The McKinsey Podcast, our new flagship podcast series, takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.
The "Great Ownership Transfer" involves an estimated 6 million small businesses transitioning ownership as baby boomers retire, putting approximately $5 trillion in enterprise value at risk. McKinsey partners Ken Yearwood and Shelley Stewart III highlight that while the U.S. excels at fostering new business formation, ...
Successful AI transformation requires moving beyond isolated pilot projects toward scaling end-to-end workflows across a company’s entire footprint. McKinsey partners Rob Levin and Kate Smaje, authors of Rewired, emphasize that organizations achieving the highest impact—averaging a 20% EBITDA uplift—focus on three or f...
The integration of AI agents and robots into the workforce necessitates a fundamental shift toward a constructive partnership between humans and technology. While automation could impact more than half of current work hours, this transition primarily redefines roles by shifting human focus toward critical thinking, soc...
Leadership centers on taking people along to achieve significant goals, requiring a blend of confidence and humility. Effective leaders prioritize involvement, as commitment stems from active participation and listening to diverse perspectives. Strategy, structure, and culture must function in unison, with culture rein...
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has evolved from a background economic variable into a critical strategic signal for global business leaders. McKinsey partners Nick Leung and Olivia White highlight that capital flows are increasingly concentrated in "future-shaping" industries—specifically AI, advanced manufacturing, e...
The podcast explores the challenges and opportunities for the U.S. to sustain its economic competitiveness in the face of geopolitical upheaval and technological disruption as it approaches its 250th anniversary. It highlights that while the U.S. has a significant share of top global firms and leads in areas like AI R&...
Agentic AI's transformative impact on jobs and organizational structures is explored, addressing the paradox of significant AI investment without corresponding bottom-line impact. McKinsey’s Alexis Krivkovich discusses how businesses can adapt, focusing on reshaping roles, identifying future skills, and allaying workfo...
The podcast explores the best practices of private equity-backed companies and how leaders in any sector can adopt them to achieve outsized performance. Based on research involving 300 CEOs, the discussion highlights six key practices, including full potential diligence, eliminating unprofitable revenue, and clean shee...
Agentic AI and its associated risks are examined, emphasizing the necessity for leaders to balance productivity goals with governance and risk mitigation. McKinsey partner Rich Isenberg highlights that agentic AI is more than a better chatbot; it represents delegated agency with decision-making and action at machine sp...
The podcast explores how companies can achieve sustained and profitable growth by developing specific mindsets. It identifies a gap between executives desiring growth and their actions to support it, highlighting that only a small fraction of companies achieve consistent growth. Execution is identified as a key challen...
The McKinsey Podcast explores metabolic health and obesity as pressing global issues, highlighting the potential for a "metabolic health revolution." McKinsey partner Lars Hartenstein discusses two paths: a treatment-focused approach using new drug classes like GLP-1s and a more ambitious prevention-focused path requir...
The World Economic Forum at Davos in its 55th year focused on geopolitics, AI, and humanoid robots. Discussions emphasized navigating rising global tensions and building resilient organizations. Speakers highlighted the need for redesigning work through AI, urging a shift from pilot projects to scaled impact by 2026, a...
The discussion centers on how CEOs can leverage AI for business transformation, emphasizing it as more of a business overhaul than a purely technological upgrade. Eric Kutcher, Senior Partner and Chair of McKinsey North America, shares insights on the necessity for CEOs to cultivate their understanding of AI and involv...
Innovation in consumer electronics currently centers on the transition from artificial intelligence pilots to real-world scaling and system-wide integration. While AI models excel at inference, human leadership remains essential for setting aspirations, establishing ethical parameters, and driving "orthogonal" creativi...
This episode of The McKinsey Podcast, co-hosted by Roberta Fusaro and Lucia Rahilly, is a compilation of key moments from 2025, focusing on business challenges and opportunities. The discussion covers the need for companies to adapt to rapid changes in technology, tariffs, and trade by developing robust strategies that...
In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, host Lucia Rahilly interviews McKinsey senior partner Jules Seeley about the potential impact of agentic AI on the travel industry. They discuss the current state of AI adoption among travel companies, the benefits and challenges of implementing AI for both travel employees and ...
In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, hosts Lucia Raheli and Roberta Fusaro interview McKinsey Senior Partner Dan Swan about the growing importance of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) role, especially regarding productivity improvements through technologies like AI. Swan emphasizes the importance of a productivity ...
In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, hosts Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro interview senior partner Kabir Ahuja about consumer attention in the digital age. Ahuja discusses the challenges companies face in capturing and monetizing consumer attention, given its fragmented nature and the abundance of content. He int...
In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, hosts Lucia Raheli and Roberta Fusaro interview McKinsey Senior Partner Inga Maurer about remanufacturing—the process of restoring used parts for reuse in various products. Maurer explains the remanufacturing process, its growing importance due to supply chain disruptions and co...
This episode of The McKinsey Podcast introduces a new book, "A CEO for All Seasons," which outlines four stages of a CEO's leadership journey: stepping up, starting strong, staying ahead, and handing over. The authors, McKinsey senior partners Scott Keller, Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, and Vik Malhotra, share unexpect...
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