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What does it take to inherit a family legacy without becoming trapped by it? In this episode of I by IMD, Marleen Dieleman speaks with Chef Pam, the visionary behind Potong, a 120-year-old family pharmacy in Bangkok’s Chinatown which she transformed into a world-renowned restaurant and cultural landmark, earning her the title of the World’s Best Female Chef.  Her story is not just about creating the best Thai food, or serving cocktails in her family’s former dispensary, or receiving the desired Michelin Star. It is about migration, risk, reinvention, and what it means to build something deeply personal inside a multigenerational legacy. She is strikingly clear about the choices that shaped the journey, recalling that during the pandemic-era rebuild, “I sold all my gold” to invest in the project, working all the way to today, where “it’s not about money anymore,” to continue the family business. Chef Pam’s business partner is her husband, and together with their daughter, who has to cope with her parents working long hours in the kitchen, they are already planning their next steps and expanding their footprint in the neighborhood. Her advice to next-generation leaders is blunt: “I don't think there's a shortcut.”  This episode conversation offers unique insights and a powerful lesson: legacy does not have to be a constraint. It can be the building material of innovation. Our guest: Pichaya “Pam” Soontornyanakij (Chef Pam) is a Thai chef and entrepreneur who reimagined her family’s 120-year-old Chinese medicine building into Potong, a Michelin-starred restaurant known for progressive Thai-Chinese cuisine. She was awarded “World’s Best Female Chef” in 2025, the first Thai and first Asian woman to receive that title.

Ann Perrins on rebuilding Atlassian Williams F1 through talent, culture, psychological safety – and the long road back to winning. What does it really take to rebuild a Formula One team from the inside out?  In this episode of I by IMD podcast, Susan Goldsworthy hosts Ann Perrins, Chief HR Officer at Atlassian Williams Racing, to discuss the human side of elite performance: how to attract world-class talent, build a culture people want to stay in, and transform an iconic team without losing its identity.  Perrins makes it clear that this doesn’t mean a soft agenda: the team “can't return to winning unless we get that right.” She also reframes a term many leaders misuse: “psychological safety is not about everything feeling nice and comfortable.” And she is blunt about the reality behind the glamour: “we’re very explicit and we don’t sugarcoat it.”  Our guest: Ann Perrins is the Chief Human Resource Officer at Atlassian Williams Racing. Before joining Williams in 2023, she built her career across banking, consulting, and global engineering and operations environments, including 17 years at BP and senior roles at GKN Automotive. At Williams, she is helping lead the people, culture, and talent transformation needed to support the team’s return to winning.

What does it take to restore confidence in a 160-year-old bank that investors had stopped believing in?  In this episode, IMD’s Jean-François Manzoni speaks with Societe Generale CEO Slawomir Krupa about rebuilding a major institution from the inside out: stronger capital, more cost discipline, harder strategic choices – and a leadership culture of clarity and accountability. Krupa does not frame transformation as storytelling. He frames it as work. He says the bank inherited “weak foundations,” warns that dismissing challengers such as fintechs is “a recipe for disaster down the road,” and explains why some painful decisions were made because “it was the right thing to do.”  Our Guest: Slawomir KrupaChief Executive Officer, Societe Generale Slawomir Krupa became CEO of Societe Generale in May 2023 after spending nearly his entire career at the bank. Before becoming CEO, he held senior leadership roles across Corporate and Investment Banking, served as CEO of Societe Generale Americas, and led Global Banking and Investor Solutions. Under his leadership, the bank has focused on restoring capital strength, simplifying the portfolio, and repositioning for sustainable growth. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slawomir-krupa/

Scaling a company is not about chasing headlines. It’s about proving customers care. In this episode of I by IMD, Katarina Bonde shares hard-earned lessons from decades in venture-backed tech, board leadership, and global scale-ups. She challenges founders to validate demand before celebrating growth: “If no one is… spending money to buy it, you actually don't have a product.”  Katarina, who served as board chair and CEO in various venture-backed tech firms across the US and Europe, also reframes the AI discussion. The opportunity isn’t in the current bubble, but in the smart use of data – “the real gold here.”  For rapid-growth startups, so-called scale-ups, who are tempted to prioritize land grabs over margins, Katarina offers a grounded reminder: “You have to show that you have a business model that can pay for itself.”  Our Guest: Katarina Bonde served as Chair of companies including Mentimeter, Stillfront Group, and others in Sweden’s digital ecosystem. She also served as an executive in various venture-backed tech firms in Europe and the US and is an active angel investor. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katarinabonde/ 

What does it take to build a company that lasts generations — not just quarters? In this episode, Endress+Hauser’s Supervisory Board President Matthias Altendorf discusses with IMD professor Goutam Challagala how to integrate sustainability into strategy, innovation, and board governance of a global market leader. Altendorf challenges common thinking: “If you start to separate one from the other, you will never get the synergies.” He embraces disciplined vigilance: “Only the paranoid survives.” And he reframes diversity as protection: “The more diverse your DNA is, the better you can deal with the future.” A conversation for everyone interested in building organizations that can navigate uncertainty without losing their identity. Our Guest: Matthias Altendorf led Endress+Hauser as its first non-family CEO and now serves as Supervisory Board President. Under his leadership, the company strengthened its global market position, expanded into high-growth sectors, and deepened its sustainability integration while maintaining family ownership principles.

Construction is one of the biggest carbon emitters – and cement sits at the center of it. In this episode of Inside the Transition, IMD's Julia Binder and Knut Haanaes speak with Holcim’s Head of Operational Excellence Ram Muthu about what decarbonization looks like when you’re responsible for heavy equipment, waste streams, and execution across real plants. Muthu doesn’t romanticize the challenge. He argues the sector can move fast – but only if policy and infrastructure keep up, and if leaders stop treating transformation like a checklist. As he puts it: “Cement and building materials are probably one of the hardest to abate sectors,” “our industry still depends a lot on carbon capture and storage,” and “focus on execution is critical.” Inside the Transition delivers practical, executive-grade conversations on the energy transition. More info: https://www.imd.org/ibyimd/podcasts/inside-the-transition/  Our Guest: Ram Muthu is the Head of Operational Excellence at Holcim and a member of Holcim’s Executive Committee, focused on operational performance and the delivery of transformation at scale across a global building materials leader. LinkedIn: https://ch.linkedin.com/in/ram-muthu-112b46b

In this episode of Inside the Transition, IMD’s Julia Binder and Knut Haanaes welcome Marie-Laure Schaufelberger, Chief Sustainability Officer of Pictet Group, to explore the role of finance in driving the energy transition. Schaufelberger oversees Pictet’s responsible investment strategy, ESG governance, and stewardship, and brings a capital-markets perspective shaped by her work across thematic investing and system-level initiatives such as Building Bridges. The conversation examines where transition capital is flowing, how investors assess corporate credibility, and how expectations are evolving. For executives, the episode offers practical insight into what it now takes to attract and sustain transition finance.

In a moment of upheaval for international development, Katherine Milligan of the Graduate Institute and Carlos Álvarez Pereira, Secretary General of the Club of Rome, argue that hope – not fear – must guide what comes next.  In 2025, the international development sector reached a tipping point. Deep cuts to U.S. aid and a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape made clear that the international development system as we knew it was gone.  What comes next depends on how we choose to respond.  According to Katherine Milligan, Senior Lecturer at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and elea Fellow at IMD, and Carlos Alvarez Pereira, Secretary General of the Club of Rome, the path forward begins not with fear or denial, but with psychological safety.  They argue that creating space for honest reflection is essential to bridging the growing dissonance between official narratives and how humanitarian and development professionals are actually feeling.  In this conversation, they explore the leadership skills, competencies, and sensemaking practices needed to unlock collective intelligence, so the sector can navigate transformation and maximize the chances for renewal and success. 

Could an ecosystem-led approach to disparate industrial information technology systems build more resilient and efficient global supply chains? Caspar Herzberg, CEO of industrial software company AVEVA, argues that breaking down data silos across companies and sectors could benefit all stakeholders through what he calls “radical collaboration.” Herzberg details the increasing complexity of the industrial world, where thousands of systems across supply chains have locked-in value because they don’t communicate. He argues that to decomplexify and unlock this value, industries need radical collaboration—overcoming the fear of sharing data to realize a significantly bigger collective prize. Ultimately, Herzberg says that he is a pragmatist regarding AI’s societal impact, noting that the augmentation of the worker will be hugely productivity-enhancing. But he cautions that we must collectively establish boundaries on its use, as AI serves humankind.

In this episode, IMD Professor Zhike Lei speaks with Marcus Schindler, the former head of Novo Nordisk’s R&D operation, about driving innovation through transformation.  Schindler reveals his journey is defined by “exploration” and details how he balances the need for immediate delivery with long-term discovery, stressing that success requires doing both. Novo Nordisk’s strong, patient-focused purpose attracts global talent, and Schindler explains the strategy behind establishing R&D hubs in places like Boston to leverage external innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. R&D teams, he says, need to prepare for the age of AI by becoming “bi-lingual” in both science and digital skills, and concludes that trust and a compelling value story are the currency for leading a transformative organization.

In this episode, IMD Professor Zhike Lei speaks with Marcus Schindler, the former head of Novo Nordisk's R&D operation, about driving innovation through transformation. Marcus reveals his journey is defined by "exploration" and details how he balances the need for immediate delivery with long-term discovery, stressing that success requires doing both. Novo Nordisk’s strong, patient-focused purpose attracts global talent, and Marcus explains the strategy behind establishing R&D hubs in places like Boston to leverage external innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. R&D teams, he says, need to prepare for the age of AI by becoming "bi-lingual" in both science and digital skills, and concludes that trust and a compelling value story are the currency for leading a transformative organization.

In the second episode of IMD’s sustainability series, Julia Binder and Knut Haanaes welcome Kunal Chandra, the Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer at RWE. Chandra, an IMD alumnus, oversees one of Europe's largest clean energy investment programs and offers a unique perspective from his career across Shell, Siemens, and now RWE, on the accelerating energy transition. Chandra’s career began with a desire to travel, and evolved into a deep understanding of energy's fundamental role in human civilization. The discussion centers on the speed of the transition, the bottlenecks it creates, and the strategic choices executives must make in an increasingly electrified and contested energy world.

AI has leapt from obscurity to ubiquity, reshaping work and society. But its flaws run deep, forcing leaders to balance its promise with its dangerous limitations.    From the frosty skepticism of AI’s early winters to the blazing hype of today’s workplace revolution, artificial intelligence has undergone a dramatic transformation. In this episode, IMD’s Didier Bonnet and Oxford University’s Michael Wooldridge take us behind the scenes of AI’s evolution, revealing how neural networks rose from the dead, why conversational AI dazzles but deceives, and what leaders must understand about the paradox at its core: a powerful tool that’s useful, but not always correct. As AI reshapes industries, boosts productivity, and quietly erodes certain roles, Wooldridge urges us to rethink how we work, learn, and lead. Whether you’re a CEO, educator, or everyday user, this conversation will challenge your assumptions and offer a grounded view of what AI can and can’t do. Tune in to explore the real story behind the headlines and discover how to navigate the new normal with clarity and caution.  

Christophe Fouquet, CEO of ASML, tells Jean-François Manzoni how the world’s only EUV lithography machine maker became Europe’s most indispensable company – and what comes next. Few companies can claim to sit at the center of modern technological progress. ASML is one of them. The Dutch multinational is the only company in the world capable of producing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines – the technology behind the smallest, fastest, and most powerful semiconductor chips. Without ASML, the world’s most advanced computing systems, from AI data centers to smartphones, simply would not exist. Tune in to find out more.

Oliver Zeidler is an Olympian who has successfully reinvented himself. After missing out on the Rio 2016 games as a swimmer, he switched sports to become a World Champion rower just three years later. In conversation with IMD’s Susan Goldsworthy, Zeidler discusses growing up in a family legacy of Olympic success, which "normalized peak performance," and the critical role of his grandfather as a "secure base" who inspired him to pursue both a competitive sports career and a business career, at Deloitte. Zeidler explains how combining an intellectual, office-based role with the physical demands of rowing has provided balance in his life. He talks about the key to his sustainable success and details a unique perspective on managing setbacks and embracing the "beginner's mindset". This powerful characteristic has allowed him to continuously explore and master new challenges, from switching sports at 20 to entering a demanding MBA program at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne.