Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode reframes how leaders should approach generative AI, with insights from Justin Trombold. Instead of chasing use cases or tools, the focus is on fixing processes, incentives, and operating models. The conversation explores why many AI pilots fail, how ROI thinking can mislead, and why AI should be treated as a new way of working rather than a software upgrade. Practical examples show how small, disciplined changes can unlock productivity, innovation, and meaningful business impact without overinvesting or freezing in fear.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/802

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to identify AI opportunities by examining business processes, not tools
• Why most AI pilots stall before delivering real value
• How incentives and operating models determine AI ROI
• When ROI metrics help and when they get in the way
• How productivity gains can unlock business model innovation

✅ Highlights

• “Let’s not talk about use cases. Let’s talk about your processes.”
• “If you don’t have to mow your lawn, why would you do it?”
• “You’re just going to shift the bottleneck to another place.”
• “There’s a very high level of maturity in the potential.”
• “There’s generally a very low level of maturity in the willingness.”
• “People are talking a lot about the drill.”
• “Generative AI is transformation.”
• “It’s a change in the way that you’re working.”
• “AI gives people permission to innovate.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Start your own value-creating GenAI Journey with our "rapid" diagnostic here:
  Survey Page | AnteSyn Advisors - https://www.antesynadvisors.com/blank-3
• "How to Flourish" with guest Daniel Coyle - EconTalk Podcast Archive - Econlib - https://www.econtalk.org/
• Generative AI - https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/generative-ai
• MIT study on AI ROI - https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/28/1126693/finding-return-on-ai-investments-across-industries/
• Proofs of concept (POCs) - https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/proof-of-concept-definition
• Design thinking viability and feasibility concepts https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/blog/desirability-viability-and-feasibility/

✅Keywords
generative ai, ai roi, operating model, business processes, productivity, innovation, incentives, ai pilots, digital transformation, leadership, applied ai, enterprise ai

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

AI enablement is a change problem, not a tech problem. In this episode, Molly Rupert-Sullivan breaks down how to support three groups at once: people who do not get AI yet, people who want to opt out, and champions who want more. You will hear practical ways to set expectations, avoid over‑teaching “all AI”, and build momentum by giving champions the right access, platforms, and repeatable wins that can scale across an organisation.

👉️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/801

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Map AI adoption into segments and tailor support levels to each group.
• Respond to “no thanks” with clear expectations and a path to re-engage.
• Build champions by focusing on domain expertise, not technical depth.
• Scale internal wins by giving champions access to enterprise tools and visibility.
• Decide when to use personal AI tools versus enterprise copilots for data separation.

🔴Highlights

• “My entire role is about AI enablement.”
• “There’s such a spectrum of where people are.”
• “I think that there will be a place for some people to opt out.”
• “It will become very difficult for people not to use it because they will fall behind.”
• “We don’t all need to be AI experts.”
• “You’re already an expert in whatever your domain is.”
• “Access is, a big one.”
• “Showcasing those wins and successes, giving them platforms.”
• “I use Pi on my phone a lot.”
• “I don’t want answers tied to my corporate data.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Pi - https://pi.ai/
• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/
• Change management: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_management
• MVP Summit:https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/Summit [mvp.microsoft.com]
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅Keywords
ai enablement, ai adoption, change management, champions, resistance, opt out, productivity, enterprise access, copilot, chatgpt, professional services, agents

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode tracks how Manbhawan Prasad and the Word team are evolving Copilot from simple prompt-based help to goal-based “agent mode” that can plan and edit documents directly. You will hear practical, enterprise-focused examples: using SharePoint knowledge as authoritative context, reducing blank-page inertia, mirroring customer language from emails and meeting transcripts, and using AI as an always-on reviewer for structure, clarity, and accuracy.

👉️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/800

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Shift from instruction prompts to goal-based document creation with “agent mode” in Word.
• Build a SharePoint “knowledge vault” so Copilot can draft with authoritative business context.
• Use retrieval (RAG-style grounding) to write specs and proposals from internal files, emails, chats, decks, and meetings.
• Improve proposals by mirroring a customer’s terminology pulled from email threads and meeting transcripts.
• Apply Copilot as a reviewer to spot gaps, inconsistencies, and missed requirements across long documents.

✅ Highlights

• “Creation and comprehension, that's all.”
• “We are going beyond that and we are making it unable to solve your goal.”
• “We are calling agent mode inside Word.”
• “Most of the customers' data is in either Microsoft files or SharePoint, et cetera.”
• “Use those as RAG in RAG model to kind of generate or even answer accurately.”
• “First of all, inertia is gone because it gives you a starting point right away in seconds.”
• It also sometimes brings information which you and I may not have thought of.”
• “Do you see any gaps in my communication?”
• “It can directly edit the document and it can directly, you know, create a document.”
• “The interface for every app will become natural language.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Microsoft Word: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/word
• SharePoint: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration
• PowerPoint: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/powerpoint
• Visio: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/visio

✅Keywords
copilot, microsoft word, agent mode, generative ai, sharepoint, rag, chatgpt, proposal, rfp, natural language, microsoft editor, visio

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode challenges goal-driven thinking in an AI-enabled world through a conversation with Radhika Dutt. The discussion explores why OKRs and vanity metrics often fail, especially when AI accelerates optimisation without understanding. The core insight is a shift from goal setting to puzzle setting. By framing problems clearly, staying in the discomfort, and learning through small experiments, teams can build products that create long-term value. Practical examples show how this mindset helped recover stalled growth, improve trust, and reduce churn while keeping humans central to AI-driven decisions.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/799

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Why AI makes weak metrics and OKRs more dangerous, not more effective
• How to shift from goal setting to puzzle setting in product and AI work
• A practical framework for defining problems before jumping to solutions
• How to measure learning and narrative, not just numbers
• How puzzle solving supports sustainable innovation and growth

✅ Highlights

• “We measured success by the logos of companies on our website.”
• “Are we all just doomed to learn from trial and error?”
• “Everything that we humans can do in terms of optimizing numbers, AI can do it even better.”
• “What is the puzzle is the question we should have been asking.”
• “The more intimacy was gamified, the more it created a toxic dating environment.”
• “You kind of need to stay with the discomfort.”
• “Don’t just spit out numbers at me.”
• “They hated magic and they did not trust technology.”
• “This approach was more like putting your ears on the tracks.”
• “It is the biggest illusion that OKRs work.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Radical Product Thinking
  https://www.radicalproduct.com/
• OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
  https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-at-scale/okr
• Puzzle setting and puzzle solving framework
  https://www.radicalproduct.com/toolkit/
• Design thinking
  https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking
• Toyota 5 Whys
  https://www.learnleansigma.com/guides/5-whys/

✅Keywords
artificial intelligence, ai innovation, okrs, product thinking, puzzle setting, metrics, innovation culture, design thinking, product strategy, ai metrics, business transformation, experimentation

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

Amelia Hernandez Osorio explores practical ways organisations can build lasting Copilot habits, strengthen internal communities and drive effective AI adoption. Amelia shares her journey through web technologies, SharePoint, cloud transformation and Microsoft 365 adoption, offering guidance on behaviour change, team enablement and identifying meaningful Copilot use cases that improve daily work.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/798

🎙️What you’ll learn

• How to help teams build sustainable Copilot habits
• How internal communities strengthen adoption
• How to identify high value Copilot use cases
• How to support behavioural change during AI transformation
• How to structure training and sponsorship for successful rollout

✅ Highlights

• “Take a step at a time really to use Copilot.”
• “How can I translate this into my daily work.”
• “The idea is really to help people to stick with Copilot.”
• “It is hard to stay on track of all the changes.”
• “This internal community is amazingly important.”
• “Find use cases that can be improved with Copilot.”
• “You have the perfect unit when you work with teams.”
• “Look for executive sponsor, but real executive sponsor.”
• “Try to work not only down to top but also top to down.”
• “Help people really embrace the tools in ways that make sense for them.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft 365 - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365
• Microsoft Teams - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/download-app
• Copilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Copilot Studio - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/products/customer-service
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
microsoft 365, copilot, adoption, teams, sharepoint, serviceNow, dynamics 365, training, community, cloud, automation, behaviour change

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

Craig Taylor shares practical, real‑world guidance on cybersecurity, AI risks, and behaviour change inside organisations. He explains why positive reinforcement outperforms punishment, how biases appear in AI systems, and why zero‑trust matters for companies of all sizes. The conversation offers pragmatic, people‑centred steps to strengthen cyber literacy, reduce insider risk, and navigate emerging threats such as deepfakes and social engineering.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/797

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to strengthen cyber hygiene using behaviour‑based training
• How AI bias emerges and why validation and critical thinking matter
• How to reduce insider‑risk through access control and observation
• How zero‑trust improves resilience beyond the legacy walled‑garden model
• How to help staff recognise social engineering and emotional manipulation

✅ Highlights

• “We're using it to produce videos, to produce scripts for the videos, ideas”
• “AI lies to you with very convincing falsehoods”
• “Rewarded behaviours are repeated”
• “Leaderboards… got leaders within companies to actually participate”
• “It's not rocket science. It's a lot of common sense”
• “Accidents happen and not malicious, not intentional, but boy can they have tragic consequences”
• “We have to try in some way”
• “The world is flat… our front doors are logically open to the world”
• “If you ever get an e‑mail that makes you want to take an immediate action, pause”
• “Anyone that wants a little free awareness training… cyberhoot.com slash individuals”

🧰 Mentioned

• Main Website: https://cyberhoot.com/
• Individual Registration (Free Personal Training for Life): https://cyberhoot.com/individuals/
• Businesses & MSP Registration Signup: https://nest.cyberhoot.com/autopilot-signup/?
• Newsletter Registration: https://cyberhoot.com/newsletters/
• Blog Articles: https://cyberhoot.com/blog/
• Cybrary (Library of 1000+ Cybersecurity Terms in non-technical language): https://cyberhoot.com/cybrary/

🎯 Special Podcast Offer:

• 20% off CyberHoot for 1 year using the podcast’s unique coupon code: "AI Unfiltered"

✅Keywords
cybersecurity, ai bias, zero trust, social engineering, cyber literacy, behaviour change, phishing, deepfakes, access control, insider risk, data protection, training

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

In this episode, Edine Olijve-Watkinson explores practical ways Microsoft 365 Copilot, Loop, Planner and emerging AI agents improve daily productivity, collaboration and decision making. It highlights real use cases, evolving tools and the shift toward AI supported workflows across organisations.

🎙️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/796

👉 What you’ll learn

• How Microsoft 365 Copilot supports personal efficiency
• How AI agents extend productivity across meetings and workflows
• How Loop, Copilot pages and notebooks support flexible collaboration
• How metadata and information architecture improve Copilot performance
• How professionals can upskill across Copilot Studio, agents and Azure AI Foundry

✅ Highlights

• “My area of specialty is Microsoft 365 and then especially the collaboration and the productivity side of things.”
• “We see a lot of shifts towards agents.”
• “Using Microsoft 365 Copilot for personal efficiency, just as your little personal intern.”
• “The facilitator agent… joins your meeting and keeps track and then takes your meeting notes for you.”
• “The knowledge agent is also very good at adding metadata columns to your SharePoint sites.”
• “I completely started to learn where Loop stores something, how you can retain it, how you can save it.”
• “I use Loop in your daily work, and not just Loop, but also Copilot pages and Copilot notebooks.”
• “You can make some really nice infographics with it.”
• “Everything you create gets created in your company’s style.”
• “I definitely want to learn how to use agents more in my workflow.”
• “I also want to dive deeper into Azure AI Foundry.”
• “It was completely new to me… I never really touched Azure in any way.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft 365 - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365
• SharePoint - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration
• Microsoft Copilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Microsoft Copilot Studio - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/
• Azure AI Foundry - https://ai.azure.com/
• Microsoft Loop - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-loop
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
microsoft 365, copilot, agents, loop, planner, sharepoint, metadata, productivity, azure ai foundry, collaboration, meetings, workflows

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

A focused conversation on why AI agents will define 2026, how governance must evolve, and the practical skills business and tech professionals need to stay relevant. The episode explores the shift from Power Platform governance to AI‑first governance, the rise of agent orchestration, and the critical importance of data security, testing, and prompt engineering. Listeners gain clear guidance on adapting their roles, scaling responsibly, and preparing for an agent‑driven future.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/795

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How AI agents are reshaping governance expectations across organisations
• Practical steps to evolve your skills for an AI‑centred workflow
• How to balance innovation with safe, secure agent deployment
• Why data security and red‑team style testing matter more than ever
• How to identify when to use Copilot Studio versus Foundry

✅ Highlights

• “2026 feels like when people actually start doubling down and taking it seriously.”
• “AI will not take your job. AI will just change your job.”
• “How do I become an agent boss?”
• “Governance does not have to slow innovation.”
• “You can’t ignore this big thing called AI because you’re going to lose competitive advantage.”
• “Testing an agent is completely different.”
• “Prompt engineering is a big one.”
• “There are now more moving parts… you can’t just get away with building an app anymore.”
• “My mindset needs to shift from doing things manually to validating what AI gives me.”
• “Next year is going to be doubling down a lot of that… it’s here, let’s embrace it.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Power Platform: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform
• Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/ [microsoft.com]
• Foundry: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-foundry/
• Microsoft Entra: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/what-is-entra
• Microsoft Purview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/purview

✅Keywords
ai agents, governance, power platform, copilot studio, foundry, data security, prompt engineering, red teaming, power automate, power fx, entra, microsoft purview

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith