#26 Stephen Wunker: Building Distributed, Adaptive Companies

Make better business decisions with data and AI—subscribe to The Decision Intelligence Lab Newsletter at ⁠https://decisionintelligencelab.subst.... In this episode, Vijay Mehrotra and Michael Watson sit down with Stephen Wunker, a strategy advisor for innovative leaders and Managing Director at New Markets Advisors, to explore transformative frameworks for navigating the AI era. Drawing from his book AI and the Octopus Organization—co-authored with Amazon futurist Jonathan Brill—Wunker shares actionable insights on how managers and executives can redesign their organizations for distributed decision-making, agile experimentation, and sustainable competitive advantage. Chapters 0:00 - Preview & Introduction 1:05 - Meet Stephen Wunker 1:50 - AI and The Octopus Organization 8:21 - Centralize vs. Decentralize Decision Science 11:00 - The AI Magic Dust Problem 12:58 - Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework 16:30 - HelloFresh Case Study 20:40 - Skills for the Future 22:40 - When is Central Coordination Necessary 24:35 - Building an Experimental Muscle 26:55 - Governance & Metrics Alignment 30:05 - Figma Destroyed Adobe 31:35 - The VC Playbook 33:35 - What’s NOT Going to Happen 34:30 - Closing & Resources Follow the show Apple: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast... Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/0lFoAVK... Connect with Stephen LinkedIn: ⁠  / stephenwunker   AIandtheOctopus.com: https://www.newmarketsadvisors.com/bo... Jobs to be Done: https://www.newmarketsadvisors.com/se... Connect with hosts Prof. Vijay Mehrotra (University of San Francisco): ⁠  / ⁠   Prof. Michael Watson (Northwestern University): ⁠  / michael-watson-07600a1⁠   About the podcast The Decision Intelligence Lab podcast delivers real-world insights for data professionals, business leaders, and anyone seeking to leverage data & AI for smarter decision-making & successful business outcomes. For business inquiries, email at ⁠[email protected]⁠