Sales Leader Compass Newsletter: February 4, 2025

The World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos offered invaluable insights for sales leaders navigating an evolving landscape. From AI’s transformative impact on go-to-market strategies to adapting to economic shifts and prioritizing upskilling, the key themes centered on agility, innovation, and the human element behind every success.

In this newsletter, we’ll explore three key takeaways from Davos to help you stay ahead in 2025. But the top priority for sales leaders? Embrace AI as a powerful tool to refine go-to-market strategies, boost productivity, and create exceptional customer value.

Here’s to seizing the opportunities 2025 has to offer.

Best,

Dan Daly, Sr. Content Marketing Manager, LinkedIn Sales Solutions

World Economic Forum 2025: Davos Takeaways for Sales Leaders

Leverage AI to level-up your sales Go-To-Market

AI continues to redefine sales processes by streamlining operations, enhancing customer engagement, and driving revenue growth. “There are so many more tools today that make you better at your job,” one participant summarized at Davos. As LinkedIn COO? Dan Shapero put it - “walking down the promenade at Davos, everyone has AI on their signs, everyone’s trying to associate themselves with AI, but what people are really looking for are the stories”.??

One standout story came from Alex Panas, Senior Partner and Global Leader of Industry Sectors at McKinsey & Company, who discussed the firm’s recently launched Lilli, a generative AI engine that accelerates how consultants deliver insights to clients. Alex strongly advocates for the role of AI, which brings value at scale by enabling more meaningful customer interactions.

Sales leaders should consider how AI, especially agentic AI, can boost productivity, streamline processes, and deliver unparalleled value in a competitive market.

Adapt to Economic and Workforce Shifts

As global economic dynamics continue to evolve, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, sales leaders must remain agile and ready to pivot. This agility will be essential as rapid developments in technology and geopolitics shape an uncertain future. Just last week we reported that by 2030, 70% of the skills required for most jobs will change, with AI emerging as the catalyst.

This agility will be absolutely crucial in the coming months as developments in technology and geopolitics continue at break-neck pace. Speaking at Davos, Sharon Marcil of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) highlighted the importance of putting people at the center of AI transformations. In partnering with clients on AI transformation, BCG deploys the “10-20-70” rule: 10% of effort on algorithms, 20% on technology and data, and 70% on people and processes — enabling change management and lasting adoption.

For sales leaders, this means betting big on technology while ensuring the lion’s share of resources is spent preparing and empowering teams to succeed with it. Investing in people and fostering resilience in the face of uncertainty will pay dividends.

Prioritize Skills Development

With technology advancing rapidly, upskilling is crucial to staying competitive in a skills-based economy. As Dan Shapero said, “It’s a time to be pragmatic, and it’s a time to be curious.” However, Davos discussions revealed an often-overlooked component of success: fostering a teaching culture alongside a learning culture. One interesting insight from WEF was that it isn’t enough to just have curious learners on your team, you need amazing teachers too.? As Michelle Zatlyn, COO of Cloudflare put it “You need both sides, because the change agents in the organization - it’s great that they love it [new tech/processes], but will they take the time to teach their colleagues? It’s a huge superpower in today’s world”. We’ve heard a lot in the past about companies building a learning culture, but rarely has a ‘teaching culture’ been discussed as often.?

For sales teams, investing in knowledge-sharing processes—whether through mentorship, peer learning, or structured training—can create a strong competitive advantage. In 2025, the ability to teach and disseminate skills effectively may prove as valuable as acquiring them.

You can check out the full interview with Dan, Sharon, Michelle and Eileen in our panel discussion here: Navigating the Path to Future Ready in B2B Sales.