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1 episodes · 20 quoted claims
Alexander Sukharevsky says fewer than 100 companies have captured more than two thirds of AI transformation value, working in two or fewer domains with a one-to-three return ratio.
“Less than hundred companies so far have captured more than two thirds of the value. They did it in two or less domains with one to three return ratio.”
Sukharevsky says companies that boosted their bottom line or overall value by at least 20% followed the same transformation journey.
“All the companies that managed to get boost of at least 20% on their bottom line or the overall value of the company actually went through this journey.”
Sukharevsky says companies that successfully transformed focused on two or fewer business domains.
“what you see that the companies that transform themselves actually focused on two or less domains, so it's really about focus.”
McKinsey's first Rewired book came out about three years before this episode, around the time ChatGPT was released, and an update appeared in April.
“If you look at our rewired research, the first book came free, it came out three years ago, pretty much at the same time where Chat GPT was released, and then this April, we released the update”
Sukharevsky says some companies featured in the first edition of the McKinsey book are leaders in the second edition after applying agentic AI on the same foundation.
“if you look at the companies in our book that featured in the first edition, some of them are the leaders in the second edition because now they apply agentic using the same chassis.”
Sukharevsky believes AI transformation should be driven by the CEO and board rather than only the CTO or chief digital officer.
“Correct, and I truly believe that this transformation should be driven by the CEO and the board, because if it's driven just by the CTO or chief digital officer”
Sukharevsky says McKinsey's State of AI research found successful organizations have boards that are fluent in technology.
“the organizations that manage to do so successfully have full board being extremely savvy and fluent around various technology topics.”
Sukharevsky says winning companies earn a return of roughly three dollars for every dollar invested in transformation.
“ROI is pretty much going to be one to three, meaning on every dollar invested in transformation, the return is around free dollar.”
Sukharevsky says McKinsey's analysis covered what he believes is the largest empirical sample globally, over six years.
“we looked at, I think, the largest empirical sample globally over six years, and this is what it says.”
Sukharevsky says once a company establishes the foundational chassis, its likelihood of success rises to about 80 to 85 percent.
“once you establish the chassis, the likelihood of success is getting closer to eighty, 85%.”
Sukharevsky says a flexible architecture that can plug in different AI models is a competitive advantage.
“if you have a flexible architecture where you're able to plug different models, that gives you a competitive advantage.”
Sukharevsky says not all tasks require large language models, and cheaper methods or smaller models can reduce token costs.
“not all of them require large language models.”
Sukharevsky says top-performing organizations set up governance and digital trust frameworks from day one.
“if we look at the top performing organization, the governance is properly set from day one, and another part that a lot of digital trust frameworks are implemented also from day one.”
Sukharevsky says the fewer than 100 champion companies pursued efficiency savings, top-line growth and new business models together.
“if you look at the less than hundred champions, the recipe was always the same.”
Sukharevsky says McKinsey's data show no correlation between industry and transformation success, only with leadership team commitment.
“there is no correlation to the industry, but rather to the leadership team that decided to go on this journey.”
Sukharevsky says enterprises cannot outsource auditing of their AI transformation progress and must measure it themselves.
“Unfortunately, or fortunately, you need to do it yourself.”
Sukharevsky says AI transformation should be owned and led internally, though some capabilities can be outsourced temporarily.
“the transformation itself should be done, owned, and led internally.”
Sukharevsky says he manages overload from AI agents by working in focused two-to-three-hour blocks and then disconnecting to reflect.
“you go very focused for two, three hours, but then you should disconnect in order to allow yourself time to reflect, to plan”
Sukharevsky says McKinsey's differentiator is combining value-lever understanding, domain reinvention, technology use and change management.
“Our secret sauce is the combination of few skills that allow the transformation to flourish”
Sukharevsky says that because agents work overnight and during exercise, he risks becoming the bottleneck in his own work.
“I'm becoming the bottleneck, and therefore, it's very easy to go into the rabbit hole where machine drives your behavior.”