412- Nuclear Bombs, F-35s, and Herding Cats w/Stephen Salaka

You've Been Heard

Philip Howard

Tech News, Technology, Business, Management, News

0.0 • 0 Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stephen Salaka has a PhD in psychology and builds nuclear weapons systems. Then he learned the hardest truth in tech: AI can't fix what humans won't adopt. Stephen Salaka wanted to build nuclear bombs. A lab accident sent him to computer science. A stint in Japan taught him his real superpower: making humans actually use the technology he builds. Now he's a CTO with a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. That combination makes him dangerous to every AI myth floating around C-suites. "The biggest fundamental misconception is AI is going to be a panacea for everything," he says. "The real trouble most organizations face is the people." We get into why UPS's maintenance system failed for years until Stephen added change management, how vibe coding should stop at the prototype stage, and why the AI bubble collapse is coming faster than anyone thinks. Plus his framework for bringing order to chaos without mandates. The payoff: Stephen's lived at the fault line between brilliant technology and stubborn humans. He knows which one wins. Key takeaways: Change management isn't optional - it's the actual product you're delivering; Vibe coding works for prototypes, then convert to proper backend components; Smooth processes first, then speed follows - not the other way around

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to another episode of You've Been Her.
0:12.0	Today we've got Dr. Stephen Slaka, and he's coming to us with an interesting take on not only AI, but just technology and the utilization
0:22.4	of technology within the organizations.
0:25.6	Steven, if you'd like to introduce yourself, please, sir.
0:28.6	Yeah, thanks for having me, Mike.
0:30.0	So my name is Stevenus Bacca.
0:31.8	A long time ago in a galaxy is far, far away,
0:34.2	I wanted to build nuclear bombs.
0:36.2	But unfortunately, that really didn't pan out.
0:39.1	There's a little bit of an accident and a couple injuries along the way. So I pivoted to computer
0:43.4	science. I've always wanted to do stuff with computers. I found myself in Japan. And that's when I
0:48.6	learned my real superpower. It's hurting cats. I learned that I'm really good with technology,
0:53.6	but I'm even better making
0:54.8	sure that people know exactly where they need to do. So I went out there, got my MBA. And then a little
0:59.6	thing, a PhD and industrial organizational psychology. This is where it gets interesting, because when
1:04.8	you're in the technology world, everybody thinks of technology problems and software and hardware.
1:10.3	But the real trouble that most organizations face is the people.
1:14.7	And so with that degree in I.O. psychology, now all of a sudden we're looking at ways of
1:19.6	how can we create those better requirements.
1:21.7	How can we better engage its teams?
1:23.7	And so that's where my career has led me across multiple continents, leading global
1:27.1	organizations.
	...

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