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Hi, this is Rich Lesser coming to you from Davos
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at the end of this year's annual meeting.
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I am joined with Karalee Close.
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Karalee leads BCG's Technology Advantage practice,
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and we have a chance to share impressions
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of the past week together.
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So Karalee, what were your main takeaways
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from Davos this year?
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I think the importance and commitment that we see
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around sustainability and climate change
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was in an order of magnitude different than other Davoses,
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and I found it personally very exciting
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to see groups of CEOs, government leaders,
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and the like really talking about how to move the needle
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when it comes to sustainability and climate change.
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I was really interested.
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I was in a WEF CEO group, and there was a discussion
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about really changing the way reporting is done
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to incorporate a broad set of measures.
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And going into it, I really didn't know
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how the CEOs would react, because most of them
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are leading huge public companies
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under enormous scrutiny.
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And the amount of energy and alignment
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of a high percentage of the group
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that we need to put this into how we report,
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we need to do it in a consistent way,
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really exceeded my expectations.
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Now it needs to be turned into action,
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and I'm sure there'll be some challenges ahead,
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but it was a bigger step forward than I was anticipating
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at the meeting.
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Yeah, great step forward.
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And then also the technology applications that go there.
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Of course, I'm a bit biased given my background,
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but really seeing how technology can be used
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to move the needle when it comes
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to sustainability-related issues.
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So end-to-end supply chain visibility,
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really understanding where goods and services are,
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really taking a move from the telecom sector,
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really thinking about how do you reduce
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the use of energy, and those sorts of things.
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So I think the technology agenda is part of it,
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but I'm glad to see the overall commitment
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to what's important to our planet.
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I know you spend so much time
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thinking about the intersection
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between technology and people
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and how we build capabilities in organizations
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in a human sense, not just in a technology sense.
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I really thought that came through much more.
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Did you see that also?
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Yeah, I think last Davoses have been this externality
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of digital disruption and digital threat
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or the robots taking over the world
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and changing our workforces without us
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really being able to take control of it.
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I think this year was a lot more about yes, we can see
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how technology has an impact on business,
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yes we can see that our workforces need to change,
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but the focus was much more around how do you bring
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the human side and the technology side together
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in ways that are productive for workforces.
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So a lot more concrete stuff around upskilling
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and reskilling: where, how, what are the levers to do that?
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And then on the technology side it was more about
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how do you use AI to amplify intelligence?
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How do you use some of the great stuff
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we can do with drones to reduce safety instances
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with industrial goods companies and stuff?
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So I think there's an amplified intelligence,
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there's organization that can do more
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or people that can do more with technology,
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I find really exciting.
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I think it was only eight or nine months ago
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we started really talking about the bionic company,
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where you combine machines and algorithms
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and technology platforms with people
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and upskilling workforces and changing the way work is done.
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And at that time, it seemed very different
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than where our CEOs' heads were at.
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But now that I'm engaged with you,
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I think they totally resonated with it
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and are much more believing it's about the combination
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of the two than about machines replacing the people
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than even a year ago.
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Yeah, exactly.
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So it's an interesting week,
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and we had many different encounters.
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I just wondered if you had a favorite moment of the week
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you wanted to share.
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I think the most memorable for me
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is actually I attended a panel where will.i.am,
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who's quite a famous recording artist,
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seven Grammys, actually,
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he was talking about platform economy,
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and he was sharing his experience
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about building an AI-related business
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and a platform that helps to codify
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how he reaches populations with his music.
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And actually the way that he was articulating
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his technology choices and the importance of technology
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to his business concept, I felt like, wow,
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if a rock star can describe what we think
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about technology, we're onto something.
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So he was actually using a lot of the principles
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that we teach clients in terms of modern architecture,
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and APIs, and the like,
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but he was using it in such simple language,
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it made me quite excited actually about what we can do
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with our clients.
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I think that really represents how much technology
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is not just for the traditional way things are done,
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but opening up whole new vectors of innovation
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and opportunity in the economy.
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That sounds really terrific,
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I wish I'd have been there.
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So thank you, good travels home,
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and thank you, everyone.
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Thank you.