In episode 44 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Jaramogi Adams, founder of Jarkara Strategies, to discuss his journey from dot-com consulting to an 18-year career at American Express, global finance leadership, to fractional COO and strategic advisory work. With an educational background from Duke University and Stanford Graduate School of Business, Jaramogi shares how his name — meaning “one who travels often” — became a through line in his life and career, shaping his desire to learn across countries, companies, and industries.

The conversation explores how growing companies can move from intuition to execution by building stronger operating rhythms, clearer KPIs, and better communication systems. Jaramogi explains why his core superpower is listening, how he helps leaders translate qualitative challenges into quantitative decisions, and why scaling requires more than ambition — it requires people, tools, processes, and disciplined change management. He also shares how he uses AI as a thought partner, why nonprofits still need financial stewardship, and how one early career decision at American Express became far more valuable over time than he could have measured in the moment.

QUOTES

• "Good work begets more work. My brand is the work that I deliver — and when that work becomes memorable, people either refer me or bring me back in." – Jaramogi Adams
• "YI don’t use AI to do the thinking for me. I use it as a thought partner — to give me alternate perspectives so I can make a better decision." – Jaramogi Adams
• "Ultimately, it’s my human brain and your human brain that are the most valuable. AI is here to make things faster and give us a different perspective." – Laurie Chen

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Jaramogi Adams

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaramogikadams/

Jarkara Startegies: https://jaramogikadams.com/