Best of LinkedIn: Strategy & Consulting CW 24/ 25

There is a clear shift from experimentation toward execution. AI remains the dominant theme, but the stronger signal is broader: governance, workforce redesign, partner ecosystems, capital discipline, and geopolitical resilience are becoming core transformation priorities.

Date

June 25, 2026

Strategy & Consulting

Thomas Allgeyer

Methodology: Every two weeks we collect most relevant posts on LinkedIn for selected topics and create an overall summary only based on these posts. If you´re interested in the single posts behind, you can find them here: https://linktr.ee/thomasallgeyer. Have a great read!

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AI Strategy and Operating Models

Agentic AI was consistently framed as an operating-model challenge, not a model-selection question
The main transformation logic shifted from copying use cases to redesigning decision flows, governance, workforce roles, and enterprise workflows
Autonomous enterprise concepts gained visibility, especially in SAP delivery, GBS, aviation, contact centers, government, marketing, financial services, and internal audit
AI adoption is now constrained less by access to tools and more by leadership readiness, workflow redesign, employee guidance, and governance maturity
Frontline AI usage is rising, but value capture remains limited where firms do not redesign how work happens

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AI Governance, Risk and Trust

AI governance moved to board level, with communication expected to address risk, value, velocity, and trust
Governance was positioned as a speed mechanism, using clear accountability, living inventories, embedded guardrails, cross-functional teams, and continuous monitoring
As AI shifts from assistant to operator, accountability becomes the central design question
Third-party risk gained relevance as AI amplifies vendor exposure and inherited technology risks
Compliance, internal audit, and risk functions are being repositioned from control functions toward strategic advisory roles

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Functional and Enterprise Transformation

ERP transformation was framed as a culture and readiness challenge, with SAP success depending on adoption, power shifts, and change investment
IT cost reduction was linked to complexity removal, with a Swiss industrial case showing CHF 520,000 annual savings through legacy infrastructure reduction, shadow IT control, support automation, security consolidation, and contract renegotiation
HR transformation focused on data maturity, with one source of truth positioned as a prerequisite for workforce intelligence
Supply chain centers of excellence were described as insufficient for today’s disruption volume, requiring broader orchestration capacity
GBS was repositioned as a potential AI control tower rather than a function to dissolve in the agentic era

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Industry Strategy and Sector Signals

Consumer products: Revenue growth management must evolve around new channels, retail media, data platforms, AI-assisted decisions, and integrated commercial investments
Pharma: GenAI moved from pilots to structural capital allocation, with competitive advantage tied to billion-dollar integration bets
Aviation: AI was framed as the future operating system for predictive maintenance, operational optimization, and connected decisions
Manufacturing: AI-enabled factory upgrades were positioned as a stronger response than relocation in some tariff-driven scenarios
Financial services: AI adoption, workflow redesign, and geopolitical bank-sovereign exposure shaped the sector agenda
Government: AI productivity remains limited where operating models lag, despite rising interest in trusted and agentic AI
Marketing: Agentic execution remains early, with autonomous multi-agent campaigns still rare
Professional services: GenAI is mainstream, but ROI measurement remains a gap

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Geopolitics, Capital and Resilience

Geopolitics was repeatedly positioned as a business input, not a background risk
Private equity value creation is shifting toward operational excellence, compliance resilience, longer holds, and alternative exits
Sanctions, export controls, investment restrictions, and trade disputes were framed as everyday business tools requiring integrated capabilities
Capital project leaders remain committed to CAPEX despite geopolitical volatility, supply chain risk, and rising costs
Sovereign wealth funds face a recalibration agenda across capital, AI, and operating models
Macroeconomic pressure, tariffs, conflict, and supply shocks are shaping the 2026 strategy environment

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Sustainability and Energy Transition

Green shipping demand is softening, but regulation is expected to re-accelerate the market
Energy resilience gained relevance through Europe’s largest floating solar plant and industrial heat decarbonization via thermal energy storage
Circularity was positioned as a major economic opportunity, with the €25.4 trillion linear economy gap requiring strategic integration
Sustainability delivery was framed as a governance, data, reporting, and execution challenge
Climate progress was presented as the result of thousands of operational decisions, not high-level ambition alone

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Partnerships, Research and Market Moves

BCG announced a major AI social impact commitment, including a $500 million ambition by 2030 and a partnership with Anthropic to bring frontier AI to leading social impact organizations
BCG and AWS research highlighted that top GenAI performers align partner capabilities to each maturity stage, from pilots to enterprise scale and agentic transformation
Gartner released a toolkit on communicating AI governance to boards and executives
BCG’s AI at Work research highlighted strong frontline AI adoption but persistent workflow redesign gaps
Thomson Reuters Institute’s 2026 AI in Professional Services Report reinforced that GenAI is mainstream while ROI measurement is still weak
EY Ireland’s Cork growth reflected rising client demand across AI, cyber, M&A, and data
Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026 positioned Switzerland as a strong AI and deep-tech scaling environment

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Leadership and Workforce Agenda

CIOs and technology leaders are expected to combine deep technology fluency with enterprise-wide change leadership
CHROs are being pushed to redesign roles, skills, governance, and workforce models around AI
Leadership pipelines face pressure as AI automates foundational tasks and reduces traditional development paths
Employee adoption depends on guidance for how time saved by AI is reinvested
Foresight, resilience, and scenario thinking became recurring leadership themes in turbulent conditions

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