I by IMD

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 speaks 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.