Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
Generative AI has moved beyond “gee whiz.” In January, BCG released results of a survey showing that 90% of CEOs were waiting for generative AI to evolve “past the hype.” But some of the most innovative business leaders are already embracing AI. Some 72% of respondents to Fast Company’s Survey of Innovation Excellence, for example, say they are actively incorporating generative AI tools into their business processes or finished products. Here are just a few examples of how CEOs are thinking about AI at their companies and in the business landscape. (Answers edited for length and clarity.)
JESPER BRODIN, CEO OF INGKA GROUP, THE HOLDING COMPANY THAT OWNS AND OPERATES IKEA STORES
“It’s deeply inspiring, deeply [filled with] potential, and deeply dangerous at the same time. For us, we’ve been using AI but more in technical ways of [automating] customer service and improving our logistic positions. We want to deepen the dialogue with people around what they need in life [and] at home. You will see us be incredibly ambitious about making a contract with people on how we use data. You need to approve how we can use your data so we can use it to your benefit.
“In our line of business, people search for products, finding and buying them. [AI] is about being accessible and making [that process] easy. People are looking for inspiration. That’s another ballgame, when people are just browsing ideas, tips, and so on. IKEA sits on decades of massive learnings from being not only in dialogue [but] doing real home visits [and] accumulating knowledge, and we want to apply machine learning to that.”
JEFF MAGGIONCALDA, CEO, COURSERA, AN ONLINE COURSE PROVIDER
“We have already translated 4,000 courses into 18 languages. It used to cost $10,000 to translate one 10-hour course into one language. We can now do that for $20. The global accessibility of the top industry experts and university professors on Coursera is now no longer bound to people who speak English. The models are getting better and better. We are doing more languages, and we are retranslating the courses every time a new model or a better model comes out.”
BILL MCDERMOTT, CEO, SERVICENOW, AN ENTERPRISE CLOUD COMPUTING COMPANY
“Technology fosters jobs. It fosters opportunity. I think gen AI is the biggest opportunity. It is the iPhone moment for enterprise for sure. In terms of reskilling and retooling people, that will have to happen. Six out of 10 people will need to be retrained for this new economy, but it is a great opportunity. Most of the jobs they’re doing right now are soul crushing.”
NIGEL VAZ, CEO, PUBLICIS SAPIENT, A TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING COMPANY
“I think companies are deploying generative AI on a spectrum of opportunities. Some are creating content for new products and services, unleashing people who historically have not been able to write code and [can now] create things faster. [AI] is moving us forward to a future where [the solutions to] more problems that couldn’t be solved today are starting to become more accessible—you’re on some sort of intelligence continuum. All of this of course needs to be done responsibly, securely, [and to protect], but I think what is exciting is how much stuff you can do today that you can do better and faster, and how much stuff you cannot do today you will [soon] be able to do.”
How is your company thinking about AI, and if you are CEO, are you still waiting for the hype to die down? What are some of the practical ways you’re using generative AI today, and what are your plans for the future? Write to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com and your answer may form the basis of a future newsletter.
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