Best of LinkedIn: Strategy & Consulting CW 44/ 45

00:00:00: Welcome to the deep dive.

00:00:01: You know, looking across strategy and consulting right now, there's this really big shift happening.

00:00:06: It feels like the days of just bold transformation.

00:00:10: ideas on slides are kind of fading.

00:00:12: Yeah, they're over.

00:00:13: Leaders are now laser focused on operational discipline.

00:00:16: It's all about how you actually execute, how you measure things day to day.

00:00:19: Exactly,

00:00:20: how you make it real.

00:00:21: That's right.

00:00:21: And our sources, looking back over the last couple of weeks, CW-IV and IV-V, they absolutely confirm this.

00:00:27: The spotlights on execution, blending, tech, people, innovation, but making it tangible.

00:00:34: Getting results you can actually see.

00:00:35: Okay.

00:00:36: And before we really dive in, just a quick note for everyone listening.

00:00:39: This deep dive is provided by Thomas Elgair and Frennis.

00:00:42: It's based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about strategy and consulting in calendar weeks, forty four and forty five.

00:00:48: And Frennis, for those who track the space, specializes in B to B market research specifically for strategy and consulting teams with a real focus on tech and ICT.

00:00:57: So our goal here for you, whether you're working in M&A, private equity, venture capital, maybe consulting, is to really pull out the crucial bits, those high value nuggets.

00:01:07: We're going to focus on, let's say, three main areas.

00:01:10: First, the whole industrialization of AI.

00:01:13: Second, the sort of cultural human side of leadership and transformation.

00:01:16: And third, some key takeaways from the Innovation Roundtable Summit.

00:01:19: Sound good.

00:01:20: Sounds perfect.

00:01:21: Let's jump in.

00:01:21: OK, theme one.

00:01:23: AI, data.

00:01:25: And this term, people are using now the agentic enterprise.

00:01:28: I mean, AI is clearly moving fast from just being a pilot to becoming part of the real operating model.

00:01:34: But this shift towards multi-agent systems, that feels like the next step.

00:01:38: It really does.

00:01:39: What's so interesting is the conversation is already moving past just single large language models.

00:01:44: Now it's about agentic AI.

00:01:45: Right.

00:01:45: So specialized software agents, basically, that collaborate.

00:01:49: Automatically, they can analyze things, plan, execute, check compliance.

00:01:54: It's almost like having this internal team of digital workers.

00:01:58: An ecosystem of digital employees.

00:02:00: But that complexity, that immediately throws up a red flag for me.

00:02:04: Vinifa God had a point about this, didn't

00:02:06: he?

00:02:06: He did.

00:02:07: He warned that organizations often fail, not because they lack the capability, but because they fail at coordination.

00:02:15: So if you throw a genetic AI into the mix without solid coordination, well, you're just amplifying the chaos you already have, not amplifying strategy.

00:02:24: Right.

00:02:24: Amplifying chaos or strategy, that's a stark choice.

00:02:27: So is there a benchmark for doing this well?

00:02:31: Well, yeah, there's a pretty clear one emerging, actually.

00:02:34: Neha Cabra highlighted JP Morgan Chase.

00:02:36: Think about this.

00:02:38: They're investing eighteen billion dollars a year in technology.

00:02:40: Eighteen

00:02:41: billion.

00:02:42: Wow.

00:02:42: And two billion dollars of that is specifically committed to AI.

00:02:46: Neha noted this is already delivering returns that are growing thirty to forty percent annually.

00:02:50: Okay

00:02:51: hold on thirty to forty percent return that's huge.

00:02:53: but how I mean?

00:02:53: how are they measuring that?

00:02:55: is it just like hour saved or something simple?

00:02:57: No and that's the crucial part.

00:02:59: It's not just fuzzy metrics.

00:03:00: Their strategy was very execution driven.

00:03:03: Super rigorous.

00:03:04: First, they had to play their own LLM suite.

00:03:06: Their proprietary one broadly, across two hundred and fifty thousand employees.

00:03:09: Okay.

00:03:10: The goal there was just to embed usage, get people fluent first, build that muscle memory.

00:03:14: Makes sense.

00:03:15: But the financial success that thirty, forty percent comes from rigorously linking AI performance back to specific P&L improvements.

00:03:25: Yeah.

00:03:25: And return on equity.

00:03:26: They weren't way beyond just measuring activity.

00:03:29: They measured actual value delivered.

00:03:31: That link back to P&L and ROE, that's key.

00:03:34: Which makes the prerequisite good data governance even more critical, right?

00:03:38: Arvin Morley and others were talking about this.

00:03:40: Well,

00:03:40: absolutely.

00:03:41: They're hammering this point home.

00:03:42: Right.

00:03:43: If your master data management, your MDM, isn't solid, was those powerful AI agents, they're just going to amplify noise, not value.

00:03:49: They'll amplify the mess.

00:03:50: Precisely.

00:03:51: And we're seeing the failure rate already.

00:03:52: Yeah.

00:03:53: BCG found only about five percent of firms putting agents into production are actually seeing real value.

00:03:58: And why?

00:03:59: Primarily because their underlying data is just inconsistent.

00:04:02: It's messy.

00:04:02: Five percent.

00:04:04: That's incredibly low.

00:04:05: If the failure rate is that high, doesn't that make the market correction Gartner warned about seem well almost inevitable?

00:04:13: It certainly points that way.

00:04:14: Richard Pace from Gartner put out a note saying basically the supply of this agentic AI tech is currently exceeding the actual demand and it's being fueled by a lot of organizational FOMO fear of missing out.

00:04:27: Yeah,

00:04:27: everyone feels they have to do it.

00:04:29: Right, so it suggests we'll see consolidation.

00:04:32: The winners probably won't be the undifferentiated startups without scale.

00:04:35: It'll likely be the capital rich incumbents, you know, like Deloitte, who we saw scaling this internally pretty aggressively.

00:04:42: Deloitte.

00:04:43: Yeah, Tara Murphy, Sasha Seep, Alejandro, Dana Leason, they highlighted how Deloitte is building what they call a human led AI enabled workforce.

00:04:52: They're actually shifting their whole consulting model, moving from just traditional advice towards more productized services using an internal AI agent network.

00:04:59: So they're becoming the adaptable organization themselves.

00:05:02: Exactly.

00:05:02: They're acquiring the talent, integrating the tech, and aiming to deliver scaled, reliable agent-to-products.

00:05:09: They're living it.

00:05:10: And that pivot, that human-led AI-enabled idea, takes us straight into our second theme, leadership.

00:05:17: talent and culture.

00:05:19: Because as Deloitte's Tara Murphy pointed out, this is actually the really hard part.

00:05:22: It's about changing behavior.

00:05:24: It absolutely is.

00:05:25: And we saw quite a few posts really emphasizing this human side of performance.

00:05:30: Oh, I feel Webster, Rajiv Shnoy.

00:05:32: They were pointing out that the full value of AI isn't just about the tech stack, not at all.

00:05:37: It's fundamentally linked to creating a learning culture, an environment where employees feel psychologically safe enough to adapt to try things, maybe fail sometimes.

00:05:46: They actually positioned Joy, purpose, and psychological safety as strategic assets.

00:05:51: Things you need to sustain performance, especially through disruption.

00:05:55: Joy, purpose, and psychological safety as strategic assets.

00:05:58: I like that framing, but that completely changes the job description for the CHRO, doesn't it?

00:06:03: Oh, massively.

00:06:04: Jameson's argued, HR needs to evolve.

00:06:07: It can't just be administrative.

00:06:09: It has to become a growth engine.

00:06:10: And how?

00:06:12: By tightly aligning workforce skills with the actual strategic priorities of the business.

00:06:16: So getting the right skills in the right place.

00:06:18: Exactly.

00:06:19: He suggested CEOs need to pull their CHROs into the strategy room much more effectively.

00:06:25: Because if you have a skill misalignment, your strategy is basically dead before it even leaves the tower point deck.

00:06:30: Yeah, execution fails right there.

00:06:32: And this need for strategic alignment, it goes right up to the board level too, presumably.

00:06:36: It does.

00:06:37: Christy Elmer highlighted the board's role here.

00:06:39: She said it's non-negotiable.

00:06:41: Boards have to actively redesign executive incentives.

00:06:44: They need to explicitly tie rewards to sustainable performance, long-term value creation, not just short-term wins.

00:06:51: So moving beyond just ticking USG boxes.

00:06:54: Precisely.

00:06:54: It's about genuine governance driving long-term thinking, not just compliance.

00:06:59: Okay.

00:06:59: And building on that critique of just ticking boxes, Suvo Sarkar had an interesting interview with Rajiv Peshawarya.

00:07:06: They talked about replacing ESG with... ESL.

00:07:09: Yeah,

00:07:09: ESL.

00:07:10: Environmental, social and leadership.

00:07:12: The idea is simple, but quite powerful.

00:07:14: Instead of focusing just on compliance frameworks like ESG often becomes, you put purpose-driven leadership right at the core, Peshawaria argues.

00:07:22: this creates what they call a steward-led enterprise.

00:07:26: And the

00:07:26: claim is, these businesses demonstrate measurably greater longevity, more resilience compared to competitors just chasing quarterly targets through mandated compliance.

00:07:38: It's a fundamental shift from checking boxes to driving behavior change from the very top.

00:07:43: That makes sense.

00:07:44: So if we're talking about talent and leadership driving value, what about diversity?

00:07:47: There was that BCG study.

00:07:49: I asked the socioeconomic diversity study, SED.

00:07:52: James Leiden and John Williams presented that really critical findings.

00:07:56: They found that individuals who come from financially disadvantaged backgrounds consistently feel the least included at work.

00:08:02: OK,

00:08:03: that's concerning in itself.

00:08:04: But here's the really shocking strategic insight.

00:08:07: That feeling of not belonging often gets worse as people move up into senior levels.

00:08:12: Wow.

00:08:13: So companies are actually losing this talent pool at higher levels.

00:08:17: Effectively, yes.

00:08:18: They're failing to retain and promote them.

00:08:20: Which means they're leaving valuable capabilities on the table.

00:08:24: Capabilities that, frankly, companies desperately need in today's competitive landscape.

00:08:29: Building environments where everyone feels they belong isn't just nice to have.

00:08:32: It's key to unlocking that untapped potential.

00:08:36: That complexity.

00:08:36: balancing talent, purpose, financials, dealing with these inclusion gaps, it all involves tough choices, doesn't it?

00:08:43: Which kind of sets up that provocative idea from Nicholas Leiliakis about the consultants role.

00:08:48: Ah,

00:08:49: yes.

00:08:49: The surveyor of the tragic.

00:08:51: I thought that was fascinating.

00:08:52: Me too.

00:08:53: Explain that a bit.

00:08:54: Well, he suggests the consultants role is undergoing a dramatic shift.

00:08:57: Instead of being the engineer of the rational... you know, finding the single optimal lowest cost solution.

00:09:04: Right,

00:09:04: the perfect answer.

00:09:05: The consultant becomes the surveyor of the tragic.

00:09:07: Why tragic?

00:09:08: Because in today's world, almost every strategic choice, even if the net outcome is positive overall, involves some necessary cost, some painful trade-off.

00:09:18: It forces you to prioritize losses.

00:09:20: So you can't have it all.

00:09:21: The consultant's job isn't to find a silver bullet, but to help leaders navigate those unavoidable dilemmas, like reducing emissions might mean relocating jobs.

00:09:30: Exactly.

00:09:31: It's about helping leaders maintain coherence, acknowledge the real world pain points, rather than pretending some perfect painless solution exists.

00:09:40: It's a really powerful reframing of what strategic advice even means today.

00:09:45: It really is.

00:09:45: And that idea of strategic balance of managing trade-offs brings us nicely to our third theme.

00:09:51: innovation, growth, and the strategy playbook.

00:09:54: And a lot of insights here came from the Innovation Roundtable Summit in Copenhagen, right?

00:09:58: That's right.

00:09:59: That was clearly a focal point for corporate innovation chat in weeks forty-four and forty-five.

00:10:04: And unsurprisingly, AI was a huge topic there, too.

00:10:07: What was the vibe around AI at the summit?

00:10:09: Still hype or more practical?

00:10:11: Definitely moving towards practical integration.

00:10:14: Eggball Islamis summed up the feeling.

00:10:16: AI is shifting from just being a tool to becoming more like a collaborative teammate.

00:10:21: Davey Swice from Bosch was advocating for architecting ecosystems of humans and agents working together.

00:10:26: Humans and agents.

00:10:28: Okay, and speed was a factor too.

00:10:30: Huge

00:10:30: factor.

00:10:31: Charles Vain from MNN plus Hummel explained how they're actively recoding innovation with AI.

00:10:38: What does that mean?

00:10:39: It means shrinking that early research phase, the time it takes to turn faint market signals into something actionable from weeks down to just days.

00:10:47: Weeks

00:10:48: to days.

00:10:48: That's a massive acceleration.

00:10:50: It's

00:10:50: a huge competitive advantage if you can do it consistently.

00:10:54: But presumably the old tensions and innovations still exist, like balancing long-term bets with short-term needs.

00:11:01: Oh, absolutely.

00:11:02: To a roughing note, that's the recurring challenge, isn't it?

00:11:05: How do you find the bandwidth for those big, long-term transformative bets, the techno push when there's constant pressure to deliver short-term performance, the market pull.

00:11:14: Yeah, the tyranny of the urgent.

00:11:15: Exactly.

00:11:16: Jerome Christen from Air Liquid shared a really practical way they managed this tension, their eighty-twenty rule.

00:11:22: Eighty percent of their innovation effort is market pull.

00:11:25: directly addressing current customer needs.

00:11:27: Twenty percent is techno push, exploring those future breakthroughs, anticipating where the market or technology might go.

00:11:33: It's basically disciplined portfolio management but applied inside the Innovation Lab.

00:11:40: Simple, but effective.

00:11:41: And did the summit also touch on the human side, the culture needed for that kind of innovation?

00:11:46: Yes, definitely.

00:11:46: It reinforced those human-centric principles we talked about earlier.

00:11:50: Dr.

00:11:50: Andreas E. Wagner from Amazon emphasized their EPIC leadership model.

00:11:55: That stands for Empathy, Purpose, Inspiration, Connection.

00:11:59: Again, psychological safety was central.

00:12:01: Me too,

00:12:01: okay.

00:12:02: And Tom Donaldson from the LEGO Group shared something really interesting about leadership discovery.

00:12:06: He said sometimes they actually pause leadership.

00:12:09: Pause leadership, what does that mean?

00:12:11: It means they intentionally step back from formal hierarchy sometimes to let teams figure out for themselves who the natural leaders are for a particular challenge.

00:12:22: It shows they value bravery and real focus over just, you know, activity or title.

00:12:28: If you can pause hierarchy like that, you might unlock deeper creativity.

00:12:31: That's

00:12:32: a bold move, trusting the team to find its own leaders.

00:12:36: Okay, so this focus on strategic balance, portfolio management, it clearly links back to M&A and investment strategy too.

00:12:43: Absolutely.

00:12:44: Yishai Bass showcased lemonade's approach, which is almost a textbook example of the classic BCG matrix dilemma playing out in real time.

00:12:52: Ah, the growth share matrix.

00:12:54: How are they using it?

00:12:54: Well,

00:12:55: they're strategically balancing their big long-term bet, the auto insurance market, which is structurally unprofitable for them right now, but has huge growth potential.

00:13:03: That's their high risk question mark.

00:13:05: They're balancing that investment against the cash being generated by their mature, profitable products like pet and renters insurance.

00:13:13: Those are the cash cows.

00:13:15: So they're deliberately pacing the investment in the high growth, high risk area by funding it with profits from the stable businesses.

00:13:22: Discipline portfolio strategy.

00:13:24: Makes sense.

00:13:24: Using the cash cows to feed the question marks, hoping they become stars.

00:13:29: Classic strategy.

00:13:30: So.

00:13:31: Wrapping all this up, any final overarching playbook?

00:13:34: Well, Pierre Lorgarie from BCG tied a lot of this together.

00:13:39: He highlighted this staggering figure of potential three trillion dollar global GDP opportunity.

00:13:44: Three trillion?

00:13:45: From where?

00:13:45: Simply by bridging the performance gap that exists in mid-market firms.

00:13:49: It's not necessarily about inventing brand new tech, it's often about better execution and strategy in that middle segment.

00:13:54: So it comes back to operational discipline again.

00:13:56: It does.

00:13:57: Luggery suggests a clear four step playbook for CEOs in those firms.

00:14:03: One, set a really bold vision.

00:14:05: Two, embed that commitment across the entire business.

00:14:08: Three, make the tough choices which loops back to that survey or the tragic idea you have to prioritize.

00:14:14: And four, actively lead the change from the front.

00:14:17: Bold

00:14:17: vision, embed commitment, tough choices, lead change.

00:14:21: Yeah.

00:14:21: the common thread through almost everything we saw.

00:14:24: It's the absolute strategic need for continuous agility coupled with relentless operational discipline.

00:14:29: You need both.

00:14:30: Okay, so this deep dive really confirms it then.

00:14:32: Successful strategy today.

00:14:34: It's less about static blueprints, isn't it?

00:14:36: It's much more about actually operationalizing things like agentic AI, getting your arms around the data complexity that creates, and crucially building that human-centric culture, one that can handle complexity and strategic risk.

00:14:47: Couldn't agree more.

00:14:48: And... Maybe final thought to leave people with.

00:14:51: we talked about Nicholas Leo Lyakas's idea the consultant as the surveyor of the tragic if Organizations really are shifting moving away from purely maximizing profit towards maintaining coherence Amidst these constant often painful trade-offs.

00:15:08: Think about Volkswagen choosing the electric transition risking its whole industrial identity, right?

00:15:14: A huge, painful choice.

00:15:15: Exactly.

00:15:16: So the question for you is, how will you redefine success in your context when, as the oleaca suggests, maybe there is no single right solution, only a right position to take amidst those trade-offs?

00:15:27: Something to think about.

00:15:28: A very powerful question to end on.

00:15:30: If you enjoyed this deep dive, just a reminder that new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:15:34: And please do check out our other editions focusing on private equity, venture capital, and M&A.

00:15:39: Thanks for tuning in.

00:15:40: Thank you for joining us.

00:15:41: We'll see you on the next deep dive.