AI is no longer an experiment running in the backrooms of tech companies. Over the last two year it has become the new operating system for business — rewiring how organisations create, deliver, and capture value.

There are plenty of excited tech articles that will bamboozle you with complex terminology and mind-boggling systems. There are also plenty of dystopian societal  views that will focus on ethics and regulation. The reality is that it’s here, rapidly accelerating, and we should be using it. Practically, usefully, creatively, now.

What’s striking is not just the speed of adoption but the variety of ways it’s being applied. Across industries, AI is creating five big shifts that are transforming customer experiences, business models, and ultimately performance.

  • AI-driven personalisation: Making every interaction smarter, faster, and more human, at scale.

  • AI-driven intelligence: Turning supply chains, stores, and logistics into living, adaptive systems.

  • AI-driven discovery: Unlocking ideas and innovations that humans alone could not find.

  • AI-driven ecosystems: Expanding the boundaries of what businesses can do by orchestrating services across industries.

  • AI-driven sustainability: Tackling the planet’s toughest challenges while improving efficiency and resilience.

Let’s dive into 10 companies who illustrate these shifts in action — from TikTok to Coca-Cola, Insilico to DBS — to see how AI is reshaping the future of business.

Shift 1: AI-driven personalisation

The future belongs to businesses that know customers better than they know themselves. AI-driven personalization uses deep learning to decode individual behaviors, predict needs, and serve up hyper-relevant experiences in real time.

TikTok: The algorithm that became culture

TikTok isn’t just an app, it’s a cultural engine. Its meteoric rise — to over 1.7 billion monthly active users by 2024 — is powered by a recommendation system that feels uncannily personal. Unlike platforms that depend on who you follow, TikTok’s For You Page uses AI to predict what you want to see next, based on every swipe, pause, replay, and share.

The scale of this intelligence is staggering: TikTok reportedly processes billions of data points daily, and its machine learning models can identify emerging trends in hours, not weeks. That’s why songs, memes, or micro-trends can go viral globally within a day.

The business impact? In 2023, TikTok’s ad revenue hit $20 billion, rivalling Meta’s Instagram. Brands are drawn to its ability to micro-target audiences not by demographics but by behavior — a 15-year-old sneakerhead in São Paulo and a 45-year-old fashion fan in Seoul might both see the same dance trend, personalized in context.

TikTok has shown that personalisation is no longer about segments of one,  it’s about moments of one. And that redefines how consumer businesses think about engagement.

L’Oréal: Personalised beauty at scale

L’Oréal, the world’s largest beauty company, has turned AI into a makeover machine. For decades, beauty marketing was about broad categories: oily vs. dry skin, blonde vs. brunette hair. Today, L’Oréal uses AI to personalize beauty for millions of consumers worldwide.

Through its acquisitions of AI startups like ModiFace, L’Oréal enables customers to virtually try on lipstick shades, experiment with hair colors, and even simulate skincare outcomes. In 2022, over 1 billion consumers used its virtual try-on tools, either online or in stores.

Beyond front-end experiences, L’Oréal applies AI to product recommendations. Its “Perso” device, powered by machine learning, analyzes local environmental conditions (like humidity or pollution) and personal skin data to dispense customized skincare formulas at home.

The result? L’Oréal’s e-commerce sales have surged to 28% of total revenue (over €12 billion in 2023), with personalization tools shown to increase conversion rates by up to 30%. In a $600 billion beauty market, AI isn’t just a gimmick — it’s a profit driver.

Shift 2: AI-driven intelligence

AI is turning operations into self-optimizing systems that respond to demand in real time. This isn’t just efficiency — it’s agility at scale.

Inditex: From fast fashion to smart fashion

Inditex, the parent of Zara, has long been admired for its “fast fashion” supply chain. Now it’s becoming “smart fashion.” The company uses AI to analyze real-time sales, social media trends, and store data to predict demand and optimize inventory.

For instance, AI models suggest which designs to push to which regions, ensuring that stock is continuously aligned with hyper-local tastes. Store managers input feedback daily into handheld devices, which feeds back to headquarters and AI systems. The turnaround from insight to action can be measured in days, not months.

Financially, this intelligence pays off: Inditex posted record revenues of €35.9 billion in 2023, with net profit margins rising to over 14%, outperforming rivals like H&M. AI-driven operational efficiency is part of why Zara can keep offering new products twice a week without drowning in unsold stock.

Amazon: The machine behind the marketplace

Amazon’s obsession with customers is powered by an equally intense obsession with AI. From the moment a shopper clicks “buy,” an invisible army of algorithms takes over: predicting what products to stock, where to place them, and how to ship them in the fastest and cheapest way.

The company uses machine learning for demand forecasting, robotics in warehouses, and AI-driven routing systemsthat save millions of miles in delivery journeys. In AWS, Amazon even sells its operational AI expertise to other firms.

The impact is measurable. Amazon’s logistics network can deliver over 20 billion packages annually, and its same-day or next-day delivery promise is only viable because AI makes fulfillment hyper-efficient. In 2023, despite rising costs, Amazon’s operating income rebounded to $36 billion, showing how AI-driven intelligence can protect margins in low-margin businesses.

Shift 3: AI-driven discovery

AI doesn’t just optimise — it creates. By simulating, predicting, and experimenting at digital speed, AI unlocks new possibilities for innovation – ideas, communication, experiences and product development.

Insilico Medicine: AI as a drug hunter

Drug discovery is notoriously slow and expensive — often costing over $2 billion per drug and taking more than a decade. Insilico Medicine is flipping that script with AI.

The company’s AI platform, Pharma.AI, generates novel drug candidates by predicting how molecules will behave in the human body. In 2021, Insilico announced it had designed a new fibrosis drug in just 18 months at a cost of $2.6 million— a fraction of industry norms.

As of 2024, Insilico has 30+ drugs in its pipeline, with several in clinical trials. If successful, the approach could dramatically reduce healthcare costs and bring treatments to patients faster. Investors believe: Insilico has raised over $400 million and is valued above $1.5 billion.

Nestlé: Smart flavours and healthier foods

Food giants are also leaning on AI to innovate. Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, uses AI to develop new recipes, optimize flavors, and improve nutrition profiles.

For example, Nestlé’s AI systems analyze massive datasets of consumer taste preferences, ingredient interactions, and health outcomes to design products that are both delicious and healthier. One success was the reformulation of its popular chocolate bars, where AI suggested new combinations to cut sugar by 30% without altering taste.

AI also accelerates R&D. Nestlé’s R&D centers now use machine learning to predict consumer acceptance of new products before they hit the shelves, cutting months from the traditional product cycle. In 2023, the company posted revenues of CHF 93 billion, with innovation cited as a key growth driver in categories like plant-based foods and beverages.

Shift 4: AI-driven ecosystems

The most ambitious use of AI is not within a single business but across ecosystems — creating new markets and redefining industries.

Ping An: From insurer to super-app

China’s Ping An began as an insurance company. Today, it’s a $180 billion market cap giant that runs one of the world’s most diverse financial ecosystems. AI is its glue.

Ping An’s platforms — from Good Doctor (healthcare) to Lufax (wealth management) — serve over 225 million customers. Its AI systems process 1.5 billion financial transactions daily and enable services like instant loan approvals, facial recognition-based insurance claims, and AI-powered medical consultations.

By using AI to orchestrate an ecosystem of adjacent services, Ping An has reduced churn, increased cross-selling, and positioned itself as a daily-life companion for millions. Its net profits hit $17 billion in 2023, a testament to the power of AI to scale ecosystems.

DBS Bank: Creating the invisible bank

Singapore’s DBS Bank, once seen as a bureaucratic state-owned lender, has been ranked as the world’s best bank for the last 6 years. AI is central to this transformation. DBS’ strategy, driven by CEO and former CTO Piyush Gupta, is to help people “live better, bank less”. What does this mean? Embedding banking into an ecosystem of life – travel, entertainment, retail and more.

AI has been critical to this transformation. DBS uses machine learning for fraud detection, personalized financial advice, and credit risk assessment. More radically, it embeds banking into customer journeys — from travel booking to ride-hailing — through ecosystem partnerships.

DBS’s digibank in India and Indonesia is almost fully AI-driven, serving millions of customers with minimal human intervention. Its efficiency has helped DBS achieve ROE above 15%, among the best in global banking, while market cap has more than doubled since 2015.

Shift 5: AI-driven sustainability

AI is also emerging as a force for good — making it possible to tackle environmental challenges while improving performance.

Enel: Smarter, cleaner energy

Italian utility giant Enel operates in over 30 countries, managing one of the world’s largest renewable energy portfolios. AI helps it balance supply and demand, optimize grid performance, and reduce carbon emissions.

Enel’s AI systems forecast energy demand in real time and adjust renewable energy inputs, ensuring grid stability. Predictive maintenance powered by AI reduces downtime in wind and solar farms, saving millions annually.

Financially, Enel’s embrace of AI-enabled renewables has driven strong growth: it invested €12 billion in digital and AI upgrades as part of its decarbonization plan, while maintaining EBITDA margins above 30%.

Coca-Cola: Smarter Packaging and Supply Chains

Coca-Cola may sell a 100-year-old product, but it’s using AI to reinvent sustainability. The company uses AI to design lighter bottles, optimize recycling systems, and reduce its carbon footprint. For example, Coca-Cola’s AI-driven demand forecasting reduces overproduction, saving on both costs and emissions. Its collaboration with AI startup Circularity Informatics helps analyze recycling streams, increasing plastic recovery rates.

Coca-Cola’s Y3000 initiative showcases how AI can drive both product innovation and consumer engagement. Using AI to analyze global preferences and emotions, the company created a futuristic limited-edition flavor, Y3000 Zero Sugar, designed to resonate with forward-looking consumers. The initiative also includes the AI-powered Y3000 CAM, an augmented reality feature that lets users scan packaging to unlock personalized visual experiences, deepening brand connection. Launched in select global markets, Y3000 positions Coca-Cola as a leader in integrating AI into product development and marketing, blending creativity, technology, and strategic market insight.

In 2024, Coca-Cola reported over $45 billion in revenues and highlighted digital and AI-driven efficiencies as a contributor to improved operating margins. By aligning sustainability with profitability, Coca-Cola shows how AI can make doing good, good for business.

AI-driven business reinvention

Across industries, AI is no longer about efficiency or novelty. It’s about reinvention.

These five shifts show how businesses can:

  • Build intimacy with customers at massive scale (personalization).

  • Run operations that adapt in real time (operational Intelligence).

  • Create products that leapfrog human imagination (new discovery).

  • Expand into ecosystems that reshape industries (ecosystem reinvention).

  • Drive sustainability as both purpose and profit (sustainability acceleration).

Here’s a summary:

The companies leading these shifts are already reaping the rewards in profitability, market cap, and cultural relevance. The question for leaders everywhere is not whether to adopt AI — but whether they are bold enough to reinvent their business with it.

Denmark has long been a quiet superpower of innovation. A small nation with just under six million people, it has repeatedly reshaped global markets — from wind energy and shipping to enzymes, toys and pharmaceuticals. Its innovation model is distinctive: science-based, purpose-driven, and built on a culture of trust and collaboration.

Yet even Denmark’s biggest innovators face headwinds. Global competition, rising costs, political scrutiny and market over-expectation have taken their toll on stock prices and confidence. But innovation is not just about smooth growth curves; it is also about reinvention, resilience and staying ahead of the curve.

Having worked with the leaders of many Danish companies, I have a huge imagination for the country, and their quiet, thoughtful approach. At the same time, there is a need to step up and see a changing international marketplace. In a small country, they need to think creatively about how to grow beyond geography, to compete and collaborate in new ways on the global stage.

Today, Danish innovation can be seen in two waves: the established giants who remain global leaders despite near-term financial pressures, and a new generation of challengers who are reimagining markets with digital, circular and climate-tech models.

Danish Giants: Innovators under pressure

Novo Nordisk

The pharmaceutical giant has been the face of Denmark’s economic success, leading the global revolution in diabetes and obesity care through its GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Wegovy). Recently, its share price fell sharply after cutting guidance and announcing job cuts. But the underlying science remains transformative. Novo is investing in next-generation treatments — including oral obesity drugs and powerful combination therapies like CagriSema. Demand for obesity and metabolic health solutions is massive and growing, and Novo’s science, scale and pipeline will keep it central to the health innovation story for years to come.

Ørsted

Once a fossil-fuel utility, Ørsted reinvented itself as the world leader in offshore wind. Recent financial results have disappointed, with high interest rates, supply-chain pressures and intense competition hitting its margins. But the world still needs Ørsted’s expertise in building, operating and financing massive offshore energy systems. It is piloting hybrid parks that combine wind, solar and storage, while investing in green hydrogen. Ørsted remains at the heart of the clean-energy transition, even if near-term profitability is volatile.

Vestas

Vestas continues to be the largest pure-play wind turbine manufacturer globally. Like Ørsted, it has been squeezed by supply-chain inflation and policy delays, but it is investing heavily in digitalization and predictive maintenance to make wind energy more reliable and efficient. Its ability to combine cutting-edge turbine design with global service networks keeps it central to renewable energy innovation.

Mærsk

Shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has embarked on an ambitious journey to decarbonize global trade. It is pioneering methanol-powered vessels, building partnerships to scale green fuels, and developing digital logistics platforms. The company’s profits have been hit by freight volatility and high decarbonization costs, but Maersk’s commitment to transforming a carbon-intensive sector remains one of the boldest industrial bets in the world.

Lego

Lego is one of Denmark’s most beloved brands and a global cultural icon. Financially, it has faced the challenge of slowing growth in toy markets, but it continues to push innovation in digital play, education, and most notably, sustainable materials. Its experiments in bio-based plastics and circular reuse models could redefine how consumer brands tackle sustainability, proving that play and purpose can coexist.

Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen is Denmark’s iconic luxury audio and design company, renowned for combining high-fidelity sound with striking industrial design. Despite recent financial challenges and volatile sales due to competition from mainstream electronics brands, B&O continues to innovate with premium product lines and strategic collaborations with Ferrari, HP, and lifestyle brands. Its focus on craftsmanship, sustainability in materials, and direct-to-consumer digital channels helps maintain brand relevance. While the company operates in a niche market, its commitment to design excellence, sound quality, and experiential innovation ensures B&O remains a global symbol of Danish luxury and creative ingenuity.

Danfoss

Danfoss is a global leader in industrial technology, specializing in heating, cooling, electrification, and energy-efficient solutions. It plays a critical role in decarbonizing industry and buildings, with advanced R&D in energy optimization and automation. Though global cost pressures and energy price volatility have affected margins, Danfoss continues to expand into electrification and renewable solutions. Its innovation strategy emphasizes digital controls, IoT integration, and sustainable engineering. With a strong international footprint and commitment to solving complex energy challenges, Danfoss exemplifies how Danish industrial firms combine engineering expertise, sustainability, and innovation to maintain global leadership in evolving markets.

Danish Challengers: Next generation innovators

Pleo

Pleo is reimagining business finance through smart expense-management tools. Its cards, software and analytics give companies of all sizes transparency and control over spending. It has scaled rapidly across Europe and continues to add features that integrate with accounting systems and automate admin. Pleo shows how Danish fintech can take a human-centered problem — messy expense reports — and solve it with design simplicity and tech agility.

Too Good To Go

This food-waste marketplace is now one of Denmark’s most visible global startups. The app connects consumers with surplus food from restaurants and retailers, creating a simple, win-win solution. It has scaled across Europe and the U.S., saving hundreds of millions of meals. Too Good To Go is proof of Denmark’s ability to combine social impact with commercial scale, addressing one of the world’s most urgent sustainability problems.

Ganni

Ganni is a Copenhagen-based fashion brand disrupting traditional apparel markets through sustainability, digital-first strategy, and circular business models. The company has grown rapidly via direct-to-consumer sales, global collaborations, and seasonal “drop” campaigns, creating a loyal, socially conscious audience. Circular initiatives, resale programs, and eco-friendly production differentiate Ganni from traditional fast fashion, appealing to consumers seeking style with purpose. Despite operating in a highly competitive global fashion market, Ganni leverages digital engagement, strong branding, and agile supply chains to scale internationally. Its success illustrates Denmark’s strength in creative industries and sustainable, mission-driven business innovation.

Universal Robots

Universal Robots, a pioneer in collaborative robots (cobots), makes industrial automation accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises. Their flexible, easy-to-program robots help manufacturers increase productivity, reduce labor costs, and improve safety. Owned by Teradyne, Universal Robots has maintained strong growth (~20% YoY), expanding adoption across automotive, electronics, and general manufacturing. Continuous innovation in software, AI integration, and user-friendly interfaces allows it to remain competitive while democratizing automation. By fostering Denmark’s robotics cluster and exporting advanced industrial solutions worldwide, Universal Robots exemplifies how Danish engineering, innovation, and design thinking can transform manufacturing on a global scale.

Trustpilot

Founded in Copenhagen, Trustpilot has become a global platform for online reviews. Its challenge is ensuring trust and combating fake reviews — but that is also where its innovation lies. By combining moderation systems, machine learning and transparency standards, Trustpilot is redefining how reputation is built online. In an era of declining trust, Denmark’s ethos of openness and fairness finds expression in this platform.

Haldor Topsøe

Topsoe is Denmark’s hidden industrial hero, developing catalysts and process technologies that enable cleaner fuels, green hydrogen and e-methanol. It recently invested in scaling solid-oxide electrolyzers for industrial hydrogen production, a technology with game-changing efficiency potential. While less visible than consumer apps, Topsoe’s breakthroughs are vital for decarbonising heavy industry.

Seaborg Technologies

Alongside these more mature players, Denmark is seeding a new crop of startups. One standout is Seaborg Technologies, developing compact molten-salt nuclear reactors designed to provide safe, modular and carbon-free power. It is still pre-commercial, but it reflects Denmark’s willingness to explore bold technologies at the frontier of climate solutions.

Denmark’s Innovation DNA

Looking across these companies, five strengths stand out:

  • Science-to-scale capability. Denmark excels at translating deep science — in biology, chemistry, engineering — into scalable products, from Novo Nordisk’s pharmaceuticals to Topsoe’s catalysts.

  • Systems thinking. Giants like Ørsted and Maersk tackle problems end-to-end, designing integrated systems rather than isolated fixes.

  • Trust and social purpose. Companies like Too Good To Go and Trustpilot reflect a cultural focus on fairness, sustainability and transparency.

  • Global from day one. With a small home market, Danish firms are export-oriented and internationally ambitious.

  • Policy support for green and social innovation. Danish government policies have nurtured early adoption in wind energy, biotech and sustainability, giving firms a platform to scale globally.

Denmark’s innovation landscape today is not without challenges. Novo Nordisk and Ørsted have seen share prices wobble; Maersk and Vestas face cost pressures; Lego must reinvent materials at scale. Yet their capacity to adapt and reinvest in the future keeps them at the center of global innovation.

At the same time, a new wave of challengers — digital, circular, climate-tech startups — is pushing into new spaces with agility and mission-driven zeal. Together, they show why Denmark remains one of the world’s most innovative economies: a place where science meets design, and where business is inseparable from purpose.

It’s a superfast, crazy and unpredictable world – no time to read, no time to think – indeed, leaders face unprecedented challenges: rapidly evolving technologies, shifting consumer expectations, and the imperative to balance profitability with purpose.

Success no longer comes solely from operational excellence or market dominance—it requires vision, creativity, and a deep understanding of people, brands, and the future. That’s why I keep reading. And you should too.

So here are 8 books that I dipped into over the summer vacation. They inspired me, and maybe will you …

They’re a mix of practical guidance, inspirational stories, and forward-thinking frameworks that can help leaders navigate this complex world. Some reveal the mental habits of extraordinary performers, others illuminate minimalist principles for clarity in a noisy marketplace, while a few offer visionary approaches to sustainability, futures thinking, and storytelling.

It’s time to think differently, act strategically, and inspire teams and customers alike. I summarise my insights, and practical takeaways from each book that I think can shape smarter, more purposeful leadership.

Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard’s memoir and manifesto, Let My People Go Surfing, blends storytelling with philosophy, offering an unconventional yet deeply principled approach to business leadership. As founder of Patagonia, Chouinard recounts the company’s journey from a small climbing equipment shop to a globally recognized outdoor brand. Yet the focus is never on profit alone; it is on purpose, values, and stewardship of the planet.

Chouinard presents his core belief: business can—and should—be a force for good. He describes decisions that challenge conventional corporate thinking, such as promoting work-life balance, embracing environmental responsibility, and taking bold stances on social issues. The book highlights Patagonia’s commitment to sustainable materials, activism, and long-term thinking, offering a model of how ethical principles can coexist with commercial success.

In the 1950s, Chouinard began blacksmithing to create his own climbing gear, leading to the establishment of Chouinard Equipment. This venture eventually became the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the U.S., highlighting his commitment to quality and innovation.

Chouinard’s environmental consciousness grew over time, influencing Patagonia’s product choices. In the 1990s, he emphasized that the company’s existence was to generate profits for environmental causes, integrating sustainability into the core of the business

“When the waves are good, surf. When there’s powder on the mountains, ski.”

This guiding principle reflects Chouinard’s belief in prioritizing passion and well-being over rigid work schedules. It underscores Patagonia’s flexible work culture, where employees are encouraged to embrace nature and personal pursuits, fostering creativity and satisfaction.

“You can’t wait until you have all the answers before you act.”

The memoir is infused with humour, irreverence, and personal reflection, making it engaging while conveying profound lessons about leadership, culture, and innovation. It challenges readers to reconsider the role of business in society, encouraging leaders to prioritize integrity, environmental stewardship, and human-centered management.

Ultimately, Let My People Go Surfing is more than a company history; it is a manifesto for conscious, values-driven leadership that inspires readers to redefine what success truly means in business.

Hidden Genius: The Secret Ways of Thinking That Power the World’s Most Successful People by Polina Marinova Pompliano

Hidden Genius delves into the cognitive habits, thought patterns, and decision-making approaches that distinguish high achievers across industries. Polina Marinova Pompliano draws from interviews with entrepreneurs, creatives, and investors to uncover mental frameworks that enable success in uncertain, high-pressure environments.

The book is both inspiring and practical. It identifies key traits such as pattern recognition, contrarian thinking, disciplined curiosity, and resilience, showing how these habits translate into real-world results. Pompliano highlights how successful people structure their time, manage risks, and cultivate networks to amplify their impact.

Chef Grant Achatz, renowned for his innovative approach to molecular gastronomy, faced a devastating challenge when diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer. The disease threatened not only his life but also his ability to taste and create. Undeterred, Achatz adapted by focusing on the interplay of sight and smell to craft flavors, transforming his culinary creations into multisensory experiences. This reinvention exemplifies the power of resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity.

David Goggins, a former Navy SEAL and ultramarathon runner, is renowned for his mental toughness and ability to push through extreme pain. Pompliano delves into his philosophy, emphasizing the importance of facing discomfort and using it as a catalyst for personal growth. Goggins’ story serves as a testament to the power of perseverance and the mindset required to achieve extraordinary feats.

By focusing on the psychology behind performance rather than just tactics or strategy, Hidden Genius empowers readers to rethink how they approach challenges and opportunities. It blends narrative, case studies, and exercises, making it actionable for leaders who want to optimize thinking, creativity, and influence. The book’s unconventional lens—examining the “how” of thought rather than the “what” of actions—offers a fresh perspective on personal and organizational success.

Think Like The Minimalist by Chirag Gander and Sahil Vaidya

Think Like The Minimalist explores how simplicity can become a strategic asset in modern business. Gander and Vaidya argue that in today’s cluttered marketplaces, less is often more: a minimalist approach to design, communication, and user experience allows brands to stand out, focus attention, and foster deeper connections with customers.

The book illustrates minimalist principles in branding, product design, UX, and customer communication. It emphasizes clarity, precision, and intentionality, guiding leaders to strip away noise and focus on what truly matters. By showcasing case studies and practical examples, the authors demonstrate how leading brands have used minimalism not just aesthetically but strategically, simplifying customer journeys, messaging, and product offerings.

What makes the book compelling is its insistence on thoughtful reduction rather than arbitrary removal. Minimalism, the authors argue, is about maximizing impact, creating emotional resonance, and enhancing usability. The book also explores cultural and psychological aspects, showing how minimal design encourages engagement and loyalty in modern consumers who are increasingly overwhelmed by choice and information.

Through accessible storytelling and concrete frameworks, Think Like The Minimalist inspires leaders to apply disciplined simplicity to their branding and business strategy, achieving elegance, focus, and long-term differentiation.

Facing Our Futures: How Foresight, Futures Design and Strategy Creates Prosperity and Growth by Nikolas Badminton

Facing Our Futures presents a forward-looking, methodical approach to strategy in an unpredictable world. Nikolas Badminton emphasizes that traditional linear planning is no longer sufficient in the face of rapid technological change, geopolitical shifts, and societal transformation. Instead, organizations need to develop foresight capabilities: the ability to anticipate, explore, and shape multiple potential futures.

The book introduces practical tools such as scenario planning, horizon scanning, and the Positive Dystopia Canvas—a method for imagining disruptive futures to inform current strategy. Badminton stresses that foresight is not merely about prediction; it is about resilience, adaptability, and creative problem-solving. Leaders learn to frame uncertainties as opportunities for innovation rather than threats to stability.

Drawing on examples from companies, governments, and social innovators, the book illustrates how futures thinking can lead to both commercial success and societal impact. Badminton bridges the gap between theory and practice, showing how strategic foresight informs investment decisions, product development, talent management, and ecosystem building.

The prose is both visionary and grounded. It inspires leaders to cultivate a forward-thinking mindset, challenge assumptions, and design organizations that can thrive amid volatility. Ultimately, Facing Our Futures positions foresight not as an optional skill but as an essential capability for creating sustained prosperity and growth in the 21st century.

The Life Cycle of a CEO: The Myths and Truths of How Leaders Succeed by Claudius Hildebrand and Robert  Stark

In The Life Cycle of a CEO, Hildebrand and Stark explore the evolving journey of modern business leaders, offering an evidence-based and nuanced perspective on what it takes to succeed at the highest level. The authors identify five stages of a CEO’s journey—launch, calibration, reinvention, complacency, and legacy—illustrating how leadership is dynamic, not fixed.

The book combines data from studies of hundreds of CEOs with vivid anecdotes to challenge conventional myths about leadership. It examines the pressures, decision-making dilemmas, and psychological demands faced by executives, highlighting both triumphs and failures. The authors emphasize that effective leaders learn to adapt their style, cultivate emotional intelligence, and align personal values with organizational vision.

Practical frameworks guide readers through critical inflection points in a CEO’s tenure: recognizing when to pivot strategy, how to manage stakeholder expectations, and ways to foster innovation while maintaining stability. By blending research with narrative, the book provides lessons not only for aspiring CEOs but for all leaders seeking to understand the evolving demands of senior leadership.

The book reframes success as a journey of growth, learning, and adaptation rather than a static endpoint, offering guidance and inspiration for leaders navigating complex, high-stakes roles.

Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller

Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand provides a clear, actionable roadmap for businesses seeking to clarify their messaging and engage customers through narrative. The central premise is deceptively simple: customers are the heroes of your brand story, not your company. By positioning the business as a guide rather than the protagonist, leaders can communicate more effectively and motivate action.

Miller introduces a seven-part StoryBrand framework, encompassing clarity in messaging, customer motivation, and a compelling call to action. The book blends practical exercises, examples, and narrative theory, emphasizing that coherent stories simplify decision-making for customers and enhance engagement.

What makes this book valuable for leaders is its ability to translate abstract storytelling concepts into tangible marketing strategies. Through the lens of story, brands can craft messages that are memorable, persuasive, and emotionally resonant, ultimately improving conversion, loyalty, and brand perception. Miller’s approach has influenced companies across industries, from startups to global enterprises, demonstrating the universal power of story in business.

Reimagining Luxury by Diana Verde Nieto

In Reimagining Luxury, my good friend (and past coauthor!) Diana Verde Nieto explores how luxury brands can integrate sustainability without compromising heritage or desirability. The book combines theory, strategy, and case studies to show how companies can innovate, reduce environmental impact, and build long-term value while maintaining aspirational appeal.

Diana emphasizes that sustainability is not just a moral imperative but a strategic opportunity. Through examples of brands like LVMH and Kering, she illustrates how luxury companies can redefine craftsmanship, sourcing, and storytelling to align with evolving consumer expectations. Leaders are guided to implement frameworks that embed sustainability into brand strategy, operations, and communication, turning ethical responsibility into competitive advantage.

Here are 10 soundbites from the passionate Brazilian:

  • “Sustainability must be more than just a trend; it needs to be a seamless part of business and everyday life.”

  • “We need to create a state of competition for being more socio-environmentally positive, not just less negative.”

  • “The definition of luxury has changed – present-day luxury is about inclusive exclusivity, encompasses experience innovation, and has a more concentrated focus on social and environmental issues.”

  • “Knowledge is the new consumer currency.”

  • “Being net positive is so much more exciting and galvanizing than being a ‘bit less negative.’”

  • “I think I knew about the fragility of our planet a long time ago. This is my vocation, not my job.”

  • “We need to make space, not take space.”

  • “Business can—and should—be a force for good.”

  • “Our philosophies aren’t rules; they’re guidelines.”

  • “We have to take responsibility for what we make, from birth to death and then beyond death, back to rebirth.”

The book blends narrative insight with actionable guidance, making it a practical resource for executives aiming to lead in the future of luxury. By presenting sustainability as a design and strategic principle rather than a constraint, she inspires leaders to envision a profitable and purposeful luxury sector.

In an age of accelerating disruption, every company faces a choice: adapt, transform, or fade away.

The next decade will be defined not by incremental progress but by seismic shifts in how the world works. Megatrends aren’t background noise; they’re the blueprint for what’s next. From AI to aging populations, climate collapse to geopolitical fracture, companies that thrive will be those that reinvent themselves in response to the tectonic forces reshaping society.

In a world of relentless disruption, business leaders need more than strategy, they need a megatrend mindset.

That means looking forward, not back. It means anticipating the seismic shifts reshaping our economies, societies, and technologies, and acting before others do. Leaders must use them to galvanise their organisations, mobilise talent, and reimagine what their business is for. Reinvention can no longer be occasional or reactive, it must become a core capability, a cultural instinct, a superpower.

The future won’t wait. The companies that lead it will be those bold enough to shape it.

So, what is driving the future, and how can you be part of it?

Megatrends are long-term, transformative forces that are global in scope, cross-industry in impact, and inevitable in their trajectory. From climate change and technological convergence to demographic shifts and urbanization, megatrends are not just fleeting headlines—they are the undercurrents shaping the future of markets, societies, and business itself.

Ignoring megatrends is no longer an option. They influence how people live, what they value, how they consume, how they work, and how economies evolve. For businesses, this means rethinking what they offer, how they operate, and why they exist. Companies that spot these shifts early and act boldly are the ones that leapfrog competitors, shape new markets, and earn the right to lead.

We explore six megatrends with a 10-year perspective, already shaking up every market. They are the disruptive forces that threaten your existence, but equally your biggest opportunities, superhighways to future possibilities, driving innovation and growth. And then we consider what they mean for your industry. How will they drive reinvention? What are the critical actions for business leaders, and the broader mindset to adopt? And who can we learn from?

Ultimately, the question is what will you do as a business leader – now – to create a better tomorrow, to shape the future that you want, and in which your business can thrive.

Megatrend 1. Exponential Intelligence … business at the speed of thought

By 2035, AI will be embedded in every business process. Intelligent systems will generate over 90% of digital content.

The line between human and machine thinking will blur. Exponential Intelligence represents the rapid acceleration of AI, and the convergence of technologies – in particular genomics, robotics, blockchains and energy storage – and new capabilities such as quantum computing.

AI’s application are profound, from accelerating new personalised medicines to fighting climate change, and new business models that deliver hyper personalisation.

This megatrend signifies a shift from linear progress to exponential possibility, where machines increasingly augment human decisions, also enabling people to add value in new ways. In the future AI will not just support businesses, it will co-create with them.

Companies must embed AI across every core function, from operations to marketing to finance, and develop proprietary models tailored to their domain. Leading firms are reimagining customer experiences through predictive, hyperpersonalised interfaces and training their workforces for human-machine collaboration.

Why does it matter?

  • AI will contribute over $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2035 (PwC).
  • 90% of online content is projected to be AI-generated by 2026 (IBM).
  • Over 40% of all jobs will be impacted by AI and automation (WEF)

What do we need to do?

  • Apply AI models to core business activities to radically transform speed and costs, analysis and development
  • Predict and personalise user interfaces to anticipate customer needs and serve them better and faster
  • Build ecosystem business models to unlock mutual capabilities that capture the best new opportunities for growth.

Who’s doing it?

  • Insilico Medicine: using AI to reinvent the process of drug discovery, development and evaluation, 10 times faster, 100 times cheaper
  • Siemens: co-developing self-optimising autonomous factories using digital twins and AWS infrastructure
  • Duolingo: Language learning reimagined with GPT-powered conversational roleplay, adapting instantly to user fluency and goals.

Megatrend 2. Generational Remix … older, urban, more different and personal

By 2035, society will be older, more urban, more different and personal — and yet also more connected than ever. Businesses must design for diversity, longevity, and identity.

Generational Remix captures the profound social transformation underway: populations are aging rapidly, cities are expanding, and cultural identities are becoming more diverse, fluid, and personal.

This megatrend is about designing for complexity and individuality – where different generations, values, and needs collide and co-create. It also drives fundamentally different support – older people are living longer with more affluence, for leisure and travel. Pensions will need to last longer, and healthcare costs will inevitably rise. Similarly urbanisation drives the reinvention of many services, from education and entertainment to how communities are built, and the rising power of city states.

Businesses must develop inclusive, intergenerational products and services; personalise offerings based on lifestyle rather than age; and embrace cultural plurality in design and communication. Planners must design cities, homes, and brands for 100-year lives, build inclusive, multigenerational workplaces, and address loneliness, mental health, and community. It is also about embedding cultural and demographic diversity into R&D. This is about treating every customer—and employee—not as a demographic, but as a unique human.

Why does it matter?

  • 20% of global population will be over 60 by 2035, more than under 18
  • 68% of the world will live in cities by 2035, and more in single homes
  • 90% of global population growth to 2050 will be in Africa and Asia (UN)

What do we need to do?

  • Develop intergenerational products and services, personalise offerings based on lifestyle and diverse identities
  • Urban planning to design cities, homes, and brands for 100-year lives, build inclusive, multigenerational workplaces
  • Reinvent urban services, from education and entertainment to how communities are built, and the rising power of city states.

Who’s doing it?

  • Philips HealthSuite: Cloud-based health platform for remote care, chronic condition monitoring, and aging-in-place solutions.
  • Nestlé Health Science: Investing in personalised nutrition, gut health, and senior wellness—especially in fast-aging markets.
  • Toyota Woven City: A prototype smart city in Japan designed for autonomous vehicles, robotic assistance, and aging-friendly living.

Megatrend 3. Asian Century … economic shift to the east, and volatility everywhere

Asia is the gravitational centre of global growth. By 2035, most middle-class consumers will live in Asia. The region will lead in innovation, consumption, and complexity.

The Asian Century represents the rebalancing of global economic power towards Asia and the Global South. These regions are not just growth markets—they are innovation hubs, cultural trendsetters, and geopolitical forces reshaping the future.

While Asia’s huge population with increasing disposable income will increasingly dominate the world’s consumer markets, Asia’s businesses have also dramatically shifted from cheap imitators of western goods, to leaping ahead in their application of new technologies, new business models, and innovations.

Businesses must do more than export to Asia—they must co-create in and for Asia, localising products for fast-rising middle classes in Tier 2/3 cities, collaborating with Asian startups, and embedding cultural relevance into innovation. India, Vietnam, Indonesia are popular locations for global R&D hubs. New digital trade corridors (eg RCEP, BRICS+ alliances) are reconfiguring markets.  Superapps like Jio and Grab provide easy access to markets, through collaboration with their ecosystems. But with growth, prepare for volatility.

Why does it matter?

  • Asia will contribute 65% of global GDP growth by 2035 (IMF)
  • Over 50% of global consumer spending will be Asian by then.
  • 83% of global AI-related patents are filed by Asian companies (Wired)

What do we need to do?

  • Seize the Asian market opportunity, finding effective ways to access and compete eg Indonesia, Vietnam, tier 2/3 cities, BRIC trade corridor
  • Localise and co-create with local partners, finding cultural relevance and sourcing and manufacturing locally.
  • Learn from the best Asian companies, who have leapfrogged the west, and are typically the most innovative, agile and efficient in the world.

Who’s doing it?

  • BYD: China’s batteries to EV giant has become the global leader, and in clean energy too
  • Xiaomi: Creating consumer electronic products equal or superior to western peers but 90% cheaper
  • LVMH Asia Studios: Culturally attuned luxury innovation, where Asian consumer no longer want western goods

Megatrend 4. Regenerative Systems … from climate crisis to net positive impact

Climate change is the defining risk and opportunity of our time. But the frontrunners are moving beyond carbon-neutral to climate-positive and nature-regenerating models.

Regenerative Systems is about moving beyond sustainability as damage limitation toward a model that actively restores, replenishes, and reimagines the relationship between business and the planet. With the climate crisis accelerating and ecosystems under pressure, the regenerative economy is a shift from extractive to circular, from carbon-neutral to climate-positive.

The impact however can be even greater when we look beyond carbon – to other materials and resources – in particular, water and biodiversity. It can be greater still when we embrace social and environmental issues together, as they are often systemically connected.

This is when businesses really can reinvent for net positive impact.

Businesses must transition from compliance to leadership—transforming supply chains into regenerative ecosystems, adopting circular design, and tying executive incentives to sustainability performance. This includes decarbonising supply chains with digital ESG tracking, linking executive pay to sustainability goals, restoring biodiversity and natural capital, and creating planet-positive products and services.

Why does it matter?

  • The world’s business systems are still only 6.9% “circular” (IPCC)
  • Clean energy will be 60% of the global energy mix by 2035 (IEA)
  • Embedding the 17 SDGs is worth $12 trillion, and 380 million jobs (UN)

What do we need to do?

  • Develop regenerative business models, going far beyond CSR and ESG, circular and net zero, to create net positive impact
  • Think beyond carbon to embrace other challenges eg biodiversity, water, but also social issues eg equality, fairness, etc
  • Focus innovation on the big problems, AI to address climate change and disease, to create 40% more food, 50% more energy, in new ways

Who’s doing it?

  • Schneider Electric: Helping cities and factories go carbon-neutral through connected, AI-managed energy efficiency platforms.
  • Interface: creating net-positive floor tiles that absorb carbon, creating the “factory as the forest”
  • Nubank: world’s fastest growing bank from Brazil, targeting the unbanked, building financial literacy, reducing poverty, and building inclusion.

Megatrend 5. Multipolar World … geopolitical tension and the end of globalisation

The old model of seamless globalisation is fragmenting. Economic nationalism, digital sovereignty, and supply chain shocks driven by conflicts and tariffs are reshaping business strategy.

Multipolarity marks the end of the unipolar, globalised world as we knew it. With growing geopolitical tensions, trade fragmentation, and inwards facing economic policies, companies are navigating a world of shifting alliances, digital borders, and regional blocs.

By 2035, over 70% of global trade will occur within regional networks. Data sovereignty regulations will be in place in dozens of countries, and supply chains will be redesigned for resilience, not just cost.

Businesses must nearshore manufacturing, create flexible, modular operations, and navigate complex trade relationships with agility and foresight. The reinvention challenge is to build resilience without retreat—balancing localisation with global ambition.

Why does it matter?

  • Global trade as a % of global GDP has declined since 2008 (OECD)
  • By 2035, over 70% of global trade will occur within regional networks
  • 84% of global executives now rate geopolitical as their top risk (McKinsey)

What do we need to do?

  • Redesign supply chains for resilience, agility not cost, nearshoring and partnering closer to customer markets,
  • Diversify your global spread of markets and operations, to spread risk and be more responsive to change.
  • Address data sovereignty, and other issues such as IP protection, regulation, cybersecurity, with foresight and influence.

Who’s doing it?

  • Apple: Accelerating iPhone and chip production in India to diversify away from China, including flagship stores in Mumbai and Delhi.
  • Inditex: Strengthening local production in Europe and the Americas to respond faster and reduce geopolitical exposure.
  • Flexport: Creating tech tools to reroute and de-risk global supply chains in real-time amid fragmentation and shocks.

Megatrend 6. Humanity Rising … more purposeful, caring and collective progress

The most powerful force in business is the human one. Trust, wellbeing, meaning, and social contribution are now core to business strategy.

Humanity Rising is a movement toward putting people and purpose at the heart of business. It reflects a shift from transactional to meaningful work, from shareholder primacy to stakeholder ecosystems, and from short-term profit to long-term wellbeing.

As automation, and specifically AI, takes on the repetitive tasks of many workflows, business need to redesign human roles for more added value.

Companies must rewire culture around empathy, trust, and meaning; invest in human-centred leadership; and design work for life, not just productivity.

By 2035, businesses that lead on purpose and wellbeing will significantly outperform their peers. Mental health will be a core performance metric, and the human experience of work—flexibility, autonomy, growth—will shape loyalty and innovation.

Humanocracy calls for ”organisations as amazing as the people inside them”. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella recognised this calling for his organisation to be a platform to showcase each person’s unique talents, to let them achieve their ambitions, rather than just being the cog in the works of a corporate machine.

Why does it matter?

  • Purpose-driven brands grow 2.5x faster than average brands (WARC)
  • 77% of GenZ seek meaningful work, and buy meaningful brands (McKinsey)
  • AI augmentation is likely to improve human productivity by 40% by 2035

What do we need to do?

  • Create purposeful business strategies, that turn purpose into real action and delivers better progress – profitable growth and positive impact.
  • Redesign for human added value so that technology automates processes, releasing people to achieve more
  • Build organisations as amazing as the people inside them: empowering, democratic, enabling, caring, dynamic, resilient and daring.

Who’s doing it?

  • Danone: Legally binding mission-driven governance (B Corp), in its shift from food to becoming a health business
  • Salesforce: Flexibility, purpose, ethics as a platform, mental health through “Success from Anywhere” strategy
  • Mindera: Portuguese software “made by humans” … people-first culture fostering innovation through community, autonomy, and trust.

How megatrends drive business reinvention

Every industry is being reinvented.

These 6 megatrends create a perfect storm of technological breakthroughs, shifting consumer expectations, environmental imperatives, and economic uncertainty that are driving radical transformation across every sector. The boundaries between industries are blurring, value is migrating to new models and ecosystems, and the winners of tomorrow are being shaped today.

From automotive to insurance, banking to retail, energy to healthcare, established players face existential pressure to change. Legacy systems, slow-moving cultures, and risk-averse mindsets are being outpaced by fast, bold innovators—companies that use data, AI, and platform thinking to deliver better, smarter, more sustainable solutions. Tesla isn’t just a car company. Amazon isn’t just a retailer. They’re both operating systems for the future.

Disruptors are emerging from every corner of the globe—scaling faster, experimenting more aggressively, and harnessing the power of technology to solve meaningful problems.

These next generation leaders are obsessed with what’s next. They blend purpose and profit, long-term impact and short-term agility. But incumbents aren’t out of the race. The most forward-looking are reinventing themselves, acquiring new capabilities, and unlocking value from their intangible assets—brand, trust, ecosystems, and intelligence.

The next five years will be decisive. Growth will come not from doing more of the same, but from reimagining what’s possible—through smart automation, regenerative design, AI-powered personalization, and bold new business models. The winners will be those who stretch their vision, embrace uncertainty, and build for the future—not the past.

Reinventing Automotive

When Lei Jun unveiled the SU7 electric supercar from his smartphone maker Xiaomi, with comparable features but over 90% cheaper than a Porsche Taycan, we knew the industry was not just being disrupted, but fundamentally reinvented. No longer just about horsepower and design, the future of cars became about software, autonomy, and energy ecosystems. Disruptors like Tesla, BYD, and Rivian are redefining mobility, while incumbents like GM and VW scramble to catch up. The future belongs to firms that can merge electric drivetrains with data-driven intelligence, build direct customer relationships, and plug into renewable grids.

  • Key Drivers: EV revolution, autonomy, mobility-as-a-service
  • Disruptors: Tesla, BYD, Rivian, Waymo, Nio, Xiaomi
  • Incumbents: VW and Hyundai invest heavily in EVs and batteries; GM pivots toward all-electric by 2035
  • Future Winners: Tesla remains dominant due to its integrated energy + mobility model; Chinese EV players like BYD are poised to lead on affordability and scale; Apple and Sony may emerge through software-first approaches
  • Growth Areas: EVs, autonomous fleets, in-car software, subscription mobility
  • Outlook: $5T transformation underway; platforms and ecosystems will define winners

Reinventing Banking

In Brazil, David Vélez launched Nubank to free people from bureaucratic, fee-heavy traditional banks. With nothing more than a smartphone and a smile, customers signed up for accounts in minutes. Nubank now serves over 90 million users. Fintechs are rewriting the rules with embedded finance, AI risk models, and crypto rails. Traditional banks must become platforms, not fortresses. Future leaders will be those who turn trust, data, and user experience into intelligent financial ecosystems.

  • Key Drivers: Fintech, AI, blockchain, real-time services
  • Disruptors: Nubank, Revolut, Stripe, Square, DeFi
  • Incumbents: JPMorgan and DBS investing in AI, APIs, and sustainability-linked finance
  • Future Winners: Digital-first, customer-centric, embedded finance providers that turn financial services into frictionless tools
  • Growth Areas: AI-enabled wealth tools, crypto custody, sustainable lending
  • Outlook: Banking becomes invisible, embedded in lifestyle

Reinventing Construction

Using 3D printing, Icon built a house in 24 hours using a giant robotic arm and a special concrete blend—radically reducing time, cost, and environmental impact. This illustrates the kind of breakthrough needed in a notoriously slow-moving industry. Innovation now means modular, smart, and zero-carbon construction. Giants like Skanska are investing in digital twins and low-carbon cement. Winners will combine automation, green design, and tech-savvy talent to transform how we build the future.

  • Key Drivers: Green buildings, modular methods, robotics
  • Disruptors: Icon (3D printing), Katerra (prefab), CarbonCure (CO2 tech)
  • Incumbents: Skanska, Bouygues, Holcim, and Turner adopting digital twins and zero-carbon materials
  • Future Winners: Tech-integrated construction firms that deliver faster, cleaner, cheaper buildings; smart infrastructure providers
  • Growth Areas: Smart cities, digital twins, sustainable housing
  • Outlook: $1T green retrofit and smart build opportunity

Reinventing Energy

Octopus Energy is disrupting utilities by putting customers at the heart of a clean energy revolution—offering dynamic pricing, transparency, and rapid green energy switching. In an industry long dominated by giant incumbents, it proved agility can win. The transition to net zero, powered by solar, wind, hydrogen, and AI-managed grids, is accelerating. Winners will not just produce energy, but orchestrate energy flows, storage, and demand across intelligent, decentralised networks.

  • Key Drivers: Decarbonization, decentralization, storage
  • Disruptors: Tesla Energy, Octopus Energy, Vestas, Climeworks
  • Incumbents: Shell, TotalEnergies, and BP redefining themselves as energy transition companies
  • Future Winners: Companies that integrate solar, wind, storage, and smart grids into unified platforms
  • Growth Areas: Renewables, green hydrogen, carbon capture, virtual power plants
  • Outlook: Clean energy to dominate mix by 2030; trillion-dollar opportunity

Reinventing Entertainment

When Roblox went public, it revealed that kids were spending more time building and playing in virtual worlds than watching TV. Entertainment is no longer passive—it’s immersive, participatory, and social. New models powered by creators, fans, and algorithms are dominating, as traditional studios play catch-up. Netflix disrupted distribution; now AI and generative content are the new frontiers. Winners will build platforms that blend content, community, and co-creation.

  • Key Drivers: Streaming, gaming, AI content, creator economy
  • Disruptors: Netflix, Epic Games, Roblox, TikTok
  • Incumbents: Disney+ reinvention; Warner Bros. bets on streaming + IP
  • Future Winners: Firms that merge entertainment, social engagement, and immersive tech; those who own IP and fan relationships
  • Growth Areas: AI-generated content, gamified storytelling, AR/VR
  • Outlook: Creator platforms to become dominant media forces

Reinventing Fashion

Pangaia isn’t just a fashion brand—it’s a material science company using seaweed fibers and bacteria-based dyes to reinvent sustainable clothing. Fashion is being reshaped by digital identities, circular design, and transparent supply chains. Fast fashion disruptors like Shein use real-time data and micro-inventory, while luxury players are experimenting with resale and digital fashion. Future winners will merge purpose with personalization, creating garments that are smart, sustainable, and story-driven.

  • Key Drivers: Sustainability, digital fashion, circularity
  • Disruptors: Shein, ThredUp, Pangaia, DressX
  • Incumbents: LVMH and Zara building closed-loop supply chains and digital experiences
  • Future Winners: Brands that mix identity, impact, and innovation; digital-native and circular-first businesses
  • Growth Areas: Resale, AI design, bio-materials, virtual clothing
  • Outlook: Fashion shifts from volume to value, driven by tech + conscience

Reinventing Food and Drink

At NotCo, AI named Giuseppe creates plant-based versions of animal products by analyzing molecular similarities. It made mayo, milk, and meat that taste like the real thing—but aren’t. This signals a shift toward food as software: designed, personalized, and planetary. The food revolution is being driven by sustainability, health, and technology. Giants like Nestlé are investing in alt-proteins. Winners will feed the future with science, values, and delicious innovation.

  • Key Drivers: Health, sustainability, transparency
  • Disruptors: Beyond Meat, Oatly, NotCo, Upside Foods
  • Incumbents: Nestlé and Unilever invest in plant-based and direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms
  • Future Winners: Brands that align with planetary and personal health; those who digitize the food chain
  • Growth Areas: Alt protein, fermentation tech, personalized nutrition
  • Outlook: $300B alt-protein industry by 2030; data becomes the key ingredient

Reinventing Healthcare

During the COVID-19 pandemic, BioNTech—once a little-known biotech firm—partnered with Pfizer to deliver a vaccine in record time using mRNA technology. It was a moonshot moment. Healthcare is being reinvented through genomics, AI, and patient-centric platforms. Startups like Tempus and Babylon offer predictive care and digital diagnoses, while incumbents digitize clinical pathways. Future leaders will move from treating illness to preventing it—personalized, predictive, and precision-driven.

  • Key Drivers: AI, genomics, personalized medicine
  • Disruptors: Tempus, BioNTech, 23andMe, Babylon Health
  • Incumbents: Pfizer, Novartis and Roche embed AI across drug discovery and diagnostics
  • Future Winners: Companies delivering preventive, digital, and personalized care at scale
  • Growth Areas: AI drug discovery, wearable diagnostics, gene therapies
  • Outlook: From reactive to proactive care; multi-trillion-dollar ecosystem

Reinventing Insurance

Lemonade turned heads by settling some claims in under 3 seconds, using AI and behavioral economics. It proved insurance doesn’t have to be slow, opaque, or distrusted. Climate volatility and shifting lifestyles demand real-time, proactive coverage. Incumbents like Munich Re are adapting with prevention-as-a-service. The winners will anticipate, not just insure—embedding risk reduction, AI insights, and customer trust into everything.

  • Key Drivers: Risk prevention, personalization, AI pricing
  • Disruptors: Lemonade, Zego, FloodFlash, Trōv
  • Incumbents: AXA and Munich Re building smart risk platforms and climate resilience tools
  • Future Winners: Insurers who evolve into risk-reduction partners powered by real-time data
  • Growth Areas: Parametric insurance, embedded models, prevention-as-a-service
  • Outlook: Reinvention from safety net to proactive value provider

Reinventing Manufacturing

Relativity Space is using 3D printing to make rockets—95% fewer parts, far faster iterations. It’s a symbol of manufacturing’s new age: flexible, intelligent, and software-defined. Automation, IoT, and AI are transforming everything from design to delivery. Legacy players like Siemens and GE are embracing digital twins. The factories of the future will be smart, sustainable, and continuously learning.

  • Key Drivers: Industry 4.0, robotics, sustainability
  • Disruptors: Relativity Space, Xometry, Vention
  • Incumbents: Siemens, GE, and Bosch digitizing supply chains and factory floors
  • Future Winners: Agile, hyper-automated, sustainable manufacturers with digital cores
  • Growth Areas: Smart factories, additive manufacturing, nearshoring
  • Outlook: $1T+ productivity gains from intelligent manufacturing

Reinventing Retail

Shopify gave small businesses global reach with a few clicks—and now powers millions of storefronts. Retail is shifting from stores to ecosystems, driven by social commerce, AI curation, and instant fulfillment. Amazon, Temu, and ThredUp are reshaping expectations. Incumbents must combine digital agility with deep human insight. The next winners will create seamless, personalized, and values-based retail experiences.

  • Key Drivers: Omnichannel, AI personalization, circularity
  • Disruptors: Amazon, Shopify, Temu, ThredUp
  • Incumbents: Walmart and Target investing in AI, last-mile, experiential retail
  • Future Winners: Ecosystem retailers blending physical, digital, and sustainable offerings
  • Growth Areas: Social commerce, live shopping, AI recommendation engines
  • Outlook: Retail = technology; brand trust + data + delivery = competitive edge

Reinventing Technology

When OpenAI released ChatGPT, it stunned the world—and ignited an AI arms race. Technology is the force multiplier of every transformation. AI, quantum, chips, and decentralised platforms are reshaping what’s possible. Disruptors like DeepMind and Anthropic push the frontiers, while incumbents like Microsoft integrate AI into everything. The winners will be ecosystem architects, building the foundations of a superintelligent, secure, and inclusive digital world.

  • Key Drivers: AI, cloud, quantum, cybersecurity
  • Disruptors: OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, Nvidia
  • Incumbents: Microsoft and Google integrating GenAI across platforms
  • Future Winners: Platform-native firms owning data, chips, and AI layers
  • Growth Areas: GenAI, autonomous agents, AI operating systems
  • Outlook: Tech drives all other industries; $10T+ value shift imminent

Reinventing Telecoms

Starlink launched satellites fast enough to beam high-speed internet to war zones and remote villages alike. It showed how agile, hardware-software integrated telecom can leapfrog legacy infrastructure. With 5G, edge computing, and AI, telecom is evolving into a platform for everything—especially B2B. The leaders will connect not just people, but machines, data, and intelligence.

  • Key Drivers: 5G, private networks, AI-managed ops
  • Disruptors: Starlink, Rakuten Mobile, Helium Network
  • Incumbents: AT&T, BT, and Orange reposition as digital service providers
  • Future Winners: Providers offering integrated connectivity, intelligence, and cloud-edge infrastructure
  • Growth Areas: Satellite internet, B2B 5G, telecom-as-a-platform
  • Outlook: Telcos reinvent as enablers of digital society

Reinventing Travel

Airbnb changed not just where we stay—but how we experience the world. It made travel more local, personal, and flexible. Now, the rise of conscious travelers, nomadic workers, and immersive tech is redefining journeys. EcoHotels and digital nomad platforms are growing fast. Future winners will offer sustainable, seamless, and soul-nourishing travel—with data-driven personalisation and low-impact design.

  • Key Drivers: Sustainable tourism, remote work, personalization
  • Disruptors: Airbnb, Boom, Hopper, Nomadic, EcoHotels
  • Incumbents: Marriott and Accor push eco-design, digital concierge, loyalty platforms
  • Future Winners: Brands offering flexible, immersive, low-impact experiences
  • Growth Areas: Bleisure (business + leisure), digital nomad services, green destinations
  • Outlook: Travel reimagined around purpose, data, and experience.

Building a megatrend mindset

What the 6 megatrends share is a combination of inevitability and complexity.

They unfold over years, even decades, but their effects are accelerating. They create new winners and losers, and they require a mindset that is radically different from the one that dominated business in the past.

Traditional business thinking is rooted in linear assumptions, efficiency optimization, and incremental growth. But megatrends don’t follow linear rules. They interact with one another in unpredictable ways. They often create inflection points—sudden, nonlinear changes—that disrupt even the most well-defended industries.

Just consider how the fusion of mobile technology, social platforms, and AI enabled the rise of entirely new business models like Uber, and then TikTok which is as much about entertainment and shopping as networking. And over the last 18 months, AI platforms like ChatGPT have accelerated rapidly to challenge the very existence of the likes of Google.

In this environment, the most dangerous mindset is one of stability and control. The world no longer rewards those who cling to certainty or simply extrapolate the past forward. Instead, it favours those who embrace perpetual reinvention—those who can sense, adapt, and act at the speed of change.

To do that, leaders need to cultivate what we might call a “megatrend mindset”—a deep awareness of the forces reshaping the world, combined with the humility to question assumptions, the curiosity to explore what’s emerging, and the courage to make bold moves before the path is clear.

What Is a Megatrend Mindset?

A megatrend mindset is not just a set of insights or predictions—it’s a new operating philosophy for how leaders think, decide, and lead in uncertainty. It is defined by several key shifts:

  • From short-term to long-view thinking: Leaders must look beyond quarterly targets and focus on building future-fit businesses. This means identifying long-term opportunities and investing in capabilities that align with where the world is going—not just where it is now.
  • From control to navigating complexity: Instead of trying to manage complexity away, leaders must learn to navigate it. This includes using systems thinking, scenario planning. Strategies become more directional and agile, as embiguity and uncertainty are part of normality.
  • From optimisation to reinventing everything: Efficiency alone won’t drive tomorrow’s growth. Reinvention does. Leaders must be willing to rethink their business model, reshape their value proposition, and reimagine their entire organisations and ecosystems for how they deliver impact—over and over again.
  • From fixed expertise to dynamic learning: Expertise is becoming perishable. What matters more is learning agility—the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn faster than the pace of change. A megatrend mindset fosters a culture of exploration, experimentation, and continuous growth.
  • From reactive to proactive transformation: Waiting for change to hit before acting is a losing strategy. The megatrend mindset pushes organizations to lead change—to shape emerging markets, experiment with new models, and continually challenge their own relevance.

Why This Mindset Matters Now

The world is entering a new era where change is not just fast—it’s relentless.

As technologies compound, environmental pressures intensify, and social expectations shift, the gap between what businesses are and what they need to become is growing wider. Those that fail to evolve will fall behind. Those that embrace change will define the next generation of value creation.

Companies like DSM have learnt to continually reinvent themselves – from Dutch coal mining to chemicals to lifesciences – or Fujifilm – from camera film to medical imaging to cosmetics and personalised medicines.

India’s Jio superapp was born out Reliance, a petrochemical giant seeking to diversify, beyond industrial markets. It built a lifestyle brand, built an ecosystem of connected services, and then a payments platform, to capture the wallets of a billion consumers.

Even legacy giants like Microsoft and Schneider Electric have transformed themselves by aligning deeply with sustainability, cloud, and AI megatrends.

The lesson is clear: Reinvention is not a one-off event. It is a mindset, a discipline, and a continuous act of strategic courage.

A Megatrend Mindset applied to business is in reality a Reinvention Mindset.

How to Lead with a Megatrend Mindset

For leaders looking to build this mindset into their organisation, here are some actions to consider:

  • Scan broadly, think deeply: Build a habit of horizon scanning—actively tracking megatrends across sectors, geographies, and disciplines. Then connect the dots to your business.
  • Reimagine your core assumptions: Regularly challenge the core beliefs that underpin your strategy. Ask: What if they’re no longer true?
  • Build strategic foresight capacity: Equip teams with tools like scenarios, futures thinking, and trend mapping to make uncertainty a source of advantage.
  • Invest in transformative innovation: Go beyond incremental improvement. Explore bold ideas, fund experiments, and build partnerships at the edges of your ecosystem.
  • Develop future-fit talent: Prioritize skills like creativity, critical thinking, and digital fluency—traits essential for navigating complexity.
  • Lead with purpose and resilience: Anchor your organization in a clear purpose that aligns with societal needs, while building the agility to adapt as the context changes.

How will you lead your future?

In a world where megatrends are reshaping everything, the biggest risk is not disruption—it’s irrelevance. The future will not be inherited by the largest or the strongest, but by those who are the most adaptable, visionary, and bold. Developing a megatrend mindset isn’t optional—it’s essential.

For business leaders, this is a moment of truth. Will you merely react to change—or lead it? Will you wait for the future to arrive—or help shape it?

The answer will define not just your next quarter, but your next decade.

Welcome to the age of reinvention.

More from Peter Fisk:

In today’s rapidly evolving global landscape, the convergence of technological advancements, environmental imperatives, and social equity has redefined the role of private sector investments.

Beyond mere financial returns, investors are increasingly seeking opportunities that drive innovation, foster sustainability, and promote social inclusion. This paradigm shift underscores the potential of strategic investments to empower private companies, enabling them to not only achieve profitability but also become catalysts for positive environmental and social change.

“Purposeful profitability”

Historically, the pursuit of profit and the commitment to social good were often viewed as mutually exclusive. However, contemporary business models demonstrate that these objectives can be harmoniously integrated. By aligning financial strategies with sustainable practices and inclusive growth, companies can unlock new markets, enhance brand loyalty, and mitigate risks associated with environmental and social challenges.

This integrated approach is exemplified by companies that leverage innovation to address pressing global issues. Through strategic investments, these organizations harness emerging technologies and business models to create value that extends beyond the balance sheet, contributing to the achievement of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Case Studies of Innovative Investments with Positive Impact

1. M-KOPA Solar: Empowering Off-Grid Communities in Africa

M-KOPA Solar, based in Kenya, has revolutionized access to clean energy for off-grid households through its pay-as-you-go solar systems. By partnering with mobile money platforms like M-Pesa, M-KOPA enables customers to make affordable daily payments for solar energy, eliminating the need for costly and polluting kerosene. With over 2 million homes powered across East Africa, M-KOPA not only provides sustainable energy but also improves health, education, and economic opportunities for underserved communities.

In 2023, M-KOPA expanded its offerings by introducing electric motorbikes, further contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and promoting sustainable mobility in the region.

2. Solinftec: Transforming Agriculture with Precision Technology

Brazilian agtech company Solinftec is at the forefront of precision agriculture, utilizing AI-powered robots and real-time data analytics to optimize farming practices. Their Solix robotic system autonomously manages tasks such as weeding and crop monitoring, reducing the need for chemical inputs and enhancing yield efficiency. By securing investments from entities like Lightsmith and Blue Like an Orange Sustainable Capital, Solinftec has expanded its operations across North and South America, demonstrating how technology can drive sustainable agricultural practices.

The company’s platform provides farmers with real-time actionable insights related to planting, spraying, fertilizing, and harvesting, leading to increased productivity and reduced environmental impact.

3. Atlas Renewable Energy: Scaling Solar Power in Latin America

Atlas Renewable Energy, a leading Latin American renewable energy company, has partnered with IDB Invest and other financial institutions to develop large-scale solar projects in countries like Colombia and Brazil. These initiatives contribute to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and provide clean electricity to thousands of homes. By leveraging private capital and expertise, Atlas demonstrates how the private sector can play a pivotal role in advancing the global transition to renewable energy.

For instance, the Shangri-La project in Colombia, the largest solar project financed by IDB Invest in the country, is expected to generate approximately 403.7 GWh of clean energy annually, enough to power around 214,000 homes while preventing the emission of roughly 162,000 tons of CO2 per year.

4. Kubo Financiero: Expanding Financial Inclusion in Mexico

Kubo Financiero, a digital microfinance institution in Mexico, offers accessible financial services to underserved populations through its online platform. By providing loans, savings accounts, and investment products, Kubo empowers individuals to improve their financial well-being and build credit histories. Supported by investments from IDB Invest and Google for Startups, Kubo exemplifies how fintech innovations can bridge financial gaps and promote inclusive economic growth.

The company’s model allows for lower interest rates for borrowers and higher rates of return for depositors and investors, compared with traditional financial institutions, thus fostering a more inclusive financial ecosystem.

5. Grupo Bimbo: Integrating Sustainability into Core Business Practices

Grupo Bimbo, one of the world’s largest baking companies, has committed to integrating sustainability into its operations through its “For Nature” strategy. This includes achieving net-zero carbon emissions, eliminating waste, and promoting regenerative agriculture practices. By investing in renewable energy, sustainable packaging, and healthier product formulations, Grupo Bimbo not only enhances its brand value but also contributes to global environmental goals.

The company’s commitment extends to eliminating artificial colorings from all its products by the end of 2026 and ensuring that by the end of 2025, all its bread, buns, and breakfast items will carry a health star rating of at least 3.5, in response to increasing consumer preference for healthier foods.

The role of strategic investments in scaling impact

Strategic investments play a crucial role in scaling the impact of innovative companies. By providing the necessary capital and resources, investors enable these organizations to expand their operations, enhance their offerings, and reach a broader audience. This, in turn, amplifies the positive environmental and social outcomes associated with their business models.

Moreover, investments in innovation foster a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability. Companies that prioritize research and development are better equipped to respond to emerging challenges and capitalize on new opportunities, ensuring long-term sustainability and relevance in a dynamic market.

Some of the more innovative approaches include

1. Outcome-Based Financing: Linking Capital to Results

Traditional funding models often focus on inputs and outputs, but outcome-based financing shifts the emphasis to measurable results. By aligning financial returns with the achievement of specific social or environmental outcomes, investors can ensure that capital is directed toward initiatives that deliver tangible benefits.

For instance, the UP Fund, a $50 million pool of catalytic capital, aims to remove barriers to education and employment by deploying capital in two forms—student financing and organizational financing. This approach seeks to align the incentives between students, training providers, educational institutions, and employers through an outcomes-based methodology

2. Royalties-Based Financing: A Flexible Capital Structure

A novel investment model gaining traction is royalties-based financing, where investors receive a fixed percentage of future revenues instead of equity or rigid debt structures. This approach provides capital to companies without diluting ownership or imposing fixed repayment schedules, offering flexibility and aligning investor returns with company performance.

Althera42, co-founded by former BlackRock executive Caspar Macqueen, applies this model to late-stage private tech infrastructure companies in Europe and potentially North America. The fund targets companies with €10–€100 million in annual revenue from licensing-based models with strong intellectual property, low churn, and diversified customer bases. Investors receive quarterly distributions, combining venture capital-like upside with private debt’s steady cash flow.

3. Ecosystem Investing: Building Collaborative Networks

Ecosystem investing recognizes that complex social and environmental challenges require collaborative solutions. By viewing investments within the context of a broader ecosystem, funders can adjust their behavior in response to changes within that system, leading to more sustainable and scalable impact.

An example of this approach is the Nordic model of capitalism, which emphasizes collaboration between government, business, and civil society to address social issues. This model has proven effective in scaling social innovations by fostering an environment where various stakeholders work together toward common goals.

4. Digital Technology Integration: Enhancing Scale and Efficiency

The integration of digital technologies is transforming how social enterprises operate and scale. By leveraging digital platforms, companies can reach wider audiences, streamline operations, and enhance service delivery, leading to increased impact.

The Solinftec platform, for instance, provides farmers with real-time actionable insights related to planting, spraying, fertilizing, and harvesting. This digital approach has led to increased productivity and reduced environmental impact, demonstrating the power of technology in scaling sustainable agriculture practices.

5. Tradeable Impact Credits: Monetizing Social Outcomes

Innovative financial instruments, such as tradeable impact credits, are emerging to monetize social and environmental outcomes. These credits represent verified positive impacts and can be bought and sold, providing a new revenue stream for organizations delivering social value.

A recent report suggests that developing systems to create incentives to fund and scale these outcomes, focusing especially on the communities they aim to benefit, could significantly boost social funding

Creating lasting change, creating better lives

Investing in innovation is not merely a financial decision; it is a strategic approach to creating lasting positive change. By supporting companies that integrate sustainability and social impact into their core operations, investors contribute to the development of solutions that address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The case studies of M-KOPA Solar, Solinftec, Atlas Renewable Energy, Kubo Financiero, and Grupo Bimbo illustrate the transformative potential of such investments.

As the global community continues to confront environmental degradation, social inequality, and economic instability, the need for innovative solutions has never been more urgent. Through thoughtful and strategic investments, the private sector can drive the development and scaling of these solutions, paving the way for a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

More from Peter Fisk

Leadership today is a high-wire act.

The world is more volatile, more interconnected, and more unpredictable than ever. New technologies disrupt markets overnight, competition is no longer local but global, and the speed of change leaves little time for complacency.

In this unforgiving arena, leaders need more than strategy; they need adaptability, resilience, creativity, and the ability to inspire people around a shared vision.

Some of the richest insights into modern leadership do not come from corporate boardrooms but from the worlds of music, sport, and politics.

Figures like Taylor Swift, Roger Federer, and Barack Obama have mastered the art of reinvention, performance, and influence in contexts where the stakes are high and the spotlight relentless. Alongside them, innovators like Lionel Messi, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Selena Gomez, and David Guetta show what it means to lead movements and industries through personal mastery, purpose, and collaboration.

For business leaders, these high performers offer profound lessons in how to thrive in times of intense competition, innovation, and change.

Taylor Swift: Reinvention as a Leadership Strategy

Few contemporary figures embody the art of reinvention better than Taylor Swift. Over nearly two decades, she has transformed herself from a teenage country singer into a global cultural force whose influence stretches far beyond music. Each “era” of Swift’s career represents not just an artistic pivot but also a strategic redefinition of her brand.

What makes her approach so powerful for business leaders is the intentionality behind her reinventions. She reads the cultural moment, anticipates shifts in her audience, and positions herself ahead of the curve. When country music felt limiting, she crossed into pop with 1989 and became a megastar. When the industry questioned her control over her own work, she turned the dispute into a campaign for artist ownership, re-recording her albums to regain her masters and reframing the narrative in her favor.

Swift’s lesson for leaders is clear: reinvention is not failure or a loss of identity — it is survival. In business, markets evolve and consumer tastes change. Leaders who cling too tightly to what worked yesterday risk irrelevance tomorrow. Like Swift, leaders must learn to treat reinvention as a deliberate act of growth, not a reaction to crisis.

Her mastery of digital platforms adds another dimension. Swift has used social media not merely as a promotional tool but as a community-building space. She creates intimacy at scale, making fans feel personally seen and valued. For leaders, this highlights the importance of authentic connection in the digital age. In a world of automation and AI, human connection and trust become scarce and valuable commodities.

  • Parallel: Swift is like Netflix, which has constantly reinvented itself — from DVD rentals to streaming, from streaming to original content, from content to gaming — always staying ahead of audience expectations.
  • Lesson: Reinvention is not reaction but anticipation. Leaders must actively redefine themselves before the market forces them to.

Roger Federer: Grace Under Pressure and the Long Game

Where Swift teaches reinvention, Roger Federer exemplifies longevity. Over a two-decade career, he maintained elite performance in one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports in the world. His grace on the court was matched by his resilience off it, adapting his game as his body aged and new competitors emerged.

Federer’s genius was not only technical but strategic. Early in his career, he relied on athleticism and aggressive shot-making. Later, he refined his style into one based on efficiency, conserving energy with shorter points, impeccable footwork, and tactical variety. He reinvented his game to extend his career, much as businesses must reinvent processes and strategies to remain competitive.

Just as important was his mental composure. Federer faced rivals like Nadal and Djokovic, who often seemed more physically dominant. Yet he rarely appeared flustered. His poise under pressure became a hallmark, turning critical points into opportunities rather than threats. Leaders in business face their own “match points”: moments of crisis, sudden disruptions, or high-stakes decisions. Federer shows that calm confidence, built on preparation and belief, can turn pressure into performance.

Beyond sport, Federer also curated his legacy. His retirement was not the end but the beginning of a new chapter as philanthropist, investor, and ambassador. For leaders, this demonstrates the importance of thinking not only about immediate wins but about long-term impact. Leadership is not just about quarterly results; it is about building enduring influence.

  • Parallel: Federer’s adaptability mirrors Toyota’s philosophy of continuous improvement (Kaizen). Just as Toyota refines processes to extend product lifecycles and reduce waste, he refined his playing style to sustain high performance over decades.
  • Lesson: Efficiency and composure are as critical as raw performance. Long-term leadership depends on resilience, adjustment, and the ability to deliver under pressure.

Barack Obama: Leadership Through Vision and Voice

If Swift embodies reinvention and Federer demonstrates resilience, Barack Obama shows the power of narrative and vision in leadership. Obama rose from relative obscurity to the U.S. presidency largely through his ability to articulate hope and possibility in a time of division.

What stands out is his mastery of voice — not only in speeches but in the way he connected across cultures and generations. Obama framed politics not as a technical exercise but as a story in which ordinary people could see themselves as protagonists. This skill of framing and storytelling is critical for business leaders. In times of uncertainty, data and analysis matter, but it is vision and narrative that mobilize people.

Obama also embraced the digital age of campaigning. His 2008 run pioneered the use of social media and online fundraising, redefining how politics engaged with citizens. Business leaders face a similar imperative: to harness digital platforms not merely for efficiency but for engagement, creating ecosystems where people feel part of a larger mission.

At the same time, Obama demonstrated equanimity under intense scrutiny. His presidency was marked by crises — economic collapse, wars, social upheaval — yet his leadership was defined by calm deliberation and the ability to bring people together. In business, where polarizing pressures can divide teams, the capacity to unify around shared purpose is a defining quality of great leadership.

  • Parallel: Obama’s use of narrative resembles Apple’s brand storytelling. Both created movements not just through products or policies, but by telling stories that people wanted to believe in and be part of.
  • Lesson: Data informs, but vision inspires. Leaders must be storytellers who give meaning to collective effort, especially in uncertain times.

Lionel Messi: Mastery, Consistency, and Adaptability

If Federer represents elegance, Lionel Messi represents relentless mastery. Across two decades, he has been one of the greatest footballers of all time, known for his vision, precision, and consistency under immense pressure. Unlike athletes who relied primarily on physical power, Messi thrived through creativity, anticipation, and relentless refinement of skill.

Messi’s career shows leaders the value of sustained excellence. In an era where businesses are tempted to chase the next big trend, Messi demonstrates the power of compounding mastery. His consistency on the pitch mirrors the importance of delivering value again and again for customers.

But Messi is not only about consistency; he is also about adaptability. Moving from Barcelona, where he had spent his entire career, to Paris Saint-Germain, and later to Inter Miami, he showed how even the greatest can reinvent themselves in new contexts. Business leaders often struggle with legacy: systems, habits, and reputations built in one environment may not translate to another. Messi proves that humility and adaptability are as important as raw talent.

Moreover, Messi’s leadership is quiet but powerful. Unlike more vocal figures, his example is through performance and presence. For leaders, this underscores that influence does not always require charisma or volume — sometimes excellence itself is the most compelling form of leadership.

  • Parallel: Messi is like Amazon — consistently excellent in execution, yet willing to expand into new fields (from books to e-commerce, cloud, entertainment, and logistics) without losing the discipline of operational mastery.
  • Lesson: Excellence compounds. Leaders who deliver consistently and adapt humbly to new environments build trust and longevity.

Beyoncé: Innovation, Empowerment, and Business Acumen

Beyoncé offers another perspective on leadership in a changing world: the fusion of creativity, innovation, and empowerment. Like Taylor Swift, she is not only an artist but also a business strategist who has built an empire across music, fashion, film, and digital streaming.

Her artistry is rooted in innovation. Albums like Lemonade or the surprise release of her self-titled record redefined how music could be launched and consumed. By bypassing traditional promotional cycles, Beyoncé disrupted industry norms and set new standards for direct-to-consumer engagement. Leaders in business can learn from this boldness: sometimes the best way to lead is to rewrite the rules of the game.

Equally important is her focus on empowerment. Beyoncé uses her platform to champion diversity, inclusion, and female empowerment, aligning her artistry with cultural relevance. In the corporate world, this translates into purpose-driven leadership: success today requires aligning business outcomes with values that matter to employees and customers.

Her ventures into streaming (with Homecoming on Netflix), fashion (Ivy Park), and even investments demonstrate strategic diversification. Beyoncé’s career is a case study in building ecosystems rather than products. Leaders should see innovation not as isolated projects but as interconnected strategies that reinforce each other.

  • Parallel: Beyoncé’s strategy echoes LVMH, the luxury giant that blends heritage with innovation, building interconnected brands that thrive on cultural relevance and aspirational values.
  • Lesson: Innovation works best when aligned with purpose. Leaders must expand influence by building ecosystems — interconnected ventures that reinforce each other — rather than isolated projects.

David Guetta: Collaboration and Digital Reinvention

David Guetta has transformed electronic music into a global phenomenon through relentless innovation, digital savvy, and strategic collaborations. Starting in the 1990s Paris club scene, Guetta leveraged the emerging digital music ecosystem to expand the reach of electronic dance music. He foresaw the potential of streaming, remix culture, and cross-genre collaboration long before they became mainstream.

Guetta’s leadership lies in his ability to connect talent and audiences in unexpected ways. By partnering with pop stars, rappers, and global musicians, he has expanded EDM’s appeal while continually reinventing his sound. He embraces technology as a tool for creativity, using digital platforms to release music directly to fans, monitor trends, and optimize engagement. His adaptability has allowed him to thrive in an industry marked by rapid obsolescence and fickle consumer tastes.

For business leaders, Guetta illustrates the power of ecosystem thinking. Success is not achieved in isolation; it emerges from partnerships, networked influence, and digital integration. He demonstrates that collaboration and digital reinvention are essential for sustaining relevance in fast-changing markets. Guetta’s career exemplifies agility, foresight, and the ability to blend creativity with strategic positioning — key traits for leaders navigating the modern competitive landscape.

  • Parallel: Guetta is like Spotify — thriving by creating platforms for collaboration, remixing, and new discovery. Both show that in a digital-first world, leadership is about curating ecosystems of connection, not just producing content.
  • Lesson: Collaboration fuels reinvention. Leaders must see partnerships not as threats but as multipliers of value in fast-changing environments.

Oprah Winfrey: Purpose and Cultural Impact

Oprah Winfrey’s career is a masterclass in purpose-driven leadership. Rising from a challenging childhood marked by poverty and adversity, she forged a media empire that blends business acumen, cultural influence, and authentic connection. Her success is rooted not in mere talent but in the ability to identify what people truly want: content that resonates emotionally, inspires, and empowers. Winfrey understood early that media could be a vehicle not only for entertainment but for influence and social impact.

Her leadership style is characterized by empathy, authenticity, and vision. She built her brand on trust, consistently delivering value to her audience while maintaining a strong ethical compass. From The Oprah Winfrey Show to the OWN network, Oprah has transformed industries by redefining what it means to be a media mogul. She champions purpose-driven business practices, demonstrating that profitability and impact are not mutually exclusive.

Winfrey’s approach offers lessons for business leaders in the modern era: embed authenticity in every decision, align operations with core values, and use influence responsibly. She demonstrates how a leader can shape culture, inspire loyalty, and drive systemic change. In a world of constant disruption, her example underscores the importance of vision, emotional intelligence, and resilience as critical leadership assets.

  • Parallel: Oprah resembles Unilever, which aligns corporate strategy with sustainability and values. Both prove that purpose can be a competitive advantage, building loyalty in a crowded marketplace.
  • Lesson: Values are the new currency of leadership. Authenticity and purpose inspire deeper engagement than financial incentives alone.

Selena Gomez: Vulnerability, Connection, and Building Community

Selena Gomez represents a new generation of leaders who combine creativity, entrepreneurship, and social advocacy. Emerging as a child star, Gomez transitioned seamlessly into music, film, and digital influence, demonstrating adaptability and long-term strategic thinking. Beyond entertainment, she built Rare Beauty, a cosmetics brand emphasizing inclusivity, authenticity, and mental health awareness, redefining the way celebrity brands interact with consumers.

Gomez’s leadership is grounded in vulnerability and relatability. She has publicly discussed mental health struggles, autoimmune disease, and personal challenges, turning transparency into a source of trust and community-building. This openness has allowed her to connect deeply with audiences and cultivate loyal followers across multiple platforms. In addition, her brand strategy emphasizes values-driven business: Rare Beauty is designed not just to sell products but to empower users and promote social change.

For business leaders, Gomez exemplifies modern leadership traits: the ability to diversify across domains, leverage personal influence responsibly, and embed mission-driven values into business operations. She shows that adaptability, authenticity, and purpose are competitive advantages, demonstrating that leaders can cultivate both emotional and commercial impact simultaneously. Her example underscores the importance of aligning brand, business strategy, and social responsibility in today’s fast-moving landscape.

  • Parallel: Gomez’s approach echoes Patagonia, which turned environmental activism into a defining strength. Both built communities not by hiding imperfections but by sharing values openly.
  • Lesson: Transparency is power. In an age of distrust, leaders who show vulnerability and align business with genuine social causes create stronger communities.

Lessons for Leaders

Drawing across these high performers, several themes emerge that are directly applicable to leaders navigating today’s competitive and innovative landscape:

  • Reinvent Relentlessly (Taylor Swift) – Stay ahead by redefining yourself before the market forces you to. Innovation is not a project; it is a way of being.

  • Play the Long Game (Roger Federer) – Adapt your strategies to sustain performance over time. Efficiency, resilience, and composure are as critical as short-term wins.

  • Lead Through Vision and Voice (Barack Obama) – Craft narratives that mobilize people, especially in times of uncertainty. Facts inform, but stories inspire.

  • Deliver Mastery with Adaptability (Lionel Messi) – Pursue excellence consistently while staying humble and ready to adapt when contexts change.

  • Build Ecosystems with Purpose (Beyoncé) – Innovate boldly, align with values, and expand influence through interconnected ventures rather than isolated products.

  • Reinvent Relentlessly (Taylor Swift/Netflix) – Stay ahead by redefining yourself before the market forces you to. Innovation is not a project; it is a way of being.

  • Play the Long Game (Roger Federer/Toyota) – Adapt your strategies to sustain performance over time. Efficiency, resilience, and composure are as critical as short-term wins.

  • Lead Through Vision and Voice (Barack Obama/Apple) – Craft narratives that mobilize people, especially in times of uncertainty. Facts inform, but stories inspire.

  • Deliver Mastery with Adaptability (Lionel Messi/Amazon) – Excellence must be consistent, but context demands flexibility.

  • Build Ecosystems with Purpose (Beyoncé/LVMH) – Create interconnected ventures rooted in cultural relevance and values.

  • Harness Collaboration and Platforms (David Guetta/Spotify) – In a digital world, ecosystems and partnerships multiply impact.

  • Lead with Purpose and Authenticity (Oprah Winfrey/Unilever) – Trust and values are the ultimate foundation of influence.

  • Turn Vulnerability Into Strength (Selena Gomez/Patagonia) – Transparency builds community and deepens loyalty.

The common denominator across Swift, Federer, Obama, Messi, Beyoncé, Winfrey, Gomez, and Guetta is not talent alone but the deliberate cultivation of adaptability, resilience, and authenticity. They do not simply react to change — they anticipate it, shape it, and use it to fuel their influence.

For business leaders, this is the challenge of our age. AI, climate change, geopolitical shifts, and social transformation are rewriting the rules of every industry. In such a world, the best leaders will not be those who cling to traditional playbooks but those who, like these high performers, embrace uncertainty as a stage on which to perform their best work.

Leadership is no longer about commanding from above but about orchestrating movements, telling compelling stories, and embodying values that resonate. It is about combining strategic reinvention with human connection, turning moments of pressure into opportunities for transformation.

In short, the leaders who thrive in this world of intense competition, innovation, and change will be those who learn to lead not just with their heads but with imagination, resilience, and authenticity — much like the performers, athletes, and statesmen who inspire us far beyond their own fields.

Five athletes, with a shared ambition: to run the first ever sub-six-hour 100km in history.

Adidas called it “the story of how a group of radical minds ushered in a new era of performance, a story of elite athletes working alongside the world’s sharpest product innovators, and the jaw-dropping ultramarathon history that followed.”

Indeed it was exciting – Sibusiso Kubheka (South Africa), 100km world record holder Aleksandr Sorokin (Lithuania), Charlie Lawrence (USA), Jo Fukuda (Japan) and Ketema Negasa (Ethiopia) were each backed by precision-engineered Adidas footwear and state-of-the-art apparel designed for speed and endurance.

Kubheka was the athlete who pulled off the unthinkable in an astonishing 5:59:20, shaving 6 minutes and 15 seconds off the previous fastest time of 6:05:35. 

In the same week Adidas also launched the world’s first specialist treadmill running shoe.

Over 50,000 people run on treadmills every day, yet nobody has designed a shoe for them before. An obvious gap in some ways, and yet a blue ocean for growth.

Most innovation focuses on products. Still. But we all know that it is the bigger context – the consumer experience, services beyond products, and the ecosystem of partners, the business model, the market model – where innovation can have more impact.

Super shoes are now normal

As the world’s top athletes come together this week in Tokyo for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, the sport sits at an inflection point.

The “super shoe” era that began with the Vaporfly has matured: carbon plates, PEBA/TPEA-type foams, and aggressive rocker geometries have become mainstream across dozens of models and many brands.

At the same time, new materials and supply-chain priorities are reshaping design decisions, governing bodies have tightened rules, and a new generation of brands – some old, some reinvented, some startup – are pursuing different bets: sustainability, personalisation, embedded tech, direct-to-consumer culture, and niche community authenticity.

So what’s changing, who’s shaping the market, which new technologies matter, and how will shoes, apparel and accessories evolve over the next 5 years?

After a decade of rapid innovation, World Athletics and national federations have moved from reactive to proactive: setting clear limits on stack heights, limiting the number and construction of plates, and publishing approved-shoe lists.

Regulatory shifts (for example new consolidated limits for track and road shoes, and separate track/road rules that came into force after 2022 and evolved into further clarifications in 2024–25) constrain the absolute extremes of a single “secret” podium shoe and force brands to innovate within stricter boundaries.

That regulatory pressure pushes R&D into three places: smarter foam chemistry (durability and energy return), mechanical geometry (rocker profiles, localised stiffness), and supporting services (sensing, custom fit, coaching ecosystems). This matters: with obvious “game-changing” leaps less likely to be achieved by a single plate or a radical sole height, new winners will be brands that combine modest hardware gains with software, fit, durability, and ecosystem value.

They also need to think beyond the product, about the consumer – the runner – who they are, where, what and why they run.

Next generation materials

Smarter foams and tuned polymers

PEBA (often under trade names such as Pebax) and PEBA-like compounds have dominated the most lively midsoles because of exceptional rebound and lightness. By 2025 many brands—from Nike to Saucony, Hoka, New Balance, Puma and more—are using PEBA formulations or advanced TPUs to get that “bouncy” feel while trying to improve durability and reduce cost. Expect continuing work on hybrid foams (PEBA blended with more durable EVA variants), micro-architectured foams (engineered cell structures), and small additive blends that target specific distance profiles (tempo vs marathon).

Mechanical innovation without breaking rules

With one rigid plate usually permitted, designers will focus on multi-material plates (composite + thermoplastic inserts) that tune forefoot/heel dynamics and stability, and on macro-geometry: asymmetric stack heights, longitudinal channels that alter bending stiffness, and intelligent tread patterns. Stability winglets, localized pads and variable durometer inserts will let a single model serve multiple runner types via simple modular swaps (replaceable midsole pods or outsole sections). Recent race models from mainstream brands (and Puma’s Fast-R NITRO Elite 3 as a concrete example) show how intense iteration is yielding incremental but meaningful gains.

Durability, circularity and new supply-chain choices

One of the clearest future battlegrounds is resilience: historically the bounciest foams deliver the worst longevity. Runners and retailers are demanding better miles/dollar and lower lifecycle impacts. Brands like Allbirds have leaned into radical material choices (sugarcane-based midsoles, tree/eucalyptus uppers, “net-zero” experiments) and open-sourcing parts of their processes; expect more experimentation with recycled polymer formulations, reclaimed foams and take-back programs that convert used midsoles back into new compound feedstock. Sustainability will shift from PR to product economics: lighter-touch supply chains, modular replaceability and demonstrated carbon/reporting credentials will become competitive advantages.

The rise of brand clusters

When the shoe performance gap narrows, brand story and community matter. Three clusters will stand out.

Specialist performance houses

These are the mid-sized performance brands that double down on a focused promise: trail speed, marathon performance, or daily durability. Hoka (Deckers), Saucony, Brooks, Mizuno and Karhu are sharpening technical portfolios—race shoes with tuned foams, trainers that compete on mileage and stability, and trail models with plated rockered geometries. They capture serious runners who want performance but also fit, foot health and trustable customer support. Independent labs and media outlets continue to rank these brands highly in 2025 buyer guides.

Culture and community brands

Tracksmith, Allbirds, and smaller niche labels will continue to grow by selling identity as much as tech. Tracksmith’s retro, “running class” aesthetic and community activation (brick-and-mortar clubs and storytelling) prove that apparel and coaching culture are powerful. Allbirds proves a different playbook: mainstream comfort + sustainability, which wins urban runners and recovery-day buyers rather than elite racers. These brands matter because they expand the market and make running a lifestyle choice, not just a performance pursuit.

Platform and tech-driven entrants

Brands that add software and sensing to footwear (or partner closely with sensor companies) will find recurring revenue and coachable improvement loops. Expect partnerships or verticalizations with companies such as Nurvv, Stryd, RunScribe, and new insole/smart fabric ventures; the product is no longer just a shoe but a “performance platform” — hardware + firmware + training insights. Academic and commercial advances in low-cost insoles and textile sensors (solar-assisted power, thin pressure arrays) are making embedded sensing feasible at scale. That opens new revenue: subscriptions for gait coaching, injury-prevention analytics, and bespoke training plans based on actual strike mechanics.

Beyond shoes

The shoe is the hero, but apparel and accessories become differentiators:

  • Smart apparel: Textile strain sensors and deep-learning models are moving from lab papers to commercial trials (AI-driven smart sportswear and transformer-based insole pose estimation). Expect shirts and compression garments that combine breathing data, posture cues, and running form feedback via phone apps or coach dashboards. Elite teams and coaching hubs will adopt these first; consumer versions will follow.

  • Modular race kits: Clothing designed to be minimalist for races (integrated pockets, sweat shedding, aerodynamic seams) that pair with specific shoe geometries. Brands that offer combined shoe+apparel “systems” for a target outcome (10k PR kit, marathon comfort kit) will stand out.

  • Recovery and health accessories: Insoles, foot beds, and targeted muscle oxygen sensors will be bundled as part of premium offerings—an ecosystem play similar to cycling (shoes, and power meter, and coaching). Stryd and RunScribe prove business model possibilities by offering hardware that feeds platforms.

Next brands to watch

Beyond the household giants, Adidas and Asics, New Balance and Nike, a mix of incumbents and insurgents will lead:

  • Puma — aggressively repositioning itself as a performance player with the Fast-R NITRO series and R&D investment; their claims and lab testing show measurable efficiency gains and real marathon adoption. Puma is a big example of a legacy brand reasserting performance cred.

  • On Running — Swiss design culture, cloud-style cushioning and robot-woven uppers; they continue to push geometry and manufacturing novelities while expanding apparel and community events.

  • Hoka, Saucony — innovation leaders on foam tuning and marathoner-focused models. Hoka’s blend of cushioning and rocker geometry, and Saucony’s race DNA, give them runway in both everyday and elite markets.

  • Brooks , Mizuno — Brooks on everyday support and sustainability; Mizuno with wave technologies and a premium running heritage.

  • Allbirds, Tracksmith — not for podium dominance, but for convincing significant segments of runners that sustainability and culture matter; Allbirds’ net-zero experiments and open recipe approach are important industry signals.

  • Startups — Nurvv, Stryd, RunScribe and a wave of smart insole/lab spinouts: these companies will either be acquired by footwear brands or will become essential partners for “connected” product lines. New low-cost research from universities (solar-powered pressure insoles, sub-$1 e-textiles) hints at scalable consumer deployments.

  • Regional and heritage labels — Karhu, Diadora, Salomon, and other regional specialists will continue to find loyal markets by mixing authenticity with technical improvements. They might not have the global reach of Nike, but they have credibility in niches (trail, mountain, classic track).

Business models and retail

  • DTC and community: Direct-to-consumer stores that double as running hubs, coaching clinics and product test centres (increasingly what Tracksmith and On are doing). Community fuels loyalty and word-of-mouth.

  • Subscription and service offerings: Shoe+insole+app bundles with monthly coaching or injury monitoring subscriptions. This spreads lifetime revenue and makes premium margins more dependable.

  • Circularity programs: Trade-in, refurbished midsoles, and “replaceable pods” make shoes cheaper to own and more sustainable—appealing to younger consumers and urban markets that prize ethics.

  • B2B to pro teams and nations: Winning elite teams or federations (as showcased in world championships and Olympics) still offers halo effects. But the proof points will increasingly be on durability, measured gains in running economy, and analytics support rather than sensational PR claims alone.

Personalisation and data

Two trends converge: personalization (fit, stiffness, drop, orthotic) and data-driven coaching. Expect:

  • At-home gait scans and local 3D foot printing for insole/upper customization.

  • Adaptive shoes (semi-modular soles or insole inserts sold separately to tune for tempo vs long run).

  • App ecosystems that use every run to improve shoe life estimates, suggest training adjustments, and pre-empt injuries via gait drift detection from smart insoles and clothing sensors. Research prototypes and commercial offerings (Nurvv, Stryd, and academic sensor papers) show the pathway is real.

2025 and beyond

Tokyo 2025, and similar championships, function as the laboratory and the billboard. Race selections — who wears what on the start line — influence amateur choices. But by 2025 the story is less about a single dominant plate and more about brand ecosystems: fit, coach buy-in, and marginal gains from sensors/coaching.

We’ll see more elite athletes experiment with combinations: a PEBA-based race day shoe, a resilient daily trainer from a specialist brand, and data-driven recovery tools supplied by third-party tech companies. That diversification of athlete tech choices will be mirrored across recreational markets.

So what should you watch over the next 5 years?

  • Material breakthroughs: New foams that match PEBA rebound but improve durability or lower carbon footprint.

  • Modularity: Shoes with replaceable midsole pods or swap-in plates that let one shoe serve multiple roles.

  • Sensor mainstreaming: Affordable, durable smart insoles and textile sensors integrated into mass-market trainers.

  • Sustainable product lines: More mainstream, non-niche circular products (e.g., Allbirds commercializing net-zero techniques).

The short story: the future of running shoes is plural, not monopolistic. The era of a single brand defining “fast” is giving way to a richer ecosystem where materials chemistry, modular product design, data services, sustainability credentials, and community authenticity all matter. As Tokyo 2025 shows, elite competition will continue to be a laboratory that accelerates adoption, but the commercial winners will combine measured hardware gains with software, circular economics, and lived community value.

Each month The Brand Doctor, aka business expert Peter Fisk, takes a global brand that has lost its way, and considers how it could reinvent itself. If it’s your brand, do you have the courage to change? If not, what would you do, and how could you apply these ideas for reinvention to your own business?

Ecco

For decades, Ecco has been synonymous with comfort and craftsmanship. The Danish footwear brand earned its reputation producing high-quality, durable shoes and leather goods, combining elegant Scandinavian design with the promise of all-day comfort.

Yet as the global market evolves, consumer behaviour shifts, and sustainability becomes central to brand value, Ecco faces a pivotal moment: to remain a leader, it must reinvent itself for the future.

This reinvention requires more than incremental change—it demands a radical rethinking of the brand, its audiences, and its products.

The concept at the heart of this transformation is simple yet profound: “Live Outdoors.” By embracing the idea that life, wellness, and human experience thrive outdoors, Ecco can create a new lifestyle platform that appeals to a broad spectrum of global consumers while opening multiple revenue streams beyond traditional footwear.

Review: What’s the problem?

Despite a strong reputation for comfort, quality, and craftsmanship in footwear, the brand faces growing challenges in today’s fast-evolving global market. Its core strength—functional, all-day comfort—has limited appeal to younger, style-conscious consumers. Gen Z and Millennials increasingly prefer brands that combine trend-forward design, sustainability, and lifestyle relevance, leaving Ecco perceived as safe but uninspiring.

Of course, not every brand needs to focus on young people first. The money, and growth, is often in older audience.

Internationally, Ecco’s growth is constrained. While strong in Europe, it has underdeveloped presence in Asia and North America, regions where premium, experience-driven brands resonate with affluent urban consumers. Its products and marketing are not fully localized or digitally optimized for these markets.

The company is also overly reliant on footwear and leather goods, missing opportunities to diversify into apparel, equipment, and lifestyle services, unlike competitors such as Geox, Sketchers, Clarks – or even Allbirds, Lululemon, and others. Brand differentiation is weak; comfort alone no longer sets Ecco apart in a market where innovation, tech integration, and sustainability are key drivers of relevance.

It has yet to leverage sustainability as a premium, defining brand value and to offer immersive digital and retail experiences. Without addressing these gaps, Ecco risks remaining a functional, legacy brand, limiting growth, relevance, and long-term market value.

Ecco’s financial trajectory is not strong, particularly in 2024. Revenues were €1.49 billion, a decrease from €1.57 billion in 2023, resulting in a net loss of €37.59 million, compared to a €47.04 million profit in 2023.

Reframe: Live Outdoors

“Live Outdoors” is not just a slogan; it is a lens through which every product, service, and interaction with the brand can be reframed. The philosophy is rooted in three principles:

  • Mobility for Life: Shoes and accessories are designed to support an active lifestyle, whether that’s walking through city streets, exploring urban parks, hiking trails, or traveling the globe. it’s links to golf help support this. Comfort and ergonomic design remain central, but now coupled with functionality and style suitable for dynamic, outdoor-centric lives.

  • Wellness through Experience: Ecco can position itself as a lifestyle brand that promotes well-being through outdoor activity. Products, community programs, and digital services encourage walking, adventure, and mindful movement—turning a simple act of putting on shoes into an intentional wellness practice.

  • Sustainability as a Premium Promise: Outdoor living connects naturally with environmental stewardship. By committing to regenerative, carbon-negative materials and circular design practices, Ecco can appeal to conscious consumers seeking brands that reflect their values.

Refocus: Asian, urban and older

The “Live Outdoors” positioning opens access to three high-potential audience segments:

Active Older

Ecco’s heritage of comfort positions it perfectly to appeal to older consumers seeking health, mobility, and lifestyle continuity. By emphasizing ergonomic design, supportive footwear, and outdoor activity, the brand can:

  • Promote “longevity living” products, combining classic style with biomechanical support.

  • Offer wellness subscriptions including walking programs, health tracking, and lifestyle content.

  • Create community-based initiatives, such as guided urban walks or outdoor fitness meetups, fostering both engagement and loyalty.

This segment not only represents a growing global demographic but also a premium consumer base willing to invest in products that improve quality of life.

Active Urbans

Urban consumers could be any age, but more likely digital savvy, who value authenticity, sustainability, and experiences over mere possessions. They are highly active on social media and drawn to brands that allow co-creation, storytelling, and community participation. For Ecco, this means:

  • Developing limited-edition, tech-integrated footwear that combines comfort with street-style aesthetics.

  • Leveraging new channels to market, and tie ins with other brands – think of the modern work backpack, for example

  • Aligning with wellness in the city, at work – natural, sustainable, ecological, outdoor,

By connecting mobility, outdoor experiences, and digital engagement, Ecco can capture the attention and loyalty of urban consumers globally, particularly in Asia’s fast-growing urban centres.

Affluent Asians

Asia represents a significant growth opportunity for premium brands. Rising middle classes and aspirational consumers in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia are seeking lifestyle brands that combine quality, innovation, and status. Ecco can tailor its offering with:

  • Region-specific collections reflecting local trends and climate conditions.

  • Experiential retail spaces, such as “Ecco Labs” pop-ups, that combine product exploration, AR try-on, and interactive workshops on wellness, design, and sustainability.

  • Exclusive subscription programs offering early access to seasonal products or co-created limited editions.

This strategy positions Ecco not only as a footwear brand but as a premium lifestyle partner attuned to the aspirations of wealthy, experience-driven consumers.

Which of these matter most? Who comes first? Think about who personifies the brand, establishes its authentic positioning, and can be aspirational to others. While Nike shoes are predominantly sold to the mainstream, they still focus their brand, imagery and product innovation on the athletes, niche in volume, but critical in positioning. Likewise, Ecco should start with the urban actives, who are then aspirational to the Asian aspirants, and the older loyalists.

Reinvent: From shoes to lifestyle ecosystem

Traditionally, Ecco has focused on footwear and leather accessories. The reinvention as a “Live Outdoors” lifestyle brand allows a natural expansion into new categories:

1. Footwear

Ecco’s core remains its strength: comfort, craftsmanship, and durability. The innovation lies in integrating smart features, modular designs, and eco-conscious materials:

  • Smart footwear: Sensors tracking posture, walking habits, and wellness metrics.

  • Modular shoes: Interchangeable soles, uppers, and accessories to allow customization, durability, and sustainability.

  • Premium sustainable lines: Carbon-negative leathers, bio-based materials, and fully recyclable products.

2. Apparel

Technical, stylish, and eco-friendly clothing can complement footwear:

  • Urban outdoor apparel: Jackets, pants, and tops designed for mobility, comfort, and style.

  • Wellness wear: Breathable, ergonomic clothing suited for walking, fitness, and everyday movement.

  • Limited-edition collaborations: Co-created designs with artists or local designers to appeal to Gen Z and regional markets.

3. Equipment

Expand into gear and accessories that support the outdoor lifestyle:

  • Backpacks, ergonomic travel bags, and walking aids.

  • Wellness tools such as hydration systems, portable seating, or recovery kits for long walks and urban exploration.

4. Services and  Digital Ecosystem

Ecco can monetize wellness, community, and engagement:

  • Subscription platforms: Monthly wellness packages including product delivery, walking challenges, or exclusive content.

  • Mobile apps: AI-driven insights into walking, posture, and activity.

  • Community programs: Urban exploration tours, outdoor fitness events, and digital social engagement tied to product experiences.

Rebuild: Life in every step

A radical reinvention requires bold storytelling and culturally resonant marketing:

  • Experiential retail: Pop-up “Ecco Labs” and flagship stores that blend shopping with interactive education, wellness, and sustainability experiences.

  • Sustainability narrative: Communicate material sourcing, regenerative practices, and carbon-negative production to build credibility among conscious consumers.

  • Global campaigns: Highlight universal themes of mobility, outdoor living, and wellness, while localizing content for Asian markets and older demographics.

By positioning Ecco as a facilitator of experiences rather than just a product, the brand moves into a cultural space where loyalty, engagement, and community drive revenue.

Value Impact

The radical reinvention carries significant strategic and financial potential:

  • Diversified Revenue Streams: Footwear, apparel, equipment, and wellness services together increase the total addressable market. Each product and service line builds ecosystem value and cross-selling opportunities.

  • Premium Positioning: By emphasizing sustainability, smart features, and lifestyle integration, Ecco can command higher margins, positioning it as a luxury-lifestyle brand rather than a standard comfort shoe maker.

  • Global Growth: Expansion into Gen Z and Asian urban markets captures high-value growth segments, while older consumers provide steady, premium revenue streams in Europe and North America.

  • Brand Equity: The combination of purpose, design, and technology strengthens the brand’s intangible assets, which are increasingly the primary drivers of valuation in today’s consumer sector.

  • Investor Appeal: Ecco is a private company, however sustainable innovation, international growth, and ecosystem-based revenue models make Ecco attractive to new investors.

Ecco 2035

Ecco stands at the threshold of a transformative opportunity. By embracing the “Live Outdoors” positioning, the company can transcend traditional footwear boundaries to become a global lifestyle and wellness brand, capturing the imagination of Gen Z urbanites, affluent Asian consumers, and active older adults alike.

What could its strategic roadmap look like?

Through innovative products, expanded categories, premium sustainability, and immersive experiences, Ecco can increase revenue, build lasting brand equity, and significantly increase multiples compared to traditional footwear peers, potentially doubling or tripling current enterprise value.

The path forward is clear: Ecco’s next step is no longer just about shoes—it is about enabling a lifetime of mobility, wellness, and outdoor adventure. The future of Ecco is not simply worn on the feet; it is lived outdoors, everywhere.

Business reinvention has always been essential. From IBM’s pivot from hardware to services, to Disney’s evolution from animation studio to entertainment empire, to Mercado Libre’s leap from e-commerce into fintech, companies that adapt to changing times thrive while others fade. But in the coming decades, reinvention will no longer be occasional. It will be continuous, systemic, and existential.

The world is being reshaped by forces more profound than ever before: climate breakdown, exponential technologies, demographic realignments, shifting geopolitics, and cultural revolutions. Old, linear approaches to strategy and incremental transformation are insufficient. The challenge and opportunity is to reinvent at the scale of systems, not products; to shift business models as fluidly as water; to create futures that are regenerative, not extractive.

In developing my latest book, The Reinvention Playbook, I explore 10 next-generation ideas for business reinvention — bolder, stretching concepts that will define the business landscape of tomorrow. Each idea is illustrated with cases, emerging signals, and speculative scenarios that point to where reinvention might lead:

1. From Ecosystems to Meta Systems

Ecosystems are already mainstream. The next step is meta-systems — companies orchestrating multiple ecosystems across sectors, creating value webs that shape whole societies.

Take Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, where government, telcos, banks, and startups are creating a “city-as-a-platform” that integrates transport, health, education, and payments. Or Tencent, whose WeChat app is less an ecosystem than a national infrastructure — blending messaging, banking, entertainment, commerce, and even governance.

The stretch scenario: imagine a future operating system for daily life, where one company (or coalition) manages your healthcare, finances, energy usage, education, and mobility seamlessly. Rather than “super-apps,” think super-societal platforms — an Uber, a Tesla, or a Microsoft that doesn’t just serve markets, they’ll compete to define the operating systems of daily life.

2. From Purpose to Regenerative Systems

Purpose-driven reinvention evolves into regenerative business — actively restoring communities, nature, and trust.

The 2010s were defined by the rise of “purpose” and closely associated with sustainability as a core intent. Companies like Patagonia declared they were in business to “save our home planet.” Unilever, under Paul Polman, proved that doing good could align with profitable growth. But tomorrow, purpose alone will not be enough.

The frontier is regeneration: not just reducing harm, but actively repairing and restoring systems. Interface, the carpet maker, has pioneered regenerative design with factories that capture carbon and produce clean water. KlimaDAO, a decentralized finance protocol, monetizes carbon sequestration and channels capital into climate-positive projects.

The stretch scenario: businesses will measure success not by revenue growth, but by net-positive contribution — restoring forests, rebuilding trust, replenishing communities. A future retail chain might not just offset its footprint but operate as a distributed reforestation engine, where every purchase directly funds ecological repair. The business of the future could be a planetary healing machine.

3. From AI-Enabled to Cognitive Enterprises

Not just AI-enabled, but fully cognitive organisations where decision-making, creativity, and execution blur between human and machine.

Today, companies scramble to embed AI in workflows — smarter chatbots, predictive analytics, generative design. The next leap is the cognitive enterprise: an organization that thinks, learns, and reconfigures itself in real time.

JPMorgan already uses AI to reimagine risk, compliance, and customer insights. DeepMind’s AlphaFold cracked protein folding, accelerating biology by decades. XtalPi, a Chinese startup, uses AI to invent molecules for pharmaceuticals.

The stretch scenario: strategy itself becomes autonomous. Imagine a company that constantly senses markets, generates options, runs simulations, and deploys new business models algorithmically. Humans set direction, but the enterprise behaves like a living, cognitive organism. In such a world, companies no longer plan — they evolve.

4. From Hyper-Personalization to Anticipatory Living

Moving beyond tailoring to anticipation: businesses that sense needs before customers articulate them.

Personalization is now table stakes — Spotify playlists, Netflix recommendations, Nike By You shoes. The future is anticipation: organizations predicting and choreographing life needs before they arise.

Amazon anticipates your shopping list, often before you realize you need refills. John Hancock Insurance in the U.S. offers policies linked to wearables, adjusting premiums dynamically based on your health behaviors.

The stretch scenario: imagine a predictive healthcare ecosystem where your insurer, hospital, and grocery provider co-manage your wellbeing. Your fridge orders the right foods, your wearables trigger interventions before illness, your employer optimizes work to reduce stress. Reinvention shifts from personalization to life choreography — business as a partner in writing your future script.

5. From Business Model Fluidity to Shapeshifting Organisations

Future companies don’t just adapt business models; they morph their entire form — shifting from company to community to protocol.

Companies used to anchor themselves in a single model: IBM sold hardware, Adobe sold software licenses, Spotify sold subscriptions. But fluidity has become the norm: Adobe shifted to SaaS, Spotify layers freemium, subscriptions, and marketplace services.

The frontier is shapeshifting organizations — entities that morph not only their business model but also their very structure. DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) form, deliver, and dissolve like digital organisms. GitLaboperates fully remotely, with governance distributed across thousands of contributors.

The stretch scenario: tomorrow’s companies may act like liquid entities, sometimes corporations, sometimes communities, sometimes protocols. Reinvention will mean dissolving the traditional boundaries of ownership, governance, and identity — the company becomes a temporary constellation of capabilities around a mission.

6. From Sustainability to Climate Engineering

Not just “net zero,” but businesses solving systemic planetary challenges through radical innovation.

For decades, “sustainability” has meant efficiency: reducing waste, energy use, or emissions. That is no longer sufficient in a world of accelerating climate breakdown. The next generation will see businesses as climate engineers — actively reshaping Earth’s systems.

Climeworks captures CO₂ directly from the air at industrial scale. NextEra Energy is reinventing utilities with wind, solar, and storage as its growth engine. SpaceX is experimenting with geoengineering through orbital projects.

The stretch scenario: businesses will emerge as planetary stewards. Imagine a company whose “product” is lowering global temperatures by 0.1°C. Or an agritech giant whose regenerative farms restore soil biodiversity across continents. Sustainability shifts from compliance to geo-economic intervention — reinventing business as the architect of Earth’s resilience.

7. From Blurring Industries to Reality Convergence

Boundaries dissolve not only across industries but across realities (physical, digital, biological).

The 20th century defined companies by sector: banks, automakers, media houses. The 21st dissolves those boundaries: Tesla is a carmaker, an energy company, and an insurance firm; Apple is hardware, media, payments, and healthcare.

The next frontier is reality convergence: businesses that simultaneously operate in physical, digital, and biological domains. Apple’s Vision Pro hints at a spatial computing world where work, media, and commerce collapse into a single immersive layer. CRISPR biotech firms edit genes as easily as software.

The stretch scenario: companies that orchestrate convergent realities — imagine a fitness brand that operates simultaneously in your biology (gene-editing for health), your digital identity (VR coaching), and your physical environment (AI-optimized workouts). Reinvention moves from industry-blurring to reality-rewriting.

8. From Human+Machine to Post-Human Collaboration

Workforces reinvent not as humans plus machines, but entirely new hybrids — biological, digital, and synthetic.

Most companies still see automation as replacing humans. The real opportunity is superteams — humans amplified by machine intelligence. But the longer-term reinvention is post-human collaboration: redefining what counts as a worker, colleague, or creative partner.

KPMG’s audits combine AI analysis with human judgment. Neuralink is exploring brain–computer interfaces. Robotics startups like Figure AI are building humanoid co-workers.

The stretch scenario: organizations may soon integrate synthetic agents (AI with identities), biological hybrids(enhanced humans), and robotic teammates into their workforces. Imagine a company where half the board are algorithms. Reinvention means no longer assuming the enterprise is “human-centred” — it is post-human by design.

9. From Exponential Growth to Fractal Growth Loops

Beyond scaling fast, fractal businesses replicate themselves like living systems — modular, self-similar, endlessly adaptive.

Exponential growth has been the mantra of Silicon Valley: blitzscaling, hockey-stick curves, network effects. But exponential is fragile — it assumes a single dominant platform. The next frontier is fractal growth: businesses that replicate like biological systems, modular, adaptive, and endlessly scalable.

Shopify doesn’t just grow itself; it enables millions of merchants, who in turn enable their own micro-ecosystems. Minecraft and Roblox operate as fractal creativity engines, where every user becomes a developer.

The stretch scenario: imagine companies that reproduce themselves — spinning off micro-enterprises, autonomous ventures, and community-owned clones that replicate the parent DNA. Reinvention becomes less about “scale-up” and more about “self-similar replication.” Businesses behave like living organisms.

10. From Continuous Reinvention to Perpetual Beta Societies

The ultimate reinvention is not organizational but civilizational: companies helping shape societies in perpetual beta.

For years, consultants advised companies to adopt a “continuous transformation” mindset. But the next leap is perpetual beta: not just companies, but entire societies in a state of ongoing reinvention.

Estonia’s e-residency creates a nation as a digital platform, open to global entrepreneurs. Dubai reinvents itself every decade with new thematic economies — from trade to tourism to green energy to AI.

The stretch scenario: imagine a society where governance, infrastructure, and business are in permanent experimental mode — constantly pivoting, upgrading, iterating. Companies in such societies don’t adapt to change; they help engineer the pace of change itself. Reinvention becomes less a capability and more a cultural condition.

Reinventing business with a Future Mindset

These ten ideas point to a future where reinvention is not simply about keeping up with change, but about creating the frameworks of tomorrow.

  • Meta-systems will orchestrate life itself.

  • Regeneration will replace sustainability.

  • Cognitive enterprises will evolve in real time.

  • Anticipatory living will choreograph daily life.

  • Shapeshifting organizations will dissolve and reform.

  • Climate engineering will become a business model.

  • Reality convergence will rewrite industries.

  • Post-human collaboration will redefine work.

  • Fractal loops will make growth organic.

  • Perpetual beta societies will normalize reinvention.

The case studies — from Ping An to Climeworks, from Shopify to Estonia — are early signals of what’s to come. But the true stretch lies in imagining futures where companies are not merely adaptive, but ontologically different from what we call “business” today.

In the end, reinvention is not just a strategic necessity. It is the defining characteristic of the 21st-century enterprise. The organizations that thrive will not simply respond to disruption; they will be addicted to what’s next, obsessed with creating the future, and bold enough to reinvent not only themselves — but the very systems upon which life and society depend.

I work with many business leaders, coaching and advising them on their business futures, and personal leadership. The biggest challenge – or tension – they almost all say they experience, is between delivering immediate results and preparing for the future. And its probably more extreme than ever.

Markets evolve faster than annual planning cycles can track. Technologies emerge overnight. Competitors appear from unexpected corners. Social expectations and environmental imperatives demand change at unprecedented speed. In this world, companies cannot choose between performance and transformation. They must do both—simultaneously, continuously, and with coherence.

Enter the “Performer Transformer” leader: an individual or organization capable of balancing execution and exploration, efficiency and innovation, the short term and the long term. These are the leaders and organizations that outperform not because they excel at one thing, but because they master two. They deliver results today while inventing tomorrow. They do not see operational excellence and transformation as competing priorities—they see them as mutually reinforcing engines of growth.

The Paradox at the Heart of Leadership

For most executives, the demands of today are clear: meet financial targets, deliver on customer expectations, optimize processes, and maintain operational discipline. These are the hallmarks of high-performing organizations. Yet the world is moving so fast that yesterday’s strengths can become tomorrow’s liabilities. Companies that excel at execution can find themselves blindsided by new competitors or business models. Kodak, Nokia, and Blockbuster were all once paragons of operational excellence, yet their success trapped them in outdated logic, leaving them vulnerable to change.

On the other side lies transformation: the creation of new capabilities, products, services, or even entirely new business models. Innovation requires experimentation, ambiguity tolerance, and a willingness to fail. Yet when transformation is pursued without discipline, it can fragment resources, confuse priorities, and erode the performance that sustains the organization. Many innovation labs exist more to signal intent than to produce lasting impact.

The challenge, then, is not to choose between performance and transformation—but to orchestrate both. Performer Transformers navigate this tension with skill. They embed duality into the organization’s strategy, culture, and leadership practices, creating what can be described as dynamic ambidexterity: the ability to operate efficiently in the present while continuously reinventing for the future.

The Origins of Duality Thinking

The notion that organizations must balance exploitation and exploration has deep roots in management research. James March articulated the distinction between exploitation (refining existing capabilities) and exploration (pursuing new possibilities). Clayton Christensen highlighted how incumbent companies often fail to innovate effectively due to the constraints of their successful core businesses—a dilemma now widely known as the innovator’s dilemma. Michael Tushman and Charles O’Reilly further developed the concept of the ambidextrous organization, emphasizing the importance of structural separation and strategic integration: companies that organize discrete units for performance and innovation, but align them through shared purpose and leadership.

Ambidexterity provided a framework for understanding how high-performing companies could avoid the traps of either purely operational or purely exploratory focus. However, in today’s hyper-dynamic markets, ambidexterity alone is insufficient. Change is no longer episodic; it is constant. The Performer Transformer is a response to this reality: an organization or leader capable of continuous sensing, learning, and adaptation while sustaining performance.

The Performer Transformer Organization

At the heart of every Performer Transformer is a dual-engine system. One engine delivers operational excellence—the performance engine. It is optimized for scale, reliability, and predictability. It ensures that products reach customers, services are delivered, and financial results are met. The other engine drives transformation—the innovation engine—which focuses on exploration, experimentation, and learning.

These engines are not isolated. Performer Transformers create integrative mechanisms to ensure the two reinforce one another. Resources, talent, and insights flow between the performance and innovation engines. Leadership teams monitor both short-term outcomes and long-term potential. Metrics and incentives are designed not only to reward current success but also to foster exploration and agility.

Amazon exemplifies this approach. Its logistics network represents an extraordinary performance engine, delivering billions of transactions with precision. Simultaneously, its innovation engine experiments continuously—from AWS to Alexa, from Prime Video to robotics—building entirely new markets. What binds these two engines together is a unifying culture and leadership philosophy: the company is always in “Day 1” mode, relentlessly focused on both the immediate and the future.

Culture as the Fuel for Transformation

Structure alone does not make a Performer Transformer. Culture is the vital fuel. High-performing, transformative organizations nurture norms, behaviors, and values that make duality sustainable. They cultivate:

  • Curiosity and learning: A relentless desire to understand emerging trends, technologies, and customer behaviors.

  • Purpose alignment: A shared sense of why the organization exists, which integrates performance and transformation.

  • Empowerment and speed: Decision-making is pushed to where information is richest, allowing rapid experimentation and iteration.

  • Resilience and adaptability: Failures are seen as opportunities to learn, not reasons to punish.

Haier, the Chinese appliance giant, demonstrates this cultural integration vividly. Through its rendanheyi model, the company dissolves traditional hierarchies into micro-enterprises. Each unit is accountable for performance but also empowered to innovate. The result is an ecosystem that constantly renews itself—a living Performer Transformer organism.

Leadership: The Chief Ambidextrous Role

While organizations can be ambidextrous, the ultimate differentiator is leadership. Performer Transformer leaders combine operational intelligence with transformational foresight. They hold the tension of dual priorities without succumbing to paralysis. They create alignment, coherence, and energy across the organization.

These leaders are defined by five key mindsets:

  • Dual Focus: They manage short-term execution and long-term vision simultaneously.

  • Learning Orientation: Curiosity and experimentation are central to their decision-making.

  • Purpose-Driven: They anchor transformation in a larger “why,” ensuring coherence and engagement.

  • Systems Thinking: They understand the interdependencies between strategy, culture, processes, and capabilities.

  • Resilient Optimism: Disruption is seen as an opportunity to renew, not a threat.

Satya Nadella at Microsoft exemplifies this approach. He transformed Microsoft’s culture from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all,” fostering curiosity while maintaining execution discipline. Mary Barra at General Motors is similarly a Performer Transformer, guiding the company through a massive pivot to electric vehicles while sustaining core operations and profitability.

Frameworks for Performer Transformers

Performer Transformers operate through clear yet flexible frameworks that embed duality into strategy, systems, and culture. Key frameworks include:

  • Dynamic Congruence: Extending Tushman’s Congruence Model, alignment is no longer static. Strategy, structure, processes, people, and culture are continuously adjusted to external shifts.

  • Portfolio Management: Balancing core operations, adjacent expansions, and breakthrough innovations in a coordinated investment and resource strategy.

  • Continuous Strategyzing: Rolling strategy cycles replace annual planning. Organizations constantly sense, decide, act, and learn.

  • Dual Metrics: Performance is measured through both operational KPIs and innovation potential (e.g., pipeline health, customer adoption, and learning velocity).

  • Talent Rotation: Leaders and teams rotate between performance and innovation roles, creating shared language, perspective, and empathy.

Adobe’s transition from boxed software to a subscription-based model illustrates these principles. The company maintained operational discipline in existing revenue streams while experimenting with the Creative Cloud model, ultimately transforming the market and its own business model.

Embedding Duality in Organizational Design

For Performer Transformers, duality is not accidental—it is intentionally engineered. Organizational structures, governance processes, and operating rhythms are designed to allow performance and transformation to coexist and reinforce each other.

Structural separation is often used: high-performing units run core operations with traditional hierarchies, predictable KPIs, and disciplined execution. Innovation units operate under more fluid structures, empowered to experiment, prototype, and pivot. The challenge is not separation itself, but integration. Performer Transformers align these units with shared purpose, leadership accountability, and cross-pollination of talent and ideas.

Haier exemplifies this model. Its micro-enterprise units operate autonomously but remain connected to corporate strategy through a dynamic network of accountability, performance tracking, and talent flows. This design ensures that innovation is not siloed from the business but instead continuously informs and is informed by operational realities.

Another model is two-speed strategy, blending stable planning for today with adaptive planning for tomorrow. At Schneider Electric, the core energy management business runs on precise metrics and structured operational reviews. Parallel to this, digital and sustainability ventures operate on exploratory timelines, testing business models, digital platforms, and ecosystem partnerships. Leaders at the top integrate these disparate timelines, shifting resources as opportunities emerge, while maintaining coherence across the enterprise.

The Performer Transformer Leader: Mindsets and Activities

Microsoft’s transformation under Satya Nadella provides a vivid illustration of Performer Transformer principles. The company’s performance engine—Windows, Office, enterprise sales—remained profitable and disciplined. Simultaneously, Nadella fostered a cultural and structural innovation engine: Azure, AI, and new productivity solutions.

The breakthrough was not only in innovation but in culture and leadership integration. Nadella shifted the company from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all,” emphasizing curiosity, collaboration, and growth mindset. This allowed Microsoft to maintain execution rigor while embracing exploration. Azure, initially a distant second to AWS, became a core driver of Microsoft’s growth precisely because performance and transformation engines were connected through leadership vision, culture, and continuous learning loops.

While organizational design is vital, the ultimate differentiator is leadership. Performer Transformer leaders are dual-capable in thought, behavior, and impact. They bridge the operational and the aspirational, the present and the future.

Key mindsets include:

  • Dual Focus: Holding short-term execution and long-term vision simultaneously.

  • Learning Orientation: Curiosity drives decisions; experiments inform strategy.

  • Purpose Anchoring: Transformation is connected to a coherent “why” that guides all action.

  • Systems Thinking: Leaders see interconnections across strategy, people, processes, and culture.

  • Resilient Optimism: Disruption is an opportunity, not a threat.

In practice, these mindsets manifest as specific activities:

  • Rotating between performance and innovation roles: Ensures leaders understand both operational realities and emerging possibilities.

  • Engaging in continuous strategic dialogue: Combining financial, market, and technology signals to adjust priorities in real time.

  • Creating cross-boundary teams: Integrating operators, technologists, and innovators to tackle complex challenges.

  • Embedding learning loops: Using data, experiments, and feedback to shape both core and new initiatives.

  • Communicating purpose consistently: Ensuring teams align on both daily execution and long-term growth objectives.

Mary Barra at General Motors exemplifies this approach. She has guided GM through a pivot to electric vehicles and autonomous technologies while maintaining profitability in internal combustion operations. Her leadership integrates performance and transformation: quarterly results inform strategy, and strategic bets in EVs and mobility ventures reinforce operational learning and market relevance.

The Role of Continuous Strategyzing

Traditional strategy is episodic—annual planning cycles, multiyear forecasts, and static roadmaps. Performer Transformers embrace continuous strategyzing, a dynamic process of sensing, deciding, acting, and learning in real time.

  • Sensing: Regularly monitoring technology shifts, customer behaviors, regulatory changes, and competitor activity.

  • Deciding: Rapidly evaluating options, reallocating resources, and prioritizing initiatives across both performance and innovation engines.

  • Acting: Executing initiatives with discipline in the core business while testing and scaling new ideas in the innovation pipeline.

  • Learning: Embedding structured reflection to capture insights, refine strategy, and adjust operations.

At DBS Bank, CEO Piyush Gupta operationalized continuous strategyzing through digital experimentation. Hackathons, agile sprints, and rapid prototyping coexist with rigorous operational oversight. Transformation is no longer episodic but a continuous capability, allowing the bank to lead in digital banking while delivering reliable financial results.

Portfolio Thinking and Metrics

Performer Transformers manage a balanced portfolio of initiatives across three horizons:

  • Core (Horizon 1): Existing business units and products, delivering predictable returns.

  • Adjacent (Horizon 2): Extensions of the core into new markets or technologies.

  • Breakthrough (Horizon 3): Radical innovations that could redefine the company or industry.

Metrics for success are equally dual. Traditional KPIs track operational efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Transformation metrics assess pipeline health, adoption of new offerings, learning velocity, and strategic optionality.

Adobe demonstrates this dual measurement. Core Creative Suite operations maintained high profitability, while Creative Cloud adoption and associated digital transformation initiatives were tracked with innovation-specific metrics. The combined approach ensured short-term performance while enabling the subscription pivot that transformed Adobe’s market position.

Embedding Performer Transformer DNA in Organizations

Building a Performer Transformer organization is not a one-time initiative. It requires systematic embedding of duality into processes, structures, and culture:

  • Strategy Systems: Replace rigid annual cycles with rolling planning, scenario modeling, and adaptive roadmaps.

  • Talent Systems: Rotate high-potential leaders across operational and innovation units; embed dual-capability development into leadership programs.

  • Organizational Design: Combine structural separation with integrative mechanisms; use networks, hubs, and micro-enterprises to allow autonomy with accountability.

  • Cultural Norms: Encourage experimentation, tolerate calculated failure, reward learning as much as results.

  • Metrics and Incentives: Blend KPIs for current performance with indicators of future capability, such as innovation adoption, learning outcomes, and ecosystem engagement.

Nike provides a clear illustration. Its core apparel and footwear business is disciplined and performance-driven, while its digital and direct-to-consumer innovation ventures experiment with new technologies, data-driven personalization, and customer engagement. Leadership rotates talent between units, ensuring cross-pollination of expertise. Purpose—“to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete”—anchors duality, creating alignment across performance and transformation.

Performer Transformation also depends on human factors. Organizations must provide psychological safety for employees to operate in the tension between execution and exploration. Teams must feel empowered to challenge assumptions, propose experiments, and pivot quickly without fear of punitive consequences.

Spotify, for example, embeds this through its “squad” model: small, cross-functional teams that own specific missions, combine delivery and innovation, and operate with autonomy while adhering to broader company goals. Failure is reframed as learning; success in experimentation feeds back into operational excellence.

The Flywheel of Continuous Reinvention

Performer Transformers build a self-reinforcing flywheel:

  • Operational excellence generates resources, credibility, and insight.

  • Investments in exploration create new growth options and capabilities.

  • Insights from transformation improve performance and inform strategic adjustments.

  • Aligned purpose and leadership sustain energy, engagement, and direction.

Amazon’s continuous innovation loop—from e-commerce to AWS to logistics automation—is the archetypal example. Each engine fuels the other, creating cumulative advantage over competitors.

Why Performer Transformers Outperform

Research and observation suggest that organizations and leaders who embody duality consistently outperform peers:

  • Financially: They achieve stable profits while growing new revenue streams.

  • Strategically: They anticipate disruption rather than react to it.

  • Culturally: They attract and retain talent that thrives in both disciplined and creative environments.

  • Resiliently: They can pivot, recover, and scale in response to environmental shocks.

In short, Performer Transformers are not just effective—they are perennially relevant.

Future Horizons

The world is accelerating. Emerging technologies—from AI to biotechnology—will continue to redefine industries. Markets, customer expectations, and societal norms are in constant flux. Performer Transformers, as individuals and organizations, will increasingly define competitive advantage.

The challenge for executives is to embed continuous strategyzing, dual operating systems, and integrative leadership into the DNA of the enterprise. The reward is the ability to deliver today while inventing tomorrow—a rare and decisive capability in an era of relentless change.

Performer Transformers redefine leadership and strategy for the 21st century. They combine operational discipline with transformative foresight, purpose with agility, and performance with reinvention. Through deliberate organizational design, culture, and leadership practices, they make duality sustainable.

In doing so, they not only outperform peers—they reshape the very rules of business. The future belongs to those who can simultaneously master execution and exploration, deliver results today, and invent the markets of tomorrow.

As one CEO of a global technology firm put it: “The moment you stop performing is the moment you are vulnerable. The moment you stop transforming is the moment you are obsolete. Our job is to do both, every day, in every decision.”

Performer Transformers have mastered that art—and their organizations are the ones that will thrive in the decades to come.