Rethinking your business model in the age of AI

Leading thinkers Ismail Amla, Aidan McCullan, Alex Osterwalder, Rita McGrath and Usman Sheikh discuss how AI is driving new business models.

In this first of a kind collaboration, The Innovation Show x The Kyndryl Institute podcast brings together five leading thinkers and innovators who are on the front line working with the world’s largest companies as they navigate how AI is evolving current business models. Thinkers50 award winner Aidan McCullan hosts the podcast and is joined by Ismail Amla, Senior Vice President of Kyndryl Consult, Alex Osterwalder, co-founder and CEO of Strategyzer, Rita McGrath, author, professor, and innovation and growth expert, and Usman Sheikh, Managing Director of High Output Ventures. The conversation explores how AI is creating new business models by fundamentally reshaping organisations – from technology, to leadership, and how value is created.

Ismail Amla frames AI as a shift from “bolting on technology” to rewiring the enterprise. He argues that organizations must rethink decision‑making, governance, and accountability as humans increasingly become “meaning makers” as human/AI collaboration progresses. The real challenge lies in aligning workflows, auditability, and ethics with strategic intent, particularly in regulated environments– as well as reimagining what an AI-native enterprise looks like.

Alex Osterwalder emphasises that AI challenges core business models, not just products or processes. He highlights the return of the entrepreneurial CEO—leaders who work directly with customers to understand how AI reshapes value propositions. Alex stresses that fundamentals such as customers, value creation, and value capture remain constant, but their content is changing fast, which he argues presents the imperative for organisations to run portfolios of experiments rather than betting on a single strategy.

Rita McGrath situates AI within a broader historical transition away from mass‑production hierarchies toward permissionless, mission‑driven organisations. She underscores the decline of the billable hour, the rise of outcome‑based value, and the redistribution of power to the organisational edges. Her key insight is that AI is forcing companies to unlearn legacy practices and accept temporary advantage as the new norm.

Usman Sheikh focuses on the structural bottlenecks AI expose. He warns that accelerating production without changing permission, pricing, and review mechanisms creates friction rather than value. Usman argues that firms must decouple growth from headcount by encoding learning into systems, shifting incentives, and redesigning how outcomes—not activity—are measured and rewarded.

Collectively, the panel agrees: AI rewards organisations willing to rethink power, pricing, leadership, and those willing to face what needs to be unlearned. Watch the full podcast to understand how.