INSEAD AI

Join INSEAD AI & BCG U leaders for a practical session on building the agentic organization, where AI agents and people work togetherAI tools are everywhere, yet only a small share of companies are turning them into real business impact. In their recent BCG U article “To Unlock the Full Value of AI, Invest in Your People,” Reinhard Messenboeck & Jessica Beidelman show that the real bridge from AI adoption to AI advantage is changing how people work & focusing on the right value pools, supported by serious capability building.BCG U is Boston Consulting Group’s capability building & learning unit, working with leading companies globally to embed AI into day to day work at scale. In this session, Dr. Reinhard Messenboeck (Managing Director & Senior Partner, BCG) & Jessica Beidelman (Associate Director, BCG U) will share what they are seeing on the front lines of AI enablement. This is not theory, but lessons from real programs in large organizations.More on BCG U: https://www.bcg.com/capabilities/people-strategy/talent-development/organizational-development-training"To Unlock the Full Value of AI, Invest in Your People": https://www.bcg.com/2025/to-unlock-the-full-value-of-ai-invest-in-your-peopleThe conversation is hosted & moderated by Robert Maciejko (Co-founder, INSEAD AI alumni community). Ritu Ann Roy (INSEAD AGI Club VP & TMT Club President) fields questions from the chatWhat we coverYou will hear practical perspectives on:- From adoption to advantage- What distinguishes the few companies generating AI value at scale & how they focus on the value pools where AI can have the biggest impact- The people side of AI- How leaders rethink roles, workflows and ways of working so AI becomes part of everyday work, not a side project.- Role-based capability building- How BCG U uses simple archetypes such as shapers, leaders, transformers & frontline contributors, with tailored learning journeys instead of one size fits all trainingA three stage learning journey- Why foundational, applied & embedded learning each matter, & how this progression helps turn AI awareness into lasting behavior change.- Stories from the field & next steps- Examples from client work in sectors like financial services & consumer goods, & a short list of moves leaders can take in the next 90 days to start building AI capabilities in their own organizations.Who should watch:Senior board members & executives, business & functional leaders, Chief AI, Digital and Transformation officers, HR & capability building leaders, and founders and operators already hands on with AI.Participants:Dr. Reinhard Messenboeck is a Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group & a leader in BCG’s People & Organization & Operations practices, where he focuses on change management, impact realization, & cost & efficiency in support functions for leading companies globally. He leads the Business Transformation Suite.Reinhard's LinkedInJessica Beidelman is an Associate Director at BCG U, where she designs learning strategies & large scale upskilling programs for global organizations, drawing on more than a decade of experience in corporate strategy, M&A, & organizational change across roles at 2U, A T Kearney, & the education sector.Jess's LinkedInRobert Maciejko is a co-founder of the INSEAD AI Community (alum-led). A board member & business builder, he has authored 200+ articles on AI. Robert previously held senior leadership roles at McKinsey, BCG, & Oliver Wyman, & worked at IBM & on early AI implementations with American Express.Robert's LinkedInRitu Ann Roy is an INSEAD MBA 25D and Co President of the INSEAD TMT Club & VP of the INSEAD AGI Club, with prior experience in AI, cloud & strategy at Amazon, fintech transformation at BFC Group, & software engineering in Cisco’s security business.Ritu's LinkedIn

The Mirage of AI Abundance and the Race Toward Margin CollapseTranscript:  Hey, this is Robert Maciejko. Was this one of the biggest AI weeks so far?   It did feel like a DeepSeek 2.0 moment. Chinese labs keep raising the bar. This week, China's open source, Kimi K2 Thinking arrived with trillion parameter scale and strong public benchmarks. Early reads suggest it tops leading closed US models on reasoning, coding, and agentic tasks.  Markets were already shaky. A number of the highest flying assets are 10 to 30% off, 52 week highs. Add US government shutdown noise and  tariff tensions, and you get a jittery backdrop. Jobs flashed red. US October layoffs were the highest for that month since 2003.  Cost cutting and AI were both cited. Hiring is slowing across many white collar roles, especially among recent grads.In the past weeks, CapEx news went into overdrive. OpenAI and partners are reportedly lining up about $1.4 trillion in deals over about eight years for data centers and chips, roughly 30 gigawatts of compute. To put that in perspective, that's the consumption level of Spain, a whole country. The spend is far above today's revenues. In OpenAI's case, they said their run rate at the end of this year will be about $20 billion. So it assumes enormous growth.   Add to that backstop controversy. The CFO of OpenAI had wording that sparked headlines about government support. Sam Altman had to walk it back posting a clarification saying they're not seeking a bailout. US   AI Czar David Sachs said there will be no federal bailout for AI. Either way, financing risk is now part of the public conversation.For now, the mode is in infrastructure.   Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are all building NVIDIA chip replacements. The question is though, if supply overshoots demand, will chip and cloud prices also be under pressure? Alliances are shifting. Apple is reportedly set to pay about $1 billion per year to license a custom Google Gemini for Siri; interestingly not OpenAI, which aims to compete with Apple on devices. Microsoft is building more in-house, trying to reduce dependence on OpenAI.This week geopolitics was not background noise. Jensen Huang said "China is going to win the AI race", although he later walked that back at least a bit. The message stands though, China's developer base it's energy and industrial policy make it a real contender. So Kimi K2 Thinking may end up being the DeepSeek 2.0 moment.Meanwhile, Elon  Musk's $1 trillion compensation plan was confirmed. If all the people in this picture were millionaires, it would not add up to one Elon Musk who had achieved the trillion dollars. Whatever your view, it shows how concentrated the bets have become. What does this all mean? Open source pressure is up, possibly a DeepSeek 2.0 moment. CapEx is up. Prices maybe down across the stack over time unless you can ship must-have products. That all leaves two mega questions.If you are an AI optimist and abundance is created, who captures it and on what terms? If abundance is not created and prices fall faster than demand rises, what's your plan? What's our plan? Right now, it still feels like there are no adults in the room shaping the markets.This means we all have to take responsibility for being prepared for what might be coming.    Thanks for listening. Hosted by Robert Maciejko

Enjoy this timely INSEAD AI event with Fawad Bajwa (INSEAD MBA), Global AI practice and Global Operations Transformation practice lead at Russell Reynolds Associates.As AI reshapes the foundations of business, leadership, and governance, Fawad and his team advise the world’s top companies on how to respond. From the boardroom to the C-suite, new questions are emerging: Who is equipped to lead through systemic change? What does an AI-ready organization look like? And how do you build trust and resilience while moving fast?This is a rare chance to hear from one of the world’s top leadership advisors at the intersection of AI, strategy, and governance.---🔍 What We Cover:The New Rules of Leadership: Why traditional leadership models are being rewritten—and what comes nextBoard & Executive Readiness in the AI Era: Insights from Russell Reynolds' proprietary frameworks like the AI Quotient, Systems View, and Responsible AI PrinciplesShaping Trustworthy Transformation: How companies and leaders can build systems that are ethical, human-centered, and future-readyLive Q&A: Ask Fawad anything—from board positioning to the traits of transformational leadership---🎯 Why Watch:Learn how top boards and CEOs are preparing for the age of intelligent systemsUnderstand the mindsets and capabilities that define next-generation leadershipGet practical guidance for positioning yourself at the intersection of AI, strategy, and governance🗓️ Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from someone advising the world’s top leaders on what’s next—and how to be ready for it.Participants:Fawad Bajwa is a Managing Director and Partner at Russell Reynolds Associates, where he leads the Global AI practice and global Operations Transformation practices. He advises boards, CEOs, CHROs, and COOs on leadership and succession across sectors including tech, life sciences, and financial services. An INSEAD MBA from the Class of 12D, Fawad also started his career as a robotics engineer and later worked as a consultant at Deloitte and Kearney on strategy, transformation, and M&A. He remains active in alumni mentorship and board leadership.Fawad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fawadbajwa/Robert Maciejko is a co-founder of the INSEAD AI Community (alum-led). He has authored 200+ articles on AI. Robert previously held senior leadership roles at McKinsey, BCG, and Oliver Wyman, and worked at IBM and on early AI implementations with American Express.Robert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maciejko/Fabio Valle is a co-founder of the INSEAD AI Community (alum-led) and holds an MBA from INSEAD. He has a strong background in GTM and growth strategy and currently serves as VP of Growth at Horsa. His experience includes roles at Gartner, Eutelsat, and McKinsey.Fabio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabiovallemba/---#ai #insead #inseadai #RussellReynolds #artificialintelligence #aiandboards

AI agents aren't just a buzzword — they’re transforming how we build, automate, and scale businesses. In this exclusive INSEAD AI session, we sit down with Shayak Mazumder, CEO & CTO of Adya, to explore the full-stack platform powering the next generation of agentic apps 🌍 From building super agents to empowering developers across India, the US & the world, Adya is setting the pace. Learn how AI can now build other AI — with no code — and why Adya was handpicked by NVIDIA as a global top 10 innovator.🔍 What You'll LearnWhat makes AI agents different from chatbots and LLMsHow Adya enables developers to build full applications in minutesThe rise of super agents and decentralized multi-agent systemsHow platforms like Make and Zapier fit inReal-world use cases in sales, marketing, and more👥 Featuring:Shayak Mazumder, CEO & CTO of Adya (INSEAD MBA ‘15J)Robert Maciejko, Strategy Leader, Co-founder INSEAD AIFabio Valle, VP Growth at Horsa, Co-founder INSEAD AI🚀 Whether you're an entrepreneur, developer, investor, or just curious — this is your front-row seat to the agentic AI revolution.🎥 See why Adya is one of the most ambitious full-stack AI companies you've never heard of — until now.📩 Subscribe for more deep dives on AI and the future of work.

Top 5 stories of the week1️⃣ Google shatters Q1 expectations2️⃣ Google Retakes Frontier with 2.5 Flash3️⃣ AI ‘cheating’ app gets funded4️⃣ 2 Students Take on AI Giants5️⃣ Obama warns on AI & jobs🚨 AI NEWS YOU MISSED ❗#64Get caught up on AI like a boss 💪READ MORE - Full 'AI News You MIssed #64' newsletter  FOLLOW Robert Maciejko ON LINKEDIN: SUBSCRIBE TO "AI News You Missed"