Few teens are business owners, but by age 16, Bill McDermott had purchased and was running a local deli. Now he runs leading global technology powerhouse ServiceNow, a company that is defining how the world’s largest organizations transform for the digital age. Sarah Guo sits down with ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott to discuss his journey from child entrepreneur to CEO, and how he navigates his role as a leader in the age of AI. Bill argues that human connection is still a vital part of being a successful leader, and as such, AI must be used to serve people rather than substitute for ambition. He breaks down the mechanics of hyper-growth, and the art of staying customer-centric at a global scale. They also discuss the future of enterprise software, how generative AI is fundamentally reshaping the labor market, and what founders need to know about building a resilient company culture that survives economic and technological shifts.
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Chapters:
00:00 – Cold Open
00:50 – Bill McDermott Introduction
01:14 – Lesson from Buying a Deli
07:35 – Leadership in the AI Era
09:41 – How Bill Got Hired at Xerox
15:47 – Can Agency Be Taught?
18:40 – Seeing Change as Opportunity
25:18 – ServiceNow as an AI Control Tower
30:30 – Which SaaS Gets Disrupted?
32:22 – Defining a Platform Business
36:25 – Does AI Decrease Implementation Time?
39:06 – Agents Will Reshape the Workforce
40:59 – Success Signals at ServiceNow
44:07 – Enterprise Attitudes About AI
48:41 – How AI Has Changed Customer Conversations
50:48 – Bill’s Curiosity Beyond ServiceNow
52:29 – Day in the Life of a CEO
57:27 – Conclusion
