Salesforce Trails and Trials

In this inspiring episode of Salesforce Trails and Trials, host Jon Cline chats with Kevin Hubschmann, entrepreneur and founder of Laugh.Events. Kevin shares his remarkable journey from an aspiring lacrosse player who got cut from his team to becoming an unexpected student body president, which ignited his passion for entrepreneurship and community leadership. He dives into his early career at an event marketing software company (Splash) where he wore multiple hats including sales, QA, and even product support, all while secretly pursuing improv comedy. Exploring how comedy developed his 'people-first' superpowers like active listening, vulnerability, and risk-taking, Kevin explains how these skills not only boosted his sales success but also led him to pivot into a full-time comedy business during the pandemic. From hosting virtual comedy shows to creating innovative "Laughing and Development" workshops that combine humor with professional growth, Kevin reveals the science behind laughter's role in reducing stress, building connection, and enhancing learning. He emphasizes maintaining human skills in an AI-driven world and shares insights on cultivating supportive work cultures that embrace creativity and shared experiences. This episode celebrates taking unexpected paths, embracing failure as fuel for growth, and bringing more laughter into both work and life.

## Podcast Title Navigating AI in Sales: Opportunities, Job Impacts, and Future Skills ## Short Summary In this episode of Salesforce Trails & Trials, host Jon welcomes guest Mike to discuss how AI is transforming the business landscape, emphasizing augmentation over replacement with analogies like McDonald's (efficiency-focused) versus Chick-fil-A (human-centered). Jon shares personal projects, including using AI to build and secure a custom URL shortener. Guest Erik joins to explore job risks, the need for upskilling, and AI's cognitive impacts, highlighting essential future skills like analytical thinking, curiosity, and lifelong learning in a data-driven world.

Jon and Matt discuss the power of working a problem and gleaning the insights and character along the way.

A journey from trainer to coach and user to shepherd the Salesforce ecosystem.

Jon reviews data from the 2025 World Economic Forum report highlighting the top 10 core skills employers are looking for.

We congratulate Mike on a big milestone and walk through his interactive resume and chosen demo to learn what others might do on their hiring journey. We also discuss ways to lead through the hype without pressuring others.

Join Jon, Erik, and Mike as they discuss recent news items around the Swiss public LLM initiative, ways to leverage packaging beyond the AppExchange, and a few key release highlights among other topics in the conversation. Listen in and subscribe here and via LI @ https://linkedin.com/in/joncline. Show notes always at www.salesforcetrailsandtrials.com.

Jon Cline and Nick Romanos discuss why removing all friction from our physical and digital experiences actually reduces our enjoyment and capacity.

Jon provides a high level overview of technical debt, the negative impact it has on your Salesforce Org, and some symptoms you can recognize when it is impacting your business.

Jack McCurdy and Jon Cline discuss solving the people puzzle in DevOps. This episode first appeared on the DevOps Diaries podcast.

Stephen Klein, a guest on "Salesforce Trails & Trials," shares his 20+ year journey and AI insights. Klein's background includes a fine arts degree in poetry, valuing literature and art for distinguishing humans from AI. His diverse career path encompassed journalism (UMass Daily Collegian editor), early tech at Wang Laboratories, 12 years in advertising (built largest New England agency, European ops), global product/marketing at Dun & Bradstreet, and an MBA from Harvard. He now teaches AI strategy and ethics at Berkeley, his primary expertise. Klein emphasizes wisdom (hard-earned principles from challenges/study) is distinct from knowledge (easily acquired information). He believes ethics and values optimize profit, contrary to the Machiavellian focus on fast gain. Klein critiques the current AI landscape, noting incentives are misaligned as AI is sold for cost-cutting and automation, leading to layoffs. He claims ~80% of industry data is "cooked," acting as a sales funnel for private AI firms and large consulting groups. He likens the current AI craze to historical bubbles like "tulip mania" and the dot-com era, fueled by fear of being left behind. Klein draws parallels to the sugar and tobacco industries' past efforts to distort reality through marketing. Generative AI is unreliable (30-70% hallucination), making full automation unfeasible. Using Gen AI to create more data results in a "recursive" loop, degrading training data and output over time. He states there are no net US job losses from Gen AI; layoffs follow normal 10-12 year economic cycles. The consulting industry profits heavily, with 70-80% of AI pilots failing. Klein advocates for an "augmentation" model where AI "levels up" people for strategic thinking, rather than replacing them. He champions "Co-op AI" or "Reflective AI," where AI partners with individuals for better problem-solving. His company, Curiouser.ai, offers "Alice," a Reflective AI that asks questions to challenge critical thinking and foster self-understanding, combining generative AI with tailored machine learning. Effective AI adoption requires strong CEO leadership, clear vision, organizational unity, and prioritizing people. Klein deems "AI first" the "stupidest idea" as it implies "people last," alienating employees and customers and harming brand reputation. He is optimistic that "people first" companies, investing in their future and workforce, will lead a positive revolution, building businesses and creating jobs. Organizations should consider multi-LLM, open/closed-source platforms, not just IT-delegated tools. I hope this concise summary is helpful! Would you like to review specific aspects of Stephen Klein's career, or perhaps delve deeper into his concept of "Reflective AI" and "Co-op AI"? I can also quiz you on the material to test your comprehension if you'd like!

Jon and Mike catch up on trends, projects, and perspectives while Erik is on vacation.

Mike Mikula joins Erik and Jon to discuss recent projects, learning, and trends.

This was a big topic for many as Jon attended Tahoe Dreamin' and Texas Dreamin' so we are including it here as a reply. This episode of the "Sales Force Trails and Trials" podcast offers advice on acing a Salesforce job interview by leveraging soft skills. The hosts emphasize the importance of thorough preparation, including researching the company and its goals. They suggest demonstrating tenacity by showcasing problem-solving skills and a commitment to overcoming challenges. Finally, the hosts recommend highlighting emotional maturity by demonstrating an understanding of team dynamics and building relationships. By focusing on these soft skills, candidates can set themselves apart and showcase their value beyond technical expertise.

The Erik & Jon show returns with a wide ranging discussion of AI uses and a couple great books.

This episode of the Jon Cline Show focuses on the human side of technology and building stronger teams in an AI-driven world. Host Jon Cline discusses recent news in the AI world, including potential decreases in AI spending at Amazon and the increasing prevalence of AI hallucinations. As a continuation from a previous episode on why tech projects fail, the show delves into the most common risks and symptoms Jon has observed in over a thousand projects. A major theme is the lack of a common "sheet of music" or process playbook among team members ("musicians"), leading to noise, frustration, and project failure or lack of adoption. The importance of a "conductor" role to document processes and ensure consistent workflow, particularly at hand-off points, is highlighted. The learning segment introduces prompt engineering as a key skill for effective communication with AI. Jon explains how to tailor prompts with "people first dimensions" such as specifying knowledge level, requesting references, setting a desired style, and asking for balanced perspectives to enhance AI output and learning. The episode encourages listeners to be well-informed about AI and leverage their people-first power.

This episode features the journeys of Akshay Panse and Omar Youssef, who found their way to the Salesforce ecosystem from diverse backgrounds in engineering and consulting. They discuss common bottlenecks and challenges in Salesforce implementations and the discovery process, often rooted in communication and managing varied client needs. To solve these pain points, they created Cloobot, an AI-powered tool designed to streamline implementation, accelerate discovery, and serve as an intelligent assistant for consulting teams

Janeen has navigated significant physical challenges throughout her life, undergoing over 30 surgeries, including multiple joint replacements and plates in her body. Her Taekwondo journey, pursued for achievement and mind-body connection, shows her resilience in pushing through limitations. She emphasizes that not all disabilities are visible and the importance of giving grace to others.

Jon Cline's show/podcast highlights significant tech project failure rates (45-95%, AI 70-85% in 2019) based on extensive data. Jon Cline argues people fail projects, not AI itself. He identifies top reasons: 1. Poor requirements/goals, 2. Ineffective communication/stakeholder management (citing Foxmeyer drug failure), and 3. Inadequate project management (favoring incremental delivery). Success requires people-first skills. Jon Cline offers resources like the AI Playground and DevPod.

This episode is sponsored by The Salesforce Recruiter (https://thesalesforcerecruiter.com/) and the People First AI Playground (http://www.joncline.com/trail).