The Importance of Hiring For Adaptability, Integrity, and Drive

On this episode of Building People, Companies and Careers, AccruePartners host Amy Pack sits down with AJ Jobe, Chief Digital Officer at LiftOne — one of the brands of Charlotte-based Weisiger Group. With more than 20 years of technology leadership experience spanning healthcare, energy, retail, and heavy equipment, AJ shares how the role of technology leadership is evolving, what it takes to build strong teams, and how business leaders should prepare for an increasingly AI-driven world.

About the guest: AJ Jobe is Chief Digital Officer at LiftOne, a full-service material handling dealership and one of the brands of Weisiger Group (formerly Carolina Tractor & Equipment Company), the nearly 100-year-old, family-owned equipment company headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Weisiger Group's brands include Carolina Cat, LiftOne, SITECH Horizon, Prime Source, Hydraulics Express, and BlueSkye Automation. Earlier in his career, AJ held technology and project leadership roles at Carolinas HealthCare, Progress Energy, and Belk.

• Technology leadership has shifted from running systems to actively driving business outcomes — reliability, security, and delivery are now table stakes, not differentiators.
• Great teams are built on adaptability, integrity, and drive. Technology keeps changing; the fundamentals of great people don't. 
• In the AI era, coding is becoming commoditized. The real advantage belongs to those who understand the end-to-end value chain and the data behind it. 
• The biggest AI risk isn't security — it's "value drift," or ensuring AI systems reflect the intent and values of the organization. 
• AI literacy isn't earned through a certificate. It comes from using AI intentionally in everyday work. 
• In digital transformation, owning and managing your own team often beats outsourcing the entire program.

Amy: AJ, welcome to the show. I always like to start by asking guests to tell us a little about themselves.

AJ: Thank you — it's great to be here. I'm AJ Jobe, Chief Digital Officer for LiftOne, part of a local, family-owned company called Weisiger Group. We're a company of companies, with several divisions and brands you may have heard of in the Carolinas — Carolina Cat, LiftOne, and BlueSkye Automation among them. I've been with the company for eight and a half years, and I currently serve as Chief Digital Officer supporting LiftOne. Before that, I started in the healthcare industry here in Charlotte at Carolinas HealthCare, working as a developer. I moved fairly quickly into the project management side of things, did some freelance consulting, and then spent time at Progress Energy in the utility space — I even relocated to Florida for that role. Eventually I came back to help Belk through a major digital transformation for about nine years. When Belk sold to private equity, I ended up working for another local family, the Weisigers.

Amy: Two family businesses back to back — you certainly have the experience there. I didn't realize your journey started in healthcare and energy, or that you'd spent time as a consultant. You've seen a lot of different industries. When you look back, what were some of the defining moments that shaped your path?

AJ: The defining moments really started at Carolinas HealthCare. I was a developer working on PeopleSoft — an HR system — as well as the organization's financials. One thing I felt strongly was that I was disconnected from the "why." I didn't understand the business drivers or the strategic impact behind the projects we were working on. That became a real turning point. I saw how much opportunity there was to bring leadership, process, and discipline into that work — so instead of just living with it, I decided to do something about it. That desire is what moved me into running projects, into project management and leadership, and ultimately into IT management. It's also why I went back to business school.

Amy: Did you do that during your time at Carolinas HealthCare?

AJ: I did. I tried to make it work in Charlotte, but I ended up choosing NC State's service management and technology MBA — that was exactly the path I wanted. Freelancing for a while is what allowed me to get to Raleigh for the program.

Amy: As your career progressed, how did your leadership philosophy evolve?

AJ: It matured around a few core beliefs. The first is to lead humbly — I believe the best outcomes come from empowering people, not positioning yourself above them. Second, I'm relentlessly focused on outcomes. I learned that from some of my mentors: effort matters, but impact matters more. And to understand your impact, you have to be close to the business and understand its strategy. Finally, I'm a firm believer that IT can and should be a value driver, not just a support function.

Amy: Technology has moved from a support function to a driver of the business. From your perspective as an IT leader, how has the role of technology leadership evolved over the last several years?

AJ: It's essentially moved from running systems to actively driving business outcomes. Reliability, security, and delivery all still matter a great deal — but those are the baseline and the table stakes today.

Amy: Was there a defining moment when you saw that shift happen?

AJ: I've always felt that way. I've always believed IT needs to be at the core of the business, and I've struggled a bit with the centralized approach a lot of organizations take with technology. There are efficiencies and scalability in that model, but what you lose is connectivity with the "why" — which goes right back to that early lesson at Carolinas. As technology becomes more prevalent in the business — with data, Power BI, reporting, and now AI — it naturally earns a broader seat at the table. But I've always held that core belief.

Amy: One of the themes of this podcast is how great companies are built through great people. From your perspective, what separates organizations that truly thrive from those struggling to sustain growth?

AJ: Great companies put people at the center of everything. That starts with humble leadership — leaders who are fair and consistent, and who do what they say they're going to do. That's actually one of our core values, and one I love. Trust compounds over time, and the organizations that thrive are very intentional about earning it. Another big separator is integrity in how decisions are made — staying grounded in the facts, with transparency and measurability. When you clearly align expectations with your teams, they'll outperform even those expectations.

Amy: Talent is always on everybody's mind, and the landscape is changing every day. In technology specifically, AI, data, and automation are changing the skill sets organizations need. When you're building a technology team today, what qualities or mindsets matter most for long-term success?

AJ: It's interesting — trying to find someone who knows AI or machine learning very well right now is tough. People list it on their resumes, but it's so new and changing so fast that no one is 100% there yet. So one of my core beliefs is that technology will keep changing, but the fundamentals of great people don't. What I look for is adaptability, integrity, and drive — and I think the rest, paired with a strong foundation, will come. Integrity is non-negotiable, because high-performing teams are built on trust. I'm very protective of small teams and small-team cultures — I believe there are cultures within cultures. When you're hiring, it's critical to make sure there's a cultural and team fit alongside that adaptability. If someone has a good core foundation, you can train the rest.

Amy: You can't always find someone with the exact platform or background you need, but it's the adaptability and curiosity that carry over — whether that's within technology teams or in other departments using technology to do their jobs. Identifying that level of curiosity and adaptability is something a lot of organizations struggle with.

AJ: Exactly. When I interview candidates, I'll often ask questions to get at how they problem-solve, how they think, and how they take in information — rather than simply whether they get the answer right.

Amy: Every conversation and every article right now is about AI, and it's clearly impacting how organizations operate. From your perspective as a technology leader, how do you see AI changing the way people work over the next three to five years?

AJ: I'd say it's going to change things fundamentally — even within a year. My point of view, which I think a lot of people share, is that coding is going to become commoditized. The real advantage will belong to those who understand the value chain — the end-to-end process closest to the business — and the data behind it. I think that becomes the most important skill set going forward.

Amy: You and I were at an AI thought-leadership dinner recently, and there was a fascinating conversation about whether the human is "in the loop" or "on the loop." One company was running 65 agents, and some of the stories about testing them were pretty memorable.

AJ: Getting an agent to production-ready is not something that happens overnight. A lot of the folks in that room said getting an agent to 80% was fast and easy — but getting from 80% to 100% and production-ready took months.

Amy: One person told a story about an agent talking to a customer while someone in the background was speaking Spanish — and the agent switched to Spanish mid-conversation. It was a good reminder of how much testing these systems still require.

Amy: What should business leaders be thinking about now to prepare their organizations for that shift?

AJ: It comes down to balancing innovation with responsible AI. Whether it's AI embedded in the enterprise platforms you already use, or privately deploying models in secure tenants, there's enough investment and attention in the space to keep making real progress. I'm actually not as worried about security as some are — it's a big buzzword, but I think the investment and the need are there, and security will get where it needs to be. The bigger risk, in my view, is value drift. That comes down to how you train your models — how you instill the specification, the intent, and the values of the organization into systems that are essentially doing work a human would otherwise do. Getting them to act and think like your people is the harder, riskier part.

Amy: I was reading an article this morning that made the point that being AI literate isn't about getting a certification. A lot of people assume it is — you see the six-week and three-week courses in your feeds — but the article argued it's really about using AI in your everyday work. At AccruePartners, we're encouraging people to set aside time to experiment with it in their own work, so they can identify how it can best help us serve clients and candidates.

AJ: You'll succeed when you're intentional about it — exactly what you're describing — and clear about why you're using it. Not just using it to say you have AI, or to add a certificate to your LinkedIn profile.

Amy: One of the biggest shifts we've seen is technology moving closer to the center of business strategy. How do you ensure that technology isn't just supporting the business, but actively shaping the organization's future direction?

AJ: One of my core beliefs has always been that technology sits at the center of the business — that goes all the way back to early in my career. Technology is only as successful as its understanding of the business and how well it supports it. In many cases, you have to lead, not just be a support organization. I start with proximity to the business: technology leaders and teams need a deep, embedded understanding of the strategy — why the business model and value drivers are organized the way they are — so they understand the outcomes. If you don't understand how the business wins, you can't meaningfully influence it from a technology perspective. I've disagreed with many peers over my career about the role and place of IT. Centralized teams absolutely have their place — there are real efficiencies in shared platforms, standards, and capabilities — but the organizations that intentionally align technology closer to the business are the ones that win.

Amy: You're in the middle of a digital transformation. What advice would you give other IT leaders based on what you've learned recently?

AJ: If you're embracing digital transformation, the team matters — we've talked a lot about people. It's not always the biggest companies that can help you most. Sometimes it's more successful to go out, interview, and hire your own team of specialists, manage them, and put the accountability on your own back. You end up driving it through your culture and value systems, and that tends to be a better recipe for success than outsourcing the entire program. A lot of the big firms will come in and say they can take the whole thing — and they can — but what you get at the end may not be aligned with what you thought you were getting, and then you have to go back and redo some of the work. Whereas if you hire the team, drive it, and take the accountability yourself, the work product is truly yours, and you know the outcome you're getting in real time.

Amy: What's your first — or most impactful — career memory?

AJ: It was actually my third job, and one of the most impactful moments of my career. It involved a mentor I still have today. I was running a technology project office for him, and he asked me to prepare a deck for a readout to all of our business units. I worked on it for about a week, brought it to him, and I was so excited because I thought I'd nailed it. Within the first minute, he ripped it up in front of my face. It stuck with me — but what he was really teaching me was to get to the point. Leaders don't need volume; they need clarity. It's not about the work, it's about the outcome. Hours and slides don't matter if the message isn't tight and doesn't land. And always show the connection between technology and the business — don't just report activity, show value, alignment, and impact. Those principles have stayed with me throughout my career.

Amy: It sounds like that was both your best boss and, in that moment, maybe your worst.

AJ: He was my best boss, for sure — and sometimes my worst. Sometimes you get two in one.

Amy: Favorite lunch or dinner spot in Charlotte?

AJ: I go to 131 Main a lot, and Burtons a lot too — quick, easy, dependable, and good food. It used to be the SouthPark location, but after a recent move it's Ballantyne now.

Amy: AJ, it's been a pleasure. I've known you for about 15 years and still learned something new today — from your journey at Belk to your career now at Weisiger Group and LiftOne. Congratulations on the recent promotion, and thank you for joining us.

AJ: Thank you for having me — this was great.