The year was 1989, I was turning 14, and all I wanted for my birthday was an Apple Macintosh. Nothing else mattered. Why? Because I grew up with a best friend whose dad was an engineer, and they introduced me to technology at an early age. From that point on, I’ve always wanted to be the first person to try the newest and most innovative technology. It was never about status or showing off, it was about curiosity. I wanted to see whether the technology truly lived up to the hype. Given my personality and lifelong fascination with new innovations, I would place myself on Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation scale as either an Innovator or at least an Early Adopter .  Now, let’s fast forward to my career at American Express. As a 175-year-old company, we have sometimes faced system challenges in embracing new technology for various reasons. Whenever I’ve had the opportunity to be part of a development team implementing new technology into our processes, I’ve always welcomed the challenge...