E38: How Adam Alfano Is Leading Salesforce Into Its AI Era
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Release Date: 06/27/2025
E38: How Adam Alfano Is Leading Salesforce Into Its AI Era
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
, EVP of Global SMB and Emerging Products at Salesforce, joins Kyle Norton to share what it takes to lead through change at scale. Over 17 years at Salesforce, Adam has navigated market cycles, evolving go-to-market models, and now the rise of AI—while building and inspiring high-performing teams. He explains how to stay relevant as a leader, scale culture across thousands, and embrace mindset as a competitive advantage. Kyle and Adam also dig into Salesforce’s AgentForce strategy, how AI is transforming sales execution, and why adaptability is the most underrated leadership skill. Thanks...
info_outline
E37: Jason Wolf on Uncovering Hidden Growth Opportunities in Go-To-Market
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Jason Wolf, President of FullStory and former CRO at Ping Identity and SAP Ariba, joins Kyle Norton to share how companies unlock step-change growth by entering new markets, building new capabilities, and aligning cross-functional teams. Jason has led revenue growth from $200 million to $1.6 billion and brings hard-won lessons from scaling globally.
He explains how to time multi-product and multi-region moves, validate new growth bets, and build strategies driven by customer pull rather
info_outline
E36: Why Product Thinking Beats Process Obsession in GTM with Sangeeta Chakraborty
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Most GTM teams operate in straight lines. Sangeeta Chakraborty believes they should function more like product organizations, with constant iteration, testing, and learning.
In this episode, the former CRO of Miro shares how applying product management principles helped her design go-to-market systems that reflect the full customer journey. She explains how her team ran structured GTM experiments, embraced cross-functional collaboration, and built systems for long-term customer growth. K
info_outline
E35: Building a Multi-Product Platform with Seismic’s CRO, Hayden Stafford
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
In this episode, Kyle Norton sits down with Hayden Stafford, President and CRO at Seismic, to unpack what it really takes to transform a company from a single-product business into a true multi-product platform. Drawing from his experience leading global teams at Microsoft and now steering Seismic toward half a billion in ARR, Hayden shares the go-to-market, organizational, and cultural changes required t
info_outline
E34: Why Enablement Is the Most Overlooked Growth Lever with Luke Arno, CRO of Transcend
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Is enablement the most overlooked growth lever in sales? Luke Arno thinks so—and he’s got the track record to prove it.
In this episode, Kyle Norton talks with Luke Arno, CRO at Transcend and veteran of Salesforce, Box, and Segment, about how great enablement can drive real sales productivity. Luke breaks down his three-part framework—onboarding, ongoing development, and in-the-moment fiel
info_outline
E33: What It Takes to Be a Revenue Leader in the AI Era with Mike Donohue, CRO of 11x
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
What happens when a company completely replaces its SDR team with AI? In this episode, Kyle Norton sits down with Mike Donahue, CRO at 11X, to unpack how digital workers—AI agents named Alice and Julian—now generate over 90% of the company’s pipeline.
Mike shares how 11X is pioneering an AI-native go-to-market model, where full-cycle reps are supported by centralized agent orchestration, and where growth marketing owns what used to be outbound sales. You’ll hear how AI is reshapi
info_outline
E32: Layering SLG Without Breaking the Product with John Eitel
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Most product-led companies hit a wall when they try to add sales-led growth. Too often, the motions clash, teams misalign, and growth stalls. So, how do you scale revenue without sacrificing your product-led roots?
In this episode of The Revenue Leadership Podcast, Kyle Norton sits down with John Eitel, former Global VP of Sales & Success at Canva and CRO at Demandbase, about how to success
info_outline
E31: The Rise of the 10X SDR with Florin Tatulea of Common Room
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
In today’s episode, Kyle sits down with Florin Tatulea, Head of Sales Development at Common Room, to discuss the evolution of outbound sales in the context of AI and technology. Florin shares insights on the importance of understanding signals and intent in sales, the changing profile of sales reps, and the role of RevOps in strategizing outbound efforts. The discussion highligh
info_outline
E30: Building AI-Powered Sales Teams with Finally's CRO Kevin "KD" Dorsey
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Kevin "KD" Dorsey is the Chief Revenue Officer at Finally, an all-in-one accounting and finance platform that recently raised $200 million in Series B funding. KD joins the show to discuss real-world examples of how he uses AI in his day-to-day: from developing internal AI agents to evaluating his team's calls.
New episodes of The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton drop every Wednesday
info_outline
E29: Mastering Sales Commission Plans with QuotaPath's Ryan Milligan
The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
Kyle is joined by Ryan Milligan, VP of Sales, Marketing, and RevOps at QuotaPath, to discuss sales commission planning. They dive into the essentials of creating effective comp plans that align with business goals, the importance of incremental incentives, and how to drive desirable sales behavior. Ryan shares insights from h
info_outlineAdam Alfano, EVP of Global SMB and Emerging Products at Salesforce, joins Kyle Norton to share what it takes to lead through change at scale. Over 17 years at Salesforce, Adam has navigated market cycles, evolving go-to-market models, and now the rise of AI—while building and inspiring high-performing teams.
He explains how to stay relevant as a leader, scale culture across thousands, and embrace mindset as a competitive advantage. Kyle and Adam also dig into Salesforce’s AgentForce strategy, how AI is transforming sales execution, and why adaptability is the most underrated leadership skill.
Thanks for tuning in! New episodes of The Revenue Leadership Podcast drop every Wednesday.
Don’t miss GTM2025 — the only B2B tech conference exclusively for GTM executives. Elevate your 2026 strategy and join us from September 23 to 25 in Washington, D.C. Use code TOPLINE for 10% off your GA ticket.
Stay ahead with the latest industry developments and emerging go-to-market trends with Topline Newsletter by Asad Zaman. Subscribe today.
Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech hosted by Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman.
You’re invited! Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders, share insights, and keep the conversation going beyond the podcast!
Key chapters:
(00:00) - Introduction to Revenue Leadership Podcast
(00:54) - Guest Introduction: Adam Alfano from Salesforce
(02:45) - Career Lessons and Leadership Insights
(03:43) - Leading Through Change and Reinvention
(05:39) - The Importance of a Balanced Mindset
(08:05) - Scaling Mindset and Mental Fitness
(12:27) - Creating a Positive Team Culture
(16:18) - Competitive Stamina in SMB Sales
(17:42) - Scaling Corporate Athlete Mindset
(19:42) - Engaging with the Field and Team Feedback
(23:22) - Building Trust and Psychological Safety
(26:43) - Inspiring and Motivating Teams
(29:57) - Balancing Company and Team Culture
(33:21) - Evolving Company Culture Over Time
(40:02) - Reinventing Yourself in a Changing Market
(44:38) - Embracing an Evolutionary Mindset
(46:48) - The Importance of Experimentation and Learning
(48:38) - Shifting Perspectives on Sales Processes
(50:53) - Calculated Risks and Career Growth
(52:44) - Intentional Career Planning
(56:03) - Integrating AI into Sales Strategies
(01:00:38) - Driving Engagement with AI Tools
(01:04:37) - The Future of Sales with AI
(01:08:55) - Navigating Change and Fear in AI Adoption
(01:13:57) - The Role of Leadership in Market Adaptation
(01:17:39) - Lessons in Leadership and Team Dynamics