WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.120 The other day, I learned two new terms, agent 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:06.860 boss and frontier firm. And I immediately thought, 00:00:07.059 --> 00:00:09.699 oh, wow, I can finally be the boss of something. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.919 Both of these terms I found in the latest Work 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:16.280 Trend Index annual report published by Microsoft 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:20.800 on April 23rd, 2025. The article defines frontier 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.019 firms as companies structured around on -demand 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:27.219 intelligence empowered by hybrid teams of humans 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:30.920 plus agents. These companies scale rapidly, operate 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:33.780 with agility, and generate value faster. And 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.259 illustrates the journey to becoming a frontier 00:00:36.259 --> 00:00:38.979 firm in a three -phased approach. Phase one, 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.219 humans with assistants. Every employee has an 00:00:42.219 --> 00:00:44.679 AI assistant that helps them work better and 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:48.140 faster. Phase two, human agent teams. Agents 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:51.179 join teams as digital colleagues taking on specific 00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:54.770 tasks at human direction. And phase three, human 00:00:54.770 --> 00:00:57.829 -led agent -operated. Humans set direction and 00:00:57.829 --> 00:01:00.469 agents execute business processes and workflows, 00:01:00.770 --> 00:01:03.369 checking in as needed. And it's in this final 00:01:03.369 --> 00:01:06.390 third phase that every employee becomes an agent 00:01:06.390 --> 00:01:09.430 boss, which by the way is defined as someone 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:12.569 who builds, delegates to, and manages agents 00:01:12.569 --> 00:01:16.390 to amplify their impact, working smarter, scaling 00:01:16.390 --> 00:01:19.230 faster, and taking control of their career in 00:01:19.230 --> 00:01:21.709 the age of AI. Now, the article says that it 00:01:21.709 --> 00:01:24.650 used seven indicators to identify who has an 00:01:24.650 --> 00:01:27.349 agent boss mindset, comparing company leaders 00:01:27.349 --> 00:01:30.069 in light blue to employees in dark blue. These 00:01:30.069 --> 00:01:33.329 indicators are familiarity with agents, regular 00:01:33.329 --> 00:01:37.870 AI usage, trust AI for high -stakes work, expect 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:41.510 to manage agents, use AI as a thought partner, 00:01:41.709 --> 00:01:45.480 see AI as a career accelerator, and saving one 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:48.280 hour more daily with AI. And I'm guessing many 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:50.719 of you watching can already check off some of 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:53.680 these boxes today, which is great because AI 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.620 skilling and digital labor are top workforce 00:01:56.620 --> 00:01:59.260 strategies for company leaders. Which brings 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:01.780 me to something tactical and the question this 00:02:01.780 --> 00:02:05.099 video poses, how can you become an agent boss 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:08.159 today, fast track your company to phase three 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:11.340 and secure your career? Now we already have the 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:14.169 tools and the technology. So let me share my 00:02:14.169 --> 00:02:16.669 thoughts on this. By the way, welcome to Collaboration 00:02:16.669 --> 00:02:19.189 Simplified. My name is Shervin Chaffee, and I 00:02:19.189 --> 00:02:21.949 work at Microsoft as a Co -Pilot Principal Technical 00:02:21.949 --> 00:02:25.030 Specialist. I've been bossing around agents for 00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:27.909 about a year now. It's fun, and I'm happy to 00:02:27.909 --> 00:02:29.729 share with you everything that I've learned. 00:02:33.569 --> 00:02:37.189 First, you need the Microsoft 365 Co -Pilot license, 00:02:37.349 --> 00:02:39.870 which is for work, by the way, not family or 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:43.039 personal use. Most agent features you build are 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.219 included with it as you can see in this graphic. 00:02:45.539 --> 00:02:48.400 You can also see what we will charge for additionally 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:52.139 using messages which cost about a cent a message. 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:55.039 Like autonomous triggers for example. Second, 00:02:55.259 --> 00:02:57.729 and this is very important. you'll need to start 00:02:57.729 --> 00:03:00.349 blending in business workflows with technical 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:03.330 solutions. It's perfectly fine to create agents 00:03:03.330 --> 00:03:05.250 for your own personal use and that's a great 00:03:05.250 --> 00:03:07.669 starting point. But if you start scaling your 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:10.449 agents to solve business pain points and automate 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:13.650 workflows, now we're talking. You're gonna get 00:03:13.650 --> 00:03:16.009 noticed. Here's some examples of the types of 00:03:16.009 --> 00:03:18.590 work various lines of businesses are engaged 00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:21.490 in. What workflow do you think you can automate 00:03:21.490 --> 00:03:23.789 in your business? Now that we've got some of 00:03:23.789 --> 00:03:25.870 the basics out of the way, it's time to start 00:03:25.870 --> 00:03:28.969 thinking about building agents. I propose a crawl 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:31.990 -walk -run approach, which overlays nicely with 00:03:31.990 --> 00:03:34.729 the agent spectrum that goes from simple to advanced. 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:37.669 On the simple side, I'd use Agent Builder to 00:03:37.669 --> 00:03:40.590 build some simple agents. either just for yourself 00:03:40.590 --> 00:03:42.770 or to share with your colleagues. And as you 00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:44.810 become more comfortable with agents and want 00:03:44.810 --> 00:03:47.129 to move to the middle part of the spectrum, now 00:03:47.129 --> 00:03:49.830 is a good time to get access to Copilot Studio 00:03:49.830 --> 00:03:52.729 and start building in there. Remember that business 00:03:52.729 --> 00:03:55.610 workflow and automation tip? Here's one that 00:03:55.610 --> 00:03:58.849 automates HR vacation booking with a connection 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:02.289 to ServiceNow. Remember, you're not locked in 00:04:02.289 --> 00:04:05.150 just to Microsoft products. You can easily connect 00:04:05.150 --> 00:04:07.590 these agents to non -Microsoft applications. 00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:10.650 There are many other ideas that I'm sure you 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:12.930 can come up with for your specific business. 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:15.349 Share them in the comments. And finally, to be 00:04:15.349 --> 00:04:18.089 a top -notch agent boss, you're going to need 00:04:18.089 --> 00:04:20.529 to make autonomous agents. Agents that automatically 00:04:20.529 --> 00:04:23.189 run in the background and do work that you tell 00:04:23.189 --> 00:04:26.230 them to do. This is really cool stuff and it's 00:04:26.230 --> 00:04:28.550 only going to get better as we add features like 00:04:28.550 --> 00:04:31.189 agents controlling agents. Which reminds me, 00:04:31.209 --> 00:04:33.790 you can easily get into Agent Sprawl. Too many 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:36.629 agents. And the article talks about dialing in 00:04:36.629 --> 00:04:39.769 the human to agent ratio. Too few agents per 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:43.430 person, you'll underutilize both agentic and 00:04:43.430 --> 00:04:46.069 human resources, leaving potential efficiencies 00:04:46.069 --> 00:04:49.509 on the table. Too many agents per person, this 00:04:49.509 --> 00:04:52.329 overwhelms the human capacity for applying judgment 00:04:52.329 --> 00:04:55.589 and decision -making, introducing business risk 00:04:55.589 --> 00:04:58.180 and potential employee burnout. But with the 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:00.579 optimal balance, agents enhance productivity 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:03.899 and innovation while humans provide robust guidance 00:05:03.899 --> 00:05:06.519 and oversight. Oh, and as cool as it is to build 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:08.439 your own agents, don't forget that there's an 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:10.800 app store with pre -built agents that you can 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:13.779 use already. With that, I hope you now have some 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:16.420 concrete steps you can take to become an agent 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:19.480 boss. And for your next video, I recommend you 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:22.040 watch this. It'll go into more details about 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:25.120 the different types of agents, demos, how they're 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.160 built, and provide links to other videos with 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.819 step -by -step building instructions. Don't forget 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.279 to give this video a like and I'll catch you 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:34.100 on the next one.