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 ...
Apr 10, 2025•47 min
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 advise...
Apr 04, 2025•45 min
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, innov...
Mar 28, 2025•35 min
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.&n...
Mar 20, 2025•45 min
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 ob...
Mar 13, 2025•46 min
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 hel...
Mar 06, 2025•46 min
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 clien...
Feb 27, 2025•41 min
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...
Feb 19, 2025•36 min
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 Exc...
Feb 13, 2025•47 min
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, techn...
Feb 06, 2025•33 min
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...
Jan 31, 2025•46 min
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 Zec...
Jan 24, 2025•47 min
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 c...
Jan 16, 2025•28 min
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 &lsquo...
Jan 09, 2025•42 min
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...
Jan 02, 2025•32 min
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...
Dec 26, 2024•37 min
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 Ve...
Dec 19, 2024•39 min
Too often, business transformation is treated as a short-term exercise or financial goal. In this episode, three of our transformation experts share the core elements of a sustained transformation, in which mindsets shift, expectations change, and new heights are reached. Stephan Görner is a senior partner and the global co-leader of our Transformation Practice . He was joined by senior partner Michael Bucy and associate partner Rachel McKlindon . Related insights Sustaining the momen...
Dec 12, 2024•43 min
Sourcing and retaining talent is an evergreen challenge for companies, and it is even more important to realizing value creation goals in private capital backed companies. In this episode we hear from two of our experts on the subject. Marla Capozzi is a partner in our Boston office and a leader and founder of CEO Alpha, our initiative to deliver outperformance for private company CEOs and future leaders. At the time of recording, Dr. Claudy Jules was a partner in our Washington, DC, office and ...
Dec 05, 2024•38 min
Organizations often struggle to adapt to change, whether technological, economic, or geopolitical. Yet change is inevitable, especially as technology evolves. This week, we are joined by retired Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, who, from 2013 to 2017, transformed the agency’s organizational structure to better meet its full potential. John spoke with Megan McConnell, a partner based in our Washington D.C office who assists large, complex institutions in transforming how they ru...
Nov 28, 2024•49 min
McKinsey innovation leader Erik Roth speaks with Shiprocket cofounder and CEO Saahil Goel about how he built his e-commerce logistics company into a highly successful platform that is helping launch new entrepreneurs all over India. Related Insights Follow The Committed Innovator podcast: https://omny.fm/shows/the-committed-innovator Read the transcript: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/helping-indias-e-commerce-leapfrog-into-the-future Support th...
Nov 21, 2024•39 min
This week, we feature a conversation between Alex Gorsky, former chair and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, and Andy West , senior partner and global coleader of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. Alex discusses his approach to developing strategy, the challenges and rewards of developing a successful innovation and M&A pipeline, and his approach to decision-making and building a star team. Related Insights The Strategic CEO newsletter CEO Excellence Gen AI: Opportunities in M&A T...
Nov 15, 2024•52 min
This week, we discuss strategies for navigating geopolitical uncertainty with the authors of a recent article on the subject. Michael Birshan is a senior partner and co-leads our Strategy & Corporate Finance practice globally and also serves on the McKinsey Global Institute Council, Ziad Haider is a partner and our global director of geopolitical risk, and Olivia White is a senior partner and director of our business and economics research arm, the McKinsey Global Institute . Related insight...
Nov 07, 2024•43 min
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...
Oct 30, 2024•32 min
This week, Sandy Boss, Senior Managing Director at global investment firm BlackRock and Chair of BlackRock UK, joins us on the podcast. In a conversation with Michael Birshan , a senior partner and the global coleader of our Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice, Sandy shares her insights on geopolitics and the energy transition as well as her ‘five Cs’ for CFOs looking to take an investor’s perspective. We recorded their conversation at a recent gathering for CFOs in London. Related Insight...
Oct 24, 2024•16 min
Companies have endless initiatives and plans, all with the promise to transform the organization and deliver attractive financial returns. However experience indicates companies should focus on building an institutional capability that has the power to separate them from the rest. To discuss how to build this superpower we’re joined by Brad Mendelson , a senior partner based in our Cleveland Ohio office, and Tova Katzir , a partner in our New York office. Related insights Building a superpower: ...
Oct 11, 2024•22 min
We’re joined by three McKinsey M&A experts to discuss the ways that generative AI is being used to streamline and improve the M&A process, from target identification to deal execution. Ben Ellencweig leads our work in M&A, alliances, and partnerships globally for QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey . Rui Silva helps lead our work across a range of M&A topics, including how to execute large and complex integrations. Kyle Lefler helps clients with M&A strategy and execution across sec...
Oct 04, 2024•43 min
This week, we’re joined by senior partners Kurt Strovink and Ramesh Srinivasan , coauthors, along with Hans-Werner Kaas and Dana Maor, of a new McKinsey book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out . It is the first-ever look behind the curtain at McKinsey’s step-by-step approach to helping leaders transform both professionally and personally. It introduces a new, more human-centric approach that is helping some of the best leaders achieve results by cultivating hu...
Sep 27, 2024•39 min
This week, we’re joined by Scott Herren , Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cisco Systems, and Eric Kutcher , Senior Partner and Chair of McKinsey & Company, North America. They discuss the rationale for Cisco's recent acquisition, the role of CFOs in driving change within a company, the impact of AI on finance, and the current geopolitical and economic climate. Related insights: The Seasons of the CFO Palo Alto Networks CFO on AI, cybersecurity, and the finance leader’...
Sep 20, 2024•25 min
This week, we return to the CFO journey and discuss how CFOs can drive outperformance in the middle years of their tenure. We’re joined by Ankur Agrawal , a partner in our New York office, a leader in our Strategy and Corporate Finance and Healthcare practices, and the leader of our CFO and finance service line in the Americas. Christian Grube is a partner in our Munich office, leader in our Strategy and Corporate Finance practice, and the leader of our CFO and finance service line in Europe. Ar...
Sep 06, 2024•46 min
