Peter Fisk

Running is undergoing a quiet revolution.

Once a solitary, performance-driven pursuit defined by stopwatch times and shoe design, it is becoming something far broader — a social, digital, and emotional ecosystem that touches every part of life. In the next decade, the companies that lead this transformation will not be the traditional shoe brands that once defined the category, but those that can connect running into wider systems of wellbeing, community, data, and purpose.

The changing rhythm of running … from stopwatch to state of mind

Twenty years ago, running was largely the same the world over. You laced up a pair of shoes, went out the door, and sought to run faster or further. Success was measured by the stopwatch or the finish line. Yet over the past two decades, running has exploded — not only in numbers, but in meaning. More than 400 million people now run regularly worldwide, twice as many as at the turn of the millennium. The motivations, settings, and cultures of running have diversified just as dramatically.

For some, it is still a test of human endurance. For others, it is a form of therapy, a mindful escape, or a daily ritual of self-care. The marathon runner chasing a sub-three-hour finish now coexists with the park jogger seeking twenty minutes of calm before work, the city crew running through neon-lit streets to a DJ soundtrack, and the remote worker breaking up their day with a 5K for mental clarity.

The rise of everyday running — inclusive, adaptive, creative — is redefining what the sport means. It has shifted from an activity towards a lifestyle, from a performance metric to a cultural identity, and from a product market to a full-spectrum ecosystem.

A more diverse and purposeful movement … new faces, new feelings

The modern running landscape is shaped by participation that is more diverse than ever. Women now represent close to half of all recreational runners worldwide, compared to barely a third in the early 2000s. New life stages are entering the fold — retirees who run for longevity, parents seeking energy and resilience, teenagers drawn by digital challenges and social belonging.

The motivations have fragmented and multiplied. In London, the fastest-growing demographic of runners are over forty, using running to manage stress and health. In Lagos and Nairobi, social running clubs have become new status symbols of ambition and connectedness. In Tokyo, night running is booming among younger workers as a counterweight to long office hours. Across cities from Berlin to Buenos Aires, women-led crews are redefining safety and confidence through visibility — turning running into a form of quiet activism.

The “why” of running has changed as much as the “who.” What was once about achievement is now about alignment — the pursuit of balance, vitality, and purpose. For many, running has become a means of self-expression rather than self-competition.

As the world changes, running changes … reshaping how and why we run

Running does not exist in a vacuum; it mirrors the world’s larger forces. Climate change is already influencing when, where, and how people run. In hotter regions, early morning and indoor running are replacing midday outings. Cities from Singapore to Barcelona are introducing shaded “runable corridors” to protect citizens from heat stress. Shoe brands like On and HOKA are exploring breathable, heat-adaptive materials.

Meanwhile, air quality and environmental awareness are pushing runners towards greener routes, trails, and nature-based experiences. Trail running — once a niche sport — is now one of the fastest-growing segments globally, not only for its physical challenge but its restorative power. Yet even here, new tensions emerge: the impact of mass trail events on fragile ecosystems, and the growing need for climate-resilient recreation.

Technology is another shaping force. Data, wearables, and digital communities have transformed running into a connected experience. A decade ago, the idea of a virtual marathon was unthinkable. Today, digital races on Strava, Garmin, or Zwift connect runners across continents. AI coaching, once reserved for elites, is being democratised through platforms like Runna, NURVV, and Nike Run Club.

Urban design, too, is playing its part. The most progressive cities now view running not as sport but as public health infrastructure. Paris, Copenhagen, and Melbourne are weaving running routes into their green mobility networks. In this sense, the future of running is not only on our feet but in our cities.

The Rise of “Soft Performance”

The old gospel of running was “faster, further, harder.”
The new one is “smarter, steadier, kinder.”

For decades, the culture of running revolved around personal bests. Progress was measured in numbers — faster times, longer distances, higher VO₂ max scores. But there is a growing rebellion against this relentless quantification. The new generation of runners is less obsessed with speed and more concerned with sustainability — both personal and environmental.

The idea of “soft performance” is taking hold. It values consistency over competition, recovery over strain, and enjoyment over exhaustion. The best run, for many, is not the hardest, but the one that feels best — a run that fits into a balanced, emotionally intelligent lifestyle.

This philosophy is being reflected in training methods, recovery tools, and even shoe design. Biomechanics is moving from maximising output to preventing injury. Companies such as ASICS are developing gait-optimised shoes that adapt to runners’ form and fatigue. Recovery is becoming an active domain — with brands like Therabody, Hyperice, and WHOOP turning rest and regeneration into science.

The “future runner” may not be the fastest, but the most adaptable: someone who runs with awareness, recovers intelligently, and integrates running into a long and healthy life.

The age of intelligent running … data gets personal and emotional

Technology’s next wave is not about tracking more data, but about making it more meaningful. Today’s runners can measure everything from cadence to heart rate variability, yet the real innovation lies in turning those insights into personalised, actionable guidance.

AI coaching systems are already learning from individual physiology and behaviour. Imagine an algorithm that knows not just how you run, but why — adjusting your plan when you’ve had a stressful day, slept badly, or need a boost of motivation. These systems are evolving into companions rather than monitors.

The next frontier will be integrated intelligence — where devices, clothing, and shoes talk to one another in real time. Shoes could detect imbalance and adjust cushioning mid-run; a smartwatch might signal an adaptive cool-down when stress hormones rise. Data could sync seamlessly with nutrition, sleep, and emotional tracking to create a complete picture of wellbeing.

Yet with this progress comes a critical question: who owns the runner’s data? As the value of personal performance data rises, the power may shift from brands to platforms — from Nike and Adidas to Apple, Strava, and healthtech ecosystems like Garmin Connect or Fitbit. The competition is no longer for market share in footwear, but for the digital relationship with the runner’s life.

By 2035, personalisation could go even further. We may see modular, 3D-printed shoes built to a runner’s gait and muscle composition, with replaceable elements to extend life and reduce waste. Sustainability and precision will merge — creating a new generation of “smart shoes” that are less about fashion and more about personal optimisation.

The Psychology of the New Runner … mirror of the modern psyche

Behind every data point is a human story. Runners today are motivated by deeper psychological needs than in the past — autonomy, belonging, recovery, and meaning. For Generation Z in particular, running is a form of identity — not just a hobby but a signal of values: authenticity, community, and care for self and planet.

Social media has amplified this. Platforms like Strava have become digital town squares where runners share routes, moods, and milestones. Yet the same technology can also breed comparison anxiety. The pendulum is swinging toward more mindful, private, and sensory experiences.

The “soft performance” mindset embodies this shift. Progress might mean running without headphones, noticing the rhythm of breath, or using the run to process emotions. These are not measurable outputs, but qualitative ones — reflected in mood, confidence, and consistency.

At the same time, the psychology of running is being reshaped by health trends like GLP-1 drugs, which are changing attitudes to body image and weight. The challenge for the running ecosystem will be to stay anchored in intrinsic motivation — movement as joy and vitality — rather than as a response to pharmacological quick fixes.

Running as culture and community … crews and collectives

Running is no longer just a sport; it is a cultural language. Across the world, running communities are expressing creativity, identity, and social connection in ways that transcend competition.

In New York, Black Roses NYC turned night running into a cultural movement blending street fashion, hip-hop, and rebellion. In Paris, the Run Dem Crew inspired an entire generation of urban runners who value self-expression over split times. In Mexico City, crews like Aire Libre blend running with indigenous spirituality and eco-awareness.

These communities are shaping the social architecture of running’s future. They are fluid, diverse, often non-hierarchical — reflecting the values of younger generations. Some gather weekly in local parks; others connect through global challenges and digital races. The formats are hybrid: hyper-local but globally visible.

Women-led running groups are perhaps the most transformative force. Crews like Adidas Runners Women in Berlin, She Runs It in Johannesburg, and Tokyo’s Women’s Run Collective are redefining what it means to feel safe and seen. These spaces are about belonging first, running second — yet they are expanding participation more effectively than any marketing campaign.

For brands, these communities are the new frontiers of engagement. They exist outside traditional sponsorships or product launches, but they are shaping cultural relevance and loyalty in ways advertising never could.

The call of the wild … climate, travel, and the outdoors

As the climate crisis intensifies, running is being redefined by geography and ecology. Warmer climates are pushing runners toward morning and evening slots; poor air quality is driving the rise of indoor running and treadmill communities. Companies like Peloton and Zwift have turned indoor running into social, gamified environments.

Meanwhile, trail running is booming — part of a wider shift toward nature, adventure, and reconnection. Brands such as Salomon and The North Face are thriving in this space, but so too are wellness brands offering “run retreats” that blend mindfulness, nature, and community. In Iceland, trail running festivals draw thousands of participants combining fitness with environmental awareness. In Japan, the tradition of forest bathing has merged with slow running — a mindful immersion in nature rather than a race against it.

Climate-resilient running will demand new gear, new routes, and new attitudes. Shoes made from plant-based foams, breathable recycled materials, and circular production will become standard. Smart apparel will monitor hydration and UV exposure. But the greater change will be philosophical: a realisation that running is not apart from nature, but part of it.

The future ecosystem … from product to platforms, brands to ecosystems

The greatest shift now underway is structural. For half a century, running’s ecosystem revolved around the shoe companies. Nike, Adidas, ASICS, New Balance, and others designed products, sponsored athletes, and orchestrated the culture. They built the marketing narratives, the race partnerships, the visual identities of running itself.

But that era is fading. The running ecosystem is now too broad, too interconnected, to be controlled by any single category. The power is moving from product to platform — from objects to systems.

Apple, Strava, Garmin, and WHOOP are increasingly the orchestrators of running’s digital lives. Lululemon, once an apparel brand, now occupies the intersection of yoga, mindfulness, and running — representing a more holistic expression of health. Even healthcare providers and insurers are entering the space, rewarding runners for activity as part of preventative health programmes.

In this new landscape, running is less about what you wear and more about what you connect to. It is a network of devices, communities, experiences, and values — a system that stretches from footwear to food, from yoga to recovery, from data to design.

Traditional footwear brands still matter, but their roles are changing. They can no longer simply sell shoes; they must create ecosystems of experience. Nike’s move into digital coaching, community apps, and sustainable materials is a start. On’s partnership with Strava, and its experiments with subscription footwear, hint at new models. Yet the real opportunity lies in integration: connecting running with sleep, nutrition, mindfulness, and longevity.

The next great orchestrator of running may not be a shoe brand at all, but a health platform that unites all these threads — a company that sees running as one element of a longer, healthier, more meaningful life.

Defining the next decade … future tensions and scenarios

The evolution of running will not be linear. It will be defined by a series of tensions — between performance and pleasure, data and intuition, solitude and community.

Some runners will embrace the quantified self, using AI and biometrics to perfect every stride. Others will seek liberation from metrics, embracing “barefoot data” — the art of running by feel. Urban runners will weave through city parks with smart headphones that guide their route and rhythm, while others will disappear into forests with nothing but breath and soil.

By 2035, four scenarios could emerge:

• Integrated Health Ecosystem will see running merge with healthcare, insurance, and digital wellness — a core pillar of preventative medicine.
• Tech-Augmented Athlete will live within a full feedback loop of integrated data and technology, sensors and AI.
• Nature Revival will drive a counterculture of digital minimalism, eco-running, and slowness.
• Community Renaissance will transform running crews into micro-brands and social enterprises that shape local culture.

Each of these futures will coexist, offering different expressions of what running means in modern life.

Beyond the finish line … bold bets and blind spots

The boldest prediction for the next decade is that the running industry will no longer be led by footwear brands. Instead, it will be absorbed into a trillion-dollar personal wellbeing ecosystem — one that spans health, data, mobility, and lifestyle. The companies that thrive will not be those who design the best shoes, but those who orchestrate the richest systems.

The greatest blind spot today lies in emotion. Running is ultimately a feeling — a rhythm of body and mind. As technology and data multiply, the human experience risks being lost. The brands that succeed will be those that design for emotion as much as function — crafting experiences that make people feel alive, connected, and grounded.

Shoe brands have dominated the running market for a century – because running is essentially the simplest form of sports – all you need is a decent pair of shoes. But that could easily change. As the aspiration becomes more than the run, the brands who can capture a bigger idea, connect the system, and do more for people, is the brand they will trust most. These brands will become the new ecosystem orchestrators

It is about reweaving movement into the fabric of everyday life — as medicine, as mindfulness, as connection. The future of running belongs to those who can move beyond shoes to systems, beyond performance to purpose, and beyond sport to something more elemental: the ongoing reinvention of what it means to be human in motion.

Each month The Brand Doctor, 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?

Beyond the Spritz

In the golden light of a European summer, the cheerful orange-hued glass of a Aperol Spritz has become nothing less than an icon of modern lifestyle drinking. It signals sundowners, friendship, sociability, the terrace hour, the turn from work to leisure. Yet, today this icon finds itself at a crossroads. For the parent company, Campari Group, Aperol is a financial powerhouse—accounting for roughly a quarter of global revenues. But that very success brings pressure: growth needs to come not just from more Spritzes in more bars, but from reinvention—into new geographies, new formats, new occasions and even new brand extensions.

We explore the history of Aperol, its pivotal role within the Campari Group, the strategic challenges it faces, and the bold opportunities ahead. It ends with a recommendation of where the most significant financial prize lies—both in terms of sales growth, profitability and value creation—and how Campari should mobilise the brand to capture it.

From regional aperitif to global cultural moment

Aperol’s story begins in Padua, in 1919. Conceived by the Barbieri brothers, it was designed as a light-alcohol bittersweet aperitif, made with sweet and bitter oranges, gentian, rhubarb and cinchona bark. From those humble Veneto roots, the brand lingered in northern Italian cafés for decades before the modern explosion of the “Aperol Spritz” serve—Aperol plus prosecco plus soda—emerged in the 1950s and onward. Over time, that serve developed from a regional ritual into an international lifestyle emblem.

When Campari Group acquired Aperol in 2003, the brand entered a new phase. With a conscious globalisation strategy, the company turned the cocktail into a cultural export: think sunset terraces, orange-glow glasses, summers in Europe, photos on Instagram. Underpinned by that visual identity and the simplicity of the serve, Aperol rode two intersecting consumer trends: the rise of lighter, more social drinking (it has only 11 % ABV) and the urban, experience-driven shift in cocktails and aperitivo culture.

By 2019, the brand had achieved annual growth of around 16.5 % (pre-pandemic) and had become the group’s key engine of growth—the “spritz” moment made it a phenomenon. Today, Aperol constitutes approximately 24 % of Campari Group’s global sales, making it the single largest brand in the portfolio.  To meet that scale, in 2024 Campari announced a €75 million investment to double Aperol’s production capacity in its Novi Ligure plant, adding 100 million bottle units of capacity via a new bottling line.

Aperol transformed from a local aperitif into a global lifestyle brand, and the Spritz become shorthand for “early evening, convivial social time”. It delivered serious growth, and for Campari, became the crown jewel brand.

Current situation: strength and strain

Insta perfect

Aperol brings a number of powerful advantages to the Campari portfolio. It is recognisable, rooted in a strong narrative (Italian aperitivo culture), visually compelling (its distinctive orange hue), and aligned with major social drinking trends (lighter ABV, shareable serve, Instagrammable moment). It has successfully moved beyond Italy and is present in dozens of markets worldwide. In many geographies Aperol contributes disproportionately to Campari’s headline numbers—for instance, growth of the brand helped the UK business post 19 % sales growth in the UK in 2018.

With that leverage, Campari has invested in capacity, branding, and infrastructure accordingly—reflecting a belief that Aperol remains the group’s long-term growth lever.

Changing markets

However, the current state is not without its warning signs. First, the growth story is increasingly one of “more of the same” rather than radical new levers. The Spritz serve is well penetrated in Europe, and any brand that becomes iconic risks plateauing. In a 2021 interview Campari flagged that while Aperol still had “huge opportunity ahead of us” there was a recognition that in its home market of Italy the brand may have already saturated many of the core aperitivo households.

Second, structural dependence is an issue: Aperol is the aperitif brand, but the key serve—the Spritz—requires sparkling wine (or at least sparkling beverage) + soda + ice + orange garnish. Campari controls Aperol, but not the wine or soda component. This limits the brand’s margin control, and consumer experience can vary by how the serve is executed by bars or home hosts. That dilution of control is a strategic constraint.

Third, the global drinks sector is shifting. Health, moderation, and low-/no-alcohol trends are accelerating, and while Aperol’s 11 % ABV is lower than many spirits, it is still an alcoholic drink. On-trade channel dynamics are evolving (home consumption, RTD formats, regulatory scrutiny), and the explosion of RTD spritz-type cocktails and competitor brands (rosé spritzes, flavour variants) threaten to dilute Aperol’s exclusivity.

Fourth, geographic expansion remains challenging. While the brand is strong in Europe, growth in Asia, Latin America and other under-penetrated markets requires overcoming local consumption cultures, regulatory frameworks, and distribution logistics. Campari’s recent results indicate that overall growth is moderating: for example, the full-year 2024 net sales of Campari Group were €3.07 billion with only 2.4% organic growth.

Campari’s financial dependence

From a financial perspective, Aperol’s importance cannot be overstated. As noted, it is roughly one-quarter of group sales. The company’s investment in capacity underscores the expectation of further growth. The doubling of the bottling line suggests an expectation of significant volume increase. Its growth rate (historically double-digit) has driven margin expansion, high returns on invested capital, and contributed materially to the premiumisation narrative of the group. With Aperol considered “high margin” within the portfolio, the brand has delivered above-average profitability.

Aperol is the growth engine in the Campari Group portfolio—big, powerful, and relatively premium. But the model that got it here—Spritz + sunset terraces + friendly social hour—is reaching maturity. The next phase of growth must come from reinvention rather than reliance.

Options for reinvention

Given the backdrop of both opportunity and saturation, the question for Campari is: how can Aperol evolve? What are the strategic pathways open to the brand? Below we explore several major themes—each carries distinct implications for sales growth, profitability and value creation.

New geographies

The first frontier is geographic expansion. While Europe remains the stronghold, there is considerable scope in Asia, Latin America, Africa and parts of North America. For Campari Group, the Asia-Pacific region currently accounts for only around 7-8% of group sales—a relatively small base for future growth.

In those markets, Aperol can be positioned as a globally aspirational lifestyle brand—a European tradition brought to vibrant, fast-growing urban hospitality scenes. In Asia especially, there is growing appetite for premium imported brands, experiential drinking, rooftop bars, and social occasions that mirror Western aperitivo culture.

However, entry will require adaptation: local consumer tastes (perhaps preferring less bitterness, more sweetness), climate considerations (very warm regions mean faster ice-melting, more soda dilution), distribution/logistics, import duties and regulatory complexity. It may also require local partnerships (with sparkling wine producers, soda producers, local bar chains) and heavy investment in on-trade activation to educate consumers about the spritz ritual.

Geographic expansion offers pure volume growth: if Aperol can penetrate new markets, the brand can move from being a European success to a truly global brand. The logic for value: large volume + premium price + high margin = significant incremental profitability. The multiplier effect is clear because incremental volume tends to yield incremental margin and also benefit from scale in marketing and bottling.

Format innovation

Second, format innovation offers another lever. The original Spritz serve is simple and strong—but times have changed. Consumer behaviour now includes more at-home consumption, more convenience, more RTD (ready-to-drink) formats, and more drive towards lower-alcohol, convenient serve solutions.

Some possible format directions:

• RTD cans and bottles: Pre-mixed Aperol Spritz in a can or bottle for home, outdoor, picnic or festival consumption. This extends the brand beyond bars and restaurants into retail, convenience and leisure. For Campari, this means capturing incremental channel share in off-trade and perhaps improving margin (depending on cost/packaging).

• Bar tap and on-premise dispense solution: Imagine a dedicated “Aperol Spritz on tap” solution for bars and clubs: a chilled keg or cartridge system where Aperol + sparkling wine + soda is dosed automatically, ensuring consistency of serve and speed of service. This would give bar operators an easy route, and Aperol further brand visibility. However it may dilute premium perception if the serve becomes “cheap, easy, high-volume”.

• Home kits and accessories: Branded home-entertaining kits (bottle of Aperol + branded glassware + garnish + instructions), or portable versions for outdoor/holiday use. These reinforce the lifestyle positioning of the brand and drive premium margins.

• Low/no-alcohol variant: While the current Aperol is 11 % ABV, there is growing demand for moderation and social drinking without over-intoxication. A “Aperol Light” (eg ~6 % ABV) or “Aperol 0.0” (non-alcoholic version) could open new segments—drivers, health-conscious, younger consumers.

• Flavour variants: Extensions such as “Aperol Citrus Twist”, “Aperol Berry Spritz”, or region-specific flavours (e.g., Asian variant using lychee, yuzu) can inject freshness. Each variant refreshes interest, stimulates trade and builds “spritz franchise” rather than single product.

Format innovation brings both margin upside and channel extension. RTD and kits can improve margin if priced premium and sold in growing channels; low-/no-alcohol variants open new consumer segments and help future-proof the brand; bar-tap solutions provide on-trade advantage. The key is to manage complexity, protect core brand positioning and avoid cannibalisation of the classic serve.

Occasion expansion

Third, one of the most compelling opportunities lies in occasion expansion—that is, going beyond the pre-dinner aperitif moment into new social rituals and times of day. Historically, Aperol Spritz has been associated with early evening, pre-dinner ritual—the terrace hour, the end of the workday. But consumer living patterns are changing: brunch, rooftop poolside, day-drinking, home entertaining, outdoor lifestyle, and even the “after-dinner digestif/long-drink” moment are becoming important.

Possible new occasions:

• Brunch or late-morning social sip: Position Aperol Spritz as the daylight social drink for city-brunch, weekend terrace, poolside lunch. The lighter ABV and refreshment factor suit daytime.

• Home-entertaining and social gathering: Strengthen the narrative of Aperol being the host’s friend—easy serve, fun flavour, social sharing. Home entertainment has grown in importance, especially post-pandemic.

• Outdoor leisure and holiday lifestyle: Insert Aperol into beach-bars, pool-side resorts, rooftop terraces, picnic kits—turn it into a holiday symbol beyond the city bar.

• After-dinner or night-out transition drink: Perhaps less intuitive, but positioning a variant of Aperol as the “end of the evening” drink—lighter than heavy cocktails, still social, a way to prolong the night rather than start it.

• Non-alcoholic social sip and driver inclusion: With moderation rising, there is opportunity for Aperol-branded mock-spritz alternatives for non-drinkers/ drivers/social inclusivity.

Occasion expansion is powerful because it increases frequency of consumption and penetration of contexts. If the same consumer could have an Aperol moment not just once after work but again at brunch, at home, on holiday, the brand’s share of occasion rises. For profitability, this means incremental volume against existing infrastructure, higher utilisation of capacity, and improved return on marketing investment. From value-creation perspective, building the brand into “the social sip of multiple moments” enhances brand equity and resilience.

Lifestyle ecosystems and brand experience

Fourth, going beyond bottle to experience offers a premium layer of value creation—turning Aperol into more than a product, but a lifestyle ecosystem. Brands such as Fever‑Tree (premium mixers), Red Bull (energy lifestyle) and even hospitality offshoots (e.g., branded cafés, bars) show how brand can move into service and space.

For Aperol, this might mean:

• Branded Aperol Spritz Bars in major global cities (London, New York, Shanghai, Sydney) with signature décor, Spritz flight menus, curated music, perhaps even sunset-only opening hours. This builds brand visibility and premium feel.

• Pop-up activations: rooftop terrace events, beach clubs, festival lounges targeting the social-media generation.

• Branded glassware and home accessories: limited-edition glass sets, ice buckets, portable cooler bags, all reinforcing the ritual.

• Partnerships with hotel rooftop bars, cruise lines, airline lounges—places where lifestyle meets affordably premium.

While this is more capex-intensive (or partner-intensive) than a pure-product play, it carries brand-equity upside. A stronger lifestyle brand commands premium pricing, better margins, and is more insulated from commoditisation. It also helps protect against dilution from competitive “spritz” knock-offs by embedding the brand into place and experience.

Channel and value-chain control

Finally, an often-overlooked dimension: capturing more of the spritz value chain. As mentioned, Aperol is the aperitif component—but the spritz serve also relies on sparkling wine and soda. Campari may look to secure more control of these adjacent elements. Possible steps: co-brand or partner with a premium sparkling wine (prosecco or equivalent) under the Aperol banner; create pre-mixed bottles where Aperol is blended with sparkling wine and soda; create experiential kits that include all components and branded service.

This move would allow Campari to capture more margin, improve reliability of consumer experience, reduce reliance on third-party sparkling wine performance, and fortify the brand’s proprietary position in the spritz habit. The trade-off is complexity—wine is a different business, distribution varies, margins may differ—but the upside is strong if managed carefully.

Which opportunity is the most significant financially?

Given all the above, where lies the most significant financial opportunity for Aperol and Campari Group? What will drive the largest incremental sales growth, margin expansion, and value creation?

Although each of these levers is important, the occasional expansion combined with format innovation emerges as the biggest prize. Here’s why:

• Occasion expansion broadens the frequency of consumption and lifts utilisation of existing brand equity and infrastructure. For example, convincing consumers to drink Aperol not just at pre-dinner but at brunch, poolside, or at home means more servings per person per year. It leans on the brand’s already-strong identity but stretches it into adjacent moments.

• Format innovation enables channel expansion (RTD, home kits, low/zero-alcohol variants) which opens incremental volume in off-trade, outdoor/leisure settings, and reaches consumers who may never go to the bar. Off-trade margins can be higher (or at least stable), and home consumption is a rising trend globally.

• Combined, these two levers allow expansion without the full cost and complexity of geographic frontier expansion or owning hospitality venues. They have shorter lead-times, can be scaled relatively quickly, and leverage current consumer behavioural shifts.

Moreover, from a profitability standpoint: once marketing infrastructure and brand equity are in place, additional formats and occasions tend to provide incremental margin more quickly than opening new countries (which require high distribution/education costs) or opening branded venues (which require capex and operational risk). In other words: frequency + new formats = margin leverage.

From a value-creation perspective: the brand becomes more resilient, less tied to one moment (the pre-dinner drink) or one geography (Europe), more relevant to multiple consumer moments, and thus commands higher brand equity. That in turn justifies premium pricing, stronger margin, and greater sustainability of growth—transforming Aperol from a “single-serve icon” into a “global lifestyle brand”.

Therefore my recommendation is: Campari must prioritise the occasion × format axis as the fastest, highest-leverage growth pathway for Aperol. Other levers (geography, service ecosystems, value-chain control) should run in parallel, but the immediate focus and investment should target capturing more drinking occasions and developing new formats that allow the consumer to integrate Aperol into more moments, more channels, more frequently.

Potential roadmap for growth

To operationalise this, here is a five-year strategic roadmap for Aperol, emphasising milestones, investment focus, and expected financial outcomes.

Year 1–2 (Short-Term):

• Launch a premium RTD Aperol Spritz can/bottle in priority markets (UK, US, Australia) with high visibility support.

• Release a limited-edition flavour variant (e.g., “Aperol Citrus Twist”) in summer season, with bar activations and influencer campaigns.

• Run the “Spritz Brunch” campaign across major cities (London, Milan, Sydney) to establish Aperol as the brunch-day social sip.

• Develop and launch a home-entertaining kit (Aperol bottle + branded glass + garnish + instructions) for travel-retail and premium supermarkets.

• Audit on-trade execution standards globally: ensure glassware, ratio, garnish, ice quality to protect brand experience.

Year 3–4 (Medium-Term):

• Introduce a “Aperol Light” (approx. 6 % ABV) and test a “Aperol 0.0” non-alcoholic version in select markets with strong moderation trends (Nordics, Australia).

• Expand RTD footprint into leisure occasions (festivals, beach bars, rooftop events) and seasonal variants (holiday edition, winter spiced).

• Establish two flagship Aperol Spritz Bars—one in Asia (e.g., Singapore or Shanghai) and one in North America (e.g., Miami or LA)—as experiential anchors.

• Explore co-branded sparkling wine or “Aperol Spritz Prosecco” kit in one market (e.g., UK) to pilot value-chain extension.

• Expand “Spritz at Home” e-commerce and DTC bundles, coupled with digital community building (social content, user-generated serve ideas, home-entertaining clubs).

Year 5 (Longer-Term):

• Scale geographical frontier markets (Asia-Pacific, Latin America) with tailored Aperol moment activations—local flavour variants, tropical serve adaptation, local on-trade partnerships.

• Launch global “Spritz Hour” partnership with major hotel brands or bar chains, embedding Aperol into global hospitality systems.

• Review and scale value-chain integration globally if pilot succeeds: co-brand sparkling wine, streamlined supply chain.

• Refresh brand visual identity subtly if needed, and launch new “Aperol lifestyle” merchandise line (glasses, chic bags, limited-edition bottles) to deepen premium credentials.

Expected financial outcomes

By focusing on occasion × format, Campari can target incremental volume growth of say 8–10 % per annum for Aperol globally, even as some European growth moderates. Off-trade and home consumption channels may yield higher margin than traditional on-trade. If the RTD, low-ABV and home kits become 20-30 % of Aperol’s volume by Year 5, margin expansion becomes significant. With production capacity already being expanded (100 million bottle units via Novi Ligure plant upgrade), the infrastructure is in place to support higher volume without proportional cost increases—which drives operating leverage and incremental profit uplift.

As Aperol’s volume grows, the brand’s share of total Campari revenues increases, thus raising Campari’s group profitability. Given Aperol is one of the higher margin brands within the portfolio, its growth disproportionately benefits group margin and return on invested capital. From a value-creation lens, a resilient, multi-occasion, multi-format global Aperol brand commands higher brand equity, which supports premium pricing, protects margin erosion, and offers a buffer against competitive encroachment.

Risks and mitigation

Of course, ambitious though it is, this strategy has its risks. It’s worth flagging them along with mitigation approaches.

• Brand dilution risk: If Aperol spreads across too many occasions, formats or variants, it may lose its “signature moment” status. Mitigation: maintain the original “Classico Spritz” as anchor, limit number of variants per year (2–3 max), and ensure every new launch connects back to Aperol’s brand essence (Italian aperitivo, conviviality, orange glow).

• Cannibalisation risk: The new formats (RTD, home kits, low-ABV) may cannibalise classic bottle sales. Mitigation: price differentiation, channel segmentation (e.g., RTD in off-trade, variants in speciality retail, classic serve in on-trade), and clear messaging about how formats differ.

• Operational complexity: New formats, new occasions, new geographies all increase complexity in production, logistics, marketing. Mitigation: Use phased implementation, focus on priority markets first, partner with experienced distributors, and capitalise on scalable marketing templates.

• Competitive encroachment: As “spritz” becomes a category, other brands will launch competing flavours, cheaper serves, or local variants. Mitigation: Campari must defend Aperol through brand experience, premiumisation, and by remaining first-mover in innovations (RTD, low-ABV, occasion expansion).

• Macro headwinds: Global economic slowdown, regulatory changes (alcohol taxes, trade tariffs), moderation trends. Mitigation: The low-ABV strategy helps; geographic diversification reduces dependence on any one market; operational discipline protects margin.

Orange Glow

In the pantheon of beverage brands, Aperol occupies a rare space. It is both a distinctive product and a cultural symbol—the Spritz glass with its orange glow, the terrace at sunset, the convivial moment when life turns from day to night. For the Campari Group, Aperol is not just another brand—it is the engine of growth, the largest contributor to revenue, and the premium asset around which much of the company’s future value is built.

Yet, size brings its own challenge. The “easy” growth story—just sell more Spritzes in more bars—won’t carry the brand as far as it must go. The world’s drinking occasions are fragmenting, consumer attitudes are shifting, and competition is encroaching. What Aperol needs is to evolve: to become less a niche pre-dinner ritual and more a global, multi-occasion, multi-format lifestyle brand.

In doing so, Campari must focus its efforts where the financial leverage is greatest: expanding occasions and innovating formats. By creating new opportunities to drink Aperol—at brunch, at home, poolside, in cans, as low-ABV variants—the brand can increase frequency and channel breadth, capture higher margin formats, and deepen its lifestyle credentials. Geographical expansion, experience venues and value-chain integration are important second levers but should support—not overshadow—the core priority of spectrum expansion.

If the roadmap is followed, Aperol can continue to grow at double-digit rates globally, shift more volume into higher-margin formats, and become less dependent on any one serve or market. The profitability uplift will come from incremental volume over existing capacity (thanks to production expansion), superior margins in new formats, and the premium brand positioning that supports higher pricing and resilience. In turn, the Campari Group’s overall margin and return on investment will improve, underpinned by the strongest brand in the portfolio.

Aperol has earned its iconic status. Now it must earn its future status. If Campari executes the strategy with boldness, clarity and discipline, Aperol will not just remain a “Spritz brand” but become the globally dominant brand of social sipping—a brand built for many moments, many occasions, many geographies, not just one. The financial prize is significant—and it awaits.

More from Peter Fisk

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.

• Download the new report “Megatrends 2035” by Peter Fisk

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:

• The Reinvention Playbook: Lamborghini was a tractor company, Samsung was a grocery store
• Future Junkies: Why the best leaders are obsessed about what’s next
• What will they do next?: Anticipating the progress (and performance) of some of leading companies 2025 to 2030
• Music Reinvented: How an industry was reinvented through ecosystem thinking
• Reinventing Business with AI: the best of tech to radically reinvent organisations, and accelerategrowth
• The Net Positive Playbook. Allbirds to Climeworks, reinventing organisations for sustainable growth
• Pioneers and Transformers. Leading Airbus towards a better future, today and tomorrow
• The “Performer Transformer” Leader. Thriving in a world of relentless change

In an era when the boundaries between physical and digital are blurring, the publishing industry stands at a crossroads. For centuries, it has been dominated by linear supply chains: authors write, publishers print, distributors ship, and retailers sell.

Yet, despite technological advances, many publishers still operate on a model that is inherently speculative — printing tens of thousands of copies and hoping they find their readers. Unsold books are often pulped, shipping emissions balloon, and the costs and inefficiencies pile up. Enter Henrik Müller-Hansen and his company Gelato, a Norwegian-born entrepreneurial force whose vision for the future of publishing could be summed up in one phrase: “The Spotify of Books.”

• Henrik joins me and many of.the world’s leading publishers at Future Book Forum 2025
• Read my article The Infinite Page how AI is reinventing the future of publishing.

A New Vision for an Old Industry

Müller-Hansen is not your typical tech CEO. With roots in Norway and a professional background starting with Tele2, digital services, and logistics, he has always been fascinated by platforms and networks — systems that connect supply to demand in ways that are efficient, scalable, and intelligent. In 2007, he founded Gelato with a bold ambition: to reimagine how physical products are created, distributed, and consumed, starting with print.

The problem Henrik identified was simple yet profound. Traditional publishing is linear and centralised. Large print runs mean wasted materials, costly warehousing, and logistical headaches. Authors and publishers are forced to gamble on demand, and small-scale creators often have no access to global distribution. Henrik saw an opportunity to apply the principles of the digital age to the physical world, turning printing into a platform-enabled service that is local, on-demand, and data-driven.

“The future of production must be local, on-demand, and zero inventory,” Henrik says, reflecting a Scandinavian ethos of sustainability married to a Silicon Valley understanding of scale.

Gelato’s model is deceptively simple: instead of shipping books from one centralised factory across the globe, the platform connects creators and publishers to local print partners in over 30 countries. When a reader places an order, the nearest partner prints and ships the book. This approach is faster, cheaper, and far more environmentally friendly than the traditional model.

The Power of the Platform

The genius of Gelato lies in its platform. It does not own vast factories or massive warehouses. Instead, it orchestrates a network of hundreds of professional print partners around the world, from Europe to Africa to Asia. By doing so, it achieves a trifecta that publishers have long sought but rarely attained: scale, speed, and sustainability.

Consider the experience of a reader in Nairobi ordering a new biography. Rather than waiting weeks for a book to arrive from London or New York, it is produced locally and delivered in days. Meanwhile, a teacher in Cairo can order textbooks tailored to their students’ curriculum and receive them without shipping costs or customs delays. The impact on carbon emissions is dramatic — often reduced by up to 90 per cent — while local printers gain access to a global customer base.

Gelato is essentially creating a distributed cloud for physical production. The comparison with Spotify is apt: just as Spotify gives music creators access to a global audience without producing vinyl or CDs, Gelato allows publishers and authors to reach readers worldwide without physically overproducing. The books exist digitally until demand calls them into existence, bridging the gap between digital immediacy and physical tangibility.

Empowering Publishers and Creators

Henrik’s vision is not limited to logistics; it is also about creativity, empowerment, and inclusion. Gelato’s platform integrates with e-commerce tools such as Shopify, Etsy, and WooCommerce, as well as traditional publishing workflows. It allows publishers — both independent and established — to produce books, merchandise, and other printed media on demand.

For creators, this is transformative. Imagine a small press launching a new poetry collection. Instead of risking tens of thousands of pounds on an uncertain print run, they can upload the manuscript to Gelato, and the platform takes care of printing, shipping, and tracking, wherever the readers are. Authors can also test new markets, customise editions, and even personalise books for individual buyers.

Henrik calls it “the Spotify moment for printed content”. Just as streaming liberated musicians from physical constraints and gatekeepers, Gelato liberates authors and publishers from inventory risk and geographical limits. It shifts the industry from a model of scarcity to one of access, immediacy, and responsiveness.

The Digital Product Pass: Traceability Meets Transparency

One of the most forward-looking innovations from Gelato is the Digital Product Pass, developed with the help of Dominik Haacke. This concept gives every printed product a digital identity — a unique, trackable record of where, when, and how it was produced.

A digital product pass can include:

• Production data — the printer, location, and date.

• Material and sustainability information — recycled paper, energy use, and carbon savings.

• Ownership and authenticity verification — critical for limited editions or collectibles.

For publishers, this adds a layer of intelligence and accountability. Readers can engage with the story behind the book, seeing how it was made and how it impacts the planet. Educational institutions can ensure textbooks meet regulatory or sustainability standards. And publishers can use the data to refine strategies, optimise production, and demonstrate corporate responsibility.

“It is about making the invisible visible,” Henrik explains. “Every book, every printed product, tells a story. The digital product pass ensures that story is transparent, traceable, and valuable.”

Sustainability at Scale

Gelato’s vision is deeply rooted in sustainability. Unlike initiatives that rely solely on offsets or donations, Gelato integrates environmental responsibility into the core business model. Local production reduces shipping emissions. On-demand printing eliminates waste. Digital workflows streamline processes.

The result is a profitable, regenerative system that aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Publishers reduce costs, creators reach more readers, and the planet benefits. In Henrik’s words, “sustainability is not a constraint — it is a competitive advantage.”

For the publishing industry, this model represents a radical shift. Where once environmental considerations were secondary to economics, now efficiency and impact are synonymous. The global network becomes a circular ecosystem, where resources are used responsibly, and every printed copy has purpose.

AI, Automation, and the Creator Economy

Gelato is not stopping at localised production. The platform is increasingly integrating AI and automation to help creators design, format, and personalise their work. Publishers can automatically generate book layouts, experiment with cover designs, and even personalise editions for individual readers.

This is particularly relevant in the era of the creator economy. Just as YouTube or Patreon enabled independent artists to monetise their work directly, Gelato gives writers, illustrators, and small publishers global reach without intermediaries. It is an ecosystem where creation, production, and distribution are seamlessly connected, guided by data, and optimised by AI.

For Henrik, this is about democratising access. Independent authors in Latin America, Africa, or Southeast Asia can now compete on the same playing field as traditional publishing giants. Their books are no longer bound by geography, inventory, or capital. They exist digitally until readers demand them physically — and then they come alive.

Transforming the Supply Chain

The traditional publishing supply chain has long been linear and opaque. Gelato’s platform transforms it into something circular, intelligent, and responsive. By capturing data on demand, production, and delivery, publishers can adapt instantly. Popular titles can be scaled globally. Limited print runs can reach specific markets. And unsold inventory — once a financial and environmental burden — is eliminated.

This model also gives publishers a new tool: insights-driven strategy. By analysing which regions, editions, or formats perform best, publishers can make informed decisions in near real-time. The era of guesswork is ending; in its place is a data-driven, agile publishing ecosystem.

A New Era for Books

What Gelato offers is more than efficiency; it is a cultural and structural transformation. Books become fluid, local, sustainable, and connected. Every edition carries not just words but a story of creation, impact, and connection. Authors can reach readers everywhere. Publishers can experiment without risk. Readers can engage with the production journey.

In Henrik’s vision, every printed book becomes part of a dynamic ecosystem, seamlessly linked to the digital world and governed by principles of transparency, sustainability, and accessibility. It is a vision that reimagines what publishing can be in the 21st century — a vision in which the physical and digital co-exist, intelligently and responsibly.

Here are several lessons for publishers facing disruption:

• Think Platform, Not Factory: Physical production can be orchestrated like a digital service, with global reach and local execution.

• Embrace On-Demand Models: Inventory is costly, wasteful, and environmentally damaging. Producing only what is needed creates efficiency and flexibility.

• Leverage Data and AI: Analytics and automation enable smarter design, production, and distribution decisions.

• Embed Sustainability in Core Strategy: Environmental responsibility is no longer optional; it can drive innovation, brand value, and customer loyalty.

• Empower Creators Everywhere: Democratising access to production and distribution opens new markets, audiences, and revenue streams.

These principles are not abstract; they are actionable strategies that are already reshaping publishing, education, and creative industries worldwide.

The Future of Gelato 

Looking ahead, Gelato’s ambitions are expansive. The platform is exploring 3D and on-demand manufacturing beyond print, creating products that are customised, traceable, and sustainable. AI-assisted design tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, allowing creators to visualise concepts, test ideas, and produce them seamlessly.

Henrik’s long-term vision is to build the world’s production cloud — a system where ideas, whether a book, a poster, or a piece of merchandise, can move from conception to creation anywhere, instantly, and responsibly. For the publishing industry, this represents a radical redefinition of what a book is, how it is produced, and how it reaches readers.

As Henrik puts it: “We are creating the infrastructure for a new kind of publishing. One that is global, local, intelligent, and sustainable. One that gives every creator the tools to reach their audience, and every reader the transparency to understand the story behind what they hold.”

The Spotify Moment for Books

The analogy with Spotify is more than metaphorical. Just as Spotify turned music into a service that is immediate, personalised, and accessible worldwide, Gelato is turning books into products that are on-demand, traceable, and globally accessible. Authors, publishers, and readers are connected in a network that values efficiency, sustainability, and creativity equally.

Henrik Müller-Hansen’s Gelato is proving that the future of publishing is not about centralised factories, pulped inventory, or speculative print runs. It is about platforms, data, and responsible production. It is about reimagining books as living products, dynamically created, locally produced, and globally distributed. It is about making the invisible visible, from carbon savings to production stories.

In the 21st century, the book is no longer bound by paper and ink alone. It exists in a digital-physical hybrid ecosystem, enabled by visionaries like Henrik Müller-Hansen and platforms like Gelato. For readers, authors, and publishers alike, it is the Spotify moment for books — a transformative leap that could reshape the industry for generations to come.

“Fall in love at Umpqua Bank … We want our customers to be really really happy” is not the proposition you’d expect from a bank.

There was more. “Spread some good (the world always needs more)”. And “Reinvest in yourself” as a rework of taking out a loan.  Is there any other bank in the world where you would consider buying a branded t-shirt or baseball cap?

The River Umpqua weaves through the deep forests and rugged canyons of Oregon State. This is the land of lumberjacks, and in 1953 the South Umpqua State Bank was founded to serve the people of Canyonville. In 40 years it grew to a mighty six branches and assets of $150m, until the logging industry fell into decline, and the CEO died.

Then, under Ray Davis’s leadership Umpqua did something strange and brave: it treated the branch not as a cost centre or a vault but as a stage, a neighbourhood living room, a place for discovery and human connection.

Umpqua’s branches looked and felt like boutique retail stores — with coffee bars, events, local art, and employees whose job descriptions read more like hosts than tellers.

The bank called its approach “retail theatre” and it became shorthand for a broader thesis: in a world of commoditised financial services and relentless digital innovation, physical spaces could become a differentiator if they were reimagined as centres of community, support for local business and human-centred service.

That vision — a blend of Gap-like modern retail design, Starbucks-style community space, and Ritz-Carlton service standards — helped the bank grow beyond Oregon into California, Washington, Nevada and Idaho. It attracted attention from business writers, design thinkers and bankers alike.

But the Umpqua story is not a simple arc of triumph. Over the last decade the bank moved from insurgent icon to acquisition target, through leadership change and a shifting set of strategic priorities. The experiment’s distinctive features — the events, the coffee, the curated local partnerships — were gradually diluted as the forces that shape modern banking asserted themselves: scale-driven M&A, harder regulatory economics, shareholder expectations and the inexorable pressure to simplify operations for digital integration.

In the end, Umpqua’s name and the attributes that made it a case study in experience-driven banking were folded into something larger and more conventional.

What Umpqua did that felt so new and why it captured imaginations; how the bank evolved through acquisitions and leadership transitions; the decisions and market realities that eroded its distinctive model; and the merger and rebranding that now raise the question: what happens to an experiment in human-centred banking when the institution is subsumed into a bigger, more efficiency-driven entity?

Umpqua’s big idea

When Ray Davis arrived at the tiny South Umpqua State Bank in the 1990s, he set a conviction in motion: banks are not just financial utilities; they are cultural actors. Davis and his team overlaid the language of retail design, hospitality and community programming onto standard banking services.

Branches became “stores.” Staff were “store managers” and “ambassadors.” Lobbies hosted art shows, talks, music nights and workshops for local entrepreneurs. Free coffee and comfortable seating invited people to stay; relationship banking replaced anonymous transactions.

The physical experience was backed by investments in technology and a modern approach to products, but the front-end theatre was the signal that Umpqua wanted to be a different kind of bank. This was not greenwashing; it was a deliberate reallocation of the branch’s purpose.

The model worked on multiple levels. First, it made the brand local and memorable. Umpqua’s stores became places where people ran into their neighbors, discovered a maker’s pop-up, or learned about small business tools — and for many customers that generated loyalty and virality in a field that had grown homogenised. Second, it attracted entrepreneurial employees who wanted to host events and “curate” experiences rather than simply process transactions. Third, for a while, the model created commercial advantage: customers who felt part of the store were stickier, and the bank’s expansion into select markets rode a narrative of differentiated customer experience.

Umpqua also extended its reach through strategic acquisitions that maintained a degree of local autonomy while adding scale — a measure of how the bank tried to have both cultural authenticity and corporate growth.

In a broader context, Umpqua’s model resonated because it represented an answer to a recurring problem in finance: how do you create human connection in a commoditised industry where pricing and digital convenience are table stakes? The bank’s proposition was: lean into place and people. For a moment, Umpqua was taught in business schools and admired by brand strategists: the branch had become a product unto itself.

Expansion, and the cost of growth

Success attracts opportunity — and complexity. As Umpqua grew, it pursued acquisitions that materially expanded its footprint. A notable example was the 2014 acquisition of Sterling Financial Corporation, which nearly doubled the bank’s Washington presence and increased branches and assets significantly. The pattern continued: incremental buys and strategic entries into new markets.

Growth by acquisition is a familiar path in banking; it gives market share and scale, but it also brings integration challenges and cultural friction. Maintaining the Umpqua flavor across an enlarged, geographically diverse set of branches proved difficult. Integrating different systems, harmonising brand expectations and managing cost structures are classic M&A headaches; for a bank whose value proposition hinged on distinct, locally curated experiences, those headaches were acute.

Consolidation also changes incentives. When a bank’s balance sheet and shareholder base reach a certain size, the pressure to show steady returns grows. Cost-to-income ratios, capital management, regulatory compliance and investor expectations become dominant voices at the management table. Experiments in live events, locally sourced coffee and art programming are expensive to scale and difficult to measure in the short term against traditional ROI metrics.

The cultural initiatives that were once front-and-centre could be deprioritised when profits, operating leverage and efficiency metrics take precedence. That dynamic is not unique to Umpqua, but it explains why the very features that made the bank interesting are among the first to be trimmed during phases of rapid growth or cost rationalisation.

Leadership, from founder energy to corporate stewardship

Leadership transitions change tone and priorities. Ray Davis moved from CEO to executive chair in 2017 and formally retired in early 2018. Cort O’Haver had taken over operational leadership in 2017, and subsequent years saw the bank under new executives who faced the hard work of scaling while meeting market expectations.

Founders often provide disproportionate energy, tolerance for experimentation and a willingness to accept short-term trade-offs for long-term brand building; successors, especially in the public markets, are often more attentive to the metrics that investors focus on. That shift from founder-led insurgency to stewarded growth is a common turning point in corporate life, and for Umpqua it coincided with the broader industry forces pushing toward FTE (full-time equivalent) efficiencies and digital prioritisation.

There’s a human dimension to this, too. Many of the branch-level employees who felt empowered under the earlier regime found the new emphasis on standardisation and integration less energising. The same is true for local customers who bought into the “store” personality: over time, as systems, branding and product rationalisation took hold, those experiences could feel more templated and less locally curated.

Digital reality and the changing economics of branches

While championing branches as community hubs, Umpqua also invested in digital capabilities. But the economics of banking were shifting faster than anyone anticipated. Consumers adopted mobile banking in huge numbers; simple transactions migrated away from physical locations; regulatory, compliance and security costs rose; and the macroeconomic environment — including interest rate cycles — altered net interest margins. In this environment, banks needed scale and operational efficiency to sustain both branch networks and digital investments. For many regional banks, the answer was consolidation: merge to gain scale, rationalise overlapping branches, standardise platforms, and push more customers to lower-cost digital channels.

For Umpqua, the quandary was clear: maintain the theatrical branch investment and its attendant costs, or scale and streamline to remain competitive in a consolidating market. The bank tried to do both — but doing both is expensive, and sometime compromises become permanent. Events programs shrink, local staff get fewer resources, curated partnerships wane. The frisson that made Umpqua’s stores different is fragile; it depends on discretionary investment, local autonomy and a brand narrative that management continues to prioritise even when capital allocation choices are tight.

The merger with Columbia: rationale and consequences

In October 2021 Umpqua announced a merger with Tacoma-based Columbia Banking System, a deal valued at approximately $5.2 billion. The logic was straightforward on paper: combine two regional players to create a West Coast franchise with broader scale and a bigger balance sheet to compete with larger peers. The merger closed in early 2023 after regulatory approvals and certain divestitures required by the Department of Justice. Post-merger, the combined entity managed more than $50 billion in assets and operated under Columbia’s holding company, though the banking operations continued for a time under the Umpqua trade name in many markets.

Mergers of this kind are rarely purely about brand salvation; they are about capital, scale, market share and diversification. Columbia, headquartered in Tacoma, brought its own identity and governance priorities. The combined firm now had a different set of corporate imperatives: integration of platforms, branch rationalisation, harmonisation of product lines and the pursuit of efficiency synergies. For Umpqua’s devotees — customers, employees, and observers — the question was whether Columbia would preserve Umpqua’s distinctive community-forward retail model or whether that model would be subordinated to a more standardised, regional banking approach.

The early signals were mixed. Columbia pledged continuity and respect for Umpqua’s local roots while also pointing to the commercial benefits of scale. But regulatory filings, subsequent press releases and the public messaging that naturally accompanies large integrations often prioritise structural and financial metrics over cultural continuity. The merger required divestitures to meet antitrust conditions; branches were sold to third parties; operations were consolidated; and leadership roles shifted. Over time, the cultural markers that once defined Umpqua began to attenuate — a typical outcome when a niche brand is integrated into a larger corporate structure where uniformity, compliance and predictable metrics matter.

Rebranding and the end of the Umpqua name

Corporate identity often changes after large-scale M&A; names matter because they carry meaning, relationships and marketing value. In 2025 the combined organization took a formal step: the bank’s legal name was changed from Umpqua Bank to Columbia Bank effective on 1 July, 2025. That legal transition presaged a full brand change for retail branches and customer-facing materials later in the year. The move to a single trade name — Columbia Bank — was framed as a rationalisation of the brand architecture and a clearer message to markets and customers. For many loyalists, this was an emotional moment: the Umpqua brand — its visual language, store names and local associations — had been a tangible manifestation of a different approach to banking. Rebranding is not just a logo swap; it signals a shift in attention and priority.

Rebranding also has pragmatic reasons. Multiple legal and trade names create regulatory and operational complexity; unified identity simplifies digital systems, compliance, marketing and product rollout. But what gets lost in that calculus is the local meaning that animated Umpqua’s stores and the cultural capital invested by staff and community partners. The question is not merely whether the Umpqua name survives; it is whether the practices and protocols that created vibrant local spaces — the budgets for events, the leeway for branch managers to host community programs, the curated retail partnerships — survive intact in the new corporate design.

Evidence from the industry and early post-merger signals suggests that, in many similar consolidations, the answer is often “no.” Budgets get reallocated to centralised marketing campaigns or digital product development; local programming is evaluated as cost rather than brand investment. The result is a drift back toward a more conventional bank-with-branches model, where branches fulfil necessary in-person services but no longer function as experimental cultural hubs.

What went wrong, and what was inevitable?

It’s tempting to cast the Umpqua story as a morality play: visionary founder, brilliant retail experiment, corporate buy-out, dilution, and erasure. The truth is more nuanced. Several interacting factors made the original model difficult to sustain at scale:

• Economic pressures and scale imperatives. As the bank grew, investors and regulators emphasised efficiency, predictable earnings and capital adequacy. Those priorities favour scale and standardisation. The costly, place-based investments that powered Umpqua’s experiences were hard to justify against the hard maths of banking returns.

• The rise of digital convenience. Consumers adopted mobile-first banking fast. When most routine transactions migrate to apps, the justification for expensive, event-filled branches weakens. Branches still have roles (complex advice, mortgage closures, business banking) — but their function narrows.

• Integration complexity from acquisitions. M&A creates mismatched cultures and systems. Umpqua’s theatrical model relies on discretionary local power and a culture that values experimentation — a culture that is hard to preserve when you fold many different books and teams into one ledger.

• Leadership lifecycle. Founders can sustain non-traditional investments because they trade short-term margin impact for long-term brand capital. Successor leadership, accountable to public markets, tend to refocus on metrics that are easier to measure.

• Regulatory and compliance costs. These always increase with scale and complexity, absorbing resources that might otherwise go to marketing or community programs.

None of these are unique to Umpqua. They reflect broader structural dynamics in banking. The bank’s experiment was never guaranteed to survive an era defined by consolidation, digital migration and investor preference for scale economies. The irony is that Umpqua’s early success made it an attractive target for the very forces that would dilute its distinctiveness.

Did the experiment fail or did it change banking?

Labeling the Umpqua story a failure would be unfair. The bank proved several enduring things: that branches can matter as experience platforms; that local curation can build deep customer loyalty; and that service design and hospitality can be meaningful differentiators even in finance. Many banks and fintechs studied and copied elements of Umpqua’s approach: pop-up events, localized marketing, branch cafes and partnerships with small businesses. In that sense, Umpqua’s ideas were absorbed into the industry even if the pure form of the experiment — the Umpqua “store” as a cultural institution — faded. Ideas diffuse; the brand that incubated them can be subsumed while the practices it popularised live on in more modular forms.

Moreover, the Umpqua case offers three pragmatic lessons for any company pursuing experiential differentiation within commoditised industries:

• Design for modularity. If a distinctive experience is to survive scale, it needs modular systems: local autonomy bounded by scalable templates, budgets allocated as a % of marketing spend, and measurable KPIs that link experience to customer economics.

• Measure what matters. Experiential investments need metrics beyond likes and footfall: lifetime value of customers acquired through events, referral rates, small business account growth tied to branch programming, and retention of high-value clients.

• Plan for the founder lifecycle. If an insurgent model depends on founder charisma and tolerance for uncertainty, prepare a handover plan that institutionalises values into operating procedures rather than depending on a single person.

Umpqua’s legacy is not only nostalgia. It institutionalised a way of thinking about the branch and put “culture-as-product” into the banking conversation. Even under Columbia, regional managers and marketing teams can and sometimes do preserve local rituals, but these are usually on a smaller, more measured scale.

The human cost and the memory of place

Beyond strategy and balance sheets, there is a human story. For employees who worked in Umpqua’s stores, the model offered a kind of workplace identity: you were a host, a cultural curator, an entrepreneur within a bank. For local communities, the stores were stages for small business launches and civic conversation. When brands — or their distinctive features — fade, communities and employees lose a form of civic infrastructure. That erosion feels personal because it is personal: places disappear, rituals evaporate, and the people who oriented their careers around those cultures must either adapt or leave.

That doesn’t mean the spirit is irrecoverable. Local community banking remains alive in credit unions, in neighbourhood fintechs that focus on place, and in small banks that prioritise local autonomy. But the Umpqua ‘store’ as a replicable model for regional banks has, for now, been constrained by the broader dynamics of consolidation and scale in the sector.

Looking forward: where can banking’s “future” live now?

If Umpqua’s particular experiment has dimmed, the question becomes where the future of banking will show up next. My sense is that we will see hybrid answers:

• Digital-first banks, creating authentic local partnerships without the full cost of branch networks. Think of fintechs that partner with co-working operators, merchant platforms, or local marketplaces to offer physical touchpoints curated for context.

• Smaller, mission-driven banks and credit unions that double-down on community identity and resist scale, accepting slower growth in exchange for stronger local ties.

• Large banks adopting “micro-experiences” — modest, measurable investments in local events, incubators and partnerships that can be scaled with templates and ROI metrics.

• Embedded finance and platform-based models where financial services are distributed inside retail, payroll or commerce experiences, reducing the need for banks to own the physical front-end.

Each of these preserves some element of Umpqua’s ambition — that finance must feel human, relevant and locally embedded — but they do so in forms that are arguably more resilient to the pressures of modern banking.

A salute to Umpqua Bank, a model worth remembering

Umpqua’s story is valuable because it dared to reimagine banking’s role in everyday life. Ray Davis and his team showed that branches could host discovery, conversation and commerce in ways that transcended the transactional. That experiment pushed the industry to think harder about customer experience, brand and community.

At the same time, Umpqua’s subsequent absorption into a larger entity is a sober reminder of the structural forces that govern capital markets and banking: scale matters, regulatory burdens are real, and founder-driven experiments face a difficult path to institutionalisation. The real legacy of Umpqua is not the preservation of a single brand but the diffusion of an idea: that banking can — and sometimes should — be conceived as a cultural and civic practice as much as a financial utility.

If you’re thinking about what the “future of banking” looks like now, don’t start with logos; start with incentives. Design experience systems that scale, measure the outcomes that matter to both customers and investors, and build governance that survives founder transitions. Do that, and the human-centred impulses that Umpqua championed will continue to shape banking — even if the neon sign that once read “Umpqua” fades into a new name above the door.

Technology has never been more powerful — or more misunderstood. For decades, the world’s leading tech companies have spoken the language of platforms, architectures, clouds, and code. They’ve promised transformation but often delivered integration. They’ve implemented systems, streamlined processes, automated workflows. Yet something profound is missing: imagination.

The next great wave of value won’t come from installing technology. It will come from reimagining what technology makes possible — how it can reinvent entire businesses, industries, and even societies. The companies that will lead the future are those that help their clients reinvent, not just digitise.

Today’s most interesting tech companies are no longer the ones selling software or hardware. They are the ones enabling human and organisational transformation — helping others to see differently, think differently, and act differently. They are not tech suppliers; they are transformation partners.

The end of “digital transformation”

The phrase “digital transformation” has been emptied of meaning. Everyone is doing it, yet few are truly transformed. The first era of digital was about digitising what already existed — taking the analogue world and translating it into zeros and ones. Banks digitised forms, retailers digitised catalogues, manufacturers digitised workflows. The result was efficiency, scale, and convenience — but rarely reinvention.

Now we’ve reached an inflection point. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, biotechnology, and extended reality are converging. The question is no longer what can we digitise, but what can we imagine?

That shift — from implementation to imagination — is the defining challenge for tech companies today. They must evolve from builders of systems to architects of futures.

A mindset for real transformation

To be a transformer means looking beyond the technology itself. It means starting not with the software, but with the purpose: What is the client really trying to achieve? What’s their place in the world? What problems do they exist to solve?

This requires a different mindset — one that blends technological mastery with strategic insight, human empathy, and creative audacity. Tech companies must become translators between what’s possible and what’s purposeful.

When Microsoft under Satya Nadella reframed its mission from “a computer on every desk” to “empowering every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more,” it redefined itself. The company stopped selling tools and started enabling outcomes. Its cloud and AI businesses are now built around empowering clients to transform themselves — from healthcare to education to sustainability.

Accenture’s reinvention as a “business reinvention partner” echoes the same logic. Its success is not in coding systems, but in helping clients redefine what success even means — with technology as the enabler. Similarly, NTT Data’s emerging positioning as a trusted transformation partner is rooted in its deep client relationships and its belief that technology alone is never the answer.

It’s about more than the technology

The paradox of modern technology is that the best tech disappears. The iPhone changed the world not because it was technologically superior, but because it redefined behaviour. The same will be true of AI, quantum, and beyond.

Transformation isn’t about the shiny new tool — it’s about the new human possibilities that tool enables. A logistics company doesn’t need AI; it needs to rethink the concept of “delivery” in a world of immediacy. A bank doesn’t need blockchain; it needs to rebuild trust in an era of financial transparency. A retailer doesn’t need data; it needs to understand people — not customers, but communities.

Transformative tech companies understand this. They don’t lead with demos or dashboards. They start with provocation: What if we could rewrite the rules of your market? What if we could dissolve industry boundaries? What if we could make your business indispensable to people’s lives in ways never imagined before?

To lead this new era, tech companies must cultivate a new kind of DNA — one that fuses technology with imagination, empathy, and experimentation.

• Purpose over product: Transformation begins with clarity of purpose. Why does the client exist, and how could technology amplify that purpose rather than dilute it?

• Co-creation over consulting: The best transformations are built with clients, not for them. It’s about experimentation, iteration, and learning fast.

• Ecosystems over silos: No company transforms alone. True transformers orchestrate networks of partners, startups, universities, and creators.

• Impact over implementation: Transformation is measured not in systems delivered, but in new value created — financial, human, and societal.

• Curiosity over certainty:  The pace of change demands humility and constant reinvention. The best tech leaders are restless learners.

These qualities mark the difference between a systems integrator and a possibility integrator.

From coders to catalysts

Across the globe, a new generation of technology companies — alongside a handful of transformed legacy players — is beginning to embody a fundamentally different approach to value creation. The shift is subtle in some cases, audacious in others: these organisations are moving away from a product-centric mindset and toward the role of transformers, helping clients reimagine their businesses rather than simply implement systems. The intent is clear; the execution remains challenging, yet the examples already speak volumes about what is possible.

Take Microsoft. Under Satya Nadella, the company has reframed itself not as a software vendor, but as an enabler of empowerment. Its partnerships with global giants such as Unilever and L’Oréal are instructive. These engagements go far beyond IT upgrades or cloud migrations. Instead, Microsoft works hand-in-hand with clients to rethink entire supply chains, explore sustainability at scale, and foster new forms of creativity and innovation. By embedding artificial intelligence throughout operations, decisions are no longer sequential or siloed; they become dynamic, informed, and faster. The transformation is organisational and strategic as much as technological, allowing these companies to create value in ways that were previously unimaginable.

IBM’s journey illustrates a parallel trajectory. Once seen as a legacy technology behemoth, IBM has pivoted decisively toward AI and hybrid cloud under Arvind Krishna. Its evolution is about more than technology; it is about enabling intelligent ecosystems. Hospitals use its platforms to turn complex patient data into actionable insight; cities integrate its systems to manage resources in real time; energy firms employ IBM’s analytics to anticipate and optimise supply and demand. Across sectors, IBM positions itself not as a supplier of tools but as a partner in transformation, moving clients from raw data to meaningful, operationalised action.

In Europe, NTT Data is quietly making a similar shift. Its focus on client-centricity is not a marketing slogan; it is a strategic pivot. Across mobility, energy, and public services, the company combines deep domain knowledge with technological creativity to help organisations rethink their models, operations, and customer engagement. The message is clear: clients do not merely want a vendor capable of installing systems; they want a partner who can understand their world, anticipate challenges, and co-create solutions. NTT Data’s evolution illustrates that even traditional IT players can reposition themselves as catalysts for reinvention.

Salesforce offers yet another lens on this transformation. Its ethos — treating business as a platform for change — has long guided its strategy. But it is in the application of this philosophy that the company distinguishes itself. By helping clients such as L’Oréal, Adidas, and T-Mobile reimagine their relationships with consumers, Salesforce goes beyond digital connectivity to cultivate emotional resonance. The technology enables, but the transformation resides in how these companies rethink the very nature of engagement. Here, CRM is not a tool for efficiency; it is a lever for strategic reinvention.

Accenture, meanwhile, has embraced the challenge of reinvention at scale. Its global strategy explicitly positions the company as a partner capable of helping clients reinvent their businesses end-to-end. Its acquisition strategy — encompassing design studios, AI laboratories, and sustainability consultancies — signals a belief that the future belongs to organisations capable of blending technology, human insight, and creative ambition. By orchestrating these capabilities, Accenture helps clients navigate complexity, uncover new growth avenues, and embed innovation deep into their operating models.

Finally, Palantir illustrates the power of transformation in high-stakes, complex environments. Working with governments, logistics networks, and energy firms, Palantir turns data and AI into a backbone of operational resilience. Yet its impact comes not from algorithms alone, but from enabling faster, better decisions — from clarifying uncertainty, revealing patterns, and allowing organisations to act with agility in contexts where the cost of error is immense. Palantir’s approach underscores a crucial lesson: technology is an enabler, but transformation is about decision-making, foresight, and execution.

Together, these examples illuminate a new reality: the companies that will define the next era of technology are not those obsessed with features, platforms, or products. They are the ones who see their role as partners in imagination, architects of possibility, and catalysts for organisational reinvention. Their success is measured not in software delivered, but in futures realised — in businesses transformed, industries reshaped, and clients empowered to thrive in ways that transcend what they once believed possible.

Clients as Co-Transformers

Transformation is not a service you buy; it’s a journey you embark on. It cannot be outsourced, automated, or packaged into a neat digital roadmap. True transformation demands shared ambition — a mutual commitment between company and client to explore the unknown together. The best partnerships are not vendor relationships but creative alliances, grounded in curiosity and fuelled by conviction.

In this new landscape, the role of a technology partner is not to “deliver” a solution but to co-design a future. The work begins long before any code is written or platform configured. It begins with a question: What future are we trying to create?

This question reframes the entire relationship. It moves the conversation from implementation to imagination, from systems to significance. The most transformative tech partnerships are not defined by scale or sophistication of technology — they’re defined by the quality of shared thinking.

Example 1 … BMW: Redefining Freedom in a Constrained World

BMW’s evolution from a car manufacturer to a mobility company is a masterclass in this kind of partnership. When it began exploring the future of transport, it didn’t start with software architecture or EV platforms. It started with a far more existential question: What does freedom mean in an era of climate constraint?

For over a century, BMW had built its identity on the joy of driving — the precision of the engine, the feeling of control, the open road. But the world was changing. Urban congestion, environmental pressure, and generational shifts in values were rewriting the meaning of mobility. Freedom no longer meant ownership or horsepower; it meant access, sustainability, and flexibility.

To explore this new definition, BMW worked with a network of technology partners — from data analytics firms to digital experience designers — to prototype new mobility ecosystems. The result was not just the electric i-series cars, but BMW i Ventures, an investment arm funding everything from battery innovation to smart city solutions.

Technology played a vital role, but it was never the driver. What drove the transformation was a shared vision: to redefine freedom for the next generation of travellers. BMW’s partners weren’t simply implementing digital tools — they were co-authoring a new chapter in the company’s identity.

That is what real transformation looks like: not the automation of the past, but the reinvention of purpose.

Example 2 … IKEA: Democratising Sustainable Living

A similar story unfolded at IKEA, a company long admired for its democratic design and flat-pack ingenuity. When the Swedish retailer confronted the realities of climate change, shifting consumption patterns, and the rise of digital commerce, it realised that transformation could not mean simply adding e-commerce channels or apps. It had to revisit its founding mission — to create a better everyday life for the many people — and reinterpret it for the 21st century.

IKEA’s transformation was never about technology per se. It was about making sustainable living affordable, accessible, and aspirational. Technology became the means to scale that ambition. Working with tech partners across data analytics, circular logistics, and AI-driven design, IKEA reimagined every part of its value chain:

• Circular retail models that buy back used furniture and re-sell it, powered by intelligent supply-chain platforms.

• Augmented reality tools that allow customers to visualise products in their homes, blending digital and physical retail.

• Smart home ecosystems, developed in partnership with energy and technology companies, that help households monitor and reduce consumption.

Each of these initiatives reflects a deep collaboration between IKEA’s designers, sustainability experts, and external technology innovators. What made them succeed was not code, but shared conviction — the belief that sustainability should be a mass movement, not a luxury niche.

For IKEA, the digital revolution became a values revolution. Its tech partners weren’t merely building interfaces; they were helping to scale a moral idea — that better living must also mean better stewardship of the planet.

Example 3 … DBS Bank: Reinventing Banking from the Inside Out

Perhaps the most radical reinvention of all came from DBS Bank in Singapore. A decade ago, DBS was regarded as a conventional, bureaucratic financial institution — reliable but uninspiring. Today, it’s widely recognised as one of the world’s most innovative banks, often described as “a technology company that happens to do banking.”

This transformation was not sparked by a single technology, but by a cultural metamorphosis. Under CEO Piyush Gupta, DBS set out to make banking invisible — seamless, intuitive, integrated into people’s lives. But to achieve that, it had to think and behave like a tech company.

It built innovation hubs that brought together engineers, designers, behavioural scientists, and clients to co-create new digital experiences. It embedded agile working methods, data-driven decision-making, and design thinking into the DNA of the organisation.

DBS’s technology partners were not external suppliers executing specifications. They were collaborators helping the bank rewire its culture. Together, they built platforms for open banking, AI-driven credit assessment, and digital onboarding — but the real innovation was internal: a mindset of continuous reinvention.

The results speak for themselves. DBS has topped global innovation and sustainability rankings for years. More importantly, it has inspired an entire sector to rethink what banking can be — from transaction processing to life-enabling service.

Transformation here was not a software upgrade; it was a redefinition of identity.

Shared imagination as strategy

Across all these stories runs a common thread: transformation succeeds when it’s built on shared imagination. The role of the technology partner is not to impose a vision but to amplify one — to act as catalyst, challenger, and creative accomplice.

Such relationships are rare because they require vulnerability. The client must be willing to question its own assumptions; the partner must be willing to go beyond the brief. Together they must dwell in uncertainty long enough for something genuinely new to emerge.

The strongest partnerships resemble joint ventures in possibility. They’re built on mutual curiosity, radical transparency, and a shared commitment to value creation that transcends the contract.

In this sense, technology becomes less of a product and more of a medium of imagination — a material through which new futures are shaped.

The ultimate measure of success is not the number of apps deployed or systems integrated. It’s the degree of transformation achieved — in thinking, in culture, in the market itself.

BMW now talks less about cars and more about mobility ecosystems.
IKEA measures impact in circularity, not sales alone.
DBS defines leadership by agility, inclusion, and social trust as much as by profit.

Their technology partners share in these outcomes not because they delivered platforms, but because they co-shaped futures.

That is the heart of being a transformer: to step beyond the role of implementer and become a co-creator of meaning. To move from being the builder of systems to the architect of possibilities.

Technology as a platform for possibility

Too often, tech projects are treated as transactions — budgets, timelines, deliverables. But the companies that will define the next decade treat technology as a platform for possibility.

Imagine if a government could predict and prevent crises instead of reacting to them. If an energy company could balance profitability with planet-positive outcomes through real-time intelligence. If a healthcare provider could shift from treating illness to enabling wellness.

These are not futuristic fantasies. They are what happens when tech companies think like transformers — when they align business design, technology architecture, and human purpose into one coherent vision.

The stakes are enormous. McKinsey estimates that up to 70% of digital transformation programmes fail to achieve their intended goals. Why? Because they focus on the tech, not the transformation.

The opportunity lies in closing this gap — in helping clients not just adopt new technologies, but adapt to new realities. That requires courage, creativity, and conviction.

The next generation of leaders — at NTT Data, Capgemini, Google Cloud, AWS, Infosys, and others — understand that their role is not to automate the past, but to invent the future. They are the architects of new growth models, new customer experiences, and new ecosystems of value.

The future belongs to the transformers

The world doesn’t need more code. It needs more imagination. The real power of technology lies not in what it does, but in what it enables us to become.

Tech companies that embrace this mindset — that position themselves as catalysts of transformation — will define the coming decade. They will be the partners every CEO turns to, not for IT upgrades, but for business reinvention.

They will help rewire capitalism itself — aligning profit with progress, efficiency with empathy, and intelligence with imagination.

Transformation is not a product. It’s a philosophy. It’s not delivered through servers or platforms. It’s delivered through belief — belief that the future can be different, and that we can build it together.

In short, the best tech companies are no longer in the technology business. They are in the future business.

The world will not slow down

Every company today stands on shifting ground. Markets move faster than business cycles; technologies collide and converge; customer expectations expand by the day. The rise of artificial intelligence, climate transition, demographic shifts, geopolitical realignments and new forms of competition have made one thing clear: change has become the constant condition of business.

The challenge for leaders is no longer how to manage transformation — but how to live within it. As McKinsey observes in its Next-Generation Operating Model report, strategy and execution have become “a single continuous loop of sensing, adapting and delivering.” The new competitive advantage is not size, scale or efficiency; it is strategic agility — the capacity to read change early, reconfigure quickly, and continually create new value.

Yet most organisations are still built for stability. They think of transformation as an event: a digital upgrade, a cost programme, a restructuring. The best organisations, by contrast, are learning to think differently. They are becoming Infinite Companies — firms that see transformation not as a programme, but as a permanent operating state; not as a response to crisis, but as a rhythm of reinvention.

Transformation as a permanent activity

The most progressive reports — Deloitte’s Chief Transformation Officer Study, Bain’s Business Transformation: Aim High, and BCG’s Transformation Paradox — all converge on the same idea: successful transformation is not a project with an end date but a continuous capability.

Transformation, in this view, is a living system: part strategy engine, part learning loop, part performance discipline. It’s not something done to the business; it’s something built into it.

Deloitte calls this the rise of the “permanent transformation capability” — a standing function that combines strategy, design, delivery and change leadership. BCG talks of developing the transformation muscle: teams that know how to sense, decide and deliver in fast-moving environments. McKinsey describes it as embedding transformation DNA — cross-functional structures that can adapt faster than the market.

This shift requires new roles and new leadership architectures. The Chief Transformation Officer (CTrO), once a short-term coordinator, is emerging as a permanent strategic partner to the CEO — owning the portfolio of reinvention, orchestrating change across silos, and ensuring that every initiative connects to value creation. In many leading companies, the CTrO now sits alongside the CFO and COO as a core member of the executive team.

In short, transformation is no longer something to complete — it’s something to sustain. It is the mechanism through which the Infinite Company continually renews itself.

Strategic agility in the age of megatrends

This permanent capability becomes crucial because the strategic landscape itself is in flux. Deloitte’s Transformation Paradox notes that “growth is now harder to achieve and easier to lose.” Global megatrends — decarbonisation, demographic shifts, digitalisation, deglobalisation — are reshaping industries from first principles.

BCG finds that the lifespan of the average company on the S&P 500 has fallen from 33 years in 1965 to less than 15 today. Strategy is no longer about five-year plans, but five-month sprints.

Strategic agility means being able to pivot across four dimensions at once:

• New market spaces – spotting and creating emerging demand before others do.

• New business models – reconfiguring value creation and capture mechanisms.

• New products and services – using innovation and design to reshape customer experience.

• New organisations and ecosystems – aligning people, partners and platforms to deliver at scale.

Leaders who can move across these dimensions create what Bain calls “multi-vector growth” — not just scaling what works, but continuously discovering what’s next.

One example is Schneider Electric, which transformed from a hardware manufacturer into a digital energy management platform. Another is DBS Bank in Singapore, which reframed itself as “a technology company delivering financial services” — embedding agile working, open APIs, and design-led thinking across the organisation.

Both firms treat transformation as a core capability: DBS runs a “Future-Ready Workforce” programme that continuously reskills its people for emerging roles, while Schneider’s sustainability-linked innovation agenda has made it a top performer in both digital and green economies.

From transformation projects to transformation system

The Infinite Company treats transformation not as an episodic initiative but as a system: a repeatable, disciplined process for creating value and embedding change. Bain describes this as moving “from a transformation project to a transformation engine.”

The system has three essential components:

permanent transformation office: not a bureaucratic PMO, but a strategic nerve centre — a small, empowered group that tracks value, clears obstacles and synchronises the portfolio. It operates with C-suite authority and cross-functional reach.

clear value logic and metrics: Deloitte emphasises “value orchestration”: aligning all initiatives to measurable business outcomes. The best firms use a value ledger that maps every initiative to revenue, cost, capability or customer impact — with weekly tracking and transparent dashboards.

iterative delivery model: transformation happens through small, fast cycles — test, learn, scale. The office provides rigour (governance, metrics, cadence) while enabling freedom for experimentation.

McKinsey calls this transformation rhythm: a disciplined heartbeat of decision, delivery and learning.

This structure enables an organisation to run multiple transformations simultaneously — digital, sustainability, customer experience, organisational design — without chaos. It turns reinvention from disruption into routine.

Leading through paradox: creativity and discipline

BCG’s Transformation Paradox argues that the hardest part of transformation is managing the contradictions. Companies must simultaneously improve today’s performance and create tomorrow’s possibilities; they must standardise and experiment, control and empower.

The firms that thrive are those that balance these tensions rather than choosing sides. They know when to tighten and when to loosen.

A good example is Unilever, which under Alan Jope and now Hein Schumacher has run a dual transformation: driving cost discipline and digital efficiency while investing heavily in purpose-driven brands and new growth platforms such as Unilever Ventures. Similarly, Fujifilm, once synonymous with film, balanced operational excellence with radical innovation — redeploying its chemical expertise into healthcare and biotech.

BCG’s insight is that transformation is not a single act but a constant act of balancing: of holding two opposing ideas — exploration and execution — and turning them into mutual strengths. The Infinite Company learns to live comfortably in paradox.

Talent and leadership as the transformation multiplier

Every major report agrees: transformation success is less about technology than talent. Bain’s research shows that the strongest predictor of lasting transformation is not capital, not technology adoption, but who leads it and how much time they can devote to it.

Too often, top performers are overloaded with “change plus day job”. The Infinite Company does it differently — it protects and empowers transformation talent.

Leading firms ring-fence their best people into dedicated transformation teams, rotate high-potential talent through change roles, and treat transformation experience as career acceleration.

Deloitte’s 2025 study identifies a “CTrO talent archetype”: a blend of strategist, operator, communicator and coach. They don’t merely manage projects — they mobilise energy, build confidence and remove friction.

Meanwhile, Korn Ferry highlights that HR leaders are now co-owners of transformation. Culture, incentives, and capability building are no longer side issues but core levers of business change. The CHRO becomes the “Chief Transformation Partner”.

Companies such as Microsoft, ING, and Novo Nordisk exemplify this. Satya Nadella reframed Microsoft’s culture from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all” — embedding growth mindset training into leadership development. ING trained 10,000 employees in agile working, creating “squads” that blend business and IT talent. Novo Nordisk invests heavily in leadership academies that teach adaptive leadership and system thinking.

In the Infinite Company, transformation begins and ends with people.

Embedding value and metrics into the rhythm

One of the reasons transformations fail is measurement drift: activity is mistaken for progress. Bain calls this “the illusion of green” — dashboards full of activity metrics, but little real value.

To avoid this, Infinite Companies measure value creation, not activity. They build a “transformation ledger” that ties each initiative to tangible business outcomes.

McKinsey’s 2024 research finds that firms that track both leading indicators (behavioural and capability shifts) and lagging indicators (financial results) are 3.5 times more likely to sustain gains beyond three years.

A robust measurement system includes:

• A single executive scorecard with 5–7 value drivers.

• Weekly value audits — small, fact-based reviews focused on learning.

• Independent value assurance — a function that validates assumptions and impact.

Schneider Electric’s “Value Creation Council” and DBS’s “Outcome-Based Scorecard” are two examples of this discipline. Their transformation offices act as both coach and challenger — enabling speed while maintaining integrity.

Culture, purpose and sustainability

While hard metrics matter, so does meaning. Purpose has become the organising principle of transformation. Deloitte’s Purpose Premium study shows that companies with a clearly articulated purpose outperform peers in both financial and social metrics.

The Infinite Company uses purpose as an aligning mechanism — connecting transformation efforts to a higher sense of why the organisation exists.

This matters not just for employee motivation but for ecosystem orchestration. When partners, customers and communities see transformation as purposeful — not merely profitable — collaboration deepens.

Patagonia, IKEA and Interface illustrate how sustainability-driven transformation can become a growth engine. Interface’s “Mission Zero” inspired a wave of material innovation; IKEA’s shift to circular design is spawning new service models such as furniture leasing.

Similarly, NextEra Energy in the United States reframed itself from a utility into a renewable energy platform, aligning its transformation to the net-zero transition. In doing so, it created one of the most valuable energy companies in the world.

Sustainability, when embedded as a core design constraint, becomes a source of innovation — not a cost to be managed. It creates new markets, new products and new legitimacy.

Designing for speed, learning and scaling

Transformation succeeds not by avoiding failure but by learning faster than others. McKinsey’s Transformation Operating Model report highlights that “organisations that run rapid cycles of experimentation achieve twice the success rate.”

Infinite Companies adopt a “fast, small, scalable” mindset:

• Fast – short cycles from idea to market feedback.

• Small – minimal viable products and experiments.

• Scalable – systems and platforms that can grow rapidly once proven.

Spotify’s “squad” model, DBS’s agile tribes, and Unilever’s Foundry platform all demonstrate this approach. They blend the creativity of start-ups with the scale of enterprises.

This learning rhythm extends beyond projects to the organisation itself. Infinite Companies continuously review their own design — roles, governance, metrics — and evolve them. Organisational transformation is no longer episodic restructuring but ongoing tuning.

Ecosystems and collaborative reinvention

As business boundaries blur, transformation increasingly happens across ecosystems. The World Economic Forum calls this the “Era of Collaborative Advantage” — where the capacity to orchestrate partnerships matters more than owning assets.

Infinite Companies build modular architectures — open APIs, shared platforms, interoperable systems — that allow them to connect and co-create value.

Examples abound:

• Shopify built an ecosystem of 10,000 developers and 7,000 apps, making it a growth platform for others.

• Tesla and BYD open-sourced patents to accelerate EV adoption — expanding the market for their own ecosystems.

• Nestlé collaborates with start-ups in alternative proteins and packaging circularity to reinvent its product pipeline.

Transformation, in this sense, is no longer a solo performance but an orchestrated ensemble. The Infinite Company understands that its future lies as much outside its boundaries as within.

The transformation operating model — a practical guide

Drawing from Bain, BCG, Deloitte and McKinsey, the Infinite Company typically builds its transformation engine around seven structural disciplines:

• Strategic clarity – a single, quantified ambition that defines “what winning looks like”.

• Leadership ownership – a CEO-sponsored, full-time transformation leader with authority.

• Operating model redesign – structure, decision rights and process mapped to value creation.

• Talent and culture – the right people, protected time, growth mindset and incentives.

• Value-led metrics – measurable outcomes, leading indicators and transparent scorecards.

• Execution cadence – weekly reviews, cross-functional teams, rapid feedback loops.

• Capability building – continuous development of change leadership, analytics and innovation skills.

These disciplines turn transformation from aspiration into institutional habit.

The Infinite Company mindset

Ultimately, what distinguishes Infinite Companies is not the quality of their strategy but the nature of their mindset. They see the organisation as a living system, not a static structure. They view uncertainty as opportunity, not threat.

Three beliefs underpin their behaviour:

• Transformation never ends. The moment you stabilise, you fall behind.

• Learning is the new scale. The faster you learn, the bigger you become.

• Value is co-created. Success lies in the ability to mobilise people, partners and platforms towards shared outcomes.

This mindset is not theoretical. It is evident in the way Amazon runs its “Day 1” philosophy; how Haier reinvented itself as a network of micro-enterprises; how Apple reimagined its entire supply chain around ecosystem design.

They are Infinite Companies — not because they are invulnerable, but because they keep recreating themselves faster than the world changes.

Here are some of the most useful transformation tools:

• Transformation Compass (BCG): A framework for balancing ambition, discipline, leadership and culture.

• Value Ledger (Bain): A dashboard linking every initiative to measurable impact.

• Transformation Playbook (Deloitte): How to build the governance, cadence and leadership to sustain reinvention.

• Operating Model Blueprint (McKinsey): A diagnostic for redesigning decision rights, roles and rhythms.

• Purpose Integration Map (Korn Ferry): A tool to align transformation outcomes with organisational purpose.

These tools are not prescriptions; they are enablers. They help leaders translate big ambition into practical rhythm.

The leadership imperative

For leaders, the message is both daunting and liberating. The future will not wait; but those who embrace transformation as a strategic, permanent and human activity will find unprecedented opportunity.

As Deloitte’s 2025 report concludes: “Transformation is no longer the response to change. It is the condition for existence.”

To lead in this era is to become both strategist and explorer, operator and storyteller — guiding people through uncertainty with clarity, courage and empathy.

The Infinite Company does not seek stability. It seeks momentum. It builds not for what is, but for what’s next — and for the capacity to keep becoming.

Transformation has become an overused word — but its meaning has never been more vital. The future belongs to organisations that understand transformation not as an act of change, but as a state of being.

To become infinite is not to be immortal; it is to be in perpetual motion — guided by purpose, powered by people, disciplined by value, and open to the world.

The Infinite Company thrives not by resisting change, but by mastering the art of becoming — again and again.

Explore more

• How to Create a Transformation That Lasts (BCG)
• Introducing the Next-Generation Operating Model (McKinsey)
• Transformation Paradox: Growing When Growing is Tough (BCG)
• 2025 Chief Transformation Officer Study (Deloitte)
• Business Transformation: Aim High (Bain)
• Boards Can Make or Break a Transformation (BCG)
• Making Corporate Transformation Count — the Bottom Line (BCG)