Everybody’s talking about AI layoffs. But the real question at our dinner table isn’t who’s losing jobs, it’s what all of this means for our kids.

In this episode, I bring the conversation out of our house and onto the mic with the person who knows my blind spots better than anyone: my wife, business partner, and co-conspirator, Lisa Reisman. Together, we wrestle with some uncomfortable questions: Is traditional education still fit for purpose in an AI-driven world? Is college becoming a necessity, a luxury, or a liability? And how should parents actually think about preparing kids for a future that looks nothing like the one we grew up expecting?

We talk about AI's role in the classroom, inversion thinking, career paths that won’t be easily automated, the risks of underemployment, and why helping kids find direction earlier matters more than ever. This isn’t a manifesto or a parenting playbook. It’s an honest, sometimes messy conversation about uncertainty, responsibility, and how to give our kids a real shot at fulfillment in the age of AI.

This week, I’m joined by my long-time sparring partner and business builder, Guy Stafford, to reflect on his 25+ years leading the wildly successful procurement firm, Proxima (acquired by Bain), and how those hard-won lessons apply to the age of AI.

Guy pulls back the curtain on Proxima’s creation, from a $35 domain name (Buy.co.uk) in the mid-90s to navigating the dot-com crash, before dissecting his philosophy on mentorship: why he works in the shadows, the power of following up, and why the best advice comes from asking, "Who's done this before?"

We then launch into a high-octane debate on the future of procurement, covering:

• The Proxima 2.0: How AI fundamentally changes the consulting model, forcing businesses to quickly automate tactical work to focus on strategic high-level interactions.

• The Black Box CPO: Why AI will make procurement about more than just savings, and how the micro-coaching capabilities of AI could offer live, tailored advice to category managers (like a fitness tracker for your professional life).

• The Race to Relevance: Guy shares a crucial warning for CPOs: the race isn't defined by industry, but by who in the organization (Finance, IT, or Procurement) effectively wields the new AI power, and what skills are needed to stay on top.

In this episode of Algo Ego, I sit down with Sam Kinney to revisit the rise of FreeMarkets and explore how its core ideas translate into today’s world of AI-driven market design. We unpack the creative auction formats that reshaped industrial sourcing, the cultural engine that powered the company’s talent, and how those lessons apply as AI begins to automate negotiation, supplier discovery, and cost modeling at massive scale.

Sam also shares a forward-looking view of how AI agents might represent buyers and suppliers, how digital “part twins” could reshape engineering, and why rebuilding FreeMarkets today would look radically different — but still grounded in the same market principles that made it work 30 years ago.