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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 in our Southern California office and was the Chief Information Officer and VP of Engineering at Google before joining McKinsey.  Alexander Sukharevsky is a senior partner in London and the global leader of QuantumBlack, McKinsey's AI arm.Aaron Rosenberg is a partner at Radical Ventures where he leads the firm's European and London investment activities and operations.  Related reading:  Four essential questions for boards to ask about generative AI The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier What every CEO should know about generative AI Join our Strategy and Corporate Finance  LinkedIn community of over 90,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.    Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 McKinsey & Company, a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy in Australia and Asia, and a Director of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic foundation. He is the former Dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Rob and Charles' books can be found here: https://bulletproofproblemsolving.com/ You can also listen to their previous interview on Inside the Strategy Room or read the edited transcript on McKinsey.com.  Join our Strategy and Corporate Finance  LinkedIn community of over 90,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 Executive Vice President and Global Head of Securities Services and Digital at US-based financial company BNY Mellon. Kevin is a senior partner in our Transformation Practice with over twenty years of experience serving clients across Europe and North and South America.   Follow our Transformation Practice on LinkedIn Visit our Transformation Practice on McKinsey.com  Join our Strategy and Corporate Finance  LinkedIn community of more than 90,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.    Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 Goodman, Poppy Johnson, and Connor Rochford Join our LinkedIn community of more than 90,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.    Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 in realizing revenue-based synergies.  Chris and Alex's recent McKinsey.com article: When a transaction forges a transformation  Join our LinkedIn community of more than 90,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 global CEO initiative. He serves as a counselor to CEOs across industries and is a co-author, with Carolyn, of the Mckinsey.com article, Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal. Join our LinkedIn community of more than 87,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 ecosystem evolution. Miklós Dietz leads McKinsey’s strategy and corporate finance work within our Financial Services practice and Venkat Atluri heads up our Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice. Listen to episode 133. Digital ecosystems: Creating value in the new age of sectors without borders Join our LinkedIn community of more than 87,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy.  Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 community of more than 90,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 Sterin, who serves on the boards of DuPont and Kosmos Energy, and Frithjof Lund, a senior partner in our Oslo office and global leader of our Board Services practice. Related Insights Starting your board journey: Six steps to guide director hopefuls The board’s role in building resilience  ‘Spotlight’ on board diversity: McKinsey and Goldman Sachs move the needle Geopolitical resilience: The new board imperative Join our LinkedIn community of more than 91,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 contact Laura on LinkedIn here. Matt is a partner in our Chicago office who co-leads the Growth Strategy and Innovation Practice. Matt serves organizations on innovation strategy across a range of sectors, including energy, basic materials, and agriculture. You can contact Matt here.   Related Insights I'd like you to please read about the research this conversation was based on in the McKinsey.com article: Companies with innovative cultures have a big edge with generative AI. Innovation: Your solution for weathering uncertainty The Committed Innovator The eight essentials of innovation Taking fear out of innovation (podcast) Join our LinkedIn community of more than 91,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Explore our collection of Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 InsightsEric's interview with Claire Bramley, CFO of Terradata.  The new CFO mandate What is cybersecurity?  Boards and cybersecurity  Join our LinkedIn community of more than 89,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Explore our collection of Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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 regional development topics.    Related Insights The McKinsey Global Institute report we refer to in this episode: https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/the-china-imperative-for-multinational-companiesMGI on LinkedIn Join our LinkedIn community of more than 91,000 members and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  Explore our collection of Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com.  Join 90,000 other members of our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information