Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO Salesforce UK & I | Britain's AI Skills Gap

Jimmy's Jobs of the Future

Boxlight Creative Studio

Careers, Business, Technology

5.0 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thanks to Salesforce for Partnering on this episode, check out our new AI report here: https://www.jobsofthefuture.co/salesforce-ai-poll In this episode of Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future, Jimmy interviews Zahra at Salesforce’s new AI centre in London’s Devonshire Square, discussing careers, AI adoption, and skills. Zahra shares her first job in a pizza place, an early ambition to become a diplomat blocked by 1990s eligibility rules, and a 22-year career at Andersen Consulting/Accenture before moving to Salesforce. They discuss polling with Focal Data showing 51% of people have received no employer AI training and concerns about a widening digital divide. Zahra explains Salesforce’s focus on enterprise AI grounded in trusted company data with guardrails, the value of a physical AI centre for collaboration, and how she uses an internal AI Slackbot for daily task lists and meeting prep while staying critical and authentic. They cover AI benefits for mid-market firms, a Simplyhealth contact-centre example, and Salesforce’s Future Trailblazers schools program and call for a national “front door” for skills like Trailhead. 00:00 Intro 00:50 Inside Salesforce's New AI Centre 01:41 My First Job: Making Pizzas for £5 an Hour 03:48 From Diplomacy Dreams to Big Tech 06:31 Britain's AI Training Problem 09:07 Why Salesforce Built an AI Hub 10:46 How I Use AI Every Day 14:21 Why Authenticity Still Matters 15:07 The Priorities Every CEO Must Balance 16:15 Is an AI Divide Emerging? 17:40 Why Businesses Still Don't Trust AI 19:01 The Companies Winning With AI 22:23 Buy Commodity, Build to Differentiate 23:16 Which Skills Will Matter in the AI Era? 26:24 What I Look For When Hiring 30:07 A National Plan for AI Skills 32:40 Sending 1,000 Employees Into Schools 34:12 My Unexpected Dream Job 35:42 Final Thoughts ********** Follow us on socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimmysjobs Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jimmysjobsofthefuture Twitter / X: https://www.twitter.com/JimmyM Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-mcloughlin-obe/ Want to come on the show? hello@jobsofthefuture.co Sponsor the show or Partner with us: sunny@jobsofthefuture.co Check out our clips channel here! ⬇️ https://www.youtube.com/@JimmysJobsClips Credits: Host / Exec Producer: Jimmy McLoughlin OBE Producer: Sunny Winter https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnywinter/ Junior Producer: Thuy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Some follow the noise.
0:03.0	Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion
0:07.7	dollar swings.
0:08.9	There's a money side to every story.
0:11.4	Get the money side of the story.
0:13.5	Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.
0:20.7	The internet is coaching our kids.
0:23.4	When boys hear that on repeat, it shapes how they see themselves.
0:26.9	We can't leave it to those voices.
0:28.8	We have to be louder.
0:30.1	Together with e-e-e.
0:31.5	We need to coach them, guide them, back them.
0:34.1	Building our boys up every chance we get.
0:36.5	Be yourself.
0:37.3	Back your mates. Confidence comes from a vin.
0:39.8	As proud partner of the England's team's EE has support and guidance to help build all our boys up on and off the pitch.
0:46.8	Search EE Yes, boys.
0:48.9	Welcome to Jimmy's Jobs of the Future and this special episode with Salesforce and focal data. We teamed up with them to do some exclusive polling around AI and the workplace.
1:01.0	How it's being adopted, how many people are using it. I was quite struck by the fact that 61% people had said they had received no formal AI training.
1:11.6	And I think that is a really big challenge for the United Kingdom coming up.
1:17.6	We recorded this at the new Salesforce AI Center.
1:22.6	We recorded it in their studio, so it may sound a little different. but what I was so impressed by this is it's
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