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What Top Companies Do Differently in Uncertain Times with AI
In this episode of The Emblazers: B2B Leaders Igniting Revenue, hosts Abby Kerr and Tim Riesterer sit down with Sinem Hostetter, Partner at McKinsey & Company, to explore how today’s top-performing organizations are navigating volatility, rethinking their revenue engines, and moving from reactive responses to intentional pivots.
The conversation explores how top teams treat pricing, coverage, and customer segmentation as evolving systems, updated continuously rather than annually. Sinem discusses the importance of adaptability, prioritization, and operational discipline, and how organizations are losing margin and focus by misaligning service levels, value propositions, and go-to-market strategies with current customer buying behaviors.
Tim and Sinem go into AI's role in sales and marketing transformation, discussing McKinsey’s State of AI research and the impact that comes from workflow redesign, adoption, and human-centered coaching. Tune in for some practical planning tips that focus on vertical AI use cases, omnichannel journeys, and customer value in competitive markets.
Tune in to learn:
Episode highlights:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:59) Insights from the Emblaze Executive Retreat 2025 in Savannah
(03:44) The importance of agile pricing
(05:12) When to update your customer segmentation strategy
(08:22) How to refresh your operating cadence for better results
(11:39) Enhancing sales processes with AI
(19:48) The role of managers in an AI-driven world
(24:45) How to adapt to changing B2B customer journeys
Links and Resources:
Subscribe to The Emblazers for more conversations with leading B2B thinkers.
Explore the Emblaze revenue community and start a membership today.
Learn about Sinem Hostetter
Sinem Hostetter is a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she advises CEOs and commercial leaders on driving sustainable revenue growth amid economic uncertainty and technological disruption. As a leader in McKinsey’s commercial transformation work, she helps organizations rethink pricing, go-to-market strategy, sales effectiveness, and AI-enabled workflows. With a background spanning consulting, investment banking, and fintech, Sinem brings a data-driven, systems-level perspective to modern selling, helping companies move beyond experimentation to scale AI, redesign operating models, and build resilient revenue engines grounded in measurable value.
Learn about Tim Riesterer
As Chief Strategy Officer at Corporate Visions and Chief Research Officer at Emblaze revenue leaders’ community, Tim Riesterer is a pioneering force in developing customer conversations that break through the status quo and drive measurable business results. His innovative approach helps companies craft differentiated messages and deploy them through powerful self-service and sales-directed tools that consistently outperform traditional content strategies. A recognized expert in value creation and capture, Tim enables organizations to transform their customer conversations through proven methodologies that elevate their market position and drive sustainable growth.
Learn about Abby Kerr
As Director of Content & Community at Emblaze, Abby Kerr designs content experiences that spark conversations and strengthen the connective tissue between B2B revenue leaders. With a background spanning brand voice strategy, enterprise B2B content, and education, she brings a sharp eye for nuance and a deep understanding of how people learn and grow. A champion of insight-driven storytelling and peer-to-peer learning, Abby helps make Emblaze a place where leaders don’t just consume content—they contribute to it. She’s also a warm, un-shy introvert who reads fiction, asks big questions, and drinks her coffee black.
View all episodes
By EmblazeIn this episode of The Emblazers: B2B Leaders Igniting Revenue, hosts Abby Kerr and Tim Riesterer sit down with Sinem Hostetter, Partner at McKinsey & Company, to explore how today’s top-performing organizations are navigating volatility, rethinking their revenue engines, and moving from reactive responses to intentional pivots.
The conversation explores how top teams treat pricing, coverage, and customer segmentation as evolving systems, updated continuously rather than annually. Sinem discusses the importance of adaptability, prioritization, and operational discipline, and how organizations are losing margin and focus by misaligning service levels, value propositions, and go-to-market strategies with current customer buying behaviors.
Tim and Sinem go into AI's role in sales and marketing transformation, discussing McKinsey’s State of AI research and the impact that comes from workflow redesign, adoption, and human-centered coaching. Tune in for some practical planning tips that focus on vertical AI use cases, omnichannel journeys, and customer value in competitive markets.
Tune in to learn:
Episode highlights:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:59) Insights from the Emblaze Executive Retreat 2025 in Savannah
(03:44) The importance of agile pricing
(05:12) When to update your customer segmentation strategy
(08:22) How to refresh your operating cadence for better results
(11:39) Enhancing sales processes with AI
(19:48) The role of managers in an AI-driven world
(24:45) How to adapt to changing B2B customer journeys
Links and Resources:
Subscribe to The Emblazers for more conversations with leading B2B thinkers.
Explore the Emblaze revenue community and start a membership today.
Learn about Sinem Hostetter
Sinem Hostetter is a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she advises CEOs and commercial leaders on driving sustainable revenue growth amid economic uncertainty and technological disruption. As a leader in McKinsey’s commercial transformation work, she helps organizations rethink pricing, go-to-market strategy, sales effectiveness, and AI-enabled workflows. With a background spanning consulting, investment banking, and fintech, Sinem brings a data-driven, systems-level perspective to modern selling, helping companies move beyond experimentation to scale AI, redesign operating models, and build resilient revenue engines grounded in measurable value.
Learn about Tim Riesterer
As Chief Strategy Officer at Corporate Visions and Chief Research Officer at Emblaze revenue leaders’ community, Tim Riesterer is a pioneering force in developing customer conversations that break through the status quo and drive measurable business results. His innovative approach helps companies craft differentiated messages and deploy them through powerful self-service and sales-directed tools that consistently outperform traditional content strategies. A recognized expert in value creation and capture, Tim enables organizations to transform their customer conversations through proven methodologies that elevate their market position and drive sustainable growth.
Learn about Abby Kerr
As Director of Content & Community at Emblaze, Abby Kerr designs content experiences that spark conversations and strengthen the connective tissue between B2B revenue leaders. With a background spanning brand voice strategy, enterprise B2B content, and education, she brings a sharp eye for nuance and a deep understanding of how people learn and grow. A champion of insight-driven storytelling and peer-to-peer learning, Abby helps make Emblaze a place where leaders don’t just consume content—they contribute to it. She’s also a warm, un-shy introvert who reads fiction, asks big questions, and drinks her coffee black.