James Raybould

I've recently joined Turing, an AGI infrastructure company, to lead our Turing Intelligence business, building powerful AI systems to answer the question, "How will AI transform my business?" We combine expert human and artificial capabilities to accelerate companies.

I'm a Generalist. After Consulting at Bain pre- and post-HBS, I joined LinkedIn in early 2010 and spent 12+ years moving across functions and leadership roles: I started in Sales Strategy and Analytics before moving to Marketing, Product Management, and, finally, General Management. I then moved to fractional exec roles at Speak, WisdomAI, and StealthAICo, blending product, GTM, and GM skills; I like breadth above all. 

To tell my longer story, 3 dates from 3 decades help:

Sept. 22, 1995: I travelled 5,000 miles from my London hometown to Stanford. I was drawn to studies, sports, sunshine, and a Bay Area culture more focused on creating the future than curating the past. I rowed on the Stanford Varsity Crew team and studied psychology for my B.A. and M.A. And I've stayed close: I can see the Stanford campus from our backyard.

Sept. 13, 2004: I joined Bain Bay Area as an entry-level Consultant. After a few years of racing triathlon and working in sports business, I was drawn to Bain’s entrepreneurial culture and fast-paced learning environment. Looking back, my strategy and comms chops were forged at Bain, as was a lifelong love of Excel, PowerPoint, and Cinnabon.  

March 8, 2010: I left Bain to join a pre-IPO LinkedIn with ~500 employees and ~$100M in revenue. I discovered a vision that deeply resonated - to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce - and, second, a set of inspiring leaders teaching me how a culture and values focus could underpin incredible businesses. Over the next 12.5 years, my roles and responsibilities varied: in function from sales strategy, analytics & insights to marketing to product to GMing; in scope from being an IC to leading ~100 person teams; and in scale from helping run our largest, multi-billion dollar recruiting business to jumping in to help lead our acquisitions of Lynda.com (2015) and Glint (2018). 

Outside of work, I'm a long-term elite endurance athlete (rowing > Ironman > marathons > bike racing > marathon swimming) and compulsive reader and film-goer. Here's ALL my books & films (bit.ly/z2D1sX) and I publish a "What's the So What?" newsletter distilling favourite books and experiences into what matters most (bit.ly/3q188jL)

Founding Member & Advisor

I’m excited to be a founding member of Round, a newly launched community for tech’s most thoughtful leaders. Since joining I've benefited in a major way from small "core group" meetings, special events with luminaries, connections with other tech leaders, and more. Starting in early 2023 I've also begun to help the Round leadership with a range of projects to help them grow their impact.

There are two kinds of execs in 2026: Those building with AI. And those reading about it.

Your employees know which camp you're in. They see you share AI articles while your workflows stay frozen. They hear you say "use AI more" while you're copy-pasting into ChatGPT or Copilot like it's 2023.

You can't lead what you don't use. With AI, that's doubly true.

This is the first in my "AI for Execs" series on how I use AI day-to-day. Real use cases for leaders ready to build, not just talk. 

I've started the series with a simple use case: keeping up with daily newsletters. 

Pre-AI, I read maybe 2 out of 20. The rest became guilt-inducing clutter.

Post-AI, a relay.app agent reads them all, extracts what matters, sends me a daily digest, and archives everything.

Built in under an hour. Zero coding required.

I've curated my Spotify podcasts and YouTube videos the same way.

Step-by-step guide in the full article.

The execs who thrive won't be the ones who only read posts like this. They'll be the ones who #JFDI.

#AIForExecs

At Bain, I noticed a pattern that is now playing out with executives using AI: senior partners hired directly from industry — who hadn't worked their 

Open article: AI For Execs #1: Just Do It Yourself by James Raybould • 6 min read

The most interesting new person I met in 2025 was John Winsor: he and I had fun on this podcast episode digging into the future of work, with more than a little AI sprinkled in

The first Transform Work episode of 2026 is live!

John Winsor sits down with James Raybould, SVP at Turing, to explore how organizations move from talking about AI to actually putting it to work.

The conversation covers enterprise adoption, agents, humans-in-the-loop, and why mindset matters more than tools right now.

Listen here: https://lnkd.in/g-y8JSJm

Strategic Chief of Staff, Operator, & CEO Partner | Leadership Expert | Writer & Community Builder

As someone who taught world history before entering business, I'm drawn to the patterns that separate lasting legacy from temporary success. I now partner with time-starved executives to transform urgent pressures into essential outcomes through my "Timeless Leadership" approach. 

MY METHODOLOGY:
→ SAVE TIME (Leading Self): Curating commitments at a micro and macro level 
→ MAKE TIME (Leading Orgs): Translating values & insights into velocity & impact
→ ESCAPE TIME (Leading Movements): Scale and sustainability through teaching & partnerships

RECENT RESULTS:
→ Fractional Chief of Staff at Edstruments: Established 3 new partnerships, AI-enabled GTM motions, and scalable OKR, employee engagement, & talent development programs
→ CEO Training Program: Established digital training program for 30+ executives at Alpine Software Group, spanning core strategy, product, and GTM best practices
→ Box Scaling Success: Led strategic program management across marketing, customer success, and HR orgs, enabling growth from $492M to $1B

Whether it's sprint planning or succession planning, quarterly OKRs or 10-year vision—I help leaders operate effectively at every timescale while building sustainable competitive advantage.

CORE SKILLS AND EXPERTISE:
- Strategic Partnership & C-Level Advisory
- Startup & High-Growth Company Operations
- Organizational Transformation & Change Management  
- Project Management & Cross-Functional Leadership
- Strategic Sourcing and Managing Extended Teams
- Education Technology & SaaS Domain Expertise
- Data-Driven Decision Making & AI Integration
- Offering Design and GTM strategy

Currently I serve as Chief of Staff at CRED, advise and volunteer with mission-driven organizations, write a weekly Substack newsletter for everyday changemakers, and lead a monthly community gathering for committed Timeless Leaders. 

Need a hand or thought-partner to build something that matters? Let's connect.

⏳Joe Ballou⌛

20 years ago I spent 6 weeks in Venezuela on a work-study trip. When I returned I spent all spring writing a 92 page thesis on the economy and "Bolivarian Revolution". Here's what most news and commentary leaves out:

1. Simón Bolívar is the George Washington of Venezuela, only with even more mythos around his revolutionary importance. Venezuelans have a deeply anti-colonial national identity.

2. In the 1980s, neoliberal reforms and oil price shocks drove Venezuela's poverty rate up by 150% (to ~40%). This discontent set the stage for a populist movement.

3. Hugo Chávez built his initial movement as an instructor at the Venezuelan Military Academy. He infused lessons from history throughout his campaigns and presidency. This means that for decades, Venezuelans have seen poverty as rooted in colonialism, capitalism, and neo-imperialism.

4. Chávez wasn't always staunchly against US capital. He even rang the opening bell for NASDAQ in 1999 and closing bell of the NYSE in 2004.

5. US-Venezuelan tension under Chávez escalated considerably after evidence surfaced that US officials consulted with orchestrators of the 47-hour coup against Chávez in 2002. This drove mistrust and paranoia that likely accelerated the patterns of nepotism and corruption that Maduro institutionalized.

6. Venezuela may have the world's largest oil reserves, but this is HEAVY crude oil, which is harder and more expensive to refine than Middle Eastern "sweet" crude. When oil is cheap, it's uneconomical to produce, especially with deteriorated infrastructure.

7. Chávez was very popular in Venezuela, although his popularity waned in his final years due to corruption, violence, mismanagement, and international isolation. During his career he won 4 presidential elections and several referendums, which gave him legitimacy even as he consolidated power and made it increasingly difficult for others to mount opposition.

8. Three top drivers of immigration from Venezuela specifically, and Latin America generally over the last 50 years: political destabilization and violence (often from external intervention), economic neoliberalism (austerity and privatization when major public investment is still needed), and the climate crisis (natural disasters, agricultural instability, food insecurity).

There are lots of important implications and questions around this weekend's actions for the future of Venezuela, the US, and the international order.

As you digest this, I'd encourage a careful look back at 20th century history for signs of how this might play out.

I also encourage you to remember: the history here hasn't been written yet, and the legacy our generation leaves will come down to how everyday people take responsibility for global affairs.

Pictured: me at Angel Falls in January 2006. This is perhaps the most awesome place I've ever visited.

Strategic Chief of Staff & CEO Partner | Leadership, SaaS, and Education Expert | Writer & Community Builder

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⏳Joe Ballou⌛

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The Battle

James Raybould

⏳Joe Ballou⌛

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}James Raybould's LinkedIn Performance

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