In this episode, Riccardo Zacconi shares his experience as co-founder and CEO growing the gaming company King from a 100-person startup to a 2,000-person global leader in mobile gaming, steering Candy Crush Saga to over 2.7 billion downloads and a $6 Billion sale of the company to Activision.

Riccardo Zacconi is a co-founder and former CEO of gaming company King. He was instrumental in the growth of its blockbuster game Candy Crush Saga and is now a partner at Sweet Capital.

In this episode, McKinsey Senior Partners Jesko Perrey and Brian Gregg share their perspectives working with global business leaders on navigating the return to growth in 2021 -- and beyond. Jason, Jesko, and Brian dive deep into agile marketing, who is winning with AI, and the strategic imperative for leaders to adopt the mindset needed for a digital-first future.

Jesko Perry is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Dusseldorf office and helps clients deliver above-market growth by transforming their marketing and sales capabilities. Jesko leads McKinsey’s Marketing and Sales Practice globally. 

Brian Gregg is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s San Francisco office and has deep expertise in digital marketing, e-commerce, multichannel excellence, customer experience, and customer-relationship management/loyalty. Brian co-leads McKinsey's Marketing and Sales Practice in North America.

In this episode, Rishad Tobaccowala–thought provocateur and strategic advisor to leaders around the world–pushes our thinking on what it means to compete and lead in the 21st century. Drawing from his wealth of experience with agencies and clients, Rishad shares stories from his book Restoring the Soul of Business and offers advice on how to balance spreadsheets and storytelling.

Rishad Tobaccowala spent over 35 years at Publicis Groupe in various leadership positions, including Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Growth Officer. Rishad has deep experience across digital transformation, advertising, marketing, and business strategy. Rishad’s key skill is getting people to see, think, and feel differently about how to grow themselves, their teams, and their company. 

You can find Rishad's latest thought leadership in his newsletter on Substack.

In this episode, Raja Rajamannar draws on his 25+ year career to go behind the scenes on what it takes to transform marketing into an agile driver of business growth. From engaging C-Suite peers to embedding data throughout the organization, Raja details how to design and scale a marketing organization with gravitas.

Raja Rajamannar is Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Mastercard and President of the company’s healthcare business. He is an accomplished global business executive with more than 25 years of experience. Raja has been named Global Marketer of the Year by the World Federation of Advertisers, top 5 “World’s Most Influential CMOs” by Forbes, top 10 “World’s Most Innovative CMOs” by Business Insider, and is an inductee to The CMO Club Hall of Fame. 

In this episode, Jeff Maggioncalda shares his growth CEO playbook and the magic behind a platform business model. Under Jeff’s leadership, Coursera is transforming learning and education across the globe. Jeff and Jason go into detail about how to build a data-driven company that has a laser focus on product-market fit.

Jeff Maggioncalda is the CEO of Coursera, having joined the company in June 2017. He previously served for 18 years as the founding CEO at Financial Engines Inc, a company co-founded by economist and Nobel Prize winner William Sharpe. Jeff also worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and Cornerstone Research and holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In this episode, Noam Paransky explores the art and science of leading digital transformation in the retail space. Noam and Jason cover topics such as personalization in retail, the importance of quick wins, the role of perseverance in change efforts, and how to evaluate AI for business impact.

Noam Paransky is the Chief Digital Officer of Tapestry, where he leads the company’s digital innovation agenda and ensures the company delivers an inspiring omni-channel experience through all digital touchpoints. Prior to Tapestry, Noam was SVP of Digital at Gap, Inc. where he led digital programs for all Gap, Inc. brands. Noam spent nearly two decades as a retail, digital and marketing consultant.

In this episode, Jim McCann shares stories of his fascinating and successful career as an “accidental entrepreneur” guiding 1-800-Flowers.com from a single flower shop in Manhattan to one of the world’s leading gourmet food and floral gift providers -- all built on a foundation of making people smile. 

Jim and Jason talk about what it takes to be truly customer-centric and how to focus on customer relationships while embracing technology that builds competitive advantage.

Jim McCann is the Founder and Executive Chairman of 1-800-Flowers.com as well as a respected author and philanthropist. Jim’s strategy for growth included an effective combination of building and buying new businesses and brands that resonate with customers.

In this episode, Darren Herman shares stories and examples of growth and innovation from the vantage point of an experienced private equity operating partner. Darren and Jason unpack the winning formula of talent + data + digital maturity as key enablers to be “on the right side of history.”

Darren Herman is an operating partner across the North American private equity team at Bain Capital and joined the firm in 2016.  Darren has worked in both the Boston and New York offices and focuses on growing the portfolio of investments through advertising, marketing, e-commerce, CRM, and innovation. 

Prior to joining Bain Capital, Darren was an executive at Mozilla Corporation and at multiple companies within the MDC Partners group of advertising and marketing agencies.

In this episode, Bob Liodice explains how marketing leaders are pivoting–and performing–amidst disruption. Sharing examples from Anheuser-Busch, Tesla, Lyft and others, Bob and Jason discuss what it means to deliver true customer-centric engagement and why brand purpose is all about usefulness.

Bob Liodice is chief executive officer of the Association of National Advertisers and previously served as executive vice president, responsible for member relations and business development.

Prior to the ANA, Bob was vice president of global marketing and sales for Grupo Televisa, a major worldwide broadcaster and spent more than 15 years in marketing and financial management at Kraft General Foods.

In this episode, Jason and Paul discuss how brands can evolve to deliver exceptional experiences such as the Nutella Cafe and what it takes to build a brand today. Jason and Paul dive into the power of customer-centric brand building and Paul shares his leadership experience making the transition from finance to marketing to the CEO role. 

Paul Chibe is President and CEO of Ferrero North America and leads Ferrero Group’s US, Canada, and Caribbean businesses including iconic brands such as Nutella, Tic Tac, and Ferrero Rocher. Before Ferrero, Paul was US Chief Marketing Officer for Anheuser-Busch InBev and spent 11 years running the US Gum and Mints business for Wrigley.