Many years ago, I completed a transaction with Reckitt and had the opportunity to work closely with their team. I came away extraordinarily impressed. Their implementation expertise was among the best I had ever encountered in my career. They understood that completing a transaction was only the beginning. The real value came from executing effectively.
That experience came to mind when I recently read a fascinating McKinsey article, “How AI-enabled execution became Reckitt’s ‘tenfold game changer.’”
It appears that Reckitt has taken an already exceptional capability and elevated it to an entirely new level through artificial intelligence.
From Strategy to Execution
One of the recurring challenges in business is the gap between developing a sound strategy and implementing it successfully. This is particularly true in the consumer products industry, where execution requires coordinating countless activities across retailers, distributors, sales teams, and external partners.
Reckitt, working with McKinsey, has developed an AI-enabled platform called Smart Execution that turns enormous amounts of retail data into actionable recommendations.
Rather than asking sales representatives to work through lengthy checklists, the system identifies which stores need attention, which products present the greatest opportunities, and which specific actions are most likely to improve performance.
The results reported in the McKinsey article are impressive:
Display compliance in the United States improved from approximately 50–55% to 70% or higher.
Sales increased approximately 2% in major markets such as the United States and 5–6% in traditional-trade markets such as Brazil.
Productivity improved, with field teams in some stores reducing their checklists from 40 tasks to 15 higher-impact priorities.
Out-of-stock issue identification declined from 2.5% to 1.5% in one reported U.S. measure.
These are meaningful improvements in both productivity and commercial performance.
Technology Amplifies Talent
What struck me most about Reckitt's approach was not simply the technology. It was how the company integrated AI into an already strong execution culture.
AI can analyze millions of data points, identify patterns, and recommend priorities at a speed that would be impossible through traditional methods. But it still takes experienced people to interpret those recommendations, manage relationships, and implement solutions.
The technology makes those people more effective.
This is an important distinction. Too often, discussions about AI focus on replacing human activities. Reckitt's experience demonstrates the potential for AI to enhance the capabilities of talented teams rather than replace them.
The Broader Lesson for Business Leaders
Throughout my career in business development, licensing, and strategic transactions, I have seen that even the most promising agreements can fall short if they are not implemented effectively.
Negotiating a successful transaction is an accomplishment, but realizing its full potential requires disciplined execution, collaboration, and the ability to respond to changing circumstances.
Reckitt's experience offers an important lesson:
The greatest value from AI may not come not from reinventing what a company does, but from dramatically improving how well it does it.
Companies that combine deep industry expertise, disciplined execution, and intelligent technology will be particularly well positioned to succeed.
I was impressed by Reckitt's execution capabilities years ago. It is exciting to see how they are building on that foundation today.
And I suspect we are only beginning to understand what this combination of human expertise and artificial intelligence can accomplish.