In this episode, I speak with Sears Merritt, Head of Enterprise Technology and Experience at MassMutual, where he is responsible for the company's technology, cybersecurity, data, and artificial intelligence strategy and vision. Sears started as a curious kid who loved building radios, Lego creations, and computers, which led him to study electrical engineering. His early career moved from telecom networks to healthcare IT, then into data science and AI. Along the way, he continued his education, earning a master's degree in telecommunications and a PhD in computer science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

In our leadership segment, Sears talks about how one of his biggest leadership challenges was bringing data science to life inside a large insurance company at a time when few people understood what it was or why it mattered. He had to educate stakeholders, separate hype from reality, and lead a broad change effort across the policyholder value chain. That work required constant communication, storytelling, and influence to turn abstract models into tangible business impact.

Sears encourages engineers who want to lead to embrace ambiguity rather than chase perfect static answers. He reframes leadership as applied scientific method in a changing world where hypotheses, experiments, and learning loops are more valuable than certainty. His core message is to develop agility, comfort with change, and a mindset that treats leadership decisions like iterative experiments rather than one-time bets.

Explore the full episode summary, including guest bio, key takeaways, transcript, and recommended resources in the shownotes at www.drangeliqueadams.com/podcast