Inside the Strategy Room
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.
Episodes
In today's episode, we discuss the top 10 questions boards should ask to ensure comprehensive cybersecurity oversight. We’re joined by Justin Greis, a partner in our Chicago office who leads McKinsey’s cybersecurity work in North America; Daniel Wallance, a senior expert in our New York office who focuses on cybersecurity and technology resilience in financial institutions, critical infrastructure companies, and public sector organ...
We discuss the challenges and opportunities of building new businesses within an organization during a transformation. How should business leaders balance the need for transformation with pursuing new business ventures? What is the role of strategy in business reinvention? What evidence is there that optimizing the core business and building new businesses translates into higher performance?
Our guests are senior partner Chris Hag...
Innovation in online gaming requires keeping up with a broad mix of changes, including digital advances, audience desires, and artistic trends. In this episode, McKinsey innovation expert Erik Roth talks with Mihir Vaidya, the chief strategy officer of Electronic Arts, about these unique aspects of innovating in the gaming industry.
We hope Erik and Mihir’s conversation will be valuable for all executives grappling with the chall...
In today's episode, we delve into practical strategies that organizations can implement to effectively manage and adapt during times of uncertainty.
We explore a range of approaches, including scenario planning, risk management, cultivating leadership skills, and leveraging technology. Our guests also underscore the critical need for agility and swift decision-making when facing unpredictable conditions.
We are joined by Mc...
We are excited to present a special bonus episode of the Deal Volume podcast, which is produced by our Private Capital Practice.
Our guest host for this episode is Brian Vickery, a partner in the practice who is joined by the practice's leaders, senior partners Fredrik Dahlqvist and David Quigley, to discuss key insights from the 2024 edition of our Global Private Markets Review. We hope you enjoy ...
Today’s discussion covers several topics from our recent report on top M&A trends. We’re joined by senior partners Jake Henry and Mieke Van Oostende, who co-lead our M&A work globally, and senior partners Michael Birshan and Andy West, who co-lead our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice.
We discuss the changing landscape of M&A, the shift from consolidation to growth and capability building, the importance of integr...
The need for board-level strategic conversations on geopolitical risk is urgent. To discuss how boards can guide companies through an increasingly complex geopolitical environment, we’re joined by Jon Huntsman Jr. Jon is a former US governor and diplomat who has spent nearly two decades in US public service at the state, national, and international levels. He sits on the boards of Ford, Mobileye, and Chevron, and is also the Vice C...
Midcap companies have vast opportunities to increase their performance and scale if they reinvent how they work.
Midsize companies don’t dominate the headlines and investor attention the way large corporations do, but they represent more than 40 percent of the global workforce and account for approximately one-third of most economies’ GDP.
However, the productivity of small and midsize businesses is only half that o...
Generative AI poses both risks and opportunities. Ida Kristensen and Oliver Bevan join us to discuss how we can mitigate the former while moving to capture the latter from day one.
Ida Kristensen is a senior partner in our New York office. She coleads the Risk & Resilience Practice and advises leading financial institutions on cybersecurity, strategies for risk management, regulatory compliance, and operational improvement.
M&A dealmakers have been on a wild ride. From the pandemic-fueled rout in 2020 to 2021’s record-breaking recovery, followed by a steep decline in 2023, the global M&A market has offered something of a masterclass in volatility. In this episode, we are joined by senior partners Jake Henry, Mieke Van Oostende, and Andy West to discuss the trends in the global M&A environment in 2024 and what they mean for business leaders...
Private equity firms have a well-earned reputation for elevating the performance of the companies they invest in. A cornerstone of their strategy is a relentless pursuit of operational excellence to drive efficiency and productivity. In this episode, we analyze what public company CEOs can glean from the private equity playbook to enhance their own company's performance. Our guests are John Kelleher and Radhika Ray.
John is a se...
CEOs and CFOs are redefining their interactions with the board to ensure success in an era of rapid change. Joining us to delve into this growing trend of collaboration between CEOs, management teams, and boards are Celia Huber, leader of our North American board services practice, along with Michael Birshan and Andy West, the co-leaders of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice.
Related reading:
Innovation in a not-for-profit context involves measuring success in terms of returns on mission rather than returns to shareholders. In this episode, McKinsey innovation expert Erik Roth talks with Sajit Joseph, the chief innovation officer of the American Red Cross, about how the 142-year-old institution began and continues to carry out its innovation journey.
Explore other episodes of The Committed Innovator: https://www....
Fewer than one in four companies outpace their industry peers on revenue and profit growth. We discuss new research that reveals the six mindsets and strategies that set these growth outperformers apart.
We're joined by Rebecca Doherty, a partner in our Bay Area office and co-leader of our Strategic Growth and Innovation practice, Jill Zucker, a senior partner who co-leads our global growth transformation work, and Kate Seigel, a p...
Zane Rowe is the CFO of Workday, a California-based company that develops enterprise software for managing finance, HR, and planning. Workday has been growing rapidly, and its growth-oriented culture is a central theme of the discussion we recorded between Zane and McKinsey's CFO Eric Kutcher
Listen to Eric's conversation with Palo Alto Network's CFO, Dipak Golechha: https://link.chtbl.com/SgZPqa6t
Boards can play an essential role in engaging management teams to ensure they fully explore the potential of generative AI, even beyond their comfort zone. In this episode, we discuss the most important questions boards need to ask senior executives as their companies move to adopt this technology. Our guests are experienced in both technology and board practices.
Frithjof Lund is our managing partner in Norway and leads our firm’...
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 ...
Many companies turn to transformation because their leaders seek to capture untapped potential or realize growth or efficiency gains. Yet transformations take work to get right. Our research shows less than a third of transformations reach their goals to improve organizational performance and sustain these improvements over time.
To discuss how to beat those odds and sustain a holistic business transformation over the long term, we...
A chief of staff can be instrumental to a CEO's success while also advancing their own career. While the role’s variability and intensity make it challenging, they also make it exciting.
We're joined by Blair Epstein, Poppy Johnson, and Connor Rochford to discuss the eight pieces of advice they have distilled from hundreds of interviews with those who have mastered the role.
Read the McKinsey.com article, Seeing around corners...
We discuss the role M&A can play in the launch and success of large-scale transformations. Our guests are Chris Hagedorn and Alex Liu. Chris is a leader in our Transformation Practice, where he designs and executes comprehensive transformations, including M&A integration and value capture to achieve rapid and sustainable performance improvement for clients.
Alex is a leader in our M&A Practice. He works closely ...
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