AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series explores how AI is reshaping how organisations work, lead, and scale. Hosted by international AI trainer and speaker Valeriya Pilkevich, the show features conversations with senior leaders, innovators, and practitioners driving real-world AI transformation. Each episode reveals what it really takes to make AI work — from leadership and culture to data, governance, and everyday workflows.
Shamane Tan on Where Cybersecurity and AI Literacy meet
AI literacy and cybersecurity used to be two separate skills. Not anymore. The biggest AI risks inside most companies today don't come from hackers. They come from how employees use AI every day: what they paste, what they upload, which ungoverned tools they reach for to get work done faster. In this episode of AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series, I'm joined by Shamane Tan, founder at AMBA, best-selling author of three executive cybersecurity books including Cyber Risk Leaders and...
17 Apr 2026
Dr. Wendy Rasmussen on Why Upskilling Alone Won't Fix AI Adoption
Most organizations invest heavily in AI upskilling - and then wonder why adoption stays flat. The missing piece isn't more training. It's understanding whether your workforce is psychologically ready to change how they work. In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Wendy Rasmussen - licensed clinical psychologist, U.S. Navy veteran, and founder of Alpenglow Insights - who developed a diagnostic that measures the hidden psychological barriers blocking AI adoption across organizations. We...
10 Apr 2026
Sarah Mathews on why AI governance fails without a shared language (lessons from the Adecco group)
Most companies treat AI governance as a compliance exercise. But if your teams can't even agree on what counts as AI, your governance framework is built on sand. In this episode, I'm joined by Sarah Mathews - Global Responsible AI Manager at the Adecco Group - who leads AI governance, ethics, and literacy across 60 countries and millions of hiring decisions. We discuss: Why AI governance must start with a shared definition, not an inventory of toolsHow Adecco built role-base...
27 Mar 2026
Dave Drodge on Why Imagination Beats Efficiency in AI Adoption
Most companies treat AI as an efficiency play. Cut costs, save time, do more with less. But what if that mindset is exactly what's holding them back? In this episode, I'm joined by Dave Drodge - digital transformation and AI strategist with 25+ years across Roche, Novartis, Sony, and Amadeus - who argues the real AI opportunity isn't about doing things faster, it's about reimagining what your people and business can become. We discuss: Why "human in the loop" often means "pe...
20 Mar 2026
Tris Papakonstantinou on Why People Distrust AI and What Leaders Can Do
Most organizations treat AI trust as a compliance exercise. Check the box, file the documentation, avoid the fine. But compliance and trustworthiness are not the same thing. In this episode, I'm joined by Tris Papakonstantinou - cognitive scientist, co-founder of the Digital Trust Council, and PhD researcher at UCL - who studies why people trust or distrust AI and what it actually takes to shift those beliefs. We discuss: Why people judge AI on outcomes but judge humans on i...
13 Mar 2026
Shakil Awan on Building a 17000-Member Learning Community at Deutsche Telekom
Most companies invest millions in learning platforms - but the best learning communities are often built with zero budget and no permission. In this episode of AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series, I'm joined by Shakil Awan - Squad Lead and Product Manager for LEX at Deutsche Telekom - who transformed a simple idea into a 17,000-member peer-to-peer learning community with over 6,500 sessions per year. We discuss: Why self-organized communities fail without people given charge to lead th...
6 Mar 2026
Dr. Elisa Konya-Baumbach on the Psychology of AI Acceptance
AI adoption is failing in most organisations - not because of technology, but because of psychology. Even when AI demonstrably outperforms humans, people resist it. The question is: why? In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Elisa Konya-Baumbach - Professor of Consumer Psychology at Bern University of Applied Sciences and Co-Founder of humest - who has spent years researching the irrational human reactions that block AI adoption. In this conversation, we explore: The psychology behind AI resista...
27 Feb 2026
Dr. Benedikt Flöter on Turning AI Regulation Into a Business Advantage
The EU AI Act is live, but most companies are still treating it like another GDPR. It's not. It's a fundamentally different kind of regulation, one that's tied to how your business operates, not just how it stores data. In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Benedikt Flöter - Partner at YPOG and head of their AI and Emerging Technologies practice - who advises leadership teams on building legally compliant, scalable AI governance that actually drives business value. We discuss: ...
20 Feb 2026
Toju Duke on Why Responsible AI Is a Business Strategy, Not a Checkbox
AI is being rolled out at scale across industries - but the safeguards haven't kept up. Bias in AI has improved less than 5% despite years of awareness, agentic AI is amplifying risks faster than companies can manage them, and most organizations still treat responsible AI as a compliance checkbox rather than a strategic advantage. In this episode of AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series, I'm joined by Toju Duke - AI advisor, author, and former Google Responsible AI lead - who spent ...
13 Feb 2026
Tatevik Mkrtchyan on Building Learning Culture at Scale: IKEA's Skills-Based Approach
Most AI training programs fail not because of content, but because they ignore how people actually work. Shop floor employees, scheduled workers, and frontline teams need something radically different from desk-based learning. In this episode, I'm joined by Tatevik Mkrtchyan, Competence and Leadership Leader at IKEA Germany, who oversees learning strategy for 20,000 coworkers across 54 stores. We discuss: • Why AI training fails when it ignores frontline workers and shop flo...
6 Feb 2026
Mila Devenport on AI Literacy, Digital Wellbeing, and the Cognitive Offloading Crisis
Your employees can use AI tools, but do they understand their relationship with them? Most companies focus on "button-pressing skills" while ignoring the deeper question: are we building human capacity or accidentally outsourcing it? In this episode, I'm joined by Mila Devenport - AI ethicist, founder of Kigumi Group, and certified AI ethics assessor - who has spent over a decade working with digital natives, schools, and enterprises on digital wellbeing and responsible AI use. We discuss: Wh...
30 Jan 2026
Ashu Bhatia on Value Engineering and AI Strategy That Actually Works
Most companies invest millions in AI tools but fail because they skip the foundation that makes AI work. In this episode, I'm joined by Ashu Bhatia - Global Head of Dexian and Season Technology, AI Transformation Leader with 25+ years at Accenture, Microsoft, American Express, and Siemens, and author of "Value Creation" - who reveals why 60-70% of consulting work still focuses on data foundations, not AI deployment. We discuss: – Why messy data gets exposed (not fixed) by AI – The three...
23 Jan 2026
Nufar Gaspar on Building AI Champions and Agent Readiness at Scale
AI adoption is failing in most organizations - not because of the technology, but because culture, governance, and people enablement often gets ignored. In this episode, I'm joined by Nufar Gaspar - enterprise AI consultant, former AI leader at Intel where she built a 12,000-member AI champions community, and head of research at Superintelligent - who reveals the exact playbook for building AI capability at scale and preparing for agentic workflows. In this conversation, we explore: Why AI RO...
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