Alberto Torres
Tech executive and author of "The Z-Curve"; Stanford CS PhD, ex-Nokia and HP senior executive, founding McKinsey Silicon Valley partner, now Senior Adviser at McKinsey, Adobe advisory board member, and adjunct professor at IE Business School in Madrid.
3
APPEARANCES
3
PODCASTS
Sep 15, 2026
TobyHOST
Let's start with maybe distinguishing the Z and S curves, and then move on to why this is important right now.
Alberto TorresGUEST
Um, as most of us know, the, uh, new technologies grow in a pattern called the S curve, where things go relatively slowly at the beginning, and then they really accelerate, uh, and then eventually, uh, taper down.
Alberto TorresGUEST
If you are at the top of a, of a, of the curve, and if you are an incumbent with a, uh, dominant technology today, what happens when people disrupt you? That, uh, well, the same, the same pattern occurs.
TobyHOST
For people in other industries, do you see so many parallels? Um, a- as you say, not just the failures, but do you see parallels in consumer tech or, um, pharmaceuticals or do you see how this applies elsewhere?
MoragHOST
Is this something anyone can attain, or do you really need some kind of special sauce?
Alberto TorresGUEST
I think the, the, um, uh, the truly Z- Zed proof company that, that cannot be disrupted does not exist.
Alberto TorresGUEST
I mean, every company can be disrupted, and even companies that have survived, uh, disruption once or multiple times, like, like Nokia did, for example, uh, can be disrupted again.
Alberto TorresGUEST
But, but what I talk about, uh, Z proof or Zed proof is really, um, a set of disciplines that make you, um, stronger in the face of disruption, 'cause there are some things that, um, that you, that you can do, uh, to, um, to deal with disruption.
5 MINS LATER
MoragHOST
Where, where do we sit on the z- [laughs] on the Z curve at the moment when it comes to AI disruption?
Alberto TorresGUEST
First of all, I think the topic of this difference between multiple organizations that people live versus what gets reported or what gets...
Alberto TorresGUEST
Risto's book, I mean, it's very interesting in many ways, but I think it put a lot... too much emphasis on the lack of communication between leadership and the rest of the organization.
Alberto TorresGUEST
But honestly, if I look at Nokia compared to many other organizations, I don't think that was the main reason.
36 MINS LATER