AI will not fix a business that does not understand itself.
In this episode, John sits down with Julie Averill, founder of Gold Thread and former CIO of lululemon, to talk about real transformation, AI adoption, technology leadership, and what companies need to understand before they rush into the next big platform shift. Julie also shares lessons from her time leading technology through major growth at lululemon, digital transformation at Nordstrom, and the early signals that told her when a system problem was really a culture problem.
If you are leading sales, technology, enablement, or go-to-market strategy, this episode gives you a practical look at why AI has to serve the business, why trust still drives innovation, and why the companies that win will understand what makes them truly different before the market decides for them.
Want to build the kind of team and operating model that can keep up with where business is heading next? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
- Why AI strategy needs to start with business strategy, not technology experiments
- How the dot-com shift mirrors what companies are experiencing with AI today
- Why AI is changing how customers discover, compare, and choose brands
- What a 20-hour website outage revealed about culture, ownership, and escalation
- Why innovation depends on trust, candor, and teams that can take risks together
- Why AI reveals organizational dysfunction instead of magically fixing it
- Why real transformation requires human intelligence, not just artificial intelligence
Julie Averill is the founder of Gold Thread and former Chief Information Officer of lululemon, where she led the technology transformation that helped scale the company from $2 billion to over $10 billion in revenue. Prior to lululemon, she led omni-channel and digital transformations at Nordstrom and REI. Today, she advises boards, CEOs, and founders at the intersection of AI capability and organizational readiness, and her book Chief Impact Officer comes out June 16.
Connect with Julie Averill:
Website: https://goldthreadllc.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieaverill/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julie_averill_/
Grab Julie's new book Chief Impact Officer, out June 16 — connect with her on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/julieaverill) or visit goldthreadllc.com
John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment.
Connect with John Barrows:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows
Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast
Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter
