MEMO FROM THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com Insight, content & PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com
PURPOSE IN PRACTICE With the ever-accelerating adoption of AI, businesses must be proactive about making it fit their strategy y recent trip to Milan to attend Polimi Graduate School of Management’s fourth annual Purpose Day, co-hosted with the Purpose Centre at HEC Paris, offered a stark reminder of just how fast next-gen technology is outpacing human governance. As school chairman Vittorio Chiesa pointed out, too many businesses are still adopting technology out of sheer inertia rather than conscious design. The event’s centrepiece – the 2026 Purpose in Action Observatory research – revealed a striking paradox. Although AI is deeply embedded in decision-making and planning, one in four companies still lacks a clear strategy and 60 per cent adopt the technology purely for cost-cutting reasons. Most alarmingly, only nine per cent of managers feel their organisation is truly ready for hybrid teams. As the observatory’s co-scientific director, Josip Kotlar noted, purpose is “no longer a matter of definition, but of implementation”. If purpose remains a static statement, AI will dictate strategy rather than the other way around. Speaking to me at the event, Polimi dean Federico Frattini emphasised that filtering technical training through a human-centric lens is essential. Frattini noted that authentic purpose requires total operational alignment – from innovation budgets to supply chains – and must become an “obsession” for top management. This sentiment was echoed across the day’s panels. Google Italy VP Melissa Ferretti Peretti stressed that AI must augment human capacity rather than replace it, while thinkers like Darren Rudkin advocated for a “bookends” model: human purpose frames the work, AI processes it and people retain ultimate judgement. Meanwhile, Rodolphe Durand, academic director of HEC Paris’s Purpose Centre, highlighted the way in which European business schools are pioneering a shift from purpose as a superficial corporate ‘signal’ to an active governance tool. When purpose guides governance, AI investments are judged against a firm’s reason for being, rather than raw efficiency alone. Ultimately, as Samsung president Mauro Porcini challenged the audience: “When our children ask us what our role was in the age of AI, what will we say?” The answer won’t be written by technology; it will be written by the deliberate, values-driven choices that we make when using it. • Visit AMBA & BGA’s online content hub at https://www.amba-bga.com/insights/ polimi-purposeday-oct26-cd to read the event review in full M
Art editor Sam Price Sub-editor Heather Ford
CORPORATE Director of business school engagement Debbie Kemp d.kemp@amba-bga.com
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Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS
HR & employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance & commercial director Catherine Walker
Chief executive officer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Amy De La Cour <a.delacour@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
DAVID BACH
KATHARINA DE VITA
JASON EVANS
IVÁN FIGUEROA
SHERIF KAMEL
MARÍA DEL PILAR LOPEZ GONZALEZ
MEL BULL
GERALDINE MEYERS
MAIJA RENKO
JOSEPH SEKHAMPU
AMANDA SHANTZ
SANKAR SIVARAJAH
LARS ERLING OLSEN
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Ambition • ISSUE 5 • 2026 7
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