AI in CPG Leadership: Transforming Executive Roles

The AI Shift in CPG

The AI transformation is hitting every major function within CPG organizations, creating ripple effects that extend far beyond individual departments. Let's look at how key functions in CPG are evolving.

Sales: From Gut Instinct to Real-Time Intelligence

Traditional sales operations relied heavily on historical data and relationship management. Today, AI is revolutionizing how sales teams understand and respond to market dynamics.

PepsiCo's innovative pepviz™ system exemplifies this shift, explains Isvaldo “Issy” Perez, Boyden Global Practice Leader, Consumer & Retail Practice.

To ensure that goods were correctly placed on a store shelf, personnel often used a planogram—a photo or illustration showing how items should be arranged—that was updated once or twice a year.

With pepviz™, a sales rep can simply take a photo of the shelf and AI instantly analyzes the image, identifies discrepancies, and provides corrective recommendations, transforming a time-intensive process into an instantaneous one. But that's only one part of pepviz™. It also gathers and analyzes vast amounts of data from sales, loyalty cards, demographic data, and other sources. PepsiCo executives use the system to make real-time decisions about product placement, marketing, production, and growth opportunities.

Executive Implications: Sales leaders must now understand technology platforms, e-commerce ecosystems, and data analytics at a level previously reserved for IT professionals. The successful sales executive can no longer operate in isolation from other functions. They need, for example, IT support for platform integration and operations input for supply chain optimization.

Marketing: Hyper-Personalization Through Consumer Intelligence

Marketing has seen a dramatic AI-driven evolution. Consumer insights that once came from a limited number of focus groups now flow from millions of real-time data points, Perez says.

He points to Coca-Cola's Freestyle machines as an example. These soda dispensers are connected to the cloud and collect real-time data on what, when and where people are buying soda.

This is a far cry from traditional market research methods. The information is used across the organization, including operations, distribution, and product development.

Executive Implications: Marketing leaders must synthesize vast amounts of non-traditional data sources, from social media engagement to digital behavior patterns. The speed of market data collection requires marketing executives to work more closely with operations and supply chain teams to capitalize on insights before they become obsolete.

Operations: Precision at Scale

AI has transformed operations from reactive problem-solving to predictive optimization. Supply chain management, inventory control, and logistics now operate with machine-learning precision.

Doug Ehrenkranz, Boyden Managing Partner and Global Sector Leader, Consumer Products, notes what happens when you scan a product at checkout. With AI automation, the automated (just-in-time) replenishment process that has existed for years has become even more robust. Now, not only is replacement inventory triggered for shipment, but data is fed into the entire manufacturer’s eco-system, from supply chain, to sales, to marketing.

"A process that once took days now happens in milliseconds," he says.

Executive Implications: Operations leaders need commercial acumen to understand how supply chain decisions impact customer experience and brand positioning. They must collaborate with marketing teams to anticipate demand fluctuations and with IT to ensure system integration across platforms.

Inventory: Predictive Intelligence Meets Consumer Demand

As we noted in the previous section, inventory management has evolved from periodic stock counts to continuous, AI-driven demand forecasting. Real-time consumer behavior data feeds into inventory algorithms that optimize stock levels across multiple channels and geographic locations.

Executive Implications: Inventory decisions must now be made with greater precision and speed. However, these decisions require input from marketing (promotional plans), sales (retailer relationships), and operations (supply capacity), making this a truly cross-functional responsibility.

General Management: Orchestrating Cross-Functional AI Integration

The traditional general manager's role has expanded dramatically. With AI creating transparency across all business functions, general managers must understand the interconnections between sales performance, supply chain efficiency, marketing effectiveness, and operational capacity in real-time.

Executive Implications: General managers now require deep functional knowledge across multiple areas, not just broad oversight capabilities. They must make decisions based on integrated data streams that span traditional departmental boundaries.

Finance: Strategic Partnership Through Predictive Analytics

Finance teams now leverage AI for predictive modeling, budget optimization, and real-time financial performance tracking. The traditional monthly financial review is being replaced by continuous financial intelligence that informs daily operational decisions.

Executive Implications: Finance leaders must understand operational drivers and marketing investments with unprecedented granularity. The digital transformation in GCP requires closer collaboration with all business functions to provide meaningful financial guidance.

The Demand for New Executive Capabilities

The convergence of AI capabilities with traditional business functions is creating a new leadership profile for CPG executives.

Cross-Functional Leadership Across Tech, Ops, and Commercial Units

Perez recalls the days when: "Sales teams would wait for the weekly canned sales report to understand what was going on in the market. Now they've got to be really up to speed on new platforms and technologies to stay competitive. And that includes selling inside their organization, because they need to start advocating with the IT team."

This reality extends across all functions. IT professionals need to understand business cases for budget advocacy. Operations leaders must grasp commercial implications of supply chain decisions. Marketing executives require operational knowledge to execute campaigns effectively.

The successful CPG executive now operates more like a conductor of an orchestra than a departmental specialist, understanding how each function contributes to the overall performance while maintaining expertise in their primary area.

Data Fluency and AI Literacy as Baseline Skills

Data fluency has evolved from a nice-to-have skill to a fundamental leadership requirement. Executives must understand not just what their data tells them, but how AI tools synthesize information across multiple sources to generate insights.

They don't need to be data scientists. They must, however, understand the capabilities and limitations of AI tools, ask the right questions of data, and know how to interpret algorithmic insights into strategic decisions.

Agility in Decision-Making and Innovation

The speed advantage that AI provides demands equally agile decision-making processes. "It continues to be about speed," Perez notes. "How can you make faster, more informed decisions with real-time data? Before, it could take a week or two to digest information. Now, with new tools, it's almost instantaneous."

This acceleration requires executives to abandon traditional approval hierarchies in favor of more nimble decision-making frameworks that can capitalize on real-time insights.

Change Management

The speed of AI transformation and its capacity for upending business practices have increased the importance of change management. AI implementation isn't just about technology—it's about transforming how people work, think, and collaborate.

Successful executives must lead their teams through this type of transformation while clearly defining how AI tools will be used and by whom. This includes upskilling existing talent, redefining role responsibilities, and creating new frameworks for human-AI collaboration.

What Makes a Future-Ready CPG Leader?

As Boyden's Consumer & Retail practice works with leading CPG companies, certain characteristics consistently distinguish AI-ready leaders from their counterparts.

The Cross-Functional Imperative

"As AI becomes more integral to business strategy, there is an increasing need for leaders who can operate across functional boundaries," Perez explains. "Executives are now expected to deploy AI solutions that enhance performance across technology, operations, and commercial teams not just within their own domains. In response, organizations are expanding the scope of leadership roles, assigning broader responsibilities that span multiple disciplines."

Perez and Ehrenkranz say this shift is evident in recent searches Boyden has conducted. A position leading an e-commerce division required deep AI and technology fluency alongside commercial acumen. To become president of a dairy company, candidates needed operational expertise combined with commercial leadership and digital marketing understanding. The days of pure functional expertise are giving way to integrated leadership capabilities.

The Speed-Scale Balance

Future-ready leaders who can drive value understand that AI's primary value proposition is speed. They also recognize that speed without strategic direction creates chaos rather than competitive advantage. They can rapidly process information and make decisions while maintaining a long-term strategic perspective.

Ehrenkranz illustrates this point using the weight loss drug phenomenon. Executives in different industries needed to quickly understand macro health trends (such as a surge in Ozempic usage) and the possible repercussions. How would, for example, candy and snack manufacturers and retailers react to a possible decline in demand? How would the makers of protein shakes and protein supplements capitalize on a possible increase in demand? Finding the right answers before one's competitors requires both analytical speed and strategic depth.

Digital Native Mindset with Business Wisdom

The most effective AI-ready leaders combine digital fluency with traditional business wisdom. They understand that AI is an enabler, not a replacement, for fundamental business principles. As Ehrenkranz observes: "It's not like there are all these new activities that AI's creating. What it's doing is updating activities that have always been done so they can be carried out faster, with more informed decisions, and with more transparency."

How Boyden Helps

We understand that traditional executive search no longer works. Boyden's approach to identifying and placing AI-fluent CPG leadership is based on a comprehensive reimagining of leadership requirements.

Here's a look at some of the areas we address and specific ways we bring value to our clients around the world.

1. Educate and Advise Clients on Emerging Leadership Needs: Our global perspective allows us to identify trends and help clients prepare for leadership needs before they become critical gaps.
   • Thought leadership: Our Consumer & Retail practice continuously researches how AI is reshaping leadership roles. We publish insightful guides and white papers and host webinars on AI's impact across tech, operations, and commercial functions.
   • Client briefings: We offer tailored briefings to clients on the implications of AI for cross-functional leadership and organizational design.
2. Redefine Role Specifications: Traditional job descriptions no longer capture the complexity of modern CPG leadership roles. We work with clients to tightly define and describe today's roles and requirements.
   • Integrated Role Design: Help clients craft job descriptions that reflect the need for AI fluency and cross-functional oversight.
   • Competency Mapping: Identify and prioritize competencies such as data literacy, change management, and cross-domain collaboration.
3. Expand Candidate Evaluation Criteria: Our assessment process evaluates how candidates have previously integrated technology solutions with business strategy.
   • AI Acumen: Assess candidates not just for domain expertise, but for their ability to lead AI-driven transformation across departments.
   • Cross-Functional Experience: Prioritize candidates with proven success in bridging silos and driving enterprise-wide initiatives.
4. Leverage Local Insights for Global Impact: Our global network provides unparalleled access to emerging talent across all major CPG markets.
   • Localized Talent Intelligence: Use on-the-ground market knowledge to identify regional leaders who can scale globally.
   • Cultural Fit and Change Readiness: Evaluate how local leaders can adapt to global AI strategies while aligning with company culture.
5. Partner on Long-Term Talent Strategy: Beyond individual placements, we partner with clients on succession planning and leadership development so our clients have the talent they need not just today, but for the next phase of industry evolution.
   • Succession Planning: Help clients build pipelines of future-ready leaders with cross-functional and AI capabilities.
   • Advisory Services: Offer ongoing support to align leadership development with evolving AI and business strategies.

Looking to the Future

AI isn't just changing what leaders in the CPG industry do; it's changing who they need to be. Successful executives will know how to integrate technology fluency with commercial acumen, operational expertise with strategic vision, and data insights with human judgment.

The speed of this transformation means that companies cannot afford to wait. Organizations that continue to hire based on traditional functional expertise alone will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

The challenge isn't just finding leaders who understand AI. It's finding leaders who can harness AI's potential while building and inspiring the cross-functional teams that will drive tomorrow's success.

Boyden has contributed to the success of some of the world’s leading CPG companies. We will continue to do so by identifying leaders who view AI as an amplifier of human capabilities. They understand how to combine AI tools with the fundamental principles of great leadership—vision, communication, strategic thinking, and team building.

For organizations ready to build their next generation of AI-fluent leadership, Boyden's Consumer & Retail Practice offers the global expertise and local insights necessary to identify, evaluate, and place the executives who will drive success in the AI era.