AI Heroes & Headaches

In this episode of AI Heroes & Headaches Podcast, host Vivienne Wei sits down with Vala Afshar , Chief Digital Evangelist at Salesforce , for a thought-provoking conversation on what it truly means to build the Agentic Enterprise. Drawing from his journey as an engineer, CMO, bestselling author, and global technology leader, Vala shares that the greatest barrier to AI transformation isn’t the...

In this episode of AI Heroes & Headaches Podcast, host Vivienne Wei sits down with Ravi Loganathan , He is the EVP of Salesforce Data 360, for a compelling conversation on how enterprises can evolve toward the Agentic Enterprise where AI operates as an integrated, intelligent system embedded across business workflows. Drawing on decades of experience building distributed systems at scale, Ravi...

In this episode of AI Heroes & Headaches, host Vivienne Wei welcomes Martin Hofmann Former CIO of Volkswagen , a key leader at Salesforce and Volta Trucks , Author of The Agentic Enterprise (coming on Feb 14), Board Member and Advisor, unfiltered conversation on why most AI transformations fail before they ever scale. Drawing on decades of experience across global enterprises, high-growth tech...

In this episode of AI Heroes & Headaches, host Vivienne Wei sits down with Andy White , SVP of Salesforce on Salesforce Technology, with over 16 years at the company, to explore what it really takes to drive agentic AI transformation at scale. Drawing from his experience across major acquisitions, product evolution, and enterprise leadership, Andy shares candid lessons on why AI adoption is le...

In this episode of AI Heroes & Headaches, host Vivienne Wei talks with Anant Kale , CEO of AppZen , an Artificial Intelligence platform for modern finance teams. With over 15 years of experience in developing complex software and a background spanning engineering, finance, and product, Anant discusses how unstructured data creates massive bottlenecks in business processes. He shares his journe...

In this episode of AI Heroes & Headaches, host Vivienne Wei talks with Alex Schmelkin , Founder and CEO of Sixfold , the AI platform built for insurance underwriters. Alex dissects how the wave of generative AI is forcing the traditionally slow-moving insurance industry to modernize quickly. He explains the shift from traditional risk assessment to near-autonomous underwriting agents, and why...

What really drives AI transformation: technology or people? In the latest episode of AI Heroes & Headaches, I sat down with Rosanne Werner, CEO of XcelerateIQ, to unpack what truly drives transformation inside global enterprises. Rosanne has led data and culture change at Coca-Cola and now helps organizations turn AI resistance into adoption, and data into a movement. Here are a few insights t...

What happens when a serial entrepreneur, DJ and father decides to reinvent education for the AI age?   This week, I sat down with Alan Smithson, founder of Unlimited Awesome and Metavrse. From spinning records to building companies that redefine how we learn and connect, Alan’s career is a study in what happens when creativity meets exponential technology.   Here are three insights that stood out:...

AI isn’t magic. It’s business. And according to Vin Vashishta, it's like electricity in the 1900s.   On the latest episode of AI Heroes and Headaches, I sat down with @Vin Vashishta, author of Data to Profit, to explore how leaders can unlock the true value of AI.   Here are a few takeaways that stood out: - From physics to AI thought leader: Vin’s journey shows how technical expertise becomes pow...

When it comes to your AI initiatives, is your company playing chess, or checkers? Recent reports share that only 5% of AI initiatives are successful. Why is that? According to Brian Evergreen, most companies don’t yet have a playbook for leadership in the AI era. This week on AI Heroes & Headaches, I sit down with Brian Evergreen, President of the Future Solving Club. Brian went from being an...

From Military Discipline to AI Leadership. 95% of AI pilots stall. Only 5% scale. Keith McCormick knows why. Before teaching over 1M learners on LinkedIn Learning, Keith served in the military, a foundation of discipline and clarity that he now brings to AI adoption. In Episode 3 of AI Heroes & Headaches, Keith shares why most organizations don’t fail on technology, they fail on culture. Highl...

What do you actually learn running a $1.8B global brand that helps when you launch a new frontier in AI? That’s the journey of Amit Shah, Founder & CEO of InstaLILY AI and former President of 1-800-Flowers.com. 🌸 In Episode 2 of AI Heroes & Headaches, Amit and I dive into: - How scaling one of the world’s most iconic consumer brands prepared him for AI entrepreneurship - The tension betwe...

In AI, the hardest code to crack isn’t the tech. It is leadership. For our very first AI Heroes & Headaches episode, I couldn’t have asked for a better guest than Muralidhar Krishnaprasad (MK), President & CTO of Salesforce’s Unified Agentforce Platform, one of the most authentic, game-changing leaders I’ve ever worked with. Three months ago in Hakone, Japan, I needed yen to buy a blessed...

I’ve seen AI deliver million-dollar breakthroughs and I’ve seen it crash and burn. I’m Vivienne Wei, COO of Salesforce Unified Agentforce Platform. I’m pulling back the curtain on the wins, the flops, and the leadership calls that make or break AI transformation. Each episode, I sit down with executives and builders in the trenches of AI from unicorn founders to Fortune 100 CTOs. They’ll share wha...