Leading the finance function of a large company comes with a broad mandate requiring wide-ranging capabilities and experience. This week, three experts join us to explain how CFO hopefuls can acquire the credentials that matter most today. Ankur Agrawal is a partner in our New York office and a leader in our Strategy and Corporate Finance and Healthcare Practices. He also heads our CFO and Finance Practice in the Americas Dr Karolina Sauer-Sidor is a partner in our Madrid office and a leader in ...
Jul 29, 2024•45 min
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 organizations; and Vinnie Liu, who is the CEO and co-founder of the c...
Jul 12, 2024•42 min
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 Hagedorn and partners Matt Banholzer, and Ryan Nguyen. Related insigh...
Jun 28, 2024•43 min
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 challenges of dynamic and strategic resource allocation and the need t...
Jun 21, 2024•32 min
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 McKinsey senior advisor Rear Admiral Wyman Howard III (ret.), Mihir Mysore ...
Jun 13, 2024•42 min
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 this discussion on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in the private capital landsc...
Jun 06, 2024•43 min
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 integration planning, the role of private equity, and the impact of reg...
May 23, 2024•46 min
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 Chairman of MasterCard. We're also joined by Ziad Haider , a partn...
May 16, 2024•40 min
Midcap companies have vast opportunities to increase their performance and scale if they reinvent how they work. M idsize 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 of large companies, and lower in emerging economies. These businesses have vast o...
May 12, 2024•36 min
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. Oliver Bevan is a partner in our Chicago office and a leader in our ...
Apr 25, 2024•44 min
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. Jake and Mieke recently published a report on McKinsey.com, T...
Apr 18, 2024•45 min
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 senior partner in our Private Equity Special Operations group and ser...
Apr 10, 2024•43 min
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: The board’s role in building resilience https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corp...
Mar 27, 2024•18 min
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.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/in...
Mar 21, 2024•31 min
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 partner in our Detroit office who advises clients on growth stra...
Mar 15, 2024•42 min
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 Listen to Eric's conversation with Teradata CFO Claire Bramley: https://link.chtbl.com/w3ustEBP J...
Mar 06, 2024•27 min
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’s Board Services Practice globally. Douglas Merrill is a partner i...
Feb 20, 2024•49 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 McKin...
Feb 09, 2024•37 min
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 are joined by Roman Regelman and Kevin Carmody . Roman is Senior...
Feb 03, 2024•29 min
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: How to excel as a chief of staff , by Eleanor Bensley , Andrew Goo...
Jan 23, 2024•41 min
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 with senior leadership teams on large-scale mergers and brings expertise ...
Jan 12, 2024•47 min
In this episode, we share advice and insights for new CEOs about how they can make a strong start in the role. Sean Brown is joined by Carolyn Dewar , a senior partner in our San Francisco office who is the founder and co-leader of our CEO Excellence Practice. She is also a co-author of last year’s NY Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. Joining Carolyn is Kurt Strovink , a senior partner in our New York office and co-leader of our g...
Jan 03, 2024•47 min
This shift from industry sectors to customer-focused ecosystems may be the largest economic reorganization in history. What role will your company play? Global ecosystems are breaking down barriers separating traditional industries and organizing the economy around key customer needs. In this episode of Inside the Strategy Room, the co-authors of the new book The Ecosystem Economy: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders , explain how companies can secure their place in the ecosyst...
Dec 27, 2023•46 min
Scott Wine is the CEO of the multinational equipment manufacturer and services company, CNH Industrial . The company's brands include CASE and New Holland. Scott reflects on the challenges of leading a globally dispersed business, the critical importance of technology to agriculture, and what he learned from running the executive dining room for General Colin Powell. He spoke with senior partner Celia Huber during our recent global strategy and leadership event in New York. Join our LinkedIn com...
Dec 20, 2023•26 min
Boards are under increasing pressure to navigate a complex business environment, stay on top of accelerating technological advances, manage growing stakeholder expectations, and in some cases, set the organization's ambition level to catalyze change in close collaboration with management. To discuss how the role of the board is developing in light of these challenges we're joined by Karen McLoughlin, a former CFO who is a long-time board director for Best Buy, among other companies, Steven Steri...
Dec 15, 2023•38 min
Generative AI has been the hottest technology and business topic of 2023. Everyone knows that gen AI could be important, but how do you use it to create innovation that will genuinely advance your business? Joining us to address that question are Laura LaBerge and Matt Banholzer. Laura is the Global Director of our Growth Strategy and Innovation practice based in our Stamford, Connecticut office. She works with clients on digitally driven innovations, strategies, and transformations. You can con...
Dec 08, 2023•43 min
Dipak Golechha is the Chief Financial Officer of Palo Alto Networks , a leading cybersecurity company. This episode features a conversation between Dipak and Eric Kutcher , our own CFO. Dipak and Eric discuss their experiences around the expanding CFO mandate, what it’s like to lead the finance function in a highly volatile business environment, and how they’re grappling with AI and other new technologies. Related Insights Eric's interview with Claire Bramley, CFO of Terradata. The new CFO manda...
Nov 30, 2023•35 min
China’s economy and business landscape have been going through significant changes. We speak with three experts who will help us understand those shifts and how multinationals can adapt their strategies to succeed in China. Our guests are Franck Le Deu , a leader of our Life Sciences Practice in China, Joe Ngai , chairman of our offices in Greater China, and Junna Shi, a partner who advises Chinese government institutions on industrial development, regional economic planning, and integrated regi...
Nov 23, 2023•45 min
Great CEOs know that the transition to their successor will define their legacy and cement the strength of what they’ve built. We speak with three McKinsey experts about how the best CEOs prepare for the final phase of their tenure. We're joined by Carolyn Dewar , a senior partner in our Bay Area office, Blair Epstein, a partner also based in San Fransisco, and Kurt Strovink , a senior partner in our New York office. Related Insights Sending it forward: Successfully transitioning out of the CEO ...
Nov 15, 2023•42 min
The best CEOs find a new gear and sustain momentum and high performance after the heady first years in the job. We're joined by Kurt Strovink , a senior partner in our New York office, and Carolyn Dewar , a senior partner in our Bay Area office, to discuss the four ways CEOs can avoid complacency and create even more value in their mid-tenure. Related Insights Staying ahead: How the best CEOs continually improve performance CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders From ...
Nov 09, 2023•43 min
