The growing reach of artificial intelligence is beginning to influence not only workplaces but also leadership choices at major global firms. Recently, the outgoing CEOs of Coca-Cola and Walmart have both acknowledged that AI's rise played a part in their decision to move on.
Speaking to CNBC, they highlighted a significant transformation underway, adding that future growth would demand fresh leadership. Their observations underline how seriously top executives are taking the next wave of technological change.
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey told CNBC's “Squawk Box” larger “waves of the organisational momentum” led to his decision to quit.
“My job is also to think who's the best team to put on the field to get the next wave done,” Quincey said. “And I concluded that, actually, it was time to put someone else on the field for the next wave of growth.”
COO Henrique Braun will take over the top job from Quincey on March 31.
“In a pre-AI, a pre-gen-AI mode, we made a lot of progress. But now there's a huge new shift coming along,” Quincey said.
Though he is in tune with technological advances, he thinks the company requires “someone with the energy to pursue a completely new transformation of the enterprise.”
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The observations from Quincey are in line with comments made in December by ex-Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon ahead of his exit.
McMillon had told CNBC that he wanted to give the role to a “faster” person.
John Furner succeeded McMillon on Feb. 1.
“With what's happening with AI, I could start this next big set of transformations with AI, but I couldn't finish,” McMillon told CNBC.
“About a year ago, I really started feeling like this next run, you could see what agentic commerce was going to look like, the vision for AI shopping, and I started thinking about everything that needs to happen over the next few years, and it really caused me to think that now was the right time [to step down],” he said.
Walmart's decision to list on the Nasdaq was a reflection of its growing technological capabilities, according to McMillon. The group has increasingly turned to AI to refine logistics operations and introduce digital assistants for shoppers, alongside other innovations.
“I think what you're going to see from the Walmart team is they're just going to keep scaling what we've already started, build some new stuff on top, and then use AI to transform it all,” he said.
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