AI is creating greater customer personalization, but a far more fundamental change is coming. Over the next decade, it will break down silos across organizations and give CMOs always-on access to better, deeper, and far more comprehensive information. In this episode, BCG’s Janet Balis explores how this will fundamentally change CMOs’ decision making. They will no longer focus exclusively on marketing campaigns; rather, they’ll broaden their oversight to delivering business outcomes—and they’ll do it by leading a holistic, company-wide transformation.

Learn More:

Janet Balis: https://on.bcg.com/46NNawp

BCG’s Latest Thinking on Marketing and Sales: https://on.bcg.com/4pJwe2u

BCG on the Media and Entertainment Industry: https://on.bcg.com/4mBDECp

Too often, a company’s sales strategy is limited by finite resources. Even the largest multinational corporations have to make tough decisions about where to deploy their sales teams. But as they grow more sophisticated, AI agents are expected to be capable of reaching and interacting with not only your largest and most valuable clients and customers, but also small businesses most sales teams simply didn’t have the bandwidth to engage before. BCG’s Phillip Andersen examines the potential of AI-driven sales teams and imagines how AI-agents might even negotiate simple transactions with each other.

Learn More:

Phillip Andersen: https://on.bcg.com/46plrlt

BCG’s Latest Thinking on Marketing and Sales: https://on.bcg.com/47L7ZKR

A Bold AI Ambition for B2B Marketing, Sales, and Service: https://on.bcg.com/3VVCNBi

How to Accelerate the GenAI Revolution in Sales: http://on.bcg.com/42zfEZb

Chapters:

00:00-02:13The scenario: AI sales agents of the future

02:14-03:02 How do sales teams currently prioritize where to put their resources?

03:03-03:46 How are most sales teams using AI right now

03:47- 06:09 What have we learned from AI already being used in customer service?

06:10-08:40 What doors will AI agents open for sales teams that are currently closed to them?

08:41- 11:08 What would AI outreach look like in the future?

11:09-12:56 What is the role of humans when AI agents are making deals?

12:57-13:24 Short break

13:25-16:13 How to use AI agents to build relationships with valued clients

16:14- 17:47 Who owns the “redline”?

17:48-19:43 How will junior members of the team grow their skills?

19:44-22:16 How can AI help junior members grow their skills?

22:17-23:38 What kind of skills will humans need to succeed when they're augmented by AI agents?

23:39-25:47 What will it look like when two AI agents interact with each other?

25:48-27:50 How will AI agents gained trust of customers?

27:51-29:25 What could disrupt this path to the future?

29:26-31:45 No regret moves for CEOs

31:46-35:23 Bill and GENE: A hypothetical conversation between two AI agents.

35:24-36:08 Outro

Who Wants to Be a CEO?

The role of the CEO is both powerful and punishing. Christine Barton, BCG’s CEO Advisory lead in North America, explores how to make the job more fulfilling. It starts with clarity of purpose, building the right leadership team, and minimizing activities that are time and energy sinkholes.

Learn More:

The So What from BCG: https://lnk.to/so-what-general-show10

Christine Barton: https://on.bcg.com/4n4CyAk

BCG’s Insights for CEOs: https://on.bcg.com/4l6jujg

Moves Only a CEO Can Make: https://on.bcg.com/4kUtpJ2

Balancing a Dynamic Career and a Rewarding Personal Life: https://on.bcg.com/3TfaYTz

Quantum computers harness the almost mystical properties of subatomic particles to solve problems that are beyond even the most powerful “classical” computers available today. Will these computers usher in a new generation of custom pharmaceuticals and sustainable materials—or will they be used to crack every password and create global chaos? BCG’s Antoine Gourévitch imagines the coming age of quantum computers and dives deep into ways they could supercharge the discovery of new materials. But the quantum age comes with huge risks as well; governments around the world are already racing to develop quantum-safe passwords that will keep our data secure.

Learn More:

Antoine Gourévitch: https://on.bcg.com/4hMrXaQ

BCG on Quantum Computing: https://on.bcg.com/3AGK415

GenAI on GenAI: https://link.chtbl.com/bcg-genai-on-genai?sid=IT

CEO Digest: https://link.chtbl.com/ceo-digest-bcg-show?sid=IT

CEO Moments of Truth: https://on.bcg.com/ITMoT

While discussions of US tariff policies dominated Q2 earnings calls to an unprecedented degree, another equally important trend is bubbling just under the surface in C-suites and on trading floors: concern that the economic uncertainty caused by tariff turmoil may lead to a downturn. That’s the conclusion of the third edition of the CEO Radar—a tool to help CEOs determine which issues truly deserve their time and attention. It unpacks the leading topics discussed on more than 4,500 earnings calls worldwide in Q2 2025, enabling chief executives to compare their agendas to those of their peers, and to the market’s expectations. On this episode of the CEO Radar Podcast, Edward Adams of Bloomberg Media Studios is joined by BCG Global Chair Rich Lesser and Mai-Britt Poulsen, Global Leader of BCGs Consumer & Retail Practice, to discuss how CEOs can build their resilience.

Listen to CEO Radar: https://sponsored.bloomberg.com/immersive-story/bcg/the-ceo-radar-q3-2025

By the year 2035, we will likely be able to utilize AI to crunch complex data sets and produce far more accurate predictions of the future, for everything from stock market fluctuations to consumer trends. Already, meteorologists are using AI to improve weather forecasting—for instance, by more accurately predicting when a hurricane will make landfall. But BCG’s Alan Iny says this does not mean that business leaders will be able to dispense with planning for multiple scenarios. Predictions will never be perfect—and everyone will have access to the same tools—so strategic planning will remain critical even as it evolves in new ways.

Learn More:

Alan Iny: https://on.bcg.com/4fCNDo5

Are Leaders as Prepared for Strategic Risks as They Think They Are?: https://on.bcg.com/3AXqw8J

BCG on Corporate Finance and Strategy: https://on.bcg.com/496c3Ek

CEO Moments of Truth: https://on.bcg.com/ITMoT

GenAI on GenAI: https://link.chtbl.com/bcg-genai-on-genai?sid=IT

CEO Digest: https://link.chtbl.com/ceo-digest-bcg-show?sid=IT

What can ancient Greek myths teach us about modern leadership?

Kirsten Rulf has spent her career at the intersection of tech, policy, and public service.

In this episode, Kirsten shares how she found clarity in moments of uncertainty, why AI presents a major opportunity for the public good, and what it was like helping shape the EU’s landmark tech legislation.

Kirsten is a Partner and Associate Director at BCG. Before joining BCG, she advised German Chancellor Angela Merkel and served as head of digital policy in the German government, playing a key role in negotiating Europe’s AI and data laws.

Listen to In Her Ellement: https://lnk.to/bcg-in-her-ellement-series-link04

[1:26] A Big Win, Then The Hard Work Follows

[05:21] Potential of AI in Public Sector

[08:56] Roots In Ovid’s Metamorphosis

[12:09] From Journalism to CyberSecurity

[14:14] A Phone Call from Angela Merkel

[13:48] Navigating Career Changes and Mentorship

[19:23] “Hope is not a strategy”

[22:16] Reflections

Apps were supposed to make life easier to navigate, but they often create more complexity. Planning a trip can involve hundreds of digital touchpoints over several months. But new advances–especially the growth of AI agents–coupled with ambient and voice-recognition technology, could make apps obsolete. BCG’s Dutch MacDonald imagines a world where, for example, we could just have a conversation with our personal AI assistant about our dream vacation and it could do all the planning and booking for us.

Learn More:

Dutch:https://on.bcg.com/4k3Hy5s

How AI Agents Are Opening the Golden Era of Customer Experience: https://on.bcg.com/4ndwK7K

BCG’s Latest Thinking on AI: https://on.bcg.com/3ZMzmj0