The Vandy Program Archives

David Armano was my guest on a recent episode of The Vandy Program, and he pulled no punches when talking about where things are going.

Some highlights from our conversation:

Get Used to Working with Agents

Not talent agents, of course, but AI agents. This will make us more efficient, but also lonelier. You used to go into an office and have the advantage of “water cooler conversations,” but now you’re going to need to set up your own conversations with like-minded individuals — that may not be your coworkers — because your water cooler conversations will be with AI agents that you’ll be asking to work on several tasks for you.

Build Your Own Career Bunker

David’s concept of “Career Prepping” makes total sense: get rid of the excess stuff and stop chasing a higher social status; instead you should build the skills you need to survive in the workplace of the future.

“No one is coming to save you.” Wise advice, but will also mean…yes, a lonelier future.

Time to Find Your People

Conversations like this, I think, are great — and you don’t have to have them on a podcast like I do — because you learn something new, and you get to find out who your “people” are.

This is going to become much more important in the future: having a stable of folks that you can call and bounce ideas off of is really vital. (And one thing I’ve learned is how valuable the chat is when it continues AFTER the recording button gets turned off. Really really good stuff.)

IN any event…

Give the video a watch, and check out David’s work on his Substack.

Back in December 2025, I decided to post content each day; between this blog, my Substack, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X, the plan was something every day. It was a fun experiment and…I figured June 2026 was a good enough time to do that again. So here goes; it’s June 1 and time to take a look at some recent videos.

One of the fun things about my podcast, The Vandy Program, is the variety of people I get to interview.

So let’s take this opportunity to look back at three completely different discussions — one sports, one business, and one a discussion of current events that I’m calling The News Of The Day — that you can find on YouTube.

Lauren Beasley, Sportswriter

One of my claims on my various channels is that I’m a “Recovering Sportscaster.” It’s true; but most of my sportscasting experience is from days of yesteryear, specifically in college athletics, where the players were unpaid and the coaches didn’t jump from one program to another THAT often.

USA Today writer Lauren Beasley is much more plugged in, covering the SEC — and specifically South Carolina — from her perch in the Palmetto State. She also grew up in Augusta, Georgia; so she knows a thing or 72 about golf, and she covers that sport, too.

This interview checked all the boxes: fun conversation, engaging subject matter expert, and a couple semi-controversial pieces (if you consider Lane Kiffin to be controversial; see above about coaches jumping from one program to another).

Jeannie Walters, Author of ‘Experience Is Everything’

This interview fell into the “Throwback” category, in that Jeannie Walters and I both realized we went back a long way. (How long? Chicago folks may remember Techweek; Jeannie and I were part of the team that created Techweek’s original iteration, in 2004, SEVEN YEARS before the officially branded Techweek.)

Jeannie has built quite a career as an expert in Customer Experience; and her work as CEO of Experience Investigators led her to share her findings in a book called Experience Is Everything.

This discussion is really pertinent in the modern world where you can have any and everything you want at the touch of a button; but sometimes that button-click moment ain’t everything it’s cracked up to be, and everything leading up to the moment is kinda meh, too.

Here’s the link.

Andrew Donaldson, Podcaster and Host of ‘Heard Tell’

Andrew and I go back several years and, in addition to his work behind the microphone, he is also part of the editorial team at Ordinary-Times, a rather cool website that yours truly has contributed to in the past.

This interview was part of an occasional feature I’m calling The News Of The Day, where we riff on…get this…the news of the day. But I capitalize every first letter, even the “O” in “Of” and both “T’s” in “The” because I am a rebel. (But not enough of a rebel to just say “Ts” because that looks weird.)

In any event, this dropped on Wednesday, May 27 and…most of what we talked about is still in the news. This may be a testament to the vagaries of modern warfare AND modern political campaigns.

Here’s the link to that one:

What’s Ahead in June?

Well, we’re aiming for content daily, so check back often. We’re also doubling-down on video interviews.

Thanks, as always, for your support.

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