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Frederick Anaafi shares his journey from Excel trainer to Microsoft MVP, highlighting how AI - especially Microsoft Copilot - is transforming productivity and career paths in Africa and beyond. He offers practical insights on building AI fluency, driving community-led tech adoption, and staying competitive in a rapidly evolving digital economy.

👉 ️ FULL SHOW NOTES
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/762

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to build a tech career starting with Excel and Power BI
• Why AI fluency is essential for modern professionals
• Practical ways to adopt Microsoft Copilot without a subscription
• How to lead community-driven tech initiatives
• What it takes to become a Microsoft MVP in emerging markets

✅ Highlights

• “AI is the electricity of our era.”
• “If you don’t learn AI, then yes, you will be left out.”
• “Copilot helps you get results faster and be more efficient.”
• “Before entering the corporate world, you need to know Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.”
• “I failed the Excel Expert exam the first time, but I didn’t give up.”
• “We had close to 200 people attend the first DynamicsCon West Africa.”
• “AI engineering will be the ish—what people should really go into.”
• “Trust in Copilot comes from knowing it’s secure and responsible.”
• “We’re driving Copilot adoption through free virtual training.”
• “In Ghana, we have fewer than 15 MVPs, but we’re growing.”
• “The usefulness of Copilot is there—now we need to build trust.”
• “I see AI transforming every industry we work in.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Excel Expert Certification: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/exams/mo-211
• Tableau: tableau.com
• Power BI: microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi
• Microsoft Copilot: copilot.microsoft.com
• DynamicsCon West Africa: eventbrite.com/e/dynamicscon-regional-west-africa-tickets-1249579418679
• MCT West Africa Summit: mctwestafrica.com
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series: How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅Keywords
ai fluency, microsoft copilot, power bi, excel expert, tableau, data analysis, mvp programme, tech community, ai adoption, microsoft 365, dynamics 365, west africa tech

Support the show

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

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

🔴 For full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/761

Personal leadership with AI means using it as a tailored amplifier, not an overlord. Meg and Mark unpack generational strengths in AI use, from structured Gen X prompts to Gen Z experimentation. They show how to turn books into personalised action plans with AI, build health and financial literacy, and create safe spaces for younger people to sharpen critical thinking. Listeners leave with ways to pair their strengths with AI, design better prompts, and lead on their own terms.

👉Join the private WhatsApp group for Q&A and community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/E0iyXcUVhpl9um7DuKLYEz

🎙️What you’ll learn

• How to use AI with leadership and habits books to create personalised questions, habits, and behaviour changes that fit your life.
• How to combine Kindle and Audible to read faster while staying focused on complex ideas.
• How Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z professionals tend to approach AI differently, and how to borrow strengths from each style.
• How to design prompt pipelines that move from exploration to refinement to final outputs you can put to work.

✅Highlights

• "The world is ending, AI is bad, the planet's burning, like up here and into the like, okay, actually, so what"
• "artificial intelligence will be just another helpful feature on the tech infrastructure that... serve our daily lives"
• "If we're not personally leading in our own lives with artificial intelligence, we are just going to be buffeted and swayed by other people's ideas."

🧰Mentioned

• Neil deGrasse Tyson https://amzn.to/485h2ot
• Seven habits of highly effective people https://amzn.to/49SK2lN
• The four hour work week https://amzn.to/49nMzEp
• Nix https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7z5lDsS6UP/?igsh=MXBzMXk4MDhlYjN6bQ%3D%3D AND https://www.tiktok.com/@cwknix
• Chris Huntingford https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishuntingford/

✅Connect with the hosts

Mark Smith:
Blog https://www.nz365guy.com
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy

Meg Smith:
Blog https://www.megsmith.nz
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/megsmithnz

Subscribe, rate, and share with someone who wants to be future ready. Drop your questions in the comments or the WhatsApp group, and we may feature them in an upcoming episode.

✅Keywords: personal leadership, ai, gen x, gen z, millennials, prompting, prompt pipelines, financial literacy, health literacy, ai literacy, vibe coding, strengthsfinder

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 in HR tech is evolving fast, but not always meaningfully. Emre Ok shares how to separate hype from real innovation, why context matters more than features, and how remote teams can stay connected in a world of AI-generated feedback. This episode explores practical ways leaders can use AI to enhance - not replace - human connection at work.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/760

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to evaluate AI tools for real business impact
• Ways to use AI to improve performance reviews and feedback
• Why context-aware AI agents are the future of HR tech
• How remote teams can build stronger connections
• What leaders should ask before adopting new AI solutions

✅ Highlights

• “Is the tech you're implementing making your employees lonelier?”
• “You might as well just go to ChatGPT on another browser.”
• “We didn’t want to do it just to put a sparkly AI icon on our website.”
• “Performance reviews get such a bad rep, especially when they're an Excel spreadsheet.”
• “If it has context, if it knows your people, that's when it's real.”
• “The talent pool is global now—and that’s both exciting and frightening.”
• “Checking for bias is always an option.”
• “Copilot didn’t live up to the hype—but it’s getting there.”
• “The office just isn’t a necessity anymore.”
• “You don’t want to force it, but you want to encourage it.”
• “The more AI adapts to how people work, the better it gets.”
• “It’s harder to detach from work when your bedroom is also your corner office.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Teams - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/download-app
• TeamFlect - https://teamflect.com/
• Microsoft Copilot - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot/for-individuals/
• ChatGPT by OpenAI - https://chatgpt.com/

✅Keywords
ai in hr tech, remote work, performance reviews, microsoft teams, copilot, employee engagement, feedback tools, bias detection, teamflect, chatgpt, hr software, workplace technology

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

Tanja Wiehoff shares her journey from musical theatre to Microsoft 365 consulting, revealing how she helps organisations adopt Copilot and build an AI-first mindset. She outlines practical strategies for executive training, change management, and fostering AI fluency across teams.

👉 Full Show notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/759

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to guide organisations through Copilot adoption
• Ways to build an AI mindset across different roles
• Why executive buy-in is critical for AI success
• How to run effective Copilot workshops and labs
• What makes AI fun and engaging for everyday users

✅ Highlights

• “You have to build up an AI mindset with all the employees.”
• “Executives have to be a role model when it comes to AI usage.”
• “It doesn’t make any sense to train them and then leave them alone.”
• “Copilot isn’t always faster—it’s better quality and more creative.”
• “We enable users before they even get a Copilot licence.”
• “It’s not always about ROI—sometimes it’s just better work.”
• “I use Copilot nearly every hour.”
• “You need ongoing training and a knowledge platform.”
• “Fun use cases matter—even if they don’t save money.”
• “There’s no blueprint—it depends on company culture.”
• “Executive sessions must be fast-paced and interactive.”
• “The service agent even suggests when to publish the survey.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft 365: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365
• Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot
• Viva Connections: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-viva/connections
• Viva Engage: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-viva/engage
• SharePoint Online: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration
• GPT-5 (OpenAI): https://openai.com/gpt-5
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
copilot, ai mindset, microsoft 365, executive training, change management, viva engage, sharepoint online, gpt-5, intranet, service agent, adoption strategy, business transformation

Support the show

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

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/758

Hosts: Mark Smith, Meg Smith

Ethical AI starts with transparency, accountability, and clear values. Mark and Meg unpack responsible AI principles, why non-deterministic systems still need reliability, and how ‘human in the loop’ and logging keep people accountable. They share a simple way to judge tools: trust, data use, terms that change, and clarity on training. You’ll see how to set personal and organisational boundaries, choose vendors, and schedule reviews as risks evolve. They also consider a public call to pause superintelligence, and argue for critical thinking over fear.

Join the private WhatsApp group for Q&A and community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/E0iyXcUVhpl9um7DuKLYEz

🎙️ What you’ll learn
- Build an ethics checklist around transparency, fairness, reliability, privacy, inclusiveness, and accountability.
- Evaluate tools for training stance, data use, privacy, and changing terms.
- Design human-in-the-loop workflows with unique credentials, logging, and audit trails.
- Set personal and organisational boundaries for acceptable AI use.
- Plan a review cadence to reassess risks, mitigations, and vendor changes.

✅Highlights
“we're going to be squarely in the land of robotics very soon.”
“the intelligence age is so much more than just AI it is the age of intelligence”
“if you're an unethical individual, AI is probably going to amplify it.”
“there is no ethical AI without transparency.”
“people should be accountable for AI systems.”

🧰Mentioned
Microsoft Responsible AI principles https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/principles-and-approach#ai-principles
IBM AI course https://www.ibm.com/training/learning-paths
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@nz365guy
Roomba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba
Zoom TOS https://termly.io/resources/zoom-terms-of-service-controversy/

Connect with the hosts

Mark Smith:
Blog https://www.nz365guy.com
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy

Meg Smith:
Blog https://www.megsmith.nz
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/megsmithnz

Subscribe, rate, and share with someone who wants to be future ready. Drop your questions in the comments or the WhatsApp group, and we may feature them in an upcoming episode.

✅Keywords:
responsible ai, ethical decision-making, transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy and security, non-deterministic, human in the loop, audit trail, intra id, superintelligence, terms

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

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

Discover how automation and AI are reshaping enterprise operations through the Microsoft Power Platform. Joe Leo shares real-world use cases, lessons from scaling automation across 10,000+ users, and insights into integrating RPA, Power BI, and AI for smarter business processes.

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Build scalable automation using Power Platform tools
• Replace manual checklists with real-time digital workflows
• Use canvas apps to improve data quality and reduce maintenance
• Integrate RPA with model-driven apps for centralised control
• Navigate career shifts and personal branding in a competitive tech market

✅ Highlights

• “Macros were the way to automate work before Power Platform.”
• “We had over 10,000 licenses… scaling to 100,000 users.”
• “Cleaning logs on a clipboard became a canvas app with photo uploads.”
• “200 Excel files emailed weekly—now replaced by a single app.”
• “We deployed to 1,000 users in two weeks during COVID.”
• “We created a model-driven app as a control station for automation.”
• “Instead of inbox triggers, we used canvas apps to cleanse data.”
• “Maintenance is the hidden cost—bots went offline mid-process.”
• “Power apps are agile—changes deployed during a single call.”
• “LinkedIn job posts get 100+ applicants in 15 minutes.”
• “You’ve got to articulate your brand in a few minutes.”
• “You can’t just build, deploy and forget—maintenance is ongoing.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Power Platform - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform
• UI Path - https://www.uipath.com/
• Excel Macros - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/quick-start-create-a-macro-741130ca-080d-49f5-9471-1e5fb3d581a8
• Canvas Apps - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/canvas-apps/

✅ Keywords
automation, power platform, canvas apps, model-driven apps, power automate, rpa, ai integration, business process, power bi, data quality, career branding, enterprise tech

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 is transforming how businesses use data—but most are still stuck with outdated models. In this episode, Brian Perks shares how to unlock high-impact insights by shifting from fragmented data to identity-driven ecosystems. Learn how to optimise your ideal customer profile, reduce waste, and build scalable, AI-powered sales strategies.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/756

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to eliminate low-value data and focus on high-conversion targets
• Why identity-based data is critical for fraud prevention and sales activation
• How to optimise your ICP for repeatable, scalable growth
• What LinkedIn advertising gets wrong—and how to fix it
• How startups can access enterprise-grade data tools

✅ Highlights

• “We are making the data available to the platform in its entirety.”
• “You only want the sales, the marketers, the people that are going to buy your products.”
• “Companies using 5x5 data have customers that essentially stay forever.”
• “AI cannot spontaneously generate your email address or mobile number.”
• “We act as the barometer to let you into the room and see the digital universe.”
• “LinkedIn has been your professional resume. It is not Facebook for business.”
• “Most companies don’t run the kind of analytic to understand their soft costs.”
• “IP-based ABM marketing hits every device on that IP—you’re paying for all of them.”
• “Small companies no longer have to be in the data business first to build data-enabled products.”
• “AI models still depend on human journalistic research.”
• “Publishers are getting scraped 1000 times per visitor under fair use.”
• “We’re going to need AI shepherds to verify and validate output.”

🧰 Mentioned

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/sales-navigator
• CloudFlare - https://www.cloudflare.com
• Claude - https://claude.ai
• Xandr (Microsoft Advertising): https://www.xandr.com

✅Keywords
ai sales, identity data, fraud prevention, data licensing, linkedin advertising, b2b marketing, ideal customer profile, sales activation, publishing models, audience extension, data utility, generative 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

Amanda Sterner shares practical insights on how Microsoft Loop and Copilot are reshaping collaboration, productivity, and digital adoption. From overcoming tool resistance to driving change through Champions programs, this episode offers actionable strategies for tech professionals navigating modern workplace transformation.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/755

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How Loop enhances personal and collaborative workflows
• Ways Copilot unlocks value in underused Microsoft 365 apps
• Why fast, iterative cloud innovation beats slow release cycles
• How to build effective Champions programs for tech adoption
• What blocks Copilot adoption—and how to overcome it

✅ Highlights

• “Loop came. It looks beautiful. I was hooked immediately.”
• “I want to be able to use it when I don’t have Wi-Fi.”
• “Copilot can help us in apps we’re not used to working with.”
• “I hate Excel. But now I’m a very average user of Excel.”
• “Copilot fixes it for me, or at least points me in a direction.”
• “Copilot makes so ugly things.”
• “Champions is the most flexible, price-worthy way of driving change.”
• “You don’t need lurkers. You need people who want to be champions.”
• “Change doesn’t magically happen by itself.”
• “It’s not just saving your files in the cloud—it’s how you work.”
• “If people don’t want to put the time on it, remove their licence.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Loop - Microsoft Loop: Collaborative App | Microsoft 365
• Microsoft Copilot - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot
• Microsoft 365 - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series: How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
copilot, loop, microsoft 365, champions program, productivity, collaboration, excel, powerpoint, cloud, digital adoption, employee experience, ai tools

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