The McKinsey Podcast

This is a special episode of The McKinsey Podcast covering last week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. McKinsey Senior Partners Becca Coggins and Shelley Stewart III speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what was top of mind for CEOs—from geopolitics to leading through the AI moment to the faster-than-expected arrival of humanoid robots at scale.

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AI has yet to deliver the ROI many leaders expected. What are they getting wrong? “This is probably the biggest, most complex transformation we’ve seen—but it’s 80 percent business transformation and 20 percent tech,” according to McKinsey’s North America Chair Eric Kutcher. “That’s different from how most people have thought about it.” On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, E...

McKinsey’s Bill Wiseman, Bob Sternfels, Martin Kellner, and Steffen Fuchs were on the ground at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In this special episode of The McKinsey Podcast, they tell us about the tools and themes that most resonated with them—breakthrough AI applications, advances in mobility, and more.

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Think about your org chart. Now imagine it features both your current colleagues—humans, if you’re like most of us—and AI agents. That’s not science fiction; it’s happening. And it’s happening relatively quickly, according to McKinsey Senior Partner Jorge Amar. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, originally broadcast on McKinsey Talks Talent, Jorge joins McKinsey talent l...

People are asked to update the operating systems on their phones all the time. What if leaders applied that same kind of polishing and bug fixing to themselves? McKinsey research shows that executives who periodically review and revise their priorities, roles, time, and energy tend to be more productive, work more consciously, and drive change more effectively. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Senior Partner Arne Gast joins...

Banking has had a couple of very good years—the best, in fact, since the global financial crisis of 2007–09. Yet to some, the industry’s outlook seems less buoyant than recent profitability might suggest. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partners Klaus Dallerup and Pradip Patiath speak with McKinsey Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about McKinsey...

Quantum computing has long been technology’s white whale. But in recent months, new developments suggest practical applications for this elusive technology could finally be within reach. “Quantum has been five to ten years away from fruition for many, many decades,” says McKinsey Partner Michael Bogobowicz. “Now it feels three to five years away.” In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Bogobowicz joi...

One thing is clear for the fashion industry in 2025. Due to climate change, global trade uncertainties, and consumers focused on value, growth is expected to be slow. However, despite the negative environment, McKinsey Senior Partner, Gemma D’Auria says there are opportunities to mine. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, she speaks with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about our latest state of fashion research an...

“A bank and a steel company can walk into a bar and not have much to do with each other. But once one of the arena companies walks in, we’re all involved.” That’s McKinsey Global Institute director Chris Bradley. On the latest episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Chris spoke with global editorial director Lucia Rahilly about a new report delving into the next arenas of competition—namely, a set of dynamic,...

Leaders worldwide are moving fast to deploy AI at scale. But scaling AI means more data centers—and data centers consume vast quantities of energy. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Jesse Noffsinger and Pankaj Sachdeva speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what needs to happen to build new, bigger data centers quickly, as well as to sate their growing hunger for power.

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Gen AI is evolving fast—but employee adoption is slow for most companies. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, we feature an episode of our technology podcast, At the Edge. Tech visionaries Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield Fund; Kiran Prasad, McKinsey senior adviser and CEO and cofounder of Big Basin Labs; and Naba Banerjee, McKinsey senior adviser and former director of trust and operations at Airbnb...

Global competition has intensified, and the demand for energy and computing power is growing exponentially as companies embed AI, robotics, and other technologies into their everyday business processes. McKinsey’s annual outlook on technology trends points to 13 “frontier” trends that can help companies get a handle on these and other challenges. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast McKinsey Senior Partners Lar...

CEOs are confronting double the number of critical issues today compared with ten years ago. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partners Daniel Pacthod and Kurt Strovink, along with McKinsey Senior Advisor Wyman Howard, join McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to discuss the characteristics today’s business leaders need to handle greater and more frequent waves of disruption and how organizations ...

This year on The McKinsey Podcast, we’ve dived into an array of topics on leadership, organizational change, and technological innovation, talking to McKinsey’s most seasoned experts about how to lead during times of geopolitical upheaval and economic uncertainty, as well as how to harness and then radiate the advances made possible by AI. We didn’t just go for the broad strokes. We heard from McKinsey partners ab...

Yes, dreaming up your next getaway can be exhilarating. But booking it? Often less so. For many customers, the thrill of travel risks getting lost in logistics, says McKinsey Senior Partner Jules Seeley. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, he joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss new research on the rise of AI in the travel industry, including the advent of AI agents that could design end-to-end itineraries,...

From gen AI pilots to automated supply chains, technology is reshaping how operations leaders create efficiencies, build resilience, and encourage teamwork. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Daniel Swan speaks with Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro about how COOs can embed technology, particularly AI, into their company’s culture. It requires balancing the urgency of today with the transformatio...

Not all consumer attention is created equal—that’s a critical lesson from McKinsey’s recent report on content creation and monetization. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Kabir Ahuja speaks with Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro about something called the “attention equation” and how media players can use it to get a better return on their investments. It’s about qu...

What if a product’s journey didn’t end after its first use? Remanufacturing—restoring preowned parts to perform like new—is transforming automotives, electronics, and other industries. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Senior Partner Inga Maurer and Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro explore how this practice reduces waste while creating more value for companies.

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One year of a...

Most leaders set out to be the best—but few make that Mount Everest–like ascent successfully. What do the world’s most iconic CEOs do differently? McKinsey Senior Partners Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, and Vik Malhotra break it down in their new book A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership (Scribner/Simon & Schuster, October 2025), based on research and interviews with executive...