Vala Afshar

Chief Digital Evangelist @Salesforce | Bestselling Books: BOUNDLESS 2023, AUTONOMOUS 2025 | Columnist: @ZDNet | Podcast: @DisrupTVShow

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

AUTONOMOUS is about how organizations will adopt AI-first strategies and integrate digital labor, specifically AI agents, into their operations.

AI agents will revolutionize efficiency by eliminating waste, minimizing bottlenecks, and providing intelligence, speed, and scale. This will significantly augment human capabilities, allowing us to achieve more than ever before.

In the age of Agentic AI you are either building an autonomous business or you are part of dying one.

AUTONOMOUS represents my most important work.

I appreciate your support of our work.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

BOUNDLESS is an Amazon #1 New Release in Business Management.

I hope you consider reading our new book and providing us feedback.

https://t.co/gzcVTR31Bp

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

MIT professor delivers a brilliant masterclass on how to effectively present your ideas with clarity, high impact and purpose; 15 key insights

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Roberto Carlos’s legendary free kick against France on June 3, 1997, is widely considered one of the greatest and most iconic goals in football history.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

A gentle reminder on the importance of core values from one of the greatest business management thinkers of all time

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Pause, rest, reset, and restart; but do not give up. Resilience is a beautiful thing.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

The best teacher is your last mistake.

And the second time you make the same exact mistake is called a choice.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

It is a big mistake to confuse kindness and humility as a sign of weakness.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

The gravest mistake is to always live in the future. —David Bowie, 1992

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

If you made a mistake, apologize quickly.
If you are confused, ask more questions.
If you miss someone, reach out to them.
If you are stuck, ask others for help.
If you appreciate someone, show them.
If you want to feel lighter, forgive first.
If you love someone, tell them, now.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

MIT professor delivers a brilliant masterclass on how to effectively present your ideas with clarity, high impact and purpose; 15 key insights

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Successful people surround themselves by supportive truth tellers; @JeffBezos on the importance of seeking the truth

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Mental strength is not a gift, it is something that you have to work very hard to develop.

A masterclass on focus, by Novak Djokovic

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Michael Jordan was once asked about his best skill, shooting, dunking, passing, defense or anticipating movements on the court?

Jordan answered:

“My best skill was that I was coachable. I was a sponge and aggressive to learn.”

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Roberto Carlos’s legendary free kick against France on June 3, 1997, is widely considered one of the greatest and most iconic goals in football history.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

This is considered the greatest free-kick in world cup competition by @Cristiano

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Lucky people work harder, have high integrity, show up on time, fight against a sense of entitlement, hold doors open, forgive first, anticipate outcomes, give more than they take, have good manners, show high rate of learning, are self-aware, optimistic, kind and generous.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

“The future belongs to the consistent. Not the talented. Not the lucky.

But the ones who show up, even when it is hard. Show up. Effort does not betray you.”

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Distance yourself from people who play status and power games.

Invite people into your life that play value creation and wisdom sharing.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

—Albert Einstein

(Lake Wanaka, New Zealand)

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Time will magnify whatever you feed it - the biggest influence in life is habit. —James Clear

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

7 AI themes that CIOs must master:

➡️1. The AI agent reality check: agent autonomy is earned based on reliability, accountability and security.

Three types of AI agents: personal, process (runs a defined workflow) and role (owns an outcome)

➡️2. The AI value gap is really an AI risk gap - security, cost and trustworthiness

AI cost drivers compound as adoption grows. But cost risks will be solved. Trustworthiness and security and your forever risks.

Policy is becoming code. Business context is a competitive moat. AI agents need precise instructions.

➡️3. The investment strategies of AI-first organizations - 4X more investments in AI for AI-first orgs vs AI-cautious or AI- opportunistic orgs.

AI-first organizations invest narrowly - use cases save costs, improve experience and increase speed.

AI-first companies reuse relentlessly. No one-offs. They spend 2X on foundations (data and context layer) than tools.

➡️4. The future of enterprise applications - the death of SaaS is false and a headless utility by 2032. SaaS is becoming a headless utility. SaaS is disappearing into the technology stack. SaaS is becoming very hard to replace.

➡️5. The AI shaped organization - everyone becomes a manger of tools and agents. We have a careless consumption of AI models and misuse of token spend.

Managers as middleware are out; coaches and leaders are in. Incumbents can borrow some but not all AI-native processes. Tiny teams depend on high-agency employees. Smaller teams can produce more. Roles are compressing and expanding. Start with the work to be done. IT is customer zero.

➡️6. Volatility and sovereignty’s impact on the enterprise - we are in a trust recession. Super integrated systems is now an exposed. Optionality must be refunded to be real. Volatility is a reshaped advantage.

➡️7. Physical AI goes far beyond robots 🤖 - physical AI will make other forms of AI legacy by 2035. Autonomous vehicles, smart infrastructure and robots are all becoming smart. Orchestration of physical AI is costly.

—Mary Mesaglio is the Chief of Research for CIOs and AI Leaders