Becoming A Change Agent w/ Vala Afshar | #BossTalks | Salesforce

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Boss Talk, a series featuring candid career advice from some of the best in the business. Today's episode is all about becoming a change agent. Gone are the days where big ideas only come from the top. Because in today's modern workplace, great ideas can come from anywhere. But the first step to inspiring change at your company is to inspire the people around you. So today, we're going to break down everything you need to know about thinking big and bringing others along for the journey. To help me out, I've invited one of the most inspiring and influential change agents I know. Vala Afshar is Salesforce's chief digital evangelist. He's also an author and a columnist, as well as the co host of Disrupt tv, a weekly show covering the latest digital business and innovation trends. Vala, welcome to Voss Dogs.

Hi Ebony. Thank you so much for the kind introduction.

So your work requires you to see around corners. And I think for a lot of us, the past couple years have put us into reactive mode, which makes it sometimes really difficult to see beyond today, like the here and now. So how do you take a step back and inspire people to think about the future?

You know, our founders often remind us the importance of maintaining a beginner's mindset free of prejudice. Curious. An appetite for learning. If you have children, you know what a beginner's mindset is all about. Asking those difficult questions with why, why, why? I also believe that in the long run, you know, the optimists create the future. So my methodology in terms of trying to share knowledge is to be optimistic. I am very much an optimist when it comes, when it comes to the future, I also think that, you know, if you're working to make the world a better place, invite good people to join you. And inspiration, in my experience, really starts with trust. I don't know how you can inspire someone until you've earned their trust. And when it comes to creating and sharing content, I'm always mindful of, you know, the difference between manipulation and inspiration. I think there's a fine line that exists and that line is defined by your intent. What's motivating you to share? What are you trying to accomplish? Ultimately, I think if the goal is to educate and inspire and ignite positive action, then, you know, you earn trust and over time, hopefully you can help people make better, more informed decisions.

So I love that you what you said about trust. But another part of being a change agent is about being able to identify potential solutions. And then another part is that inspiring that Change and inspiring action in others. And that requires sometimes buy in from other people, whether it's from your team or maybe even your company. So how do you sell an idea?

So in order to sell an idea, I think, you know, you have to demonstrate that you're able to execute. Again, the greatest ideas could fall apart if you don't have those muscles to execute. And so it goes back to earning trust. I think at the end of the day, you also have to be flexible. In my experience, the smartest people I know, and I'm fortunate to work with a lot of them, they often change their mind. So they do. So sometimes the idea might not stick, might not resonate. But you know, over time, I think if you earn their trust and you demonstrate you're able to execute, it may just be poor timing. And lastly, I guess I would say is lead with the why. Often people that pitch ideas to me really quickly go into the how and the what, and I'm still sitting there going, well, why does this matter? And so they don't quite start with the why. I think that's important in terms of selling an idea.

Let's say you have this big idea and it gets greenlit. Sometimes you can feel this overwhelming sense of responsibility. Like if things don't work out, it's all going to be my fault. Everybody's going to blame me. The idea, the company's going to fail, like, blah, blah, blah. What's your advice for quieting that little voice in your head that tells you that it's not going to work out? That fear? How do we quiet that fear?

When you're trying to innovate, when you're trying to create at the speed of need, it's important to not be afraid. It's important to have safe space. I think it was Seth Godin who said, people are not afraid of failure, they're afraid of blame. To overcome that little voice you mentioned and that potential fear that may exist in your team or in yourself when you take on a big assignment, I think you should try to minimize the existence of a blame culture. Stop pointing fingers when things go wrong. Own your own mistakes. Forgive first, show vulnerability. As a leader, I think that's the best way to earn trust. You know, perfect people don't exist, perfect products, perfect solutions. So you just have to constantly get better. And if you do that, I think you can quiet that voice. But please don't completely ignore it, because I think sense of urgency, accountability, it's a pretty good thing.

A little bit of fear is healthy, that that that was put in us for a reason.

Exactly.

So, Vala, you are the perfect person to ask this question. We get this a lot on boss talks and it's about thought leadership. And so I've been saving this question for you. So let's say that you're a subject matter expert at work. How do you take that and turn it into thought leadership? How do you turn your platform into a thought leadership platform versus just a leadership platform?

So I think for you to establish yourself as a trusted advisor, as a trusted voice, you have to continuously challenge assumptions, starting with your own. And it was only in my 40s when I shifted from a silo mindset to a flow mindset. I realized that when I learned something or if I'm inspired by content, the next step is for me to share it. Networking is about sharing. The benefit of sharing content is you have other subject matter experts that can help you better strengthen your thesis and at the same time create social proof for your for your views and your and your thinking. So it helps your clarity of thought. It just overall helps your thinking. And the last thing is to build and scale your network. So the benefit of sharing is you do get to scale your voice and you get to create these meaningful connections where by purposefully going to people that may have thought differently than me or have done different work and actually listen with interest. I've been doing that the last decade and it has turbocharged the way I just think and view how I can help companies and individuals grow themselves.

Do you have to be active on social media to be a thought leader? Do you think?

I think cadence matters when you look at professional athletes who practice their free throws hundreds of times before the game. So I think in order to keep up, you have to put into reps. Next time you find something interesting, hit that share button and do that over time and people will gravitate towards you. It's not about push, it's about understanding the power of pull. If you produce content that can help people grow and be better at home, at work, you end up pulling their attention. And that actually goes back to your other question. Gives you an awesome sense of responsibility to maintain that cadence.

What are your tips for getting started with content? I mean, I think it's never too late, but then, I mean, you have to start somewhere. And I love some of the tips you already shared, but what are your thoughts for folks?

You know, as someone again who went to school for engineering and wrote code for the first 10 years, it's not natural for me to do this. So My advice to anybody who's listening, you know, you have to intentionally struggle. Writing for me is a struggle. Speaking for me is a struggle. Small talk for me is a struggle. I love it, but it's a struggle. So if you have butterflies in your stomach as you're doing something, that's a good thing. Now, I'm not advocating for stress. You know, we're all struggling, but I do think stretching a little bit by sharing what you know is a start.

Well, boy, Vala, that just flew by. And we've come to my final question. It's my absolute favorite, so I'm excited that I get to ask it of you. So, Vala, what is your superpower?

I have a deep sense of gratitude for the good people in my life, especially my parents, my mom and dad. They're my heroes. I want to grow up to be my mom and dad. And, you know, the gratitude translates to being intrinsically motivated to try to live a recommendable life because both of them have lived a recommendable life. So I think being grateful can be. Can be a superpower.

I think so, too. And I think one of the other things I just want to highlight for those listening. I know you've probably heard it all throughout Vala's time with us today, but it's never too late to be a change agent. You highlighted the fact that you didn't just. You didn't grow up being a change agent. Your career wasn't about being a change agent on the latter half. You made some decisions that led you to now being a very powerful, above average change agent. And I'm so grateful to you for coming on and sharing with us all your secrets on how to make change in an organization. So my gratitude is for you. I'm feeling super inspired to make change, and I'm sure everyone else is too. So, Vala, thank you so much for joining us today.

Ebony, that was awesome. Thank you. You've just lifted me to whole new heights, so I thank you so much. It's a great privilege to be here.

Well, I hope you all really enjoyed today's conversation. And if you'd like to check out episodes of Boss Talks, check out the new Salesforce plus. And to continue Boss Building, head on over to trailblazer salesforce.com to join millions of trailblazers who are learning relevant skills, connecting to fellow trailblazers, and giving back with the Trailblazer community. With that, thank you all for tuning in to Boss Talks and we'll see you next time.