Business leaders have come to a stark revelation: The gap between their companies’ tech workers and their nontech colleagues must shrink. The emergence of digital technologies, especially the rapid rise of AI over the past two years, comes with immense promise to unleash growth and productivity. But companies will not see those benefits if their employees are not up to speed. Achieving the full benefits of digital and AI technologies…
It has been described as “the biggest and most economically significant bilateral trade deal the UK has done since leaving the EU.” On May 6, 2025, the United Kingdom and India signed the historic UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which both governments estimate will increase bilateral trade by $34 billion a year. This comes on top of a near doubling of the existing trading relationship between the two countries from…
This interview is part of the Leading Asia series, which features in-depth conversations with the region’s most influential leaders on what it takes to lead in Asia today. In this Leading Asia interview, Avinash Goyal, a senior partner at McKinsey, talks to Rajesh Rathi, the chairman and managing director of Sudarshan Chemical Industries Limited. With over 50 years in operation and a presence in more than 85 countries, the business…
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. What themes should chief procurement officers (CPOs) focus on to unlock new value sources in a volatile era? Tarandeep Ahuja: We are seeing procurement leaders focus on five key themes to drive sustainable competitive advantage in their organizations today: First, a full adoption of digital and AI, both as a source of identifying new opportunities and also generating efficiencies across the supply…
Addressing the climate transition requires a new way of thinking. On the one hand, if the goal is net-zero emissions by 2050, the world is well short of meeting it. The United Nations has noted that there are big gaps between the targets that countries have committed to and the actions being taken to meet them. At the same time, there are real concerns that taking effective action could raise…
The defense landscape in Europe is evolving fast, with active conflicts and novel hybrid threats affecting countries’ critical infrastructure and economies. Innovation will be a key enabler for Europe’s defense industrial base as the region seeks ways to scale the defense industry, drive more capabilities, and better collaborate to ensure its industrial competitiveness. Having joined Saab in 1985, and having recently been elected as president and chairman of the Aerospace,…
As the world shifts toward a more sustainable future, addressing carbon emissions remains a top priority. Renewable energy sources are rapidly expanding and driving the decarbonization effort, yet certain industries, particularly those with hard-to-abate (HtA) emissions, require additional solutions.HtA industries are sectors with high energy requirements that face significant challenges in reducing their carbon emissions due to the nature of their processes. In 2022, the three main HtA industries—cement, steel,…
A large fashion retailer faces the possibility that much of its supply chain will be subject to 90 percent tariffs depending on how and when geopolitical winds shift. A global industrial-equipment maker needs to quickly redesign a flagship product that keeps malfunctioning because of stronger and more frequent weather events. A consumer-packaged-goods company needs to optimize its coding and product-marketing processes given that gen AI can automate both—and competitors are…
Karlie Kloss, founder of Kode With Klossy (KWK), and Osi Imeokparia, KWK’s CEO, say the process of coding builds more career skills than knowing how to write instructions for a computer. On this episode of At the Edge podcast, they speak with McKinsey Senior Partner Lareina Yee about how KWK’s programs teaching 13-to-18-year-old young women and gender-expansive teens how to code help enable the students to develop critical thinking skills, improve…
The European asset management industry is facing rocky times. Although assets under management (AUM) are at record levels, structural trends are putting pressure on long-term viability. At the same time, the industry is facing an uncertain macroeconomic environment and geopolitical tensions, leading to lower levels of net flows and higher market volatility. European asset managers have also lost ground to US players. In light of these developments, European asset managers…
The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.William Gibson (Cyberpunk documentary, 1990) The dizzying speed at which AI technology is evolving makes it nearly impossible to keep up with the many new ways that it could transform how people work. Yet for most organizations, the gap between what’s possible and what’s implemented is steadily widening. A 2024 McKinsey Global Survey found that nine in ten employees used gen AI for…
The US shale industry has moved through two distinct eras of transformation, and it is now entering a third. After years of rapid growth and a sharp focus on cash, the industry’s boldest chapter may be unfolding, defined by unprecedented scale, geologic uncertainty, macro volatility, and accelerating innovation. Thriving in this new era will be all about leveraging scale: transforming operations and supply chains, elevating and integrating commercial strategies for…
Transformative technologies don’t come along very often, so when they do it pays to act quickly. When gen AI algorithms were launched in 2022, banks wasted little time exploring their potential in core commercial credit activities. But three years later, the results are mixed, with some institutions making good progress in putting the technology to work while others lag behind, a new study from McKinsey and the International Association of…
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 senior leadership roles across the breadth of AT&T’s businesses. These include turns as chief strategy officer and chief technology officer. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, John talks with McKinsey Senior Partner and North America Chair Eric Kutcher on…
As geopolitical tensions persist, global trade dynamics are becoming increasingly complex—and many leaders find themselves on tenterhooks. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Cindy Levy and Shubham Singhal, two global coleaders of McKinsey’s geopolitics work, join Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss how to move forward amid rapidly reconfiguring trade relationships—regardless of the way current tariff talks play out.This conversation has been adapted from our McKinsey Live series. The…
The gap is widening between what is needed from an efficient, effective HR function and what most organizations currently offer. Enhancing employee experience is widely seen as a cornerstone duty of HR, but about 36 percent of employees across Europe and the United States are not satisfied with their current employer. And most HR departments are still far from making full use of the tools and practices available to them,…
Consider a scenario in which state government leaders have three generational transit projects they could invest in but enough capital to support only one. Each project carries distinct benefits as well as unique trade-offs. As they evaluate options, leaders struggle to balance the risks and rewards, given the many competing priorities across the state. Moreover, with each option having a high, irreversible capital cost, making a suboptimal decision is expensive.…
Stepping into the role of chief risk officer (CRO) comes with a lot of questions: Where to start, what to prioritize, and how to make an impact? The way new CROs approach these questions in their earliest months shapes their ability to achieve long-term success.To understand the mindsets, skills, and practices that work best for new CROs, McKinsey conducted in-depth interviews with more than 30 current and former CROs of…
In the modern economy, almost every business is a tech business, with digitization, automation, and data solutions embedded into multiple operations. But with these advancements come risks. One of the most critical risks is that responsibility for technology often does not sit with companies themselves but instead with an array of third-party suppliers, service providers, and subcontractors. By outsourcing IT services, companies can unlock efficiencies and innovation. The downside is…
In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Raju Narisetti chats with Steve Grove, CEO and publisher of The Minnesota Star Tribune, about How I Found Myself in the Midwest: A Memoir of Reinvention (Simon & Schuster, June 2025). Grove, the former founding director of Google News Lab, left Silicon Valley and his work helping start-ups innovate and returned to his home state of Minnesota to explore a new…
When the business landscape is as unsettled as it is right now, all eyes turn to the CEO. Employees, boards of directors, investors, customers, suppliers, regulators, and other important stakeholders are increasingly looking to CEOs for more context and perspective on the risks and opportunities associated with disruptive trends—geopolitics, generative AI, shifting workplace dynamics, and dozens more. Stakeholders’ influence has only grown over the years as business operations and value chains…
From C-3PO’s polished diplomacy to R2-D2’s battlefield heroics, robots have long captured our imagination. Today, what was once confined to science fiction is inching toward industrial reality. General-purpose robots, powered by increasingly capable embodied AI, are being tested in warehouses, factories, hospitals, and fields. And unlike previous generations of robots, they’re not just performing a single preprogrammed task but adapting to dynamic environments, learning new motions, and even following verbal…
The time has come to reconsider the principles that guide operating model redesign. In some ways, these principles have seemed timeless. For decades, leaders have aimed to integrate people, structures, and processes as seamlessly as possible to deliver value and improve organizational health. But now these rules must evolve to address the current pace of change and disruption. These days, how to organize for value is an even trickier undertaking.…
Many organizations use public cloud technology to reduce costs and improve business agility, innovation, and resilience. Gen AI is adding even more value to the estimated $3 trillion in EBITDA value from cloud by 2030. However, many organizations are still working to fully realize the benefits of cloud transformations. In many cases, simply transferring existing models (such as waterfall and ticket-based plan-build-run infrastructure) to the cloud can result in limited…
Healthcare organizations’ mission is to help people manage their health, but it’s not an easy goal, given the diversity of patient needs and the complexity of how providers, payers, and healthcare services and technology firms work together. What do healthcare organizations need to do? In the latest episode of the McKinsey on Healthcare podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Patrick Finn, global leader of the Healthcare Practice, discusses how organizations can stand…
With US states creating a variety of insurance rules and regulations, such as those around parental and sick leave, the resulting fragmentation has created significant complexity for some companies. Companies must balance the needs for great customer experiences with advanced compliance and security practices. In this interview, McKinsey partner Ann Carver, co-convener of McKinsey’s Women in Tech conference, talks with Polly Nicholas, chief experience officer (CXO) at Unum, a leading…
A significant shift has risen in the B2B technology and telecommunications landscape, where telecom operators find themselves at a strategic inflection point. Having historically held a competitive edge, operators today are faced with increased customer expectations to expand beyond their core connectivity offerings. According to McKinsey’s latest Global Technology and Telecommunications B2B Pulse Survey, nearly 80 percent of B2B customers affirm that telcos have a “right-to-play” beyond traditional connectivity. Yet,…
Today, healthcare leaders in many countries are navigating an era of accelerating complexity, defined by financial pressures, shifting demographics, and evolving consumer expectations and care delivery models. To meet this moment, CEOs will need to guide their organizations through a period of reinvention and reimagination—in service of achieving both mission and margin.Physicians may be well suited to answer this call, bringing with them a desire to improve patient care and…
Employers are the largest purchasers of health insurance in the United States, representing approximately 165 million lives and more than $800 billion in healthcare expenditures. Large employers—those with more than 10,000 employees—are often innovators when it comes to benefit offerings, shaping the trends that are later adopted by small and medium-size employers. Every year, large employers submit about 300 requests for proposal (RFPs) to health insurance carriers, according to our…
Student housing on and near college campuses in the United States is a difficult asset class to master. For students (and their families), housing needs to be high-quality yet affordable. For universities, it needs to enable great student experiences and educational outcomes. And for private providers, it needs to be at or near full occupancy and profitable. It’s easy to assume that the needs of these stakeholders are largely independent,…
AI is fast transforming work as we’ve known it—and the latest data on jobs doesn’t always reflect the changes underway. “One word sums it up best: ‘uncertainty,’” says Svenja Gudell, chief economist of global employment platform Indeed. In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Svenja joins McKinsey talent leaders Brooke Weddle and Bryan Hancock, along with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly, to help leaders make sense of the current collision of labor…
At a glance Amid pressure on US–China trade, firms may look to rearrange sourcing to alternative suppliers. If they cannot, firms might instead reduce purchases, replace imported products with something similar, or ramp up domestic production. These alternatives require a combination of sacrifice, resources, know-how, and time. We introduce a “rearrangement ratio” to quantify how hard the change might be. Thirty-five percent of US imports from China have a ratio…
This interview is part of the Leading Asia series, which features in-depth conversations with some of the region’s most value-creating leaders on what it takes to realize bold ambitions and take them further.In this Leading Asia interview, McKinsey’s Gautam Kumra talks to Mukesh Ambani about what it takes to lead in Asia. They discuss how Ambani’s focus on vision and unique leadership style has brought Reliance Industries from a small…
The years since 2020 have been a time of upheaval for consumers and companies alike, and packaging players are no exception. A global pandemic shifted consumption patterns, many countries went through a period of high inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty continues to reshape trade flows—sometimes profoundly. How have these factors affected the choices consumers make and especially their attitudes and sentiments toward packaging? To answer this question, in the first quarter…
A conceptual depiction of a blue vehicle traversing a lengthy, curving pathway in a spiral form. The backdrop is a uniform, pale blue hue. Running out of gas while you’re driving is a major inconvenience. It can leave you stranded, sometimes miles away from the nearest service station. It can take hours of your day to reach your destination. And depending on where your vehicle has stopped, it can put…
Most executives know that they need to communicate early and often with long-term intrinsic investors. Compared with, for instance, mechanical investors and traders, intrinsic investors are paying closer attention to companies’ performance metrics, potential to create value over the long term, and strategic decisions—and making their investment decisions accordingly. Long-term intrinsic investors are also the ones most likely to champion a company’s prospects in the market, influencing other investor segments…
The innovation challenge: Good ideas are harder to find Innovation has been the driver of the extraordinary progress from which humankind has benefited for a couple of centuries, but it faces a largely hidden threat: Innovation is becoming harder and more expensive. Innovation is an enabler of human progress It’s instructive here to take the long view. For most of recorded human history, improvements in human welfare from generation to…
Technology has emerged as a critical priority for businesses, not just for IT. As a result, tech leaders’ responsibilities are expanding into areas outside IT, including customer experience, innovation, operations, procurement, and strategy. But how well CIOs and other tech leaders can forge effective relationships with leaders outside the tech function has become as important as the technology decisions themselves. It’s never just tech. In this interview, Nancy Avila, current…
India is on a strong growth trajectory, with its share of global GDP rising from 1.9 percent in 2008 to 3.4 percent in 2023. The Government of India is now targeting an 8 to 10 percent share of global GDP by 2040. Achieving this level of growth requires a shift from incremental progress to targeted breakthroughs in sectors that hold the potential for significant growth and dynamism—what the McKinsey Global…
Leading a public department or agency is famously difficult, and it’s only getting harder. In a McKinsey survey of over 800 senior public sector leaders worldwide, we identified the trends that are most likely to disrupt delivery of government missions—from tighter budgets to tougher competition for talent to technological change (see sidebar, “About the research”). The good news is that many leaders are rising to these challenges and navigating the…