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Willy Bolander, PhD, is a faculty member in the College of Business at Florida State University. He also is a founding partner of Cordoba Parsons, a consulting firm specializing in using an organization’s unique context to improve employee development efforts. He holds a doctorate from the University of Houston and conducts research on interpersonal influence and informal organizational systems that drive employee development and performance. His work has been published in various outlets, including the Journal of Marketing. Bolander also has been featured in a variety of business publications, including Forbes.com, YFS Magazine, and the Military Times. In addition, he is co-founder of Go Foster!, a nonprofit dedicated to recruiting and retaining great foster and adoptive parents in Florida.

Willy Bolander

March 2017 - TD Magazine

Sales Training and Development Reboot

Some organizations are encouraging salespeople to try sweatworking (combining exercise with relationship-building activities) to improve performance.

For Stronger Relationships With Your Colleagues and Customers, Put in Some Sweat Equity

New research explores whether influence directed at each group (customers, internal business team, and external business partners) was predictive of actual, objective salesperson performance.

Think the Customer Matters Most? Consider Your Entire Portfolio of Relationships

Willy Bolander reviews research that offers insight into sales failure—and how sales managers can help combat unethical or negative behaviors that can develop.

(Mis) Managing Salesperson Performance Failure: When Good Intentions Produce Bad Behaviors

Need a Sales Performance Boost? Look Inside Your Own Organization

Hiring Sales People? Look for Experienced Sales Veterans or Inexperienced College Graduates?

The pace of innovation is rapidly accelerating, and artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to redefine how we work, learn, and connect with technology in surprising ways. From empowering new roles and fostering inclusivity, AI is on the brink of reshaping entire industries. As the year comes to a close, CYPHER Learning shares its predictions for how AI will continue to evolve in 2025. 1. A news-worthy blunder courtesy of AI oversightA Fortune 500 leader will deliver a high-profile keynote containing uncorroborated passages produced by generative AI—and regret it. Someone somewhere is going to embarrass themselves in 2025—probably someone we’ve all heard of, too—by inadvertently relaying plagiarized or inaccurate AI-generated content. Content sent up to the executive suite, unproofed, by a team that ought to know better. AI’s role is best governed by an 80-20 rule: Let it handle 80 percent of routine and tedious tasks, but human oversight is essential for the remaining 20 percent, which includes fact-checking, editing, and managing content. Left to its own devices, AI is still young and imperfect enough to mess up. It’s hard to imagine a time when it—and we—won’t need human overseers. While AI has sparked fears of workforce disruption, especially in creative fields, the reality is that it empowers talented professionals—writers, teachers, designers—by taking on routine work, allowing them to focus on the creative and strategic judgment that will be even more valuable in the years to come.2. Prompt engineering will no longer be crucial2024 conventional wisdom: mastering AI requires mastering prompt engineering. 2025: never mind. Not long ago, we were told that to use AI effectively, users would need to master complex prompt design. But this idea is quickly proving outdated. Generative AI is increasingly embedded as a user-friendly, intuitive feature in everyday applications, and soon, any app without AI will seem behind the curve. The belief that specialized skills are required for AI is fading, which is a positive shift since this notion could have limited AI’s potential and widened existing digital divides. Just as previous tech revolutions succeeded by being accessible to all, AI is evolving to understand natural language, user intent, and behavior, allowing a broader range of people to harness its power. Far from deepening digital divides, AI is poised to bridge them as it continues to develop.3. AI breaks into the C-suiteWe’ll see the emergence of a new, immediately vital C-suite position: CAO. Meet the Chief AI Officer (CAO). Much like CIOs and CISOs before them, who spent years pushing for a voice in corporate strategy, CAOs will now take a leading role as AI becomes central to modern business—bringing both vast potential and unique risks. Unlike past oversights that delayed cybersecurity’s rise to a top corporate priority, the importance of AI won’t be overlooked. The CAO will provide broad oversight across technical and ethical domains, integrating AI into key processes like product design, security, and communications. Not every task will need AI, though, and a high-ranking officer will be essential to set boundaries and make strategic decisions. As AI rapidly evolves, organizations will rely on the CAO to establish guidelines to ensure that AI is used responsibly, aligning with corporate goals rather than posing risks.4. AI-enhanced customer service for allUser satisfaction with retail customer service channels will do something incredible: go up. Customer-service horror stories about incoherent chat agents or frustrating voice recognition systems may soon be history. By 2025, generative AI and AI-driven analytics are set to transform automated customer service, creating friendlier, more efficient customer interactions. Imagine a voice agent that truly understands your request—whether it’s for a flight change or a prescription refill—rather than just parroting account details. Even better, advantages like these won’t be limited to massive corporations and Fortune 500 companies. Small businesses can join in, using AI to create high-quality, personalized customer service with less effort, reduced costs, and wider reach. If there’s any downside to all this, it’s that consumer expectations for responsive, intelligent service will rise, with companies that fail to catch the AI wave risking being left in the dust.5. Personalized workplace development displaces old-school trainingPersonalized workplace development will become the new standard, displacing old-school, one-size-fits-all training. With hang-onto-your-hat speed, personalized training is accelerating rapidly, becoming more feasible both economically and logistically for large enterprises with thousands of employees. Modern learning platforms, powered by conscientiously deployed AI, drive this shift, allowing companies to provide dynamic, on-demand upskilling tailored to individual needs. By 2025, we’ll see bite-sized lessons seamlessly fitting into unique workflows, empowering companies to reduce worker-error rates, boost competitiveness, and turn workplace development from a cost center into a value-generating engine. The outdated, linear training approaches—often disruptive and off-target—will be replaced by a hybrid model, blending still-relevant traditional coursework with rich, interactive experiences. As AI enables companies to create targeted, context-appropriate training regimes for everyone, employee satisfaction will grow, turning previously tedious tasks into engaging, job-relevant learning opportunities.How can you leverage AI going into 2025?As AI continues to evolve in 2025, its potential to boost productivity, streamline customer experiences, and drive innovation will only grow. By embracing AI thoughtfully—focusing on responsible use, clear oversight, and leveraging its strengths for routine tasks—users can maximize its benefits while minimizing risks. Whether you’re a leader looking to integrate AI into strategic initiatives or a professional aiming to enhance daily workflows, now is the time to explore how AI can elevate your future. 

5 Bold Predictions for AI in 2025

Jennifer Myers is currently a PhD Graduand at Penn State and will be graduating in May 2015. Her degree focus is Workforce Education and Development, specializing in Human Resource Development and Organization Development. She received her Masters degree from Boston University and is also a graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Jennifer is a practitioner in the field of Human Resource Development for the Federal Government. Prior to transitioning to her current position, Jennifer served as an Instructor for the Professional Personnel Development Center (PPDC) at Penn State. Jennifer is also an Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veteran and is a recipient of numerous service awards, some of which include the Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold Bolder, Meritorious Unit Award, and multiple Commendation Medals. She served in the United States Air Force and was a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI).   Her current research interests are employee engagement and career development. She is also an author and co-author of multiple publications and presentations focused on engagement, diversity, healthcare, and career development.

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