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We talk with McKinsey partners and corporate executives on the challenges they face creating lasting strategies in a fast-changing world. We also examine the different ways these executives approach these challenges and the new and innovative ways they think of creating a vision for their enterprises.
- 498 - 329. Resisting “financial gravity”: How purpose-driven companies endure
Why do so many beloved companies lose their way after taking on outside capital or going public? Eric Ries, author of Incorruptible and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, joins senior partner Ryan Davies to discuss “financial gravity,” the force that pulls organizations toward mission drift. Drawing on stories such as Costco’s origins, they explore how governance built on purpose, coherence, and integrity can help companies earn trust and create long-term value.
Related insights
Strategy and Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long Term Performance
How CEOs can play the long game in a shortsighted world
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Tue, 03 Nov 2026 - 497 - 328. Driving agentic transformation: How AI is rewriting the playbook on large-scale change
Agentic AI is fundamentally changing how a transformation office (TO) can operate, freeing up the team to be not just faster but better. Chase Covington and Tomer Slaney join us to discuss how deploying agentic tools can generate sharper performance insights, maintain a single source of truth, and drive the right conversations at the right cadence—while allowing a more dedicated focus on the human elements of the change effort.
Related insights
The agentic transformation office: Redefining the economics of change
Building the foundations for agentic AI at scale
Escaping the pilot trap: Building HR for the agentic era
From potential to performance: Using gen AI to conduct outside-in diligence
Unlocking full potential: Five practices reshaping PE value creation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Fri, 30 Oct 2026 - 496 - 327. Four strategy myths holding your company back
Today’s disruption has created a critical‘Strategy Moment’for organizations navigating a fundamentally changing basis of competitive advantage. Carolyn Dewar, Marcus Jacob and Laura LaBerge join us to debunk four strategy myths and unpack how long-held assumptions are being rewritten to shape foundational strategic choices for a future-focused reality. They also discuss where AI amplifies the challenge—and creates opportunity—and how to determine if your AI investment is pointed in the right strategic direction.
Related insights
Strategy and Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long-Term Performance
Strategy’s biggest blind spot: Erosion of competitive advantage
Why accelerated resource allocation matters in the age of AI
How to maximize competitive advantage
How top economic performers lean into their competitive advantage to guide their strategy
A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
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Fri, 23 Oct 2026 - 495 - 326. M&A heading into Q4: How AI is reshaping value creation
As we enter the fourth quarter, we look to where M&A stands and how dealmakers can finish strong. We also explore how AI is rewriting the traditional M&A playbook: success no longer comes from scale alone, but from building intelligent platforms and capabilities that compound over time to drive growth. Benjamin Houssard, Kameron Kordestani, Alex Liu, and Tobias Lundberg walk through how to leverage AI to turn a series of transactions into a self-reinforcing growth engine.
Related insights
2026 M&A trends: Navigating a rapidly rebounding market
Technology M&A: AI enters its industrial phase
Five steps to strengthen M&A capabilities, no matter the starting point
Gen AI in M&A: From theory to practice to high performance
Advanced industries: Geopolitics, economics, and technology drive M&A
Using M&A to launch a transformation
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Fri, 16 Oct 2026 - 494 - 325. Addressing AI Frontier Lab model risks and opportunities
As AI models become increasingly sophisticated, organizations and their leaders need to maintain awareness of the opportunities and challenges each new model can present. Specifically, the newest Frontier Lab LLMs are able to chain together and exploit vulnerabilities in even the most sophisticated organizations. Charlie Lewis and Marie-Claude Nadeau join us to discuss the threats posed by these models and how organizations can stay ahead of rapidly emerging cybersecurity challenges while also realizing their benefits.
Related insightsMcKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2026
Cybersecurity and trustworthy systems
The speed problem: How frontier AI exposes weakness in enterprise cybersecurity
Quantum is almost here: Are you and your systems ready?
Deploying agentic AI with safety and security: A playbook for technology leaders
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Fri, 09 Oct 2026 - 493 - 324. How strategy creates value: The four foundations that drive long-term performance
Episode description
Executives have more data, more frameworks, and more advice than ever, and yet their confidence in their strategies keeps falling. Andy West, Tim Koller, and Whitney Zimmerman, authors of our forthcoming book Strategy and Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long-Term Performance, join us to discuss how winning companies leverage the four foundations that drive long-term performance and value creation
Related insights
Strategy and Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long-Term Performance
Strategy’s biggest blind spot: Erosion of competitive advantage
How to maximize competitive advantage (podcast)
Ten Timeless Tests: Have you tested your strategy lately?
How top economic performers lean into their competitive advantage to guide their strategy
Valuation: Measuring and managing the value of companies
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Fri, 02 Oct 2026 - 492 - 323. How to drive transformations with rigor
McKinsey research finds that companies executing transformations with rigor are much more likely to meet overall organizational transformation goals. Chris Hagedorn, Preeya Mody, and Michel Morenville join us to discuss what rigor really means in the context of transformation and how to embed it throughout the process, from setting the aspiration to mobilizing to delivering impact.
Related insights
Rigor: What it takes to turn ambition into impact
The power of rigor in transformation (podcast episode)
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
How to gain and sustain a competitive edge through transformation
Going all in: Why employee ‘will’ can make or break transformations
Seven principles for achieving transformational growth
Beyond transformation: What we now know about driving bottom-line performance
The powerful role financial incentives can play in a transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Fri, 25 Sep 2026 - 491 - 322. Capturing value in real estate’s new terrain
Real estate is moving from stabilization to selective acceleration, with value creation becoming more targeted, operational, and execution-led. As capital concentrates in select sectors and strategies, leaders need sharper asset selection, disciplined capital structures, and stronger AI-enabled capabilities. Ben Dimson, Tripp Norton, and Aditya Sanghvi discuss how General Partners, Limited Partners, and real estate operators can turn market complexity into an advantage, drawing on research from their recent article.
Related insightsReal estate builds on new terrain
Real estate’s selective recovery
How agentic AI can reshape real estate’s operating model
2026 Global Private Markets Report:Private equity−clearer view, tougher terrain
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Fri, 18 Sep 2026 - 490 - 321. M&A integration: PE’s new value creation playbook
Private equity is navigating one of its most challenging value creation environments in years, and winning firms are using M&A integration as a competitive weapon. Brian Dinneen and Matthew Maloney join us to discuss three high-impact integration strategies that leading sponsors are using to overcome these headwinds, based on their recent article.
Related insights
How private equity is using M&A integrations to overcome headwinds
Unlocking full potential: Five practices reshaping PE value creation
2026 Global Private Markets Report:Private equity−clearer view, tougher terrain
Beating the odds: How private equity firms can improve exit prospects
Transforming value creation in private equity portfolio companies (podcast)
Private Capital at McKinseySupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/
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Fri, 11 Sep 2026 - 489 - 320. The digital twin: Reimagining non-financial risk management
The risk function’s fundamental purpose has not changed in light of AI. What has changed is the nature and pace of risks amplified by AI, as well as the tools available to manage them. Anke Raufuss, Björn Nilsson, and Laura Webanck join us to discuss the role of the digital twin and how it is changing the future of risk management.
Related Insights
Evolving model risk management in the age of AI
How companies can strengthen their geopolitical risk readiness
Global risk productivity survey: Four themes shaping risk management
The future of risk: How global trends are reshaping risk management
From risk to resilience: New approaches to navigating disruption in Asia
Risk and Resilience on McKinsey.com
McKinsey Risk & Resilience on LinkedIn
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Fri, 04 Sep 2026 - 488 - 319. Why strategy needs mobilization, especially in this moment
As strategy rises to the top of executive agendas, many organizations are struggling to translate bold strategic choices into sustained performance. In this episode, the global coleaders of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, Sébastien Lacroix and Andy West, along with Whitney Zimmerman, a distinguished expert in strategy, discuss why mobilization has become the critical differentiator between strategy success and failure, and how leaders can build the capabilities needed to turn strategy into action in an era of intensified competition, ever-accelerating change, and uncertainty.
Related insights
Strategy and Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long-Term Performance(our new book, due out in November)
How to maximize competitive advantage
How to ensure your company acts on your strategy
Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick
Fundamentals of strategy and value creation
Have you tested your strategy lately?
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Fri, 28 Aug 2026 - 487 - 318. Inside the 2026 CFO Forum: How finance leaders are preparing for what's next (bonus episode)
In this bonus episode, McKinsey CFO practice leaders Kevin Carmody, Matt Maloney, and Christian Grube share their insights from the 2026 CFO Forum in London.
Their conversation explores how the CFO role is evolving from financial steward to strategic value creator; why leading finance organizations are moving beyond incremental budgeting; how AI can provide the catalyst to fundamentally rewire finance operating models rather than simply automate existing processes; and why talent and capability building will determine which organizations capture the greatest value.
They also discuss how CFOs can reclaim the strategic narrative, strengthen capital allocation, and create the headspace to focus on the bold moves that drive long-term growth.
Related insights
Why accelerated resource allocation matters in the age of AI
CFOs have been concerned about geopolitical impacts for months
The CFO as growth leader: A conversation with Levi’s Harmit Singh
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Tue, 25 Aug 2026 - 486 - 317. Strategic re-underwriting in private equity
Private equity firms are under increasing pressure to create value in a tougher market, with longer hold times and evolving value creation theses. Leading funds are using re-underwriting as a repeatable discipline that supports better decisions across the hold period. Join AD Bhatia, Jason Phillips, Hassen Ahmed and Manuel Fernandez Angulo as they unpack the what, when and who of re-underwriting. They share how AI assistance, leaner teams and a systematic approach can help overcome resourcing restraints to place this practice in the reach of every fund.
Related insights
Unlocking full potential: Five practices reshaping PE value creation
2026 Global PrivateMarketsReport:Private equity−clearer view, tougher terrain
Beating the odds: How private equity firms can improve exit prospects
How private equity is using M&A integrations to overcome headwinds
Transforming value creation in private equity portfolio companies (podcast)
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Fri, 21 Aug 2026 - 485 - 316. Your budget is killing your strategy: 4 imperatives for CFOs
The traditional annual budget process is broken. It is rigid, backward-looking, and not operationally fit to keep up with today's fast-moving markets. Top-performing companies are outpacing peers by budgeting differently. Matthew Maloney, Karen McLoughlin, and Michele Tam join us to discuss their recent article on how top-performing companies are transforming the budget from a control mechanism to a dynamic road map for driving growth. They share how leading CFOs are more closely linking the budget to strategic priorities, and how harnessing AI enables a data-driven, forward-looking approach.
Related insights
Your budget is killing your strategy—here are four ways to fix it
The CFO as growth leader: A conversation with Levi’s Harmit Singh
CFOs have been concerned about geopolitical impacts for months
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Fri, 14 Aug 2026 - 484 - 315. The $106 trillion infrastructure opportunity: Private market outlook
Infrastructure is at a pivotal inflection point: its definition is expanding beyond traditional assets to digital and interconnected systems, demanding a fundamental mindset shift by governments, investors, and operators to plan, fund, and maintain integrated infrastructure that supports future growth and resilience. Alastair Green and Adrian Kwok discuss the latest findings from our 2026 Global Private Markets Report,take stock of the sector's latest trends, and reveal how private capital is responding to an evolving funding landscape
Related insights
2026 Global Private Markets Report
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Fri, 07 Aug 2026 - 483 - 314. How to maximize competitive advantage
Competitive advantage is becoming much more fluid as market positions shift faster across industries, with advantages eroding and differentiation narrowing. Despite this increased volatility, companies often fail to actively monitor shifts in their competitive edge. Join Matt Banholzer and Laura LaBerge as they discuss their latest research on the erosion of competitive advantage and share what companies can do to maximize their edge over peers.
Related Insights
Strategy’s biggest blind spot: Erosion of competitive advantage
How top economic performers lean into their competitive advantage to guide their strategy
Why accelerated resource allocation matters in the age of AI
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Thu, 30 Jul 2026 - 482 - 313. Driving value with an investor mindset
Long-term value creation is foundational to building strong companies and economies, yet many leaders struggle to ensure that well-conceived, well-executed strategies receive full recognition from investors. Senior Partner Ryan Davies and Associate Partner Jacob Marcus join us to discuss how to anticipate investor reactions, assess opportunities to outperform expectations, and embed an investor mindset into decision-making to build greater resilience.
Related Insights
Global Private Markets Report 2026
Private equity 2026 outlook: Clearer view, tougher terrain
Unlocking full potential: Five practices reshaping PE value creation
Transforming value creation in private equity portfolio companies
The coming wave of business transfers
What every CEO can learn from private equity
The CEO’s Guide to the Investment Galaxy
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Fri, 24 Jul 2026 - 481 - 312. Improving private equity exit prospects
In today’s tougher exit environment, private equity firms are facing longer holding periods, valuation gaps, and increased pressure to return capital. Kai Vollhardt and Jelena Bauer are joined by Christian Habrich and Frederyk Schroeder as they unpack their latest article on how to drive successful exits. They share strategies that top-performing firms use to improve exit outcomes and turn preparation into premium valuations, including how to translate AI potential into a credible value story.
Related Insights
Beating the odds: How private equity firms can improve exit prospects
Global Private Markets Report 2026
Private equity 2026 outlook: Clearer view, tougher terrain
Unlocking full potential: Five practices reshaping PE value creation
Transforming value creation in private equity portfolio companies (podcast)
The coming wave of business transfers (podcast)
What every CEO can learn from private equity (podcast)
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Wed, 15 Jul 2026 - 480 - 311. Proven growth strategies from market leaders
Discover how market leaders—Walmart, Builders FirstSource, Progressive, and JPMorgan Chase—achieved exceptional growth from 2019 to 2024, outperforming peers by an average of five percentage points in revenue and seven points in profitability. In this episode, Simon Jones, David Schiff , and Kate Siegel discuss their new article on the three critical characteristics that drive sustained profitable business growth: committed investment strategies, diversified growth engines, and systematic technology integration.
Related Insights
Inspired for business growth: How five companies beat the market
The race takes off in the next big arenas of competition
Rewired 2.0: How leading companies are (still) winning with AI?
How innovative companies leverage tech to outperform
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Fri, 10 Jul 2026 - 479 - 310. The CEO's role in transformation
Transformations often falter due to internal dynamics that divide organizations, such as misaligned incentives, siloed efforts, and risk aversion. CEOs are uniquely positioned to address these challenges by tackling the root causes of collective-action problems and uniting their organizations around bold aspirations. Join Meagan Hill, Mathew Lee, and Kurt Strovink as they explore the role of the CEO in driving enterprise-wide transformation and embedding lasting change into the fabric of their organizations.
Related Insights
Collective action, collective success: A CEO’s role in transformationsCourageous conversations: How to lead with heart
A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Thu, 02 Jul 2026 - 478 - 309. Five key moves to create value in spinoffs
More than 55 percent of large spin-offs fail to deliver the expected value three years post-spin; this is true for both the parent and the new company. However, even in today’s complex macro environment, there is plenty of spin activity as companies look outside the portfolio in pursuit of more focused strategies, fit-for-purpose operating models, and optimized capital management.
Join us as Jamie Koenig and Anna Mattson, co-leaders of our Global Separations Practice, discuss their recent article on the topic and step through five critical moves that help increase the odds of spin-off success. They also share a wealth of insights gleaned from several decades of deal experience, including what a new SpinCo CEO should expect.
Related Insights
Beating the odds: What really matters for successful spin-offs
2026 M&A trends: Navigating a rapidly rebounding market
When separating businesses, people are the key to unleashing value
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Thu, 25 Jun 2026 - 477 - 308. From the C-Suite to the boardroom: Christiana Smith Shi on what it takes
Today’s board members face growing demands on their time. A challenging macro environment and ever-evolving business risks are increasing meeting frequency and requiring faster decision-making. For executives considering a board role, the developmental opportunity may be clear — but what does the role really involve?
In this episode, McKinsey senior partner emeritus and board director, Celia Huber speaks with Christiana Smith Shi. Christiana is the former President of Nike’s direct-to-consumer division and a seasoned board member with over 14 years of service, including on the boards of Williams Sonoma and Mondelēz International. She currently serves on the boards of Columbia Sportswear and UPS, and as Chair of Habitat for Humanity. In a wide-ranging conversation, Christiana opens the boardroom door to discuss topics including the differences between not-for-profit and corporate boards, the dynamics of CEO transitions, and what drives board effectiveness.Related Insights
How boards can tackle geopolitical risk
The board’s role in managing emerging AI risks
The AI reckoning: How boards can evolve
CEO Insights: Forging stronger CEO–board partnerships
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Wed, 17 Jun 2026 - 476 - 307. Making buy-side carve-outs work for everyone
Buy-side carve-outs can create significant value for acquiring companies, but they can also present complex challenges. In this episode, we’re joined by Kameron Kordestani, Anna Mattson, and Rui Silva to discuss how leaders—particularly CFOs, integration managers, and CHROs—must balance financial structuring, operational planning, and people management to ensure a value-creating transition.
Related insights
How buyers can successfully navigate integrating a carve-out
The power of goodbye: How carve-outs can unleash value
Solving the carve-out conundrum
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Thu, 11 Jun 2026 - 475 - 306. Transforming value creation in private equity portfolio companies
Outperformance in private equity is no longer defined by leverage or multiple expansion; disciplined value creation will be the decisive factor in future investment success. In this episode, AD Bhatia, Robin Ligon, and Jason Phillips are joined by CVC’s John Kelleher to discuss the key shifts in today’s PE environment and share five moves firms are making in response. The path to transforming value creation requires a more disciplined playbook: structured re-diligence, holistic transformation under a dedicated transformation leadership, stronger operating-team talent, and the use of AI as a portfolio-wide accelerator.
Related Insights
2026 Global Private Markets Report
How private equity is using M&A integrations to overcome headwinds
Beating the odds: How private equity firms can improve exit prospects
McKinsey Strategy and Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Wed, 03 Jun 2026 - 474 - 305. Prudential’s Charles Lowrey on finishing strong as CEO
For CEOs, the first 100 days often get the most attention. But the final chapter of a CEO’s tenure can be just as consequential. In this episode, senior partner Carolyn Dewar speaks with Charles Lowrey, former executive chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, about what it takes to finish strong and manage a successful leadership transition.
Lowrey reflects on his unexpected path to the CEO role, the lessons he learned while leading through the pandemic, and why he began discussing succession with the board before officially taking the job. He explains how Prudential developed internal candidates, planned the handover in detail, and worked to make the market’s reaction to the transition “a huge yawn.”
The conversation also explores the personal side of stepping away: preparing for life after the CEO role, avoiding the temptation to remain too involved, and finding new ways to contribute. For current and aspiring CEOs, Lowrey offers practical guidance on legacy, succession, and the discipline required to lead until the very end.
Related insights
A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Strategic CEO LinkedIn newsletter
Sending it forward: Successfully transitioning out of the CEO role
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Thu, 28 May 2026 - 473 - 304. The coming wave of business transfers
As millions of baby boomer business owners in the United States approach retirement, the country faces a major transition in business ownership. Over the next decade, millions of small and midsize businesses could be sold, transferred, or closed, with major implications for local economies, jobs, family wealth, and economic mobility.
In this episode, we hear from partner Ken Yearwood and associate partner Nick Noel about the wave of business transfers on the horizon, the scale of the opportunity, and the risks of avoidable closures. They discuss what this transition could mean for buyers, sellers, private capital, employees, and rural communities, and explore how a broader and more inclusive ownership ecosystem could unlock long-term value.
Related insights
The Great Ownership Transfer: A new era of business stewardship
McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility
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Fri, 22 May 2026 - 472 - 303. How finance leaders are driving value with AI
In this episode, we explore how finance leaders can harness AI to drive performance and create value for the organization. Our guests—Kevin Carmody, Davide Grande, and Andrea Tricoli—share insights from their research, highlighting how AI is reshaping finance functions across strategic planning, cost management, risk mitigation, and investor relations. Join us as we delve into real-world examples of AI in action and consider the evolving role of the CFO as a strategic partner in the C-Suite.
Related insights
How finance teams are putting AI to work today
Gen AI in corporate functions: Looking beyond efficiency gains
Spendscape by McKinsey: Next-level spend analytics software powered by AI
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Thu, 14 May 2026 - 471 - 302. What every CEO can learn from private equity
Private equity firms have long outperformed their peers—not just through financial engineering, but by building better businesses faster. In this episode, senior partner Sacha Ghaiand partner Marla Capozzi discuss what leaders across sectors can learn from the highest-performing private equity CEOs. Drawing on their recent Harvard Business Review article, Sacha and Marla unpack the concept of CEO alpha: the value created when CEOs outperform as individual leaders, team builders, and operators. They explain why private equity’s edge has shifted from financial engineering to building stronger, more resilient businesses, and they share six practices that distinguish top-performing PE CEOs.
Related insights
What Every Company Can Learn from Private Equity
CEO alpha: A new approach to generating private equity outperformance
CEO Excellence: The six mindsets that distinguish the best leaders from the rest
A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
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Fri, 08 May 2026 - 470 - 301. Using generative AI to conduct outside-in diligence
Generative AI is reshaping the way investors evaluate opportunities and replacing much of the manual work involved in completing an outside-in diligence. Firms that adapt the fastest during this transition have the most to gain. To discuss how the deployment of gen AI in diligence can give organizations an investment edge and explore the shift from traditional diligence to AI-enabled, outside-in analysis we’re joined by David Pralong, a senior partner and the global leader of our Transformation Practice, William Bundy, a partner in our Washington D.C office, Chase Covington, a partner based in our New York office, and Laura Borton, a consultant also based in our New York office.
Related Insights
From potential to performance: Using gen AI to conduct outside-in diligence
Creating Value in Portfolio Company Operations: A Practical Guide to Growing Cash Flow in Business
Wave: Your path to unprecedented performance
McKinsey insights on transformation
McKinsey insights on Strategy and Corporate Finance
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
McKinsey Strategy and Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 30 Apr 2026 - 469 - 300. The CEO’s agenda for thriving in the agentic age
Generative and agentic AI are moving rapidly from experimentation to enterprise-wide transformation—but many CEOs are still grappling with what this really means for their business.
In this episode, McKinsey experts Tanguy Catlin, Sandra Durth, Lari Hämäläinen, and Antoine Montard examine why AI is being viewed as a true general-purpose technology, on par with past breakthroughs like electricity and the internet, and what that implies for competition, investment, and long-term value creation.
We discuss the importance of thinking across strategy, technology, and organization to maximize the value from AI—and why focusing on productivity alone may not be enough to win.We also unpack the practical challenges leaders face and how to address them including redesigning workflows and operating models, managing large-scale workforce transitions, and building the skills and organizational capabilities needed to capture AI’s full potential.
Related insights
Building the foundations for agentic AI at scale
Seizing the agentic AI advantage
New MIT Sloan research suggests that AI is more likely to complement, not replace, human workers
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Thu, 23 Apr 2026 - 468 - 299. The new CEO’s guide to stakeholder impact
For new CEOs, engaging stakeholders is one of the most important—and most challenging—parts of the job. In this episode, Carolyn Dewar, Blair Epstein, and Eric Sherman discuss how CEOs can build a strong stakeholder strategy from day one.
Drawing on research and their work with leaders across industries, they explore why stakeholder engagement matters so much, the unique challenges new CEOs face, and how leaders can best balance competing priorities across investors, employees, customers, regulators, and communities. They also discuss practical ways to create a clear narrative, strengthen communication, and build leverage through the top team.
Related insights
Nail your firsts: A new CEO’s guide to stakeholder impact
How the best CEOs build lasting stakeholder relationships
Your best day won’t define you as CEO—your worst one will
A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders From the Rest
The Strategic CEO newsletter on LinkedIn
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Thu, 16 Apr 2026 - 467 - 298. The CEO as a resilience leader
Building resilience is a critical skill for organizations today, yet our research shows that many leaders and organizations don’t spend enough time building their resilience to navigate current and emerging risks. In this episode, two authors of a recent article on the topic discuss how organizations can better prepare for what they face today and in the future.
Ida Kristensen is a senior partner in our New York office and the global co-leader of our Risk and Resilience Practice. She advises clients across sectors on risk, strategy, and operational topics spanning enterprise risk management, resilience, organization and talent, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and operational improvement. And Linda Liu is a partner in our New York office and a leader in our Risk and Resilience Practice and our crisis response initiative. She works with global organizations on strategy, risk, operations, and organizational transformation.
Related insights
The CEO as chief resilience officer
Resilience pulse check: Harnessing collaboration to navigate a volatile world
High-performing teams: A timeless leadership topic
What resilience means to Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar
McKinsey Risk & Resilience insights
McKinsey Risk and Resilience on LinkedIn
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Fri, 10 Apr 2026 - 466 - 297. Boards in the age of AI
As artificial intelligence transforms how companies compete, many boards are grappling with how to provide effective oversight in this new era. Senior partners Aamer Baig, Celia Huber, and senior advisor Rebecca Schechter join host Sean Brown Inside the Strategy Room to discuss their recent article on how directors can rethink their guidance on AI adoption and readiness, while navigating risks that cut across strategy, talent, and governance.
The AI reckoning: How boards can evolve
Rewired: How leading companies win with technology and AI
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 02 Apr 2026 - 465 - 296. The power of rigor in transformation
Companies that execute transformations with rigor are much more likely to achieve their goals, generate higher total shareholder returns, and enjoy better organizational health. In this episode, Preeya Mody and Dominic Skerritt join host Sean Brown to share insights from their latest research on the role of rigor in driving and sustaining successful transformations. They discuss what defines rigor in a transformation, explore the three elements that rigorous transformations consistently demonstrate, and share practical advice for sustaining momentum without burning out teams.
Related insights
Going all in: Why employee ‘will’ can make or break transformations
The McKinsey Organizational Health Index
Seven principles for achieving transformational growth
Beyond transformation: What we now know about driving bottom-line performance
The powerful role financial incentives can play in a transformation
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Wed, 25 Mar 2026 - 464 - 295. AI, strategy, and the future of work: What business leaders need to know
While artificial intelligence is moving rapidly from experimentation to execution, many companies still struggle to capture real value from the technology. In this episode, we’re joined by Professor Jean-Paul Carvalho and Robin Nuttall to explore how CEOs can more effectively scale AI and to discuss the technology's implications for the future of work and organizations.
Jean-Paul is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Oxford’s Department of Economics and Director of Oxford Elevate. Robin Nuttall is an expert partner in our London office and a leader of our regulatory strategy and environmental, social, and governance work. Robin is also a Business Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Economics Department.
Related insights
How AI is transforming strategy development
The state of AI in 2025: Agents, innovation, and transformation
Building next-horizon AI experiences
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Thu, 19 Mar 2026 - 463 - 294. Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon on adapting to economic and technological change
What does today’s wave of AI and economic change really mean for markets, jobs, and leadership?
In this episode, David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, joins our North America Chair and senior partner, Eric Kutcher, to explain why he sees the current moment as more evolutionary than unprecedented. Solomon discusses what’s driving market resilience in 2026, including fiscal policy, AI infrastructure investment, and shifting trade dynamics. He also shares how Goldman is using AI to boost productivity, reengineer core processes, and invest for long-term growth—as well as candid lessons on leadership, resilience, and decision-making at the top. This episode was recorded in December 2025.
Related insights
The strategic realities of a new era
Retired US Navy Admiral Eric Olson: Leading effectively in uncertain times
Building geopolitical resilience: A conversation with Michèle Flournoy
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Wed, 11 Mar 2026 - 462 - 293. Private equity 2026 outlook: Clearer view, tougher terrain
After a long period of uncertainty, the fog has lifted, and while private equity rebounded in 2025, the clearer visibility has also revealed a more complex and demanding landscape.
In this episode, the authors of our 2026 Global Private Markets Report unpack the structural shifts reshaping the industry—from elevated multiples and longer hold periods to the growing importance of scale, specialization, and alternative capital. They also explore how artificial intelligence is emerging as a core driver of competitive advantage, with early adopters embedding AI into pricing, productivity, and portfolio strategy to create structural alpha.
As private equity continues to mature, dispersion between leaders and laggards is set to widen. The question for dealmakers, operators, fundraisers, and LPs alike: who is equipped to best navigate this new terrain?
Related insightsGlobal Private Markets Report 2026 Private equity: Clearer view, tougher terrain
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Wed, 04 Mar 2026 - 461 - 292. 2026 M&A Trends: Navigating a rapidly rebounding market
Top dealmakers entered 2025 expecting to overcome continued challenges, but few anticipated how sharply trade and geopolitical pressures would intensify. In this episode, Jake Henry and Mieke Van Oostende, the global co-leaders of our M&A Practice, share key themes from our annual M&A report. They reflect on how dealmakers maintained focus, adjusted portfolios, and capitalized on shifting sector dynamics to drive substantial growth in 2025. They also share their perspectives on the five trends driving M&A in 2026.
Related Insights
Read the full report on McKinsey.com: 2026 M&A trends: Navigating a rapidly rebounding market
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Wed, 25 Feb 2026 - 460 - 291. ‘Having a human bank is very important’: A conversation with Citi CEO Jane Fraser
Jane Fraser, Chair and CEO of Citi, talks with McKinsey Senior Partner and North America Managing Partner Eric Kutcher. After becoming CEO in March 2021, Jane launched a multi-year strategy to transform, simplify, and modernize the bank for the digital age – leveraging Citi’s unique global context to reset where and how it competes. Jane speaks about what the last five years have looked like for Citi and the role AI and blockchain technologies are playing, as well as what she’s learned along the way about talent, intent, and resilience. She also shares the global trends she is seeing as one of the world’s most well-travelled CEOs.
Related Insights
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Thu, 19 Feb 2026 - 459 - 290. Tim Koller reflects on three decades of Valuation at McKinsey
From its origins as an internal three-ring binder to its status as a global reference text, Valuation has shaped how business leaders think about value creation for more than 30 years.
In this episode, co-author Tim Kollerjoins the co-leaders of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, Andy Westand Dago Diedrich, to reflect on the evolution of Valuation, the principles that have remained timeless, and the lessons learned across market cycles, bubbles, and changing executive expectations. Tim also shares his perspective on long-term orientation, disciplined leadership, and the legacy he hopes the book leaves with the business community.
Related Insights
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies
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Thu, 12 Feb 2026 - 458 - 289. The CFO as growth leader: Levi’s Harmit Singh on transformation and the “Magic of the And.”
Levi Strauss & Co. Chief Finance and Growth Officer, Harmit Singh, joins us to share lessons from his 13-year journey transforming the iconic clothing company. Singh explains how Levi’s returned to growth, strengthened profitability, and shifted toward a direct-to-consumer model, while staying true to its purpose-driven heritage. He introduces the “Magic of the And”–his approach to driving both top- and bottom-line performance– and discusses building a performance culture, navigating volatility and tariffs with cross-functional teams, developing finance talent, and approaching AI in finance with practical use cases and discipline. Joining Harmit for this discussion is Steve Begley, a senior partner based in our New York office.
Related Insights
The State of Fashion 2026: When the rules change
How finance teams are putting AI to work today
How Nestlé’s CFO sharpens focus across a global portfolio
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Thu, 05 Feb 2026 - 457 - 288. Securing agentic AI: A playbook
As organizations increasingly employ agentic AI, they face new risks that could disrupt operations, compromise sensitive data, or erode customer trust. Rich Isenberg and Charlie Lewis join us to discuss these emerging risks and how leaders can proactively ensure secure and compliant adoption.
Rich Isenbergis a partner in our Atlanta office and a leader within our Risk and Resilience and Cybersecurity Practices.Charlie Lewis is a partner in our Connecticut office and leads our cybersecurity and tech resilience work across North America and Europe. Together, they offer a frontline perspective on how organizations are implementing agentic AI, the emerging forms of cyber and operational risk, and the critical steps leaders must take to build robust governance and resilience.
Related Insights
Deploying agentic AI with safety and security: A playbook for technology leaders
The change agent: Goals, decisions, and implications for CEOs in the agentic age
Seizing the agentic AI advantage
McKinsey Risk & Resilience on LinkedIn
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Thu, 29 Jan 2026 - 456 - 287. IBM Chairman, President, and CEO Arvind Krishna on setting bold ambition and driving growth through innovation
Arvind Krishna, the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of IBM, stepped into the CEO role at IBM in 2020, following 30 years at the company. Prior to that, he held various senior positions, spanning VP of Cloud and Cognitive Software to Head of Research, where he drove innovation in core technologies – including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cloud platform services. In today’s episode, Arvind joins our North America Chair and senior partner Eric Kutcher to discuss how he led IBM to triple its share price in just five years, the current AI landscape, how to pursue opportunities from volatility, the potential of quantum computing, what it takes to drive growth through innovation, and the dangers of being too risk-averse.
Related insights
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the cycles of leadership
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian: Lessons from the captain’s seat
Doug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessons
John Stankey talks about leaning into the long term at AT&T
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Thu, 22 Jan 2026 - 455 - 286. The Cigna Group’s Brian Evanko on improving affordability and prevention in healthcare
Health insurers are facing urgent challenges related to affordability, access, and how to safely and effectively leverage AI and emerging technologies. In this episode, McKinsey senior partner Celia Huber is joined by Brian Evanko, president and chief operating officer of The Cigna Group. In this role, Brian oversees all of the company's business units, including its two growth platforms: Cigna Healthcare, a health benefits business, and Evernorth, a health services business. Together, these business units serve customers in more than 30 countries.
From here, Brian has a unique view of the challenges facing the industry and the people it serves—including the fact that the vast amount of US healthcare spending goes toward chronic care. In their conversation, Brian shares his perspective on the innovation needed, such as through the adoption of AI, to improve affordability and support prevention.
Related Insights
Future of US healthcare: Gathering storm 2.0 or a golden age?
Tackling healthcare’s biggest burdens with generative AI
The race to create a vaccine: A conversation with Frank D’Amelio
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Thu, 15 Jan 2026 - 454 - 285. Keys to success for CFOs leading transformations
CFOs are increasingly helping lead transformations of their companies, which has a range of implications for how they manage their time and stay up to date with technology. Leading transformation has often been viewed as more focused on other members of the C-suite. McKinsey’s research shows the critical role that CFOs have in the success of a transformation. In this episode, we speak with three McKinsey experts on the subject.
Kevin Carmody is a senior partner and the global co-leader of our CFO and Finance Excellence Practice based in Chicago. Previously, Kevin was a founding member of our Transformation Practice and a member of its global operating committee. Christian Grube is a partner in our Munich office, and leads our CFO and Finance Excellence Practice across Europe. Matt Maloney is a partner in our New York office, and leads our CFO and Finance Excellence Practice in the Americas.
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Wed, 07 Jan 2026 - 453 - 284. Inside the Chief of Staff role
Leaders across both the public and private sectors are navigating an era of constant disruption. They're expected to deliver major transformations, manage complexity, and balance competing priorities, all while ensuring their own teams are running smoothly. This is why the role of chief of staff has never been more critical. In this episode, three McKinsey experts–all former chiefs of staff–share insights on when a chief of staff is needed and what qualities distinguish those who excel in the role.
Michelle Forrest is the global client capabilities leader in our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, and previously served as chief of staff to our former global managing partner, Kevin Sneader. Andrew Goodman is a senior partner in our London office, and leads our consumer technology and media practice across Europe. He has also led our Chief of Staff Forum and our research into the role of the chief of staff for the past decade. Previously, Andrew served as chief of staff for the McKinsey Centre for Government, our center of excellence that helps government leaders deliver better outcomes and experiences. Connor Rochford is an associate partner who previously served as chief of staff for the U.K.'s former Chief Medical Officer.
Related insights
Anatomy of the chief of staff role
Chief of staff: Anatomy of the role in eight charts
How to be a better chief of staff
Seeing around corners: How to excel as a chief of staff
Lessons in leadership: Getting past politics to deliver for the people
Seven tips for success for new chiefs of staff at federal government agencies
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Thu, 01 Jan 2026 - 452 - 283. The CEO as chief storyteller
To ensure that their companies engage effectively with stakeholders, CEOs need to set communication standards, embody the organization’s culture and purpose, and speak up in moments that matter most. In today’s episode, we discuss what it takes for a CEO to shape and own their organization’s narrative. Joining us is Blair Epstein, a partner in our Bay Area office and a leader in our CEO Excellence Practice, Max Gleischman, a partner in our New York office who leads our strategic communications team, managing issues and policy communications for the firm, and Ramiro Prudencio, a partner in our London office who leads our global external communications team, building our reputation and engagement with external stakeholders.
Related insights:
The CEO’s role as chief storyteller
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
How the best CEOs build lasting stakeholder relationships
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 - 451 - 282. Investing in innovation: A pathway to resilient growth
In times of economic volatility, the temptation to focus on short-term profitability can become a trap that stalls longer-term projects designed to spur growth. Yet as our long-standing research shows, companies that take a through-cycle approach to investing in growth and innovation consistently outperform their peers. In this episode, three innovation strategy and value creation experts share their latest research and tips for achieving resilient growth.
Matt Banholzer is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Chicago office and co-leader of our Global Strategic Growth and Innovation Practice. Tim Koller is a partner in our Denver office and co-author of the best-selling book, Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, now in its eighth edition. And Laura LaBerge is a senior expert in our Strategic Growth and Innovation Practice and is based in our Connecticut office.
Related insights
Investing in innovation: Three ways to do more with less
Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever
Revolutionary innovations propelling growth
A bigger, bolder vision: How CROs are propelling growth from the C-suite
How top performers use innovation to grow within and beyond the core
How innovation can accelerate industry momentum
The eight essentials of innovation
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Wed, 17 Dec 2025 - 450 - 281. Pricing to create value across the private equity portfolio
A small improvement in pricing can often drive greater value creation than larger cost or volume improvements. However, private equity (PE) funds face unique challenges in identifying and addressing pricing opportunities across diverse portfolio companies, often lacking the dedicated tools and expertise to do so effectively. In this episode, Brian Elliott, Jordan Jakubovitz, and Michelle Nguyen discuss how PE funds can address these challenges and achieve efficient growth.
Brian Elliott is a senior partner in our New Jersey office and co-leads our pricing practice across all sectors. Brandon Heriford is a partner in our Atlanta office, and co-leads our Periscope B2B pricing solution with Brian. Michelle Nguyen is an associate partner in our New York office, and is a leader in our Private Capital Practice, and Dhruv Sriram is a consultant in our Atlanta office and a core member of our software and tech practice.
Related insights
Global Private Markets Report 2025: Braced for shifting weather
How to navigate pricing during disinflationary times
Pricing: The next frontier of value creation in private equity
Is your pricing strategy cutting it?
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
McKinsey Insights on Private Capital
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Thu, 11 Dec 2025 - 449 - 280. Hilton President and CEO Chris Nassetta on culture, strategy, and reinvention
Chris Nassetta has served as President and CEO of Hilton since 2007, leading the organization through some extraordinary challenges. Chris’s focus on a sustainable growth model and a brand-led, network-driven strategy has enabled Hilton to cultivate 25 brands and serve more than 250 million travelers annually. In today’s episode, Chris discusses this journey with Eric Kutcher, our North America Chair and Senior Partner, and shares what he’s learned about leadership along the way. Looking ahead, he explains why AI is the greatest gift for Hilton to deliver what customers want, whenever and wherever they want it.
Related Insights
CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
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Thu, 04 Dec 2025 - 448 - 279. From the NFL to the C-Suite: Jason Wright on what it takes to transform organizations and build world-class teams
What do winning teams in elite sports teach us about driving transformation in business? This week, Kevin Carmody, a senior partner and global coleader of our CFO and finance excellence practice, speaks with former McKinsey partner Jason Wright, who helped lead a transformation as-president of the Washington Commanders (and is also a former NFL running back), and is now Managing Partner & Head of Investments at Ariel Project Level, a private equity fund focused on investing in women's sports.
Jason shares how clear, measurable goals and micro-markers can accelerate culture change; why some symbolic moves matter as much as big P&L levers; and how leaders can balance staying “on the wave tops” with timely “porpoise dives” into the details. He reflects on accountability, the balance between honesty and radical transparency, and what ultimately signaled that a troubled culture at the Washington Commanders was turning the corner. The conversation also explores Jason’s lessons from public crises, and his current role investing at scale in women’s sports.
We recorded Jason and Kevin’s conversation at a gathering of transformation leaders.
Related insights:
Worst to first: What it takes to build or remake a world-class team
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
McKinsey Transformation insights
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Thu, 27 Nov 2025 - 447 - 278. Frontier Communications CEO Nick Jeffery on purpose, strategy, and keeping it simple
Nick Jeffery, President and CEO of Frontier Communications since 2021, has over three decades of strategic and operational leadership in the U.S. and global telecommunications industry. As a seasoned transformation leader, he has guided Frontier from bankruptcy to a successful turnaround in under five years and is now steering the company toward a multi-billion-dollar deal with Verizon. In this episode, Nick joins our North America Chair and senior partner Eric Kutcher to discuss the opportunity he saw in the struggling company, and the bold culture change - grounded in simplicity and a clarity of purpose - that has rallied a workforce around a shared transformation mission.
Related Insights
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian: Lessons from the captain’s seatMastering the cycles of CEO leadership: Stepping up and sending it forward
Mastering the cycles of CEO leadership: Starting strong, and staying ahead
The Josh Harris playbook: building cultures of excellence in business and sports
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Strategic CEO newsletter
Doug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessons
John Stankey talks about leaning into the long term at AT&TSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/
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Mon, 24 Nov 2025 - 446 - 277. The new boardroom dynamic: More conversations, transparency, and trust
In this episode of Inside the Strategy Room, we discuss how the board’s relationship with management is evolving in an era of heightened uncertainty and rapid change. We are joined by board directors Susan Chapman-Hughes and Lan Kang, as well as McKinsey’s Board Services leader Frithjof Lund, and explore how boards are shifting from episodic oversight to continuous engagement, leveraging more frequent dialogue with management teams, investing in trust and culture, and rethinking structure and composition to add strategic value.
Susan Chapman‑Hughesis a seasoned board director and former C-Suite executive with deep experience in digital transformation and human-capital strategy. She is currently an independent director at The J.M. Smucker Company and Toast Inc.
Lan Kang is a global business leader and board member with extensive experience in healthcare, private equity, and strategy. She currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Azkarra Therapeutics, an early-stage biotechnology company. She serves on the board of Avantor Inc. and has held senior roles across Asia and the U.S.
Frithjof Lund is a senior partner and our managing partner in Norway. He leads our Board Services Practice, helping CEOs and boards of directors improve corporate governance and effectiveness. Frithjof also leads our Organization Practice in Scandinavia, helping clients develop high-performing organizations and leaders across the private and public sectors. He is based in our Oslo office.
Related insights
How public-company boards can thrive by adopting private equity practices
How boards can tackle geopolitical risk
The Board Perspective – Number 4
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Fri, 14 Nov 2025 - 445 - 276. From strategy to performance: Building a new operating model for a new world
To successfully execute a strategy, organizations must make deliberate choices about their operating model. In this episode, Julie Goran and Dickie Steele, both partners based in New York, discuss the key elements that comprise an operating model and how leaders can design and implement one that drives performance. They explore the significance of moving beyond traditional structures to more emergent models, and share insights from their research on the trends that are shaping the future of organizational design. Drawing on their experience working with clients, they also provide practical guidance on how to navigate the challenges of redesigning an operating model to unlock value in a rapidly changing business environment.
Julie Goran is a partner in our New York office and leads our digital organization work in our People & Organizational Performance and Financial Services Practices. She helps executives transform organizations to pursue growth and seize digital opportunities.
Richard (Dickie) Steele is a partner also based in our New York office. He designs and delivers purpose-driven transformation programs and is an expert in culture change, organizational agility, and using design-thinking to remake employee experiences and drive improved performance and organizational health
Related insights
A new operating model for a new world
Gen AI’s next inflection point: From employee experimentation to organizational transformation
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Thu, 06 Nov 2025 - 444 - 275. M&A update: Dealmaking is higher, despite volatility
After several years of slowed activity, mergers and acquisitions picked up in the first half of 2025, as disciplined dealmakers reentered the market despite continued uncertainty. In this episode, three McKinsey M&A experts share their recent analysis of global dealmaking, explore the continued outperformance of programmatic acquirers, and weigh in on what the rest of the year’s transactions might look like once the data are finalized.
Jake Henry is a senior partner in our Chicago office and the global co-leader of our M&A Practice. He serves clients on M&A strategy, integration, separations, due diligence, and JVs and alliances. Patrick McCurdy is a partner in our Boston office and a leader of our M&A Strategy and Due Diligence work. He serves clients across industries, advising clients on how to leverage M&A as a differentiated capability. Luke Carter is an associate partner in our New York office and co-leads our M&A capability building work, as well as our annual M&A capability survey and our corresponding research into the habits of programmatic acquirers.
Rich in resilience: Dealmakers deliver strong first-half results in M&A
The seven habits of programmatic acquirers
Time to revisit your M&A strategy
M&A Annual Report: Is the wave finally arriving?
The portfolio management imperative and its M&A implications
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Fri, 31 Oct 2025 - 443 - 274. How Nestlé’s CFO sharpens focus across a global portfolio
The CFO’s challenge has long been one of translating data into a story that the CEO and their management team can use to set strategy and make other decisions. As generative AI advances, the way that CFOs fulfil this role is changing, as guest and Nestlé CFO Anna Manz describes in this episode. Michael Birshan, a senior partner who leads our firm in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Israel, and host Sean Brown, speak with Manz about how she uses AI now and plans to in the future, the impact of geopolitics on Nestlé's operations, and the CFO’s role in integrating the executive team in strategic decision-making and resource allocation.
Related insights
Toward the long term: CFO perspectives on the future of finance
Connecting strategy, finance, and personal development: A conversation with Marjorie Lao
What an AI-powered finance function of the future looks like
Generative AI in finance: Finding the way to faster, deeper insights
How finance skills are evolving in the era of artificial intelligence
McKinsey Insights on the CFO role
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 442 - 273. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian: Lessons from the captain’s seat
Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines since 2016, speaks with our North America Chair and senior partner Eric Kutcher. After 25 years at Delta, including nearly a decade as CEO, Ed reflects on his journey leading the world’s largest airline by revenue—and America’s most recognized carrier, with more than 100,000 employees. The industry was hit hard by the pandemic, and he shares insights on what it takes to get through turbulent times, and keeping his people happy and invested in the company’s success. Ed also talks about leading with the vulnerability to say, “I don’t know,” and the confidence to say, “We’re going to figure it out”.
We recorded their conversation before a live client audience at our Global Strategy Summit in September 2025
Related Insights
A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
The Josh Harris playbook: building cultures of excellence in business and sports
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Strategic CEO newsletter
Doug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessons
John Stankey talks about leaning into the long term at AT&TSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/
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Thu, 16 Oct 2025 - 441 - 272. Clear signals in a world of noise: The strategic realities of a new era
Uncertainty often dominates the headlines, but it is possible to cut through the static to find clear signals in the global trends and demographic shifts shaping the next era of global competition. In this episode, senior partners Chris Bradley and Andy West share their latest research into the strategic realities of a new era: the shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world, rapid technological advancements, demographic changes, the productivity imperative, and the role of energy in shaping the future. Together, these insights can guide business leaders as they design and mobilize today’s strategic moves to thrive in the future.
Andy West is the global coleader of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice and a senior partner based in our Boston office. Chris Bradley serves as a director of the McKinsey Global Institute and is a senior partner based in our Sydney Office.
Related insights
The power of one: How standout firms grow national productivity
The next big arenas of competition
Dependency and depopulation? Confronting the consequences of a new demographic reality
McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2025
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Fri, 10 Oct 2025 - 440 - 271. Mastering the cycles of CEO leadership: Starting strong, and staying ahead
In this second episode of our two-part series on navigating the four seasons of successful CEO leadership, Carolyn Dewar and Kurt Strovink, two of the authors of the upcoming book A CEO For All Seasons, share insights drawn from top-performing CEOs on how to navigate the middle two stages of CEO leadership—starting strong as a new CEO and staying ahead—to maintain long-term effectiveness while at the top.
Carolyn Dewar, a coauthor of the New York Times bestselling CEO Excellence, is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and founded and co-leads the firm’s global CEO excellence client service line. She is a frequent keynote speaker on leadership and transformation.
Kurt Strovink, a coauthor of the national bestseller The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Lead from the Inside Out, is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. Kurt leads the firm’s global CEO services practice and is also a member of McKinsey’s Board of Directors.
Related insights
A CEO for All Season: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
Sending it forward: Successfully transitioning out of the CEO role
Staying ahead: How the best CEOs continually improve performance
Stepping up: Becoming a high-potential CEO candidate
Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal
The CEO’s essential checklist: Questions every chief executive should be able to answer
Leadership lessons from the world’s best CEOs
Serving a greater purpose: CEO Excellence revisited
Building leaders from the ground up
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets that Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Fri, 03 Oct 2025 - 439 - 270. Mastering the cycles of CEO leadership: Stepping up and sending it forward
In the high-stakes world of corporate leadership, becoming a Fortune 500 CEO is an Everest-like ascent, with only the savviest succeeding across every stage of the journey. Carolyn Dewar, Vik Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink, authors of the upcoming book A CEO For All Seasons, join Sean to share insights from top-performing CEOs on navigating the first and fourth stages of CEO leadership – preparing for the role and fortifying a legacy, in the first of two episodes based on the new book.
Carolyn Dewar, a coauthor of the New York Times bestselling CEO Excellence, is a senior partner at McKinsey and founded and co-leads the firm’s global CEO excellence client service line. She is a frequent keynote speaker on leadership and transformation.
Vikram (Vik) Malhotra, a coauthor of CEO Excellence, is a senior partner at McKinsey where he has worked since 1986. He has served on McKinsey’s Board of Directors and as McKinsey’s Managing Partner of the Americas.
Kurt Strovink is a senior partner at McKinsey and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. He also leads McKinsey’s global CEO services practice and coauthored the national bestseller The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Lead from the Inside Out.
Related insights
A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
Sending it forward: Successfully transitioning out of the CEO role
Staying ahead: How the best CEOs continually improve performance
Stepping up: Becoming a high-potential CEO candidate
Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal
The CEO’s essential checklist: Questions every chief executive should be able to answer
Leadership lessons from the world’s best CEOs
Serving a greater purpose: CEO Excellence revisited
Building leaders from the ground up
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets that Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Fri, 26 Sep 2025 - 438 - 269. Strategy under geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty
The current climate of geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty can complicate the strategy process and can make the idea of waiting for calmer times look attractive. But as our guests today point out, waiting out the storm is not an option. Instead, organizations need to make bold strategic moves rooted in a thorough understanding of how they create value and the market conditions they face.
In this episode, Sean is joined by Matt Watters, who is a leader in our Geopolitics, Government, and Strategy and Corporate Finance Practices and a partner in our New Jersey office. Matt’s work focuses on growth and innovation in industries with evolving global dynamics, including defense, space, semiconductors, high tech, and cybersecurity. Ezra Greenberg also joins the podcast and is a partner in our Connecticut office, where he advises executives and investors across multiple sectors on how macro forces and global trends impact critical strategy and investment decisions under uncertainty.Related insights
In a moment of tariffs, can the world find balance and trust to thrive?
How American business can prosper in the new geopolitical era
Restricted: How export controls are reshaping markets
Tariffs on the move? A guide for CEOs for 2025 and beyond
A proactive approach to navigating geopolitics is essential to thrive
Strategy beyond the hockey stick: People, probabilities, and big moves beat the odds
Building geopolitical resilience: A conversation with Michèle Flournoy
Taking a proactive approach to geopolitics
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 18 Sep 2025 - 437 - 268. Accounting for carbon: SAP’s Dominik Asam on the CFO’s role
Beyond reporting requirements and transparency imperatives, there’s a huge financial incentive to manage your company’s sustainability activities with data-driven business decision-making. To do so, efforts must be anchored in a data strategy that merges the financial and the ESG analysis. In this episode, Peter Spiller, a partner based in our Frankfurt office who co-leads our efforts in environmentally sustainable operations, speaks with Dominik Asam, Member of the Executive Board and CFO at enterprise planning software giant SAP. Dominik talks about his role in helping steer the company and their customers towards decarbonization, and how to balance the financial ledger with the sustainability ‘Green Ledger’ in a future-ready way that centers on driving real progress while protecting the bottom line.
Related insights
Managing carbon: A new role for the CFOToward the long term: CFO perspectives on the future of finance
Reaching net zero–what will it take?
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Wed, 10 Sep 2025 - 436 - 267. Cybersecurity for CFOs: Defending against an accelerating threat
In today’s fast-evolving cybersecurity landscape, organizations face bigger and bolder threats that have wide-reaching implications − from financial and customer data breaches, to third-party infiltration and disruption far down the supply chain. Hacking has become an organized business, and AI and quantum technologies are as much a part of the threat as they are the solution.
Charlie Lewis leads our North American and European cyber practices and is a partner in our Connecticut office. He supports clients on strategic cyber transformations. In this episode, Charlie speaks with Sean Brown about the critical role of CFOs in their organization’s cyber operations, the core foundations of cybersecurity, and the importance of organizations collaborating on improving security in a world of crime that has no borders.
Related insights
Resilience Pulse Check: Harnessing Collaboration to Navigate a Volatile World
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McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 04 Sep 2025 - 435 - 266. Transforming procurement to transform your business
Procurement can play a crucial role in driving a company's transformation, and leaders are now recognizing its potential to be a strategic enabler of change. In this episode of Inside the Strategy Room, we explore the key findings from our recent McKinsey.com article titled “Aim higher and move faster for successful procurement-led transformation”. Teresa George, a partner in our Chicago office, Raul Santos, a partner in our Madrid office, and Cole Wirpel, an associate partner in our Atlanta office, join Sean to share insights on how procurement can be a catalyst for company-wide transformation and the essential capabilities required to achieve this goal.
Related insights
Aim higher and move faster for successful procurement-led transformation
How procurement leaders can bring metals and mining up to speed
The digital spend control tower: Shift spending mindsets at scale
Defining your ‘true north’: A road map to successful transformation
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 28 Aug 2025 - 434 - 265. The Josh Harris playbook: building cultures of excellence in business and sports
In 2022, Josh Harris founded26North, an alternative asset management firm that has reached close to $30 billion in assets under management in its first 3 years. Josh also co-founded Apollo Global Management and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment(HSBE) and is a prominent figure in the sports management arena. He has stakes in the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and Crystal Palace Football Club, amongst other teams.
In this episode, Josh speaks with our North America Chair and senior partner Eric Kutcher, sharing insights that span his high school wrestling years, to starting anew at the age of 55 with 26North. His thoughts on leadership, culture, and resilience traverse both the worlds of investment and sports.
Related insightsA CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Strategic CEO newsletter
Doug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessons
John Stankey talks about leaning into the long term at AT&TSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/
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Thu, 21 Aug 2025 - 433 - 264. Creating value through separations
Divestiture is one of the least discussed aspects of M&A, and yet separations can be a highly effective way of creating value. In this week’s episode, Sean speaks with two McKinsey experts on separations and spin-offs about their latest research on the subject. Jamie Koenig coleads our separations and spin-off client work globally and is a partner in our New York office. He has more than a decade of experience helping clients navigate complex transactions, having worked on hundreds of deals, and has a particular passion for building new companies via spin-offs. Anna Mattsson is the global co-lead of our separations and spin-offs client service line. She is a partner in our Zurich office and has 20 years of experience helping clients deliver value through M&A, divestitures, and spin-offs. The two are co-authors of our recent article on separations.
Related insightsWhen separating businesses, people are the key to unleashing value
The cost of (un)doing business
Why speed matters in divestituresWhat it takes to make separations a competitive difference-maker
M&A Annual Report: Is the wave finally arriving?
Active portfolio management: Five practical insights for value creation
The equity story you need for the long-term investors you want
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 14 Aug 2025 - 432 - 263. How Strategy Champions win
In this episode, Sean talks with four strategy experts who share the findings of their new research into the practices that separate companies that succeed at building and executing an excellent strategy from those that do not. You can read more about their research in the new McKinsey Quarterly article titled, How Strategy Champions win.
Alex D'Amico co-leads our strategy work globally and leads it in North America. He is a senior partner in our Connecticut office where he helps companies across industries shape enterprise strategy, undertake cultural transformations, rapidly boost performance, and redesign organizations to sustain results. Alejandro Krell co-leads our strategy work globally with Alex and leads our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice in Latin America. He is a senior partner in our Panama City office where he advises companies across the financial services, manufacturing, mining, retail, and telecom sectors on addressing strategic challenges and making lasting performance improvements. Semyon Yakovlev leads our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice across Asia and is a senior partner in our Seoul office. He serves clients on strategic and performance improvement programs, working with major banking groups, insurance companies, tech companies, and public sector institutions. Whitney Zimmerman is a core leader of our strategy work and an associate partner in our London office. He also leads our work on the role of the chief strategy officer, helping CSOs define and succeed in their roles, and he led our latest research on strategy capabilities and practices.
Have you tested your strategy lately?
How programmatic M&A fosters long-term resilience
How AI is transforming strategy development
The strategy leader’s evolving mandate
Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick
Rewired: The McKinsey guide to outcompeting in the age of digital and AI
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 07 Aug 2025 - 431 - 262. Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI
Carl Eschenbach joined Workday in December 2022 to serve as co-CEO alongside Co-Founder Aneel Bhusri before becoming sole CEO in February 2024. In this episode, our North America Chair and senior partner, Eric Kutcher, talks with Carl about taking a ‘co-existence’ view of the role of AI in the workforce as a source of productivity, building an endurable company with a growth mindset culture, and the responsibility of leaders to serve the success of others.
Related Insights
Becoming CEO—just in time for a global crisis: David Gitlin
How Judy Marks leads Otis Worldwide Corporation through uncertainty and technological evolution
Data, analytics, and decisions: An interview with Teradata’s CFO
Palo Alto Networks CFO on AI, cybersecurity, and the finance leader’s mandate
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Thu, 31 Jul 2025 - 430 - 261. Retired US Navy Admiral Eric Olson: Leading effectively in uncertain times
In this episode, we speak with Eric Olson, a retired US Navy Admiral with a distinguished career in special operations, about the key principles of effective leadership, particularly in times of uncertainty. Eric shares insights from his experiences leading high-performing teams and organizations through complex challenges, offering valuable leadership lessons for executives in today's rapidly changing business landscape.
Related insights:A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets that Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs learn to lead from the inside out
Trusted advice for effective leadership
The CEO as chief resilience officer
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 24 Jul 2025 - 429 - 260. Boosting growth through innovation
Even in a highly uncertain business environment, companies that build new businesses and develop new offerings, processes, and business models are better able to capture growth opportunities and hedge against disruption. Our recent survey of more than 1,000 companies around the world reflected this, with the largest share of respondents identifying the ability to innovate as their most important strategic factor for generating growth over the coming 12 months.
To discuss the survey and talk about the innovation activities top performers are focusing on today, Sean Brown is joined by Rebecca Doherty, Matt Banholzer, and Clayton O’Toole. Rebecca co-leads our Strategic Growth and Innovation practice and is a partner in our San Francisco office. She works extensively with health care, industrial, and technology clients to define and execute growth road maps. Matt co-leads our Global Strategic Growth and Innovation practice with Rebecca and is a senior partner in our Chicago office. He also sits on the leadership team of our business-building practice, and serves organizations on innovation strategy across a range of sectors, including energy, materials, and agriculture. Clayton is a leader in our Strategy & Corporate Finance and Consumer Tech and Media practices in North America and is a partner based in our Minnesota office. He serves a wide range of clients including media organizations, sports leagues; food, apparel, and hardlines retailers; consumer packaged goods companies, and principal investors.
Related Insights
How top performers use innovation to grow within and beyond the core
The eight essentials of innovation
Revolutionary innovations propelling growth
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Sun, 20 Jul 2025 - 428 - 259. Risk, Resilience, and Innovation: Insights from AXIS Capital's Vincent Tizzio
Vince Tizzio is President and CEO of AXIS, a specialty insurance and reinsurance company that delivers customized solutions to organizations worldwide. Since taking on the role in May 2023, Vince has led AXIS on an ambitious transformation journey.
In this episode, he speaks with McKinsey senior partner and North America Chair Eric Kutcher about what it means to take on the CEO role, how to lead through significant change with conviction and care, the kind of exposures companies should consider in today’s complex risk landscape, and how to be deliberate about investing in AI.
Related Insights
Stepping up: Becoming a high-potential CEO candidate
How boards can tackle geopolitical risk
How Judy Marks leads Otis Worldwide Corporation through uncertainty and technological evolution
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
Author Talks: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on leading with ‘good power’
Getting fit for growth: The leadership mindsets and behaviors that matter
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 10 Jul 2025 - 427 - 258. Andy Mattes on the challenges of driving M&A as CEO
Mergers and acquisitions are among the more complex processes new CEOs have to learn, whether they’re in the role for the first time or taking over at a new company. Andreas “Andy” W. Mattes has navigated this multiple times in his roles as CEO of Siemens Communications, Diebold, and later of Diebold Nixdorf, and now of the laser technology company Coherent. In this discussion with M&A practice leader Jake Henry, Andy talks about the roller-coaster ride that M&A can be, and the critical M&A skills he had to learn as a CEO, including how to best deal with competing bids and making time to commune with other CEOs.
Jake is the global co-leader of McKinsey’s M&A Practice, which includes mergers, acquisitions, integrations, joint ventures, and divestitures. He previously led our Life Sciences Practice globally, where he guided pharmaceutical and medical-technology company executives on matters of corporate strategy, growth strategy, and operational excellence for more than twenty years.
Related insights
CEOs in M&A: Five actions only the chief executive can take
Uncertainty in M&A: Postcards from the new normal
M&A Annual Report: Is the wave finally arriving?
The loneliest job? How top CEOs manage dilemmas and vulnerability
CEO excellence: How do leaders assess their own performance?
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead From the Inside Out
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Fri, 04 Jul 2025 - 426 - 257. The new and timeless truths of valuation
Measuring value creation is critical, as company leaders grapple with geopolitical shifts, digital disruption, and other trends affecting their businesses. Two co-authors of the new edition of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies join Sean today to discuss what they’ve learned over the course of writing and updating their book, which is now in its eighth edition, with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide
Author Tim Koller is a core leader in our Corporate Finance Practice and a Partner in our Denver office. In more than 40 years of consulting, he’s served clients globally on corporate strategy, capital markets, acquisitions, divestitures, and resource allocation. Co-author Marc Goedhart is a senior expert in our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice based in Amsterdam. He’s also an endowed professor of corporate valuation at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
Related insights
Subscribe to The Valuation Practitioner newsletter on LinkedIn
Author Talks: What’s new in Valuation?
Bias Busters: Getting both sides of the story
Biases in decision-making: A guide for CFOs
Is your ‘conglomerate discount’ a performance discount or a communication problem?
Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy
What I learned from Daniel Kahneman
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Wed, 25 Jun 2025 - 425 - 256. Doug Parker, former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessons
As CEO challenges go, facing a global threat that is existential not just for your company but for your industry is among the worst possible. American Airlines’ former Chairman and CEO, Doug Parker, has been through this twice while leading an airline, following the 9/11 attacks in New York and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, he speaks with McKinsey Senior Partner Celia Huber about how these experiences helped him become a better leader.
Doug Parker has served as CEO of three airlines: America West, US Airways, and American Airlines. He currently serves on the board of Qantas. Celia Huber is a McKinsey senior partner in our Bay Area office, where she leads our board services work in North America.
Related insights
Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration
Geopolitical resilience: The new board imperative
Resilience pulse check: Harnessing collaboration to navigate a volatile world
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 19 Jun 2025 - 424 - 255. Building transformation momentum through working capital optimization
Holistic transformations are complex and can take a long time to show full results. By optimizing working capital early on, companies can help score early wins to create momentum and excite stakeholders across the organization. In this episode, Sean talks with two McKinsey transformation experts about how to identify and achieve these working capital improvements to maximize the impact of a transformation.
Jacob Rüden is a partner in our Transformation Practice, based in Cologne, and he leads our cash excellence work globally. He has more than 20 years of experience serving clients in transformation and on cash and working capital engagements across sectors, including automotive, energy, chemicals, transportation, consumer goods, and retail. And Marvin Denis is an expert in our Transformation Practice, based in New York. He's a core member of our cash excellence service line and co-leader of our cash solutions globally. He works across sectors, including automotive, chemicals, consumer goods, and retail.
Related insights
Gain transformation momentum early by optimizing working capital
Building optionality: Balance sheet discipline is both timely and timeless
Succeeding in the AI supply-chain revolution
A data-driven approach to improving net working capital
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Fri, 13 Jun 2025 - 423 - 254. John Stankey, AT&T’s CEO and Chairman of the Board, on embracing long-term vision
John Stankey has led AT&T as CEO since July 2020, and was elected Chairman of the Board in February this year. Over his 40-year tenure, John has held multiple senior leadership roles across the breadth of AT&T’s businesses, including turns as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Technology Officer.
In this episode, John speaks with McKinsey senior partner and North America Chair Eric Kutcher about his journey at AT&T. They discuss how John pivoted the portfolio, how he trusted in long-term ‘big bets’ amidst the current wave of economic change, and the meaning of leaving a legacy at a 150-year-old company.
Related InsightsHow boards can tackle geopolitical risk
How Judy Marks leads Otis Worldwide Corporation through uncertainty and technological evolution
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
Author Talks: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on leading with ‘good power’
Getting fit for growth: The leadership mindsets and behaviors that matter
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Thu, 05 Jun 2025 - 422 - 253. Private capital gets more alternative
For many years, the continued rise of private markets has been defined by assets under management (AUM), while the composition of the industry evolved significantly. This week, two of McKinsey’s Private Capital Practice experts are joined by Neil Mehta from Apollo Global Management to discuss the diverse types of non-traditional private capital increasingly being raised by general partners (GPs), and how asset managers will need to continue to adapt to meet this growing complexity and the variety of needs that their investors are looking to them to solve.
McKinsey Senior Partner Alexander Edlich is a senior leader in McKinsey’s Private Capital Practice, and is based in New York. He’s the lead author of our 2025 Global Private Markets Review, and has more than two decades of experience advising financial services firms, including alternative asset managers and investors, on how to address ever-changing industry dynamics. McKinsey Partner Paul Maia co-leads McKinsey’s work on advising the C-suite of private capital GPs, as well as the private capital arms of institutional investors, and is based in Washington, D.C. Neil Mehta is a partner and global head of new markets at Apollo Global Management in New York, where he is responsible for driving growth into markets that have historically had limited exposure to private assets, including traditional asset management, defined contribution, and tax advantage strategies. Neil is also a member of Apollo’s leadership team.
Related insights
Alternative assets get more alternative: The rise of novel AUM forms
Global Private Markets Report 2025: Braced for shifting weather
Thematic investing: A win–win for private equity and the planet
Private capital: The key to boosting European competitiveness
McKinsey Insights on Private Capital
McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 29 May 2025 - 421 - 252. Growth leader mindsets and behaviors
Although every company wants to grow, only one in four is able to do so profitably and maintain that growth over time. This week, Sean speaks with three of our growth experts about the mindsets and behaviors of successful growth outperformers.
Jill Zucker is a senior partner and former managing partner of our New York office. She co-leads our global growth transformation work and serves financial services firms, including wealth managers, asset managers, insurance companies, global banks, and private equity. Rebecca Doherty is a partner in our Bay Area office and co-leader of our global Strategic Growth and Innovation Practice. She works with healthcare, industrial, and technology clients to define and execute value-creating growth road maps. Kate Siegel is a partner in our Detroit office and a leader in our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. She counsels CEOs and executive teams to develop holistic growth strategies, pursue organic and inorganic M&A, and attain profitable growth aspirations.
Related Insights
How top performers use innovation to grow within and beyond the core
Breaking the mold: Five behaviors of leading growth transformers
How to reignite growth through adjacencies
Innovative growers: A view from the top
Courageous growth: Six strategies for continuous growth outperformance
The triple play: Growth, profit, and sustainability
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Thu, 22 May 2025 - 420 - 251. Driving transformational behavior change at scale
Transformation is a complex undertaking that relies heavily on achieving behavioral change within an organization. Three McKinsey transformation and organizational health experts talk this week about the common pitfalls companies face when attempting to transform, and share tips for avoiding them.
Rajesh Krishnan is a senior partner in our New York office and a leader in our Transformation Practice. He counsels clients on identifying and delivering transformative and sustainable performance improvements, and is a founder of our capability building solution, the Ability to Execute or A2E. Tiffany Vogel is a partner in our Miami office, and is an expert in change management, leadership development, and agile product development. She focuses on financial institutions and state governments, and also serves on the faculty at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. And Matthew Schrimper is an associate partner in our Boston office. He helps clients improve performance through organizational change, and has expertise in large-scale transformations, culture and change management, as well as talent and operating model design.
Related insights
Breaking the mold: Five behaviors of leading growth transformers
Transformation with a capital T
How seven steps can help midsize industrials crack the transformation code
What does it take to run a healthy organization? Find out with this quiz
Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave
What makes an organization ‘healthy’?
The yin and yang of organizational health
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 15 May 2025 - 419 - 250. Building geopolitical resilience: A conversation with Michèle Flournoy
In this episode, Michèle Flournoy joins Andy West to share her perspectives on how companies can build their geopolitical resilience. Michèle is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm that helps CEOs and investors navigate geopolitical risks and opportunities. She served the US government as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to 2012 and was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense. In January 2007, Michèle co-founded the Center for a New American Security – a bipartisan think tank dedicated to developing strong, pragmatic, and principled national security policies. She served as its President until 2009, returned as CEO in 2014, and today serves as the Chair. Andy West is a senior partner and the global coleader of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.
Related Insights
Tariffs and global trade: The economic impact on business
Navigating tariffs with a geopolitical nerve center
Tariffs on the move? A guide for CEOs for 2025 and beyond
How American business can prosper in the new geopolitical era.
Insights from McKinsey and Company’s Geopolitics Practice
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Thu, 08 May 2025 - 418 - 249. Becoming CEO, just in time for global crisis: David Gitlin, Chairman and CEO of Carrier Global Corporation
David Gitlin is Chairman and CEO of Carrier Global Corporation, a global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions. With prior senior leadership roles in aerospace and manufacturing and extensive expertise across safety and operational excellence, David led the much-lauded 2020 Carrier spin-off from United Technologies—as the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, McKinsey senior partner and North America Chair, Eric Kutcher, talks with David about his journey as a CEO during a crisis, and explores his insights on rallying leadership, the board, and 50,000 employees across 160 countries to excel in their roles.
This podcast was recorded on March 31, 2025.
Related insights
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The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
Author Talks: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on leading with ‘good power’
Getting fit for growth: The leadership mindsets and behaviors that matter
CEO PerspectivesSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/
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Fri, 02 May 2025 - 417 - 248. Taking a proactive approach to geopolitics
As geopolitical trends bring increased uncertainty and risk, CEOs and other business leaders can take action to get and stay ahead of it all. This week Sean speaks with three McKinsey experts on geopolitical risk about how organizations can build resilience to address continued global uncertainty.
Cindy Levy is a senior partner in our London office and the global co-leader of our Geopolitics Practice. She previously led our Global Risk and Resilience and our United Kingdom Financial Services Practices, and she works with financial institutions on strategy, corporate finance, enterprise risk management, and culture. Shubham Singhal is a senior partner in our Detroit office and co-leads our Geopolitics Practice with Cindy. He previously led our healthcare, public sector, and social sector practices, as well as our efforts to help clients respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Olivia White is a senior partner in our Bay Area office and a director of the McKinsey Global Institute. She advises leading financial institutions and other global firms on a wide range of issues across strategy, growth, risk and resilience.
Related insights
How American business can prosper in the new geopolitical era
Navigating the new geopolitical uncertainty
Geopolitics and the geometry of global trade: 2025 update
Tariffs on the move? A guide for CEOs for 2025 and beyond
A proactive approach to navigating geopolitics is essential to thrive
Dependency and depopulation? Confronting the consequences of a new demographic reality
Can your company remain global and if so, how?
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Thu, 24 Apr 2025 - 416 - 247. Transforming for growth
Companies often aim for growth or transformation, but it's less common for them to pursue transformation as a means of achieving growth. This week, three McKinsey experts share their research into how the one in four companies that outperform use transformation to achieve growth beyond that of their peers.
Sandra Sancier-Sultan is a senior partner based in Paris and a leader in McKinsey’s Transformation, Sustainability, and Financial Services practices. Rebecca Doherty is a partner in our San Francisco Bay Area office and co-leader of our global Strategic Growth and Innovation Practice, and Louisa Greco is a partner in our Toronto office and a leader in our Transformation Practice.
Related insights
Breaking the mold: Five behaviors of leading growth transformers
Choosing to grow: The leader’s blueprint
Courageous growth: Six strategies for continuous growth outperformance
Eight lessons on how to get the growth you planned
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Thu, 17 Apr 2025 - 415 - 246. Alok Sama on corporate finance in the fast lane
Alok Sama spent years in corporate finance and as a managing director at Morgan Stanley before joining Softbank as CFO and plunging into founder-CEO Masayoshi Son’s world of high-speed, high-risk decision making. For Sama, the shift involved many eye-opening experiences, which he later shared in a memoir, titled The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble (St. Martin’s Press, 2024).
In this episode, Sama speaks with McKinsey senior partner Vik Malhotra, who is based in our New York office, where he counsels CEOs and corporate boards and serves as our firm’s Chairman of the Americas. Vik is also a co-author of the New York Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. The two talked about what it was like to work with SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, negotiating deals such as Softbank’s $32 billion acquisition of the British chip design company Arm Holdings, and why Alok decided to return to school in his 50s to earn a master’s degree in fine arts.
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CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.
The CEO as elite athlete: What business leaders can learn from modern sports
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Palo Alto Networks CFO on AI, cybersecurity, and the finance leader’s mandate
Achieving growth: Putting leadership mindsets and behaviors into action
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 10 Apr 2025 - 414 - 245. The six habits of successful risk leaders
To succeed today, chief risk officers (CRO) and other risk leaders must exert more influence and build organizational resilience in an increasingly complex risk environment. Today’s guests share the key practices that set top risk leaders apart, as CROs shift from traditional risk managers to influential figures driving resilience and organizational success.
Ida Kristensen is the global co-leader of our Risk and Resilience Practice and senior partner in our New York office. She advises clients across sectors on a variety of topics spanning enterprise risk management, resilience, organization and talent, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and operational improvement. Ritesh Jain is a partner based in our New York office and a leader in our Risk and Resilience Practice. He advises financial institutions on their risk and resilience priorities with a focus on enterprise risk management, operational risk, and transforming the frontline risk and control environment. We are also joined by Naba Banerjee, currently Chief Product and Experience Officer at CLEAR and formerly a senior advisor to McKinsey and the Global Head of Trust and Safety at Airbnb, where she led a team responsible for industry-defining solutions that reduced fraud and safety incidents by over 50%.
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The six habits of highly successful chief risk officers
Risk and resilience priorities, as told by chief risk officers
Helping boards manage geopolitical risk with Jon Huntsman Jr.
How ambidextrous leaders manage through volatile times
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Fri, 04 Apr 2025 - 413 - 244. Filling the gap between innovation and go-to-market, with AWS’s Jelena Joffe
McKinsey innovation leader Erik Roth speaks with Jelena Joffe Weil, the founder and worldwide leader of the Venture Innovation program at Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing arm, about how AWS works to close the gap between innovation and go-to-market for start-ups and large enterprises. The global hyperscaler is known for helping businesses grow and scale rapidly, but it also helps start-ups and established enterprises find each other to engage in open, or collaborative, innovation.
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The Committed Innovator podcast
Filling the gap between innovation and go to market
Driving innovation with generative AI
How to take the measure of innovation
Fielding high-performing innovation teams
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Fri, 28 Mar 2025 - 412 - 243. A road map to successful transformation
Business transformation has evolved markedly in recent years as technology and the pace of change reshape the landscape organizations face. Once a byword for cost-cutting, transformation now more readily incorporates bold, strategic goals. Today, we discuss the core elements of a successful transformation and how to confront some of the common challenges.
We are joined by three deeply experienced leaders from our Transformation Practice to discuss how transformation has evolved over the years. Kevin Carmody is a senior partner based in our Chicago office and works with management teams, boards of directors, and other stakeholders on complex performance transformations, strategy, change management programs, and corporate finance. Louisa Greco is a partner in our Toronto office and focuses on driving broad-scale transformations, commercial improvement, growth and innovation, and organizational effectiveness. Rob Montgomery is a partner in our San Francisco office and has designed and led comprehensive transformations across industries. All our guests have served in senior executive and chief transformation officer roles.
Related Insights
Defining your ‘true north’: A road map to successful transformation
Ready, set, go, and keep going: Why speed is key to a successful transformation
Breaking the mold: Five behaviors of leading growth transformers
Meet the newest member of the consumer C-suite: The chief transformation officer
Driving long-term business transformation
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Thu, 20 Mar 2025 - 411 - 242. Planning for the next wave of M&A
This week we speak with the authors of our latest Annual M&A Report about trends in the deal landscape and what we might expect from 2025. Will the much-anticipated increase in transactions finally materialize? Or will players continue to hold onto their dry powder, waiting for the ongoing uncertainty that we’ve seen since the pandemic to settle down? McKinsey senior partners Mieke Van Oostende and Jake Henry co-lead our M&A practice, and in this episode, they share findings and observations from their latest report.
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M&A Annual Report: Is the wave finally arriving?
How one approach to M&A is more likely to create value than all others
How lots of small M&A deals add up to big value
The seven habits of programmatic acquirers
How AI is transforming strategy development
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 13 Mar 2025 - 410 - 241. The path forward for private equity
Despite persistent uncertainty in global markets, 2024 was the year that private equity began to emerge from a multi-year fog, with a rebound in dealmaking and distributions. Our Global Private Markets Report for 2025 revealed an industry that is more resilient, more innovative, and perhaps stronger than before. To discuss the nuances of that report we are joined by two of the report’s authors, Alex Edlich and Christopher Croke.
Alex is a senior partner in our New York office where he helps private equity and financial services clients achieve superior performance, by driving innovation with new technology. He is a senior leader in our Financial Services, Private Capital, and Digital Practices. Christopher Croke is a partner in our London office, where he is a leader in our Private Capital Practice. He advises private equity firms on their investments and strategy and helps the companies they own with their strategy and value creation.
Related insights
Global Private Markets Report 2025: Private equity emerging from the fog
CEO alpha: A new approach to generating private equity outperformance
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Thu, 06 Mar 2025 - 409 - 240. Improving strategy with AI
A key challenge to developing corporate strategy is moving quickly enough with the right insights to gain and maintain a competitive edge. Generative AI can help with this, as our guests this week describe.In this episode, we talk with three strategy experts about their research into using gen AI to help develop corporate strategy and the successes and challenges they encountered.
Bruce Delteil is the managing partner of our Vietnam office and leads our Strategy Practice in Asia. He serves clients on all aspects of strategy development, including scenario planning, visioning, war games, and the impact of gen AI. Antoine Montard is our Strategy Practice director of client capabilities based in Lisbon. He leads our Strategy, Research, and Insight Center and helps develop novel approaches for strategy, builds capabilities of teams and clients, and serves as a strategy expert on client projects. Andrea Tricoli is an associate partner in our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice based in London. He leads our initiative to apply generative AI to our Strategy Method. He serves organizations on how to use analytics and AI to drive better decision-making, especially across the finance and strategy functions.
Related Insights
How AI is transforming strategy development
Four critical strategies for sustainable gen AI adoption
Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick
Why strategists should embrace imperfection
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
Achieving growth: Putting leadership mindsets and behaviors into action
Six strategies for growth outperformance
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 27 Feb 2025 - 408 - 239. CEO perspectives: Jim Fitterling, Chair and CEO of Dow Inc.
Innovation and transformation become critical imperatives for many organizations, especially as they grow larger and mature. The complex merger and series of spin-offs that Dow Inc. underwent with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company between 2017 and 2018 is among the more dramatic of such reinventions. The move to create a materials science company (Dow), an agricultural business (Corteva), and an industrial company (Dupont), remains a much-studied growth strategy case.
In this episode, Dow Inc. Chair and CEO Jim Fitterling talks with McKinsey Senior Partner and Global Energy and Materials Practice leader John Warner about why the “merge-spin” made sense then and now, and about leading a global company with compassion in a rapidly changing world.Related insights
Getting fit for growth: The leadership mindsets and behaviors that matter
The Committed Innovator: A conversation with Neal Gutterson of Corteva
The making of a megadeal: Howard Ungerleider on the merger of Dow and DuPont
Top M&A trends in 2024: Blueprint for success in the next wave of deals
How one approach to M&A is more likely to create value than all others
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Wed, 19 Feb 2025 - 407 - 238. How leading CEOs excel at stakeholder engagement
The best leaders are masterful communicators. They advance the aspirations of their companies with compelling, singular narratives that inspire a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. In this episode, we’re joined by three CEO and stakeholder relations experts who share their research into how CEOs can foster deeper dialogues and more meaningful connections with their wide range of stakeholders. Blair Epstein is a partner in our Bay Area office and a leader in our CEO Excellence Practice. Julia McClatchy is a partner in our Philadelphia office and a leader in our Growth, Marketing, and Sales Practice, and Eric Sherman is an expert based in our New York office who co-leads our CEO communications work.
Related Insights
How the best CEOs build lasting stakeholder relationships
The CEO’s essential checklist: Questions every chief executive should be able to answer
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinquish the Best Leaders from the Rest
The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead From the Inside Out
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Thu, 13 Feb 2025 - 406 - 237. How Judy Marks leads Otis Worldwide Corporation through all manner of change
Judy Marks is one of the few dozen women who lead Fortune 500 companies. She joined Connecticut-based Otis Elevator in 2017 as President, and was appointed CEO in 2019. After leading the company’s 2020 spinoff to become an independent publicly traded company, she was appointed Chair as well. Additionally, Judy serves on the board of Caterpillar.
In this episode McKinsey Senior Partner and North America Chair Eric Kutcher talks with Judy about how she thinks about geopolitical shifts, technological change, and leading 71,000 employees in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.Related insights
The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory
A business of its times: Haier’s self-evolving organization
Author Talks: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on leading with ‘good power’
Getting fit for growth: The leadership mindsets and behaviors that matter
Opening doors for women leaders: An interview with Caroline Feeney
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Thu, 06 Feb 2025 - 405 - 236. How corporate boards are responding to their changing role
Corporate boards face increasing complexity as factors such as technological and geopolitical change challenge the organizations they serve. At the same time, boards are expected to do more, including to serve as catalysts of value creation. In this episode we talk with three experts on board effectiveness about their research: Senior partners Frithjof Lund and Celia Huber lead McKinsey’s Board Services Practice, together with senior expert Nina Spielmann. Their recently published analysis, “Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration,” looks at the ways boards can do more to help advance the corporations they steward.
Related insights
The rising complexity of board directorship
Ready to board: Ascending new heights through CEO-board communication
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Fri, 31 Jan 2025 - 404 - 235. Reimagining board communications
We discuss the role of technology in improving board communications, the challenges boards face in managing information, and how AI and cloud-based platforms can help streamline board meetings and improve decision-making.
Our guests are Niamh Corbett, the Head of Americas for Board Intelligence, McKinsey senior partner Celia Huber, who leads our North American Board Services Practice, and actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur Edward Norton, who is also the co-founder and head of strategy at Zeck—a cloud-based software platform designed specifically for boards.Related insights
Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration
The rising complexity of board directorship
Ready to board: Ascending new heights through CEO-board communication
Zeck is software that reimagines the board meeting process to improve decision-making for boards, investors, and management teams.
Board Intelligence provides management reporting software and a board portal that unlocks your business’s performance and governance.
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Fri, 24 Jan 2025 - 403 - What an AI-powered finance function of the future looks like
In this bonus episode of Inside the Strategy Room, we feature an interview with OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar from the At the Edge podcast. Sarah joined our senior partner, Lareina Yee, to discuss how to lead through this era of intense technological change and what it means for the future of the finance function and business leadership.
Our At the Edge podcast features conversations with creative leaders and pioneers who demystify cutting-edge technologies and share strategies for companies to capture big opportunities.
Related insights
Keeping artificial intelligence real
Cisco Systems CFO on M&A, geopolitics, and the emerging AI opportunity
Managing the risks around generative AI
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Thu, 16 Jan 2025 - 402 - 233. Building the will to transform: The importance of communication in transformations
The way leaders talk about the goals and process of transformation has a profound influence on outcomes.
The process of transformation can challenge any organization that undertakes it. In this episode, McKinsey transformation experts John Parsons, Dominic Skerritt, and Mary Lass Stewart talk about the role of communication to engaging and keeping team members on board and energized throughout the process. The trio recently co-authored an article on the subject, Going all in: Why employee ‘will’ can make or break transformations.
Related insights
How to communicate effectively in times of uncertainty
To deliver a transformation’s full potential, put the front line first
The powerful role financial incentives can play in a transformation
How many people are really needed in a transformation?
McKinsey Insights on Transformation
McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn
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Thu, 09 Jan 2025 - 401 - 232. Best of 2024 - What’s new in strategy: A view from the frontlines
Senior partners Alex D’Amico, Michael Birshan, and Andy West join us for a conversation about the latest developments in the field of strategy. They discuss how generative AI will change strategy creation, the importance of developing distinctive insights as part of the strategy process, and how to avoid social dynamics from derailing your organization’s best-laid plans.
Related insights:
Strategic courage in an age of volatility Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear The social side of strategy The board’s role in strategySupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/
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Thu, 02 Jan 2025 - 400 - 231. Best of 2024 - Why strategists should embrace imperfection
We're joined by Charles Conn and Rob McLean, AM, the co-authors of The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times.
Charles is an investor, environmentalist, and entrepreneur. He co-founded Monograph, a venture firm, and was previously CEO of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford. He is the Board Chair of Patagonia and sits on The Nature Conservancy European Council. He was the founding CEO of Ticketmaster-Citysearch and a partner at McKinsey & Company.
Rob is a Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company, a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy in Australia and Asia, and a Director of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic foundation. He is the former Dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.Rob and Charles' books can be found here: https://bulletproofproblemsolving.com/
You can also listen to their previous interview on Inside the Strategy Room or read the edited transcript on McKinsey.com.
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Thu, 26 Dec 2024 - 399 - 230. How boards can tackle geopolitical risk
Corporate boards face increased complexity today, with heightened geopolitical risk key among the concerns they must consider as they guide the companies they serve. In this episode, three experts on boards and geopolitics discuss how boards can best adapt to this new normal. Dominic Barton is board chair for the metals and mining company Rio Tinto, and also for the impact investment firm Leapfrog investments. He's also a senior advisor and partner at the AI investment firm Radical Ventures. Previously, Dom served as Canada’s ambassador to China. And before that he was a McKinsey senior partner who served as our global managing partner for three terms. Frithjof Lundis a senior partner who leads our Board Services Practice as well as our Norway office. He helps boards of directors improve corporate governance.Ziad Haider is a partner and our global director of geopolitical risk. He is based in our Singapore office, and counsels CXOs and boards on how to build out their capabilities to better understand, monitor, and mitigate geopolitical risk.
Related insights
Eye in the sky: Launching a geopolitical risk unit
Building geopolitical resilience: The people agenda
Geopolitical risk: Navigating a world in flux
Helping boards manage geopolitical risk with Jon Huntsman Jr.
How global companies can manage geopolitical risk
How three global companies navigate geopolitical risk to build resilience
Can your company remain global and if so, how?
Black swans, gray rhinos, and silver linings: Anticipating geopolitical risks (and openings)
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn
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Thu, 19 Dec 2024
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