The AI Frontier Playbook

Learn how to automate sales and back-office processes with AI for business, without overwhelming your team. In this episode of The AI Frontier Playbook, I sit down with Eric Murray, Director of Innovation at Kezber, a Microsoft partner in Quebec, to break down AI implementation and business workflow automation with Microsoft Copilot, Power Platform, and Copilot Studio. Many companies fail when the...

Why does AI adoption fail in business? In this episode of The AI Frontier Playbook, an AI podcast for enterprise leaders, I sit down with Stacey Mulcahy, Senior Director of the Microsoft Garage, to break down the real AI adoption challenges companies face and how Microsoft solves them with curiosity, hackathons, and hands-on AI skilling. Stacey leads the team behind the Microsoft Global Hackathon...

How to use AI for content creation without losing your voice. Jack Rowbotham earned 7.5 million LinkedIn impressions in a year at Microsoft, and in this episode of The AI Frontier Playbook he breaks down his exact AI content workflow. The real skill in the AI era is not creating more. It is having the judgment to ignore almost all of it. I sit down with Jack Rowbotham, Senior Product Marketing Man...

AI strategy stuck in pilot purgatory? In this episode of The AI Frontier Playbook, I sit down with Pam Maynard, Microsoft's first ever Chief AI Transformation Officer, on artificial intelligence adoption, organizational change, leadership, automation, and the future of work. Pam led Avanade as CEO across 60,000 employees before taking on this pioneering role at Microsoft. We unpack the four-layer...

The AI Frontier Playbook - Meaghan Platt Episode Description Microsoft Copilot, AI accessibility, and dignity: what most GenAI conversations completely skip. Meaghan Platt from ITI joins The AI Frontier Playbook to explore what real inclusion looks like in the age of AI. Most people talk about AI and productivity. Meaghan Platt talks about AI and dignity. As a Copilot Sales and Adoption Specialist...

What if the biggest obstacle to AI in your business isn't the technology, but the organizational structures built for humans to be the bottleneck? In this episode of the AI Frontier Playbook, I sit down with Steve Gustavson , CVP of Design and Research at Microsoft, leading the Business Apps and Agents division with a 350-person team spanning design, research, and content. We explore how organizat...

What if the real battle for AI isn't about productivity, but about who controls the market when your agent is the one doing the shopping? In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts, I sit down with David Rothschild, Economist at Microsoft Research and lead author of the paper "The Agentic Economy." We explore a shift most people aren't asking about yet: what happens to comp...

We gave people AI and no user manual. That's the problem Microsoft researcher Dr. Jenna Butler sees playing out in every organization right now. In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts, I sit down with Dr. Jenna Butler, Principal Applied Research Scientist at Microsoft and one of the editors behind the New Future of Work Report 2025. Jenna has spent years studying what actually happens to...

What if the biggest obstacle to AI in your business isn’t the technology, but the way your systems were built to assume a human would always be clicking? In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts , I sit down with Frédéric Bélanger, Leader AI & Innovation at Talan. Frédéric has spent years architecting B2B commerce and procurement systems. He knows exactly where the friction lives and w...

What if extending Microsoft 365 Copilot wasn’t about adding features, but about building real enterprise agents that act on your business systems? In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts , I sit down with Sébastien Levert, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft working on Copilot extensibility and the Microsoft 365 agent platform. We break down what Copilot agents actually are, what “exte...

What if your next business team isn’t just made of humans, but also intelligent agents? In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts , I sit down with Simon Lacasse, Global Black Belt for AI at Microsoft and author of the white paper Scaling Agents for Enterprise . Simon is part of Microsoft’s SWAT team of AI experts, working with global organizations to bring multi-agent systems to life in re...

🎙️Unlock the future of Inclusive AI: What does it truly take to build systems that are responsible and equitable from the ground up? In this essential episode on Gender Bias in AI and Responsible AI, we sit down with Miri Rodriguez, former star storyteller at Microsoft and the groundbreaking CEO/Founder of Empressa.ai. After 13 years crafting narratives within Big Tech, a personal health journey —...

AI isn’t just changing how we work — it’s changing how we lead. But most leaders are still trying to apply old thinking to a very new game. Kree Govender leads SMB sales at Microsoft Canada, supporting 1.4 million businesses through Microsoft’s partner ecosystem. With over a decade of experience leading teams across South Africa and Canada, Kree has had a front-row seat to the AI transformation —...

Everyone’s talking about AI in sales. But what does it actually look like to lead a modern sales organization that runs on it? Ehsan Youssef, Lead of Small and Medium Enterprise & Channel Sales at Microsoft Canada, has spent 20 years helping teams adapt to constant change—and now he’s transforming how his organization sells in the age of AI.In this episode, Ehsan breaks down what it means to o...

Everyone’s talking about AI. But how do you go from personal productivity wins to real, enterprise-scale impact? Ben Vollmer has spent 30+ years helping organizations answer that question—leading product teams at Microsoft, IFS, and now RSM, where he drives AI and Power Platform strategy for some of the largest businesses in the US.In this episode, Ben breaks down what’s actually working on the gr...

Everyone’s talking about AI. But how do you actually get it working across a 100,000-person organization? Erin Chapple breaks down how Microsoft is doing exactly that—and what you can learn from it. In this episode, Erin shares what she’s learned from 30 years at Microsoft, first leading engineering teams for Windows Server and Azure, and now helping some of the world’s largest enterprises adopt A...

What if AI isn’t here to replace us, but to remove the boring parts of our work? In this episode, Scott Hanselman shares a deeply human perspective on AI, productivity, and the promises technology made but didn’t keep. If you’re a business leader wondering how to use AI without losing your team’s creativity, this conversation is a must-listen. Resources Mentioned: Scott Hanselman’s TEDx Talk (Port...

Resources MentionedFâtih's website : https://fatihnayebi.com/Fâtih’s book: Foundation of Agents of AI for Retail :https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Agentic-Retail-Technologies-Architectures Scale AI (Canada’s AI supercluster) : https://www.scaleai.caAlpha Evolved by DeepMind : https://storage.googleapis.com/deepmind-media/DeepMind.com/Blog/alphaevolve-a-gemini-powered-coding-agent-for-designi...

In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts, I sit down with Dona Sarkar — Chief Troublemaker at Microsoft, global AI & accessibility leader, entrepreneur, author, and fashion designer — to explore why human connection is still the most valuable asset in the AI era. We talk about the limits of automation, why data quality can make or break AI projects, and how leaders can adopt AI without...

In this episode, I sit down with Abram Jackson, Principal Product Manager Leadat Microsoft working on Microsoft 365 Copilot, agents, and extensibility. Abram has been leading the charge on agent-based experiences and joins me to talk about:• How agents fit into the future of productivity• The architecture behind grounding and context• Why good instructions matter• Real use cases for Copilot in org...

In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts, I sit down with Cadie Kneip, Senior Readiness Business Program Manager at Microsoft, to uncover the secrets behind successful AI adoption in organizations. With her innovative Copilot Champs program, Cadie has created a movement that transformed how Microsoft employees embrace and share AI tools. What you'll learn in this video: How Microsoft b...

In this episode of Mastering AI with the Expert, I sit down with Neha Sharma, Data & AI Specialist at Microsoft, to explore how organizations can assess their AI maturity and build a foundation for impactful AI solutions. From data governance to scaling AI initiatives, Neha shares practical advice and real-world examples that highlight how businesses and public sector organizations can unlock...

In this episode of Mastering AI with the Experts, I sit down with Marcus Schmidt, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, to explore how AI is revolutionizing customer service and contact centers. Whether you're new to AI or looking to optimize your current operations, this conversation is packed with insights on transforming customer experiences and empowering agents.

In this debut episode of our series, "Mastering AI with the Experts," we explore the revolutionary impact of AI on sales and business applications. Join us as we sit down with Matthew Mead, Global Black Belt Technical Specialist at Microsoft, to dive deep into how AI is transforming the way businesses operate, particularly through Microsoft's Copilot for Sales.