Leader Generation · 2026-06-17 · 41 min
Coming up with AI ideas isn’t the struggle for most teams. The real challenge is to make those ideas stick. In this episode, Shashank Kadetotad, Global Senior Director of Enterprise Data Science and AI at Mars, breaks down what helps companies move from interesting pilots to real business impact. He explains why adoption matters just as much as the technology itself, how culture and leadership shape success and why the best AI solution is not always the most complex one. You’ll get practical advice on involving the right users early, setting clear success and failure criteria for pilots and deciding when to build versus buy. Shashank shares lessons from leading AI work inside major organizations and offers a grounded view of what it takes to scale responsibly. If your team is trying to get more value from AI, this conversation will give you a clearer and more useful way to think about the work. Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and
EP175: The Fine Print: AI, Marketing And Brand Risk60 / 100EP174: Customer-Obsessed Growth: Turning Trends Into Better Buyer ExperiencesEP172: Scaling Digital Solutions With Consistent, Repeatable ResultsEP 171: Build, Buy Or Partner? How Smart Brands Create New Business ModelsEP170: Why Marketers Need To Become Growth Architects