. We have fancy versions. We have ones that, you know, designers can make. But the reason it's not mass production is because we have to make sure it's.

[Matt Britton]

It's early days. We don't know.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah. It has to be ready.

[Matt Britton]

I mean the question is like younger consumers. Look at Gen Alpha, everybody.

[Milo Speranzo]

I don't know that they're even going to care. That's.

[Matt Britton]

There's my point. I know they're just. Or. Or. Yeah. Or even Gen Z. I mean.

[Milo Speranzo]

And I'm not social media generation and I don't know that that's great.

[Matt Britton]

What is good or bad anyway? There's some people thought electricity wasn't good when it was invented. It's like every time there's evolution, there's people who kind of want to hearken back to the way it was.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

But the reality is there could be tremendous benefit of capturing anything. You're creating a second brain that remember and it could advance humanity. It could allow us to focus on what's really important. You don't need to take notes anymore. It's all kind of done for you.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah. And that personal AI twin is really the beachhead into what AI will be in your life. So you'll have robotics. I mean we've seen it, CES robotics everywhere.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

Ridiculous. Yeah. So you know you're going to have LG just release the robot that I watched it yesterday. Fold close. Very slow. Gotta go very slow. But I Loved it. Like they're gonna speed that up because I hate folding. I hate it.

[Matt Britton]

I gotta pick that one of those up.

[Milo Speranzo]

But your personal, that AI twin is gonna be the interface between, hey, we know that you need this for this meeting, that you have to. It's gonna orchestrate daily chores and life. But then also the enterprise AI twin when you go to work, if your enterprise or your work is enabled with AI, it's also gonna help you when you walk in the door and you're a quality inspector. And the robot dog has found 19 different potential issues throughout the night. Your AI twin is going to interact with the Enterprise AI, which is what we call Hybrid AI. And it's going to say, hey, here's what you need to do immediately this morning. So there is no checking emails and you have a leak on pump four, you need to go. That's your first priority today.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah.

[Milo Speranzo]

So harmonizing that AI is going to be I think the next wave. And a lot of it's agentic. We hear the word agentic a lot. And that's what it often misused.

[Matt Britton]

But in this case it really is.

[Milo Speranzo]

Often misused, often generative AI, it's another one often misused. A lot of it's just predictive right now, but that orchestration between the agents is going to be just absolutely. Whoever does that wins. Whoever can do that the best. And we think that's what Kira.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. And of course if you couple in the wearables and you're getting data on your body, you can really paint a whole picture of your life, your life's dashboard. What's important to you, what this AI agent is seeing and hearing. And I love the device integration. I mean we've seen companies really take advantage of having that last mile meaning like when you have the physical device in a consumer's home or in a consumer's hand. And what's starting to happen with companies like Lenovo and others in the category is used to just sell components, low margin components. And now you're really a data company. Right. And these components are really just a conduit to collect data, use the power of AI to make consumers lives easier. Which I would imagine makes your job as a marketer and a CMO completely different than would have been five years ago if you're a cmo. Lenovo completely different.

[Milo Speranzo]

And you're right, it all stems from data. So I don't know when it was maybe four or five years ago, six, seven, who knows at this point all these years run together, but there was a Lot of discussion around the most valuable commodity in the world is data. And everybody said it, and it was a big thing, but nobody could actually figure out how.

[Matt Britton]

Now they would say data is the new oil. The new oil. That's it.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah. Data is the new oil. It's more valuable than water. Well, there's a lot of companies that store, there's distributors that have infinite amounts of data. Now all of a sudden, that data is actually becoming valuable and useful in a personalized way. It's almost like cryptocurrency. Like it's kind of in the ether, and then all of a sudden, now you can use it for things.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

So that's really the pivot that we're seeing. And in marketing, it's the same way. So it has changed how we do analytics, and you're very aware of brand studies, how we engage consumer engagement. There's all these external data pools that are now available to us that show we've had major insights like ITDMs. IT decision makers are not the ITDMs we think all the time. You know, especially in the AI world, we're seeing chief financial officers drive the IT evolution inside a company faster than a cio because they're like, hey, we need this AI tool so we can reconcile at the end of the month so we can do the shareholder thing. But you don't have servers that can handle that. And they're pushing the CIOs. So now we're marketing to these, let's call it non traditional ITDMs. So data is very much to your point, changing the way we do do marketing, for lack of a better term.

[Matt Britton]

Absolutely.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

So moving forward here in 2026. Yeah, it's another big year. Not only did you have this incredible presentation this year yesterday, but you are a major sponsor of FIFA.

[Milo Speranzo]

We are.

[Matt Britton]

And it's here. So exciting in the U.S. yes. It'll probably be one of the largest sporting events ever. Let's talk about why the FIFA World cup is important to Lenovo. And what are some of your plans activated? I did love one concept. I need to say where, and I think I interpret this right way. You have cameras on the refs on the field, and if you have a Lenovo device, you can see the feet.

[Ayoa Kimwile]

Yes.

[Matt Britton]

We had Tim Ellis, the CMO of the National Football League, on the podcast previously, and I actually brought up that exact idea to him that referees on the field, that even the helmets on the NFL should have hammers in them. Yeah. And here you guys are doing it, which is an amazing Idea. I just had to tell you.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah, that. Well, thank you. So there has been, and I don't know if you remember, years ago, I forget, the American football sport, it was the USFL or maybe arena football. They attempted to do the cameras in the ref's hat and the cameras in the. But you couldn't do it. You couldn't stabilize it.

[Matt Britton]

It wasn't ready yet.

[Milo Speranzo]

It wasn't ready.

[Matt Britton]

And then free 5G. Exactly.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah. And then a couple years ago they said, okay, connectivity is there, let's try it again. And they did. They tried it again in a couple. I think in some cricket matches, and I think even in some football a little bit, it still wasn't ready. Now with FIFA and using AI stabilization, the broadcast center will own that feed from the refs and fully powered by Lenovo, Lenovo's AI. AI is the critical function for making that commercially viable. So it's a product that will not be viable.

[Matt Britton]

First it was data, then it was a hardware, and now it's AI.

[Milo Speranzo]

Now it's AI.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

So AI stabilizing that and FIFA as a whole is one, I mean, very, very exciting for us. They can't say how excited I am to go and actually see some World cup and be a part of it. But FIFA's mission really aligns with what we wanted to do from a small and medium business. We want to leverage AI to democratize, essentially their ability to compete for somebody that starts an Etsy business or somebody that has a small dental practice that maybe in the past couldn't compete with, with bigger franchises or chains. AI is that level setter. So AI allows them to punch way above their weight. And we want to deliver that to our small and medium business customers and allow them to compete at a level they never could, which will create jobs. And it's a great story. FIFA wants to do that with the countries. They want Tanzania to be able to use the analytics that England could only afford to crunch data wise. And so with football AI, which is what we developed in conjunction with FIFA, we're doing that same thing. We're democratizing the analytics. Every country, the smallest countries to the biggest, will all have the same ability to parse the data. When Messi comes in and he does this, there's an 80% chance he's going to pass.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

We're giving that data and allowing these smaller countries to punch way above their weight. So, yeah, it's really exciting. So when we started working with FIFA, we had a lot of, let's call them, marketing meetings, where we said, you know, what are your goals? Let's see where we can work together. And it's been seamless throughout the past year since we inked the deal. And then you'll see on the stage automated AI offsides that we're going to have the VAR with our.

[Matt Britton]

You're putting your technology to work in practice. Ways that allow people to see its power, efficacy.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yes. So we think it's going to be a showcase for one world's most popular sport, but also the Lenovo ecosystem. So, so exciting.

[Matt Britton]

So shifting gears as we wrap up here. And this is such a great discussion. I can't wait for our audience to hear it. Let's just talk about you and your leadership style as cmo. Yeah. And first and foremost, like, what do you think you did right along the way in your career and professional journey to put you in a position that you're in today?

[Milo Speranzo]

I don't know. I don't know. But I know what I did wrong.

[Matt Britton]

Okay, let's start with that.

[Milo Speranzo]

I think that might be what I did right. It's recognizing the things that you could have done better. So there's key mentoring moments in my career as I pivoted from. I was in the military, I had no real transitional skills into the private sector.

[Matt Britton]

And then what happened?

[Milo Speranzo]

And then I got out. I knew some it. I was passionate about something. So I went into the IT field and I started working for some government contractors because that's what I knew. I came from the military, the D side of the house. And as I started doing sales, it was started at sales. And I said, okay. And I looked at the environment and I said, oh, you know, marketing, that might be more me. That seems fun. So made the pivot slowly through networking and engagement inside of the companies. I worked doing sales, and then I made a transitional pivot, and it was a sales and marketing role. And then it was just a marketing role. But throughout the entire process, authenticity. I can't. And I know everybody says that being your authentic self. Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

And navigate not being work Milo and home Milo, but just being Milo.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah.

[Matt Britton]

Right.

[Milo Speranzo]

Yeah. Having those conversations openly and building trust with one the company, but also the people around you. People got me to where I am. There was a lot of things that I didn't know and a lot of false starts, but a lot of people that I was authentic with and opened up to that really, I would say, were much more willing to mentor and guide me and say, oh, no, no, no, don't do that. Focus here. This is where you want Marketing. Don't think of marketing as pr. Think of it as, you know, and they rein you back in. So I really do think authenticity, relationship building, trust. And sometimes you get burned on trust. I gotta be honest. I mean, there's been times in my career where I've really trusted somebody or something, a process, and the process did not work, or the person was not there necessarily to mentor, but maybe get themselves ahead and you just move past it. You gotta have, you know, be a goldfish in a lot of ways. Forget the things that maybe were outliers that, you know. I have 10amazing relationships with trust and authenticity and one real shitty, like, yeah, so that one you gotta just forget and you gotta move on with those other nine. And 90%'s a heck of a ratio. So it's authenticity, learning, trust, relationship building, networking. Once you get in, it's gonna get you wherever you wanna go. And, yes, that's been my. That's been my philosophy.

[Matt Britton]

So with that to wrap up here, we always ask our guests if there's a saying or mantra to help kind of encapsulate the professional journey.

[Milo Speranzo]

Oh, my God. Everything that I do is gonna be. It's like Ted Lasso sayings. So, one, I feel like I'm cheating it, but it's to be a goldfish, but also learn. And we're doing that with the Sphere. The Sphere was amazing. What we did at the Sphere was. I'm so, so proud of it. There's 10 things that I wanna fix for the next Sphere event. So don't rest on your laurels. Focus, double down, do it better next time, but also be a goldfish. Forget about that outlier, fail fast and be a goldfish. That's what I'll say. I'll combine.

[Matt Britton]

Two, you heard it here from Milo, everyone. Be a goldfish in 2026.

[Milo Speranzo]

That's it.

[Matt Britton]

Focus on the positives. And I just want to thank you for a great talk and I know you're really busy here this week, and it was really inspiring being at the event yesterday and wishing you nothing but success and hat tricks at the FIFA World Cup.

[Milo Speranzo]

I love it.

[Matt Britton]

2026.

[Milo Speranzo]

Love it.

[Matt Britton]

Thank you so much on behalf of Susie Iwaitin. Thanks again to Milo Speranzo, the chief marketing for Lenovo North America, for joining us here live at ces. Be sure to subscribe rate View the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time. See you soon, everyone. Take care. Bye bye. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Susie as part of the ad week Podcast Network and a Guest Creator Network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting Adweek.com podcast to find out more about Suzy, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the speed of culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click Follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy, thanks for listening.

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