Christope De Vusser is the first European to lead US giant Bain & Company – here’s how he uses AI tools to make consultants work ‘smarter’

Management consulting is known to be one of the most difficult and demanding career paths. Take it from me — I started my career at Bain & Company in Brussels, where I worked up to 60 hours a week and often didn’t get home until 11pm.

Christope De Vusser, Global Managing Partner of Bain & Company, is an inspiring leader who thinks differently. He recently became the first European to lead the US consulting giant, based on his widely praised performance in the firm’s competitive private equity division.

De Vusser strives to balance work and private life. He doesn’t work weekends, enjoys being in nature, and expands his horizons by visiting museums and voraciously consuming books.

He points to artificial intelligence as a revolutionary way for consultants to work smarter and, crucially, strike a better balance. “(The tools) increase not only my productivity, but also for my colleagues,” he told me in our interview for Wealth.

His enthusiastic endorsement of AI won’t draw me back to consulting, but perhaps this Fortune CEO Agenda profile will encourage you to use the tools yourself.

This interview has been edited for brevity.

At work

Wealth: What is the most important project you are working on with your company?

I would highlight all of our work with AI. It will have a profound impact on every industry and virtually every business – this is evolving into another industrial revolution. AI will have far-reaching implications across many aspects of business strategy and the core capabilities that companies rely on to run them – not just things like technology, cyber and data, but also important dimensions in areas like customer and employee trust , organization and talent. So the disruption and change it brings is a big deal—for Bain and for every client we work with.

Which long-term trend are you most optimistic about for society and the economy in general?

Without a doubt, it is artificial intelligence that has the greatest potential for transformation from individual businesses to society and economies. It’s also important to recognize that such powerful technology comes with risks. That’s why we’ve implemented policies and principles to ensure we meet our commitment to the responsible use of AI, and we’re also part of Microsoft’s AI Responsible Partner Initiative. We need to steer cautiously and ensure that as we put AI to work, it is in responsible, ethical and safe ways. Like other businesses, we welcome regulation and policy coordination. We are optimistic that AI will prove to be a broadly empowering technology and a force for the common good, raising productivity and living standards.

If you were an economic policy maker, what would be your top priority?

Europe, like most economies, has been through a period of extraordinary volatility: the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflicts and the subsequent energy disruption. A major challenge for Europe, amid volatility, is to deliver improved economic competitiveness and productivity that will ensure stronger long-term growth. It is that economic muscle that will give Europe the ability to meet the challenges of the future – achieving net zero, ensuring energy supply and security, and ensuring improved living standards.

Being productive

What time do you wake up and what part of your morning routine prepares you for the day?

I usually wake up between 6 and 7 in the morning. I like to start the day with a good breakfast and catch up on the news, understand what’s happening in business and which affects all the industries we work with, but also the wider news from around the world before I’m caught up on the e- mail and start client and internal meetings.

Luc Castel—Getty Images

until what time do you work? Do you keep sending emails at night and/or on weekends?

I’m happy to work later in the evening when I have to, but it’s important to make time for my family and balance my work and private life. At Bain, that’s what we strive to make possible for our people, and it’s helped us to be recognized as one of the best places to work in the world. As much as I can, I don’t work on weekends or holidays – this is the time to keep my body and mind fit and be with friends and family.

I like to make time for running, ideally outdoors, where I can experience and absorb the sounds of nature. Cultural activities are also important to me—I make time whenever I can to visit museums and galleries, enjoy the theater, or watch contemporary dance at an arts center. I just enjoyed visiting the Olympics with my family and while I was in Paris I also got to see the latest exhibit from the Pinault Collection at the Bourse de Commerce. I can highly recommend it!

What apps or methods do you use to be more productive?

I use every day all the generative AI tools that we’ve launched at Bain since the beginning of last year – Microsoft Co-pilot, ChatGPT-4, Zoom AI – and Sage, which is the state of Bain. -state-of-the-art proprietary chat platform for our teams. All of these tools allow me to work smarter and faster – to do more in less time and drive projects further with less need to call on input from others on our teams. So these tools increase not only my own productivity, but also my colleagues.

Who is part of your “personal board”?

I am fortunate to be able to draw on the advice of trusted advisors, both from business and personal friends, as well as from inside and outside of Bain, who have advised and supported me throughout my career and recently. I have lifelong mentors in Bain and benefit greatly from the advice of many of the company’s leaders, past and present. There are also some clients that I have worked with over several decades who have become personal advisors and can call upon the advice of a number of other external management advisors.

Joan Cros—NurPhoto/Getty Images

I get personal

What book have you read, either recently or in the past, that inspired you?

I recently read The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles Mann. It looks at the big challenges facing the world – food, water, energy and climate change. Battling both optimistic and pessimistic views of artificial intelligence right now, Mann’s book offers a brilliant insight into what we might call the duality of innovation. On vacation I like to go for a lighter read. Traveling to New York lately, I enjoyed Colson Whitehead’s “Harlem Shuffle.” I also like to read authors from the countries I visit – I read the excellent Haruki Murakami when I was in Japan not long ago.

Richard A. Brooks—AFP/Getty Images

If you could ask your idol a question, who would you be and what would you ask?

I’m a huge fan of art, creativity and music – and some amazing performers whose work I love. What interests me about that world, and what I’d love to talk about with people like saxophonist and songwriter John Zorn or Brad Mehldau, the jazz pianist, or even Beyonce, is how it’s constantly reinventing itself, evolving to stay at the top of their profession and stay relevant to their audience. Sport is another source of inspiration – at the Olympics this week we saw Mondo Duplantis win gold in the pole vault and set a new world record of 6.25m – it’s amazing how he keeps improving.

Michael Buckner—Billboard/Getty Images

As a consumer, what is your favorite company and why?

Everyone recognizes what Apple has accomplished as a business, from strategy, to product design and innovation, to delivery for its customers. Personally, I’m also a big fan of Bower & Wilkins, the British audio speaker and headphone manufacturer – like Apple, they’ve consistently delivered top quality products to consumers for decades. I actually started my Bain career 25 years ago in our Consumer Products practice. I still work closely with that part of the company and am very passionate about our work with those customers who bring top products to market.

And to end on a lighter note: What was the last costume you wore?

I dressed up in 70s disco style to celebrate with some friends not too long ago – a chance to step away from the daily life of meetings and events and have a little fun. We danced to music beyond the seventies – some hip-hop and soul as well as classic disco tunes.

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