The Need for Bold Ambition and Speed in the AI Era

Most organizations are experimenting with AI. Far fewer are transforming with it. Bernhard Mühlreiter, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, makes the case for why that gap is closing and what it takes to be on the right side of it.

In conversation with Richard Taylor, Retail and Consumer Goods Lead APJ at AWS, Mühlreiter outlines the three things that distinguish AI leaders: bold ambition, managing AI as a true transformation program, and broad-based capability building. He explores why lack of speed remains the biggest disappointment he sees in organizations today, and why, as Andy Jassy has noted, speed is ultimately a leadership decision.

From T-shaped transformation frameworks to agile "digital factory" team structures, this episode offers executives a clear-eyed and practical perspective on how to move from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide AI impact.