Advisory
I work as an independent advisor to CEOs, strategy teams and boards. Engagements range from a single briefing to a standing advisory relationship, and they all start from the same premise: today, understanding the complex interactions of technology and global economics is crucial to your success.
How we can work together: briefings for leadership teams and boards; an ongoing advisory relationship, with regular conversations and written outlooks; focused strategy projects; papers and op-eds; keynotes and leadership offsites.
"Marco made a huge impact on our strategies around the world because he not only understood what was going on from a macro standpoint, but he also understood the company."
JEFF IMMELT, FORMER CHAIRMAN AND CEO, GE
Global Economy & Geopolitics
For companies that need to navigate a volatile environment without a chief economist on staff. I give you an independent, unvarnished read on the global economy, financial markets and geopolitics, and help you translate it into actionable decisions: where to invest, how to price risk, which scenarios to plan for. I help you cut through the noise and focus on what matters when uncertainty is high.
Questions I answer: Where are growth, inflation and interest rates heading, and how confident should we be? What does the next escalation in trade tensions or geopolitical volatility do to our markets and supply chains? Where is the next crisis brewing? Which risks are real and which are headline noise?
Who it's for: CEOs, CFOs, strategy and investment teams, boards.
Selected engagements:
- A Fortune 500 financial company: regular CEO briefings on global macroeconomic, financial and technology trends, and what they mean for the industry.
- A leading manufacturing company: quarterly reports on the global economy, geared to identifying business opportunities and risks.
Related work: latest Just Think essays on the economy; International Banker and The International Economy columns.
Technology & Business Transformation
I spent years at the center of the digital-industrial revolution as GE's Chief Economist, Head of Business Innovation Strategy and later as Entrepreneur in Residence at GE Ventures. I was also a Research Fellow at Autodesk, a leader in design and manufacturing software. I help companies work out which technologies (AI, robotics, digital-industrial) will change their market, their competitors and their customers; which are mostly hype; and how to adopt the ones that matter without wasting money or time.
Questions I answer: How will AI change the economics of our industry over the next five years? Where are the real productivity gains, and how do we capture them? What does adoption actually require: people, data, capital, organization?
Who it's for: CEOs, strategy and innovation teams, boards, investors in technology-exposed sectors.
Selected engagements:
- A leading global financial and insurance company: how to turn artificial intelligence into an accelerator of revenue growth.
- A leading government scientific agency: mapping how new technologies are reshaping the innovation landscape, and the repercussions for industry and society.
Related work: TED talk; Harvard Business Review on augmented reality; National Academy of Engineering; The International Economy on the tech-driven productivity revolution; the G20 Future of Work paper; host of the Ecosystemic Futures podcast.
Thought Leadership & Strategic Narrative
Companies with something important to say often struggle to say it effectively and with authority. I help you sharpen your point of view on your competitive advantage against the forces reshaping your industry, and turn it into white papers, vision papers and op-eds that persuade clients, investors and policymakers. I can write them, or work with your team to make them sharper.
Questions I answer: What is our distinctive view of where our industry is heading? How do we make our case to customers and policymakers most persuasively? How do we turn internal expertise into external credibility?
Who it's for: CEOs, chief strategy and communications officers, corporate institutes and think tanks.
Selected engagements:
- Pearson: the white paper Opportunity for Higher Education in the Era of the Talent Economy (2019).
- A global technology services company: helping create and shape an ongoing thought leadership initiative that bolsters its credibility in the industry.
Related work: Pearson white paper; selected op-eds; Just Think.