In August 2022, CEO Yasuo Takeuchi reflected on Olympus Corporation's recent transformation from being known as a Japanese consumer camera company to becoming a leading global medical technology (MedTech) company. Over the past dozen years, Takeuchi and prior leadership had recovered from a major scandal and reinvented Olympus's purpose, governance, portfolio, organization structure and operating model. When asked if he could have done any better, he laughed with a humble smile. "There's no 'perfect' in the world-but we are doing almost perfectly. I am not a very optimistic type of person. But we are certainly advancing [the transformation] in the right direction. I have to say, it is working very well.'" Despite being on course, the journey was ongoing. Strategically, the evolving medical technology landscape demanded new capabilities-notably building an integrated digital solutions ecosystem. Organizationally, Takeuchi was at the helm of a matrix organization in which product divisions did not necessarily have full authority for all their activities; corporate functions were learning how to establish their global roles; and regional companies still drove local sales. And personnel issues remained a concern. Senior executive positions were staffed with "two in a box"-one Japanese and one non-Japanese manager-while Japanese employees were adapting to a job-based rather than a seniority system and the widespread use of the English language in meetings. How should Olympus navigate these challenges to deliver on its aspiration to be a leading global MedTech player?

U.S. beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola shared many similarities by August 2018-both were founded by pharmacists in the 1890s, grew to offer hundreds of drink brands, and championed rival flagship products that drove loyalists into taste-testing wars. That month, each company announced its largest acquisition in history, of SodaStream and Costa Coffee respectively. But why would such similar firms pursue such different diversifications? Which was the better direction of scope expansion?

In July 2022, Horst Kayser, Chairman of Siemens AG Portfolio Companies (POC), was reflecting on the advice he could offer Roland Busch, Chief Executive Officer of the parent company Siemens AG, about whether and how to operate a private equity-like approach inside the large German industrial company. The POC had been established in 2019 to maximize the value of operating units that had struggled to perform as part of the core industrial divisions at Siemens AG. Given freedom to replicate some of the processes and policies of private equity and avoid some corporate constraints, by 2022, €3.6 billion in value had been created by improving the performance of these operating units and preparing them for sale or retention inside the parent. Kayser wondered whether he should recommend moving additional businesses into the POC to repeat the process, and, if not, what lessons could be applied to the core operating businesses in order to replicate some of the benefits of the POC approach. More generally, was it possible to operate like a private equity organization inside a large, well-established industrial company?

One of the most iconic American companies, General Electric (GE) was founded in 1892 in New York state. Named among the original dozen companies on the Dow Jones index in 1896, it was the list's most tenacious holdout, maintaining its "blue chip" stock status for over one hundred years. Throughout its history, GE survived, indeed initiated, revolutions across industries, technologies, and managerial practices. By the time award-winning "Manager of the Century" Jack Welch retired from his position as CEO in 2001, GE's market capitalization was over $410 billion. That peak was never surpassed, and the subsequent decline tested company leadership. Welch's hand-picked successor CEO Jeffrey Immelt oversaw GE's near-bankruptcy in 2008 and warranted SEC penalties for misleading investors between 2015 and 2017. Media critiqued his replacement, John Flannery, for lacking urgency as he slashed the company's once-coveted dividend in half. In October 2018, H. Lawrence Culp became the first outsider CEO in the company's history after another Board intervention. With a changing landscape that had rendered Welch's handbook outdated and recent leadership that had been heavily criticized, Larry Culp faced looming strategic challenges. Would Culp's financial, managerial, and structural transformation empower long-term value creation?