If you don’t fix the fundamentals, you merely accelerate chaos. Salesforce AI readiness starts with data quality, process clarity, and governance—not demos.

Everyone wants to “buy AI,” but few CIOs are willing to do the unglamorous work of fixing the Salesforce data and operating discipline that AI depends on. In this episode of Heartbeat: Tactical Insights for CIOs, Mike Sommer sits down with Phil, a veteran tech executive and CIO, to dismantle the myths around digital transformation, Salesforce customization, and when outside advisors help (and when they don’t).

Phil makes the case that the modern CIO must evolve from “order taker” to Chief Education Officer—teaching the business why “boring” governance is the real path to safe automation and AI.

In this episode, we cover:

- The AI Paradox: Why automating broken processes creates faster failure - Truth vs. Theater: How CIOs get an objective view of reality (internally vs. selectively external) - Salesforce Strategy: The “Zappos rule” for what to customize vs. keep out-of-the-box - The Funding Move: Using AI urgency to unlock budget for technical debt + data remediation - Transformation War Stories: The hidden cost of shadow IT and vendor sprawl

Why this matters now

Pressure to adopt AI (and Agentforce-style automation) is high—but the risk of hallucinations, misrouted work, and structural failure is higher if your foundation is unstable. This conversation gives CIOs a practical script to align business + IT, secure funding for fundamentals, and earn confidence instead of selling change.

Confidence OS Brief (subscribe): https://mikesommer.substack.com/

Follow Mike Sommer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesommer/

Most “digital transformation” programs don’t fail because the technology is wrong. They fail because leadership can’t explain—clearly—what outcome the business is trying to produce, what process creates it, and who owns the truth when the tools change. In this episode, Mike Sommer sits down with Piotr Mlodecki, a global transformation leader in the Salesforce ecosystem, to name the quiet problem CIOs live with every day: Modernization creates motion… but not always progress. Especially in the mid-market, platforms keep getting more powerful, AI is moving faster than governance, and leadership is expected to deliver enterprise-level results with lean teams. This conversation is about the real work: unlearning broken assumptions, rebuilding process discipline, and designing an operating model where AI amplifies outcomes—without turning the business into a constant fire drill. While you watch, ask yourself: Are we modernizing… or just upgrading the chaos? What you’ll take away Why clarity is the most underrated “technology” in your stack The hidden cost of skipping documentation and process governance How AI changes the definition of a “good process” (and exposes weak ones fast) What strong leadership looks like when everyone wants speed—but risk is rising The next era of advisory: outcomes, objectivity, and networks of specialists—not one hero consultant What CIOs should prioritize heading into the next planning cycle Key theme Clarity → Context → Control Not control as bureaucracy—control as the ability to predict outcomes, manage risk, and scale change without breaking people. 👍 If this helps, like/subscribe and share it with a CIO or transformation leader who’s feeling the pressure. 📌 Drop a comment: Where is “upgrade ≠ progress” showing up in your org?

Stop obsessing over being “more strategic”—start building a team people would actually choose to follow if titles disappeared tomorrow.

Most leadership advice teaches you how to act like a leader. In this episode of Heartbeat, I sit down with speaker, coach, and author Antonio Neves (Stop Trying to Be a Leader) to unpack how to become someone people actually want to follow—especially when your title and authority aren’t enough.

If you’re a CIO, CTO, or tech leader trying to “be more of a leader,” this is your pattern interrupt. The real move isn’t more leadership content—it’s shifting from performing leadership to building something worth following: clarity, standards, systems, and trust.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why trying to “be a leader” creates leadership theater, not real change

• The hidden cost of being the hero: decision bottlenecks, burnout, and fragile teams

• How great CIOs lead by building clear systems, not louder personalities

• The difference between influence you own vs. influence you rent from your title

• A practical shift from “How do I show up as a leader?” to “What system am I building that others can trust?”

Resources

📖 Antonio’s book: Stop Trying to Be a Leader on Amazon https://a.co/d/dFIkejR